Ayşegül (Günkut) Yüksel was born in Istanbul on May 8, 1941. She graduated from Üsküdar American Girls’ High School in 1959 and İstanbul University, Department of English Language and Literature in 1964. Yüksel published poetry, articles, and novel translations between 1962-65. She received her Master of Arts degree in 1966 from New York University in the U.S.A where she went to study with a Fulbright scholarship. She married Önder Yüksel in 1969 and moved to Ankara in 1970. Ayşegül Yüksel completed her doctorate in 1981 at the Department of Drama at the Faculty of Languages, History and Geography of Ankara University and worked as a faculty member at Middle East Technical University (METU) between 1970-87. In 1981, she also started teaching at Ankara University’s Department of Drama. She became an associate professor in 1985 and professor in 1992. From 1987 to 2006, she taught at the Department of English Language and Literature in Ankara University and worked as the head of the department from 2003 to 2006. She continued teaching courses at Ankara University after her retirement at the end of 2006. She has also taught part-time at Hacettepe University State Conservatory, Atılım University, and Başkent University. She has a daughter (Ömür), a son (Özgür), and a granddaughter (Ezgi).
Theatre reviews and articles written by Yüksel since 1974 have have been published in the magazines Özgür İnsan, Gösteri, Bilim ve Sanat, Milliyet Sanat, Tiyatro...Tiyatro, Evrensel, Kitaplık, Felsefe Yazın, Oyun, TEB Oyun, Patika and Çağdaş Türk Dili, in “collaborative books” and in university magazines. Some of her articles and papers have been translated into foreign languages. She has been writing theatre reviews for the newspaper Cumhuriyet since 1979, which are published biweekly in the “Sahneden” column. Yüksel has been a board member at the Turkish Centre of the International Theatre Institute (ITI) (1986–1991), member of the Advisory Board of İKSV Istanbul Theatre Festival and member of the Advisory Board of the International Ankara Theatre Festival, and is one of the founding members of Theatre Critics Association (TEB). She has written articles on Turkish theatre for Britannica, Compton’s Encyclopaedia, and the World Encyclopaedia of Contemporary Theatre (WECT) published in Canada.
She is the author of ten books: Güneşin Sofrasında: Genco Erkal’ın Dostlar Tiyatrosu Serüveni, William Shakespeare: Yüzyılların Sahne Büyücüsü, Dram Sanatında Sınırları Zorlamak, Uzun Yolda Bir Mola, Samuel Beckett Tiyatrosu, Dram Sanatında Ezgi ve Uyum, Sahneden İzdüşümler, Çağdaş Türk Tiyatrosundan On Yazar, Haldun Taner Tiyatrosu (1993, Ministry of Culture Award for Theatre Review and Research), Yapısalcılık ve Bir Uygulama: Melih Cevdet Anday Tiyatrosu (1982 YAZKO Review-Research Encouragement Award and 1982 Turkish Language Association Review Award).
Yüksel has received the Theatre and TV Writers Association Service Award in 1990, the Ministry of Culture Criticism Award in 1993, the 118-Y LEO Y.Ç. Honorary Award in 2005, the Sanat Kurumu Honorary Award in 2006, and the 12th International Ankara Theatre Festival’s Outstanding Service Award in 2007. She was presented with Bademler Festival’s Erkan Yücel Honorary Award and Troya Folklore Research Association Honorary Award in 2008, Ankara Kavaklıdere Rotaract Club’s Service to Theatre Award of in 2009, Dokuz Eylül University Faculty of Fine Arts Department of Performing Arts’ Muhsin Ertuğrul Theatre Service Award in 2010, Afife Theatre Awards Yapı Kredi Insurance Special Award in 2011, Sadri Alışık Theatre Honorary Award in 2017, Turkish Theatre Critics Association Honorary Award in 2018, and Tiyatro Gazetesi Honorary Award in 2019.
