Açelya Yönaç (Istanbul, 1978) is a nomad by tradition, a spoken word artist, and a copywriter. She also dabbled professionally in other fields: literary criticism, screenplays, video-journalism in cinema and fashion, tango and yoga teacher. She grew up between Istanbul, Milan, and New York, where she studied Creative Writing with poet Lee Upton and graduated with a Master's degree from NYU. She is a member of the American History Honors Society, Pi Alpha Theta. Her poems won the Black McKnight Poetry Prize. She made her literary debut by publishing short stories in the literary magazine Kitap-lık of Yapı Kredi Publications, Turkey. In Italy, where she currently lives, she received the second prize at the La 24sima Ora competition, organized by the Belleville School of Milan, and won the Giuseppe Pontiggia Scholarship for the annual writing course. She is the co-founder of the writer’s collective Le Foche Parlanti, (Talking Seals), inspired by the poets and artists of Caffe Cino in the 60s.