Ayşe Kulin was born in Istanbul in 1941. After finishing Arnavutköy American College for Girls, she worked as an editor and a reporter at several newspapers and magazines. For a long time she served as a stage manager, an art director and a scenarist in television programs, advertising films and movies. Kulin′s first book "Güneşe Dön Yüzünü" was published in 1984 and adapted into a film. She was awarded by the Turkish Ministry of Culture and Tourism for this film in 1986. In the same year Kulin worked as a stage manager and an art director in the TV drama "Ayaşli ve Kiracıları" and was awarded the "Best Art Director" by the Association of Theatrical Writers. In 1996, she published a book entitled "Bir Tatlı Huzur", which described the life of Münir Nureddin Selçuk. In the same year Kulin received the prize of Haldun Taner Story (1996) and of the Sait Faik Stories (1997) for her novel "Foto Sabah Resimleri". She was selected as the "Writer of the Year" for her book "Adı Aylin" by Istanbul University, the Faculty of Community in 1997. In 1999 her book "Sevdalinka" was selected as the Novel of the Year by Istanbul University, the Faculty of Community. Her story book "Geniş Zamanlar" was broadcast as a drama on TV in 2007. Kulin says she writes her books only after a great deal of research. For her latest book "Köprü", she traveled for six months throughout the Eastern part of Turkey for her research. She won the same award the next year for her short story Geniş Zamanlar. In November 1999, she wrote a novel called Sevdalinka about the Bosnian War and in 2000, a biographical novel called Füreyya. In June 2001, she put out a novel titled Köprü about drama in Turkey's eastern provinces and how they shaped the republic's early history.
In May 2002, Kulin wrote a novel titled Nefes Nefes'e about the Turkish diplomats, who saved the lives of Jews during the holocaust in World War II.
She has been married twice, her latest novels Hayat and Hüzün describe her life with her spouses, Mehmet Sarper and Eren Kemahli. Both ended in divorce but she bore four sons from the marriages.