Who is Yilmaz Alimoglu?

Yilmaz Alimoglu- This is how he looked five years ago.

Yilmaz Alimoglu is one of several children from a peasant family in Turkey. He grew up on a farm in a small village where people lived a very humble existence. His grandfather, who died before he was born, was a respected Sufi and a great influence on his life through the spiritual inheritance that he imparted.

He was born on a sunny spring day of 1971.

He began reading Sufi literature at a young age and was fortunate to have received a prestigious science scholarship at the age of eleven, which set him on a path of intellectual inquiry.

Having moved to Canada almost two decades ago, he worked primarily as an electrical engineer in the technology and business sectors, while literature and writing were always his passion. An important part of his life involved traveling to various parts of the world for both commercial and humanitarian work and as a result he considered himself to be very fortunate to have experienced such an existence. He is very grateful to his parents and for his heritage that profoundly influenced who he has become.

Yilmaz Alimoglu’s a metaphysical scientist, a Sufi. Growing up in Turkey, a lifelong practitioner of the Muslim faith, the author sought and found a deeper understanding of his own and other cultures on the literal, metaphysical, religious and emotional journey on the Sufi path. Sufi’s are seekers, quite literally; those who seek the truth. An extremely advantageous attribute, in that seeking the truth throughout his life has invested in Alimoglu a wealth of understanding, awareness, compassion and an ability to speak with authenticity and insight on multiple subjects.

Yilmaz Alimoglu is a study in contrasts; a Turkish Muslim, but also a naturalized Canadian citizen; a businessman, as well as philosopher; scientist and poet. But as mentioned previously, he is essentially a seeker. And as everyone who has ever sought something knows, when you look with sincerity and purity of heart, wonder is waiting impatiently to be discovered.

He has lifelong interests in literature, philosophy, psychology and Sufism. Having studied the writings of the Sufi thinkers extensively from a very early age, he was also very much engaged in both Western and Eastern philosophical thoughts in my more youthful days. Though he had difficulty understanding some of what he read, he felt that it was of great benefit to amuse himself with interesting readings, which he subconsciously perceived as beneficially developing his reasoning skills. He has truly enjoyed literature from a diverse range of writers and different eras: Dostoyevsky, Tolstoy, Albert Camus, and Cervantes among many others.

Having written opinion pieces for the Toronto Star for a period of time, in 2007 and 2008 he decided to fully devote himself to writing his first novel, Deserts and Mountains.

He was, in part, prompted to share the story of Ali Dogan in Deserts and Mountains as a way to communicate with others the very good things that have emerged from his own life journey. His personal experience as an expatriate Turk in Canada, and a pseudo Canadian visiting Turkey, form the foundation of Ali’s experiences, emerged with clarity after a long trip to Turkey inspired him to use the central character’s pain as a mirror for what others may endure.

His hope is that people of predominantly Western nations, as well as those from an Islamic cultural background, will find a Muslim’s story interesting, and more importantly, informative from an insider’s point of view. The story mirrors others’ experiences of painful loss, alienation, and adaptation.

Through Deserts and Mountains, we glimpse other cultures to make sense of our existence. As the story unfolds, readers may enjoy events and find ideas with the potential to help us view others with a lesser degree of prejudice. It is primarily for this reason—to provide readers an opportunity to view themselves and others differently—that he reflects on the meaning of a life lived and as a result felt compelled to share Ali’s story in Deserts and Mountains.

“His book Desert and Mountains is a story about Ali (The main character) who is the thinking man’s mystic. The intensity of his observation the quantum universe is even more acutely focused when looking at his own broken heart.  He is a Scientist and a seeker on the Sufi path. He is driven man looking for answers in the Black Hole of his murdered love. The act of writing this novel is his salvation and ours as we stare into the abyss and out the other side where profound tragedy is transformed in a crucible of ancient Sufi wisdom.” Richard Horowitz

Yilmaz sees the world as a place of actualizing his humanity through the best possible connection with his Creator.