Writer and filmmaker Özgür Uyanık spent his formative years in London after his family emigrated from Türkiye in 1980. With a background in the UK film industry and a few years of directing commercials in İstanbul, Özgür transitioned to the realm of literature while continuing to work on his film projects. In 2020, his first novel Conception, a darkly comedic satire that delves into the intricacies of the contemporary art world, was published. That year he also won the Criminally Good Crime Writing Competition at the Essex Book Festival and was a contributing co-editor for an anthology of essays by underrepresented writers. His short stories, essays and book reviews have been published in the UK since 2017. Men Alone is Özgür’s debut collection of short stories.