Yekta Kopan was born in Ankara in 1968. Having graduated from Hacettepe University's Department of Business Administration, Kopan went on to live in İstanbul, publishing his stories in the magazine Hayalet Gemi. In 1998, Kopan founded the online magazine altZine, followed by altKitap, Turkey's first online publishing platform. His first book Fildişi Karası was published in 2000, followed by the books of stories Aşk Mutfağından Yalnızlık Tarifleri, Yedi Derste Vicdan Muhasebesi, Kara Kedinin Gölgesi, Karbon Kopya, Bir De Baktım Yoksun, Kediler Güzel Uyanır, and the novels İçimde Kim Var and Aile Çay Bahçesi. Aşk Mutfağından Yalnızlık Tarifleri won the 2002 Sait Faik Story Award. Kopan's 2007 book of stories Karbon Kopya won the Original Book of the Year award at the Dünya Kitap Awards. Kopan's critically acclaimed story book Bir De Baktım Yoksun, published in November 2009, went on to win two of Turkey's most prestigious literary awards, the Yunus Nadi Story Award and the Haldun Taner Story Award. In 2006, Kopan wrote the text for the theater project İki Kişilik Bir Oyun, which was staged by Tiyatro DOT at the İstanbul Theater Festival. The project was also staged in Germany, Italy and the Netherlands. A story by Kopan was featured in the compilation Alles Blaue, Alles Grüne dieser Welt, published by DTV (Deutscher Taschenbuch Verlag). Kopan's books were translated into Arabic, Albanian, Bulgarian and Hungarian. His e-book Daha Önce Tanışmış Mıydık? was published electronically by altKitap. Kopan's children's book Burun, illustrated by Chilean painter Alex Pelayo, was published in 2009. Kopan participated in various short film competition juries, the Antalya Golden Orange Film Festival Project Development Jury and the Adana Golden Boll Film Festival National Competition Jury. He writes film articles for the Altyazı magazine and book reviews for Milliyet Kitap, as well as  contributing to the magazines İstanbul Art News and Ot. Kopan is also part of the editorial board of Granta Türkiye. Kopan's latest book of stories İki Şiirin Arasında was published in October 2014