ADALETA Ğ AO Ğ LU | Ahmet Dautovic .edu

The catalogue “Books from Turkey” consists of a collection of texts introducing literary works that were translated and published from Turkish into other languages or works that are being translated and published. Alongside the texts exploring the contents of the books you will also find the author biographies. “Books from Turkey” allows an insight into the wealth and beauty of Turkish Literature.

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BOOKS FROM TURKEY

ADALET AĞAOĞLU

Adalet Ağaoğlu, author, playwright and human activist, became Turkey’s most prized novelist. Considered to be one of the most important living authors in Turkey and a revered intellectual, the subject matter of her tightly constructed prose is a balance between a realistic description of the milieu of Turkey which she knows firsthand and the broader, more human elements of social pressure and gender prejudice. In an unfamiliar urban world, her characters as newcomers to modernity struggle with age-old issues complicated by perplexing political, religious, economic and social forces. She has been rewarded with numerous honours besides the literary awards she won in the fields of novel, short story and drama. For her perception of subtle and overt changes in modern Turkish society and her writing entitled “Modernism and Social Change” Ağaoğlu received the “Turkish Presidency Culture and Art Merit Award” in 1995. In 1998, Ağaoğlu received an Honorary Ph.D. from Eskişehir Anadolu University followed by a Ph.D. of Human Letters from the Ohio State University. Some of Works: Novels: Ölmeye Yatmak (Lying Down to Die), Fikrimin İnce Gülü (The Delicate Rose of My Throughts), Bir Düğün Gecesi (A Wedding Night), Yazsonu (Summer’s End), Üç Beş Kişi(Curfew), Ruh Üşümesi (A Chill in the Soul), Romantik Bir Viyana Yazı (A Romantic Vienna Summer) Short Story Collections: Yüksek Gerilim (High Voltage), Sessizliğin İlk Sesi (The First Sound of Silence), Hadi Gidelim (C’mon, Lets Go), Hayatı Savunma Birimleri (Life Defence Units) Foreign Rights: Fikrimin İnce Gülü/The Delicate Rose of My Throughts (Sehnsucht AraratVerlag, Germany), Bir Düğün Gecesi/A Wedding Night (Narodna Kultura, Bulgaria), (Maj Bratislava, Slovakia), Yazsonu/Summer’s End (Talisman, USA), (Sphinx Agency, Egypt), Üç Beş Kişi/Curfew (Texas University Pres, USA)

ÖLMEYE YATMAK - LYING DOWN TO DIE Unionsverlag, Germany, 2008, 299 pages, Novel Translated by Ingrid Iren ISBN: 975 458 862 0 www.onkagency.com

The first novel of the trilogy “Narrow Times” (the other two are Bir Düğün Gecesi and Hayır...) is 299 pages long and begins at 7:22 am and ends at 8:49 am. Aysel, an Associate Professor at a university, while lying down to die in a hotel room in Ankara, conducts an inner dialogue with herself, asking what the use of so much reading and writing had in her life. In the meantime, she recalls her whole life from childhood on, in the framework of the political turmoil from 1938 until 1968. Aysel, after about an hour and a half, decides not to die and leaves the hotel room on a misty April morning.

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ADNAN BİNYAZAR

Adnan Binyazar was born in Diyarbakır in 1934. He worked at the Institute of Turkish History (Türk Tarih Kurumu) and in 1978 he was appointed as President of the Publicity and Publications Department for the Ministry of Culture, where he was the director responsible for the Turkish Culture and Translation periodicals. He was also elected as the Director of the Publications Branch of the Institute of Turkish Language. He travelled abroad and performed various studies in Germany, Sweden and Switzerland about Turkish education, and, as well as taking part in different projects, served on the Berlin Educational Senate. WORKS: Şairin Kedisi (The Poet’s Cat), Duyguların Anakarası (The Continent of Feelings), Halk Anlatıları (Folk Tales), Masalını Yitiren Dev (The Giant who Lost his Tale), Ölümün Gölgesi Yok (Death has no Shadows - 2005 Orhan Kemal Novel Award), Şah Mahmet (Mahmet The Shah).

ÖLÜMÜN GÖLGESİ YOK DEATH HAS NO SHADOWS Dar El Shorouk, Egypt, 292 pages, Novel Translated by Safsafy Ahmet Al-Qatory ISBN: 978 975 07 0388 X www.kalemagency.com

The novel tells the love story between a young girl who is a student, and a young teacher who is appointed to a small province in Anatolia. The teacher falls in love with his student at first sight, and they end up getting married. The author happens to develop cancer while living in Berlin, and the disease causes their love to be dragged into despair. The author, who describes how his love becomes encompassed by the acute feeling of a rancid ‘pain’, says that ‘the biggest punishment given to a human being on this earthly stage called life is the transformation of love into pity.’ The events taking place in the background of the feelings they experience expand and then become constricted between ‘love’ and ‘death’ through the association of ideas and flashbacks. As the wife’s illness progresses, the author goes through unbearable states of depression, driven about between hope and despair. Death has no Shadows causes the reader to experience how one can become more exhausted by each and every passing day, as well as enabling him to ponder upon the infinitude of existence and nonexistence. The novel has attracted attention especially due to the author’s sensitive language, poetic voice, and the novel’s rhythmic exposition, resulting in three editions in three years.

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BOOKS FROM TURKEY

AHMET ALTAN

Ahmet Altan was born in 1950. Upon studying in various middle and high schools, he attended Middle East Technical University, ultimately graduating from the Faculty of Economics at Istanbul University. He took on journalism at the age of twentyfour, assuming positions in nearly all echelons of the profession, from evening correspondent to editor-in-chief. Altan became a columnist in 1987, suspending his career in journalism in 1990 while still an editor-in-chief. He worked on several television programmes. Reprimanded for much of his writing, in 1995 he was sentenced to a year and a half in prison. He is presently the editor-in-chief of Taraf newspaper. His first novel, Dört Mevsim Sonbahar (All Four Seasons Autumn), was published in 1982. His second book, Sudaki İz (Trace in the Water, 1985) was confiscated and burned via court order on charges of obscenity. Persevering as a novelist with bestsellers such as Yalnızlığın Özel Tarihi (The Private History of Loneliness,1991), Tehlikeli Masallar (Perilous Tales, 1996), Kılıç Yarası Gibi (Like a Sword Wound, 2001), İsyan Günlerinde Aşk (Love in the Days of Mutiny, 2001), Aldatmak (Cheating, 2002), and En Uzun Gece (The Longest Night, 2005). He also has several essay collections. Foreign Rights: İsyan Günlerinde Aşk/Love in the Days of Mutiny (L’amour au temps revoltes, Actessud-France); Kılıç Yarası Gibi/Like a Sword Wound (Comme une Bessure de Sabre, Actessud-France), (Der Duft Des Paradieses, Krüger Verlag, Germany)

KILIÇ YARASI GİBİ LIKE A SWORD WOUND Krüger Verlag, Germany, 2002, 320 pages, Novel Translated by Ute Birgi-Knellessen ISBN: 9789759920791 [email protected]

Kılıç Yarası Gibi is an intense novel, which deals with the human relationships, emotions and love in depth. The novel begins with the attack by Armenians on the Ottoman Bank towards the end of the nineteenth century and the wedding of Şeyh Efendi, one of the novel’s main characters. The history of the Ottoman period at the beginning of the twentieth century, the historical characters as well as the political and military developments of the time form the backdrop of the novel which traces the colourful and mysteriously interconnected lives of both Şeyh Efendi and the family of one of the high officials of the palace, Reşit Pasha, just like meticulously knitted lace throughout the novel. What makes this novel unique is that it has created its own language and has skillfully moulded fiction with facts, while shedding light on many incidents of recent Turkish history that remain in the dark. (1999 Yunus Nadi Novel Award)

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AHMED ARİF

Ahmed Arif (1927-1991) was born in Diyarbakır. He finished high school in Afyon. While he was studying philosophy in Ankara University he was arrested on political grounds in 1950 and 1952-53 so could not complete his education. He worked for several Ankara newspapers. Between 1944-55 his poetry was published in various literary journals. He has published only one collection of poetry: Hasretinden Prangalar Eskittim (Fetters Worn Out by Longing,1968) which was widely read by successive generations of poetry lovers and revolutionaries in Turkey. The book has gone through a record number of printings and has achieved cult status.

HASRETİNDEN PRANGALAR ESKİTTİM FETTERS WORN OUT BY LONGING J&D Dagyeli Verlag, Germany, 2008 Translated by Helga Dağyeli, Bohne and Yıldırım Dağyeli 184 pages, Poetry ISBN: 9789753426527 [email protected]

Fetters Worn Out by Longing was first published in 1968 and made a record number of printings. The poems in it were in the hands, words and songs of many generations of socialists and revolutionaries. It had a special and unforgettable place in the bittersweet memories of many people. Ahmed Arif’s poems symbolize the love of land and people, the rebellious spirit and ethics of revolt for his generation and the following generations. This special edition for its 40. anniversary aims to remind the young readers of the day his ideas and values which are under constant attack.

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BOOKS FROM TURKEY

AHMET EMİN ATASOY

Ahmet Emin Atasoy (Bulgaria, 1944) graduated from the Department of Turkish Philology at Sofia University. He worked as a literature teacher, art reporter and director of reading halls. He took refuge in Turkey in 1989. His poetry, articles and translations were published in magazines such as Cumhuriyet Kitap, Çağdaş Türk Dili, Düşlem, Kavram-Karmaşa, Sincan İstasyonu, and Yaba Edebiyat. His poems were translated into Azerbaijan Turkish, Bulgarian, English, Macedonian and Romanian. He translated poems by several Bulgarian and Russian poets into Turkish. In 2008, he was awarded “The Great Poetry Award” in the Argeş 11th International Poetry Festival (Romania) and “2008 Special Jury Award” of the European Culture Academy (Bulgaria) for Orpheus’un Liri (Orpheus’ Lyre). WORKS: Poetry: Sensizliğinle Beraber (Together with your absence), Yüreğimde Şirin Tuna Aktıkça (As long as sweet Danube flows in my heart), Duygu Burgacı (Whirlpool of Emotions), Rüzgârların Küstürdüğü Yapraklar (The Leavess that the wind offended), Perdeledim Penceremi Geceye (I shut the curtains of my window to the night) , Aşkın Yaşı Yok (Love is ageless), Damla Damla (Drop by drop), Sevgi DeniziÇocuklar İçin Şiirler (Sea of Love-Poems for Children), Küllerde Kor Ararken (Looking for a glowing piece of coal in ashes), Dünya Vurdu Başıma (The world hit me on the head), Çocuk Şiirleri (Children’s Poems), Kalabalık Yerinde Yalnızlığın (In the crowded part of loneliness); Compilation and Anthology: 1967’nin Bıraktığı Şiirler (Poems Left by 1967 in Bulgaria with Naci Ferhadov), XV Yüzyıldan Bugüne Rumeli Motifli Türk Şiiri Antolojisi (The Anthology of Turkish Poetry with Rumelian Motifs since XV. Century), Bursa Esintileri (Breezes of Bursa, Turkish Short Stories, Bulgarian, 2008) Essay: Birikmiş Yansımalar Vitrini (The Showcase of Collected Reflections)

YANKILARIN YANKISI THE ECHO OF ECHOES Makavey Publishing, Macedonia, 2008 78 pages, Poetry Translated by Fahri Ali and Branko Tsvetoski ISBN:9789989164927 [email protected]

The 78-page book contains approximately 60 poems chosen by the poet himself from his last seven books. The poems, which were translated into Macedonian by the Macedonian-Turkish poet and translator Fahri Ali, were edited and published by the distinguished Macedonian poet and publisher of our day, Branko Tsvetoski.

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AHMET HAMDİ TANPINAR

Ahmet Hamdi Tanpınar (1901-1962) was a poet, short story writer, novelist, literary historian and professor of literature. He is arguably the most surprising writer of 20th century Turkish literature. Deeply influenced by Valéry and Bergson, Tanpınar created an amazing cultural universe in his work, bringing together Western forms of writing and the sensibilities of a diminishing Ottoman culture. For him the novel was but a concrete manifestation of the dream form. In his creation of a symbolistmodernist fiction, he was ahead of the established literary conventions of his time, which blended romanticism with social realism to bring about social reform. After completing his M.A. at the Faculty of Letters at Istanbul University, he taught literature in various cities throughout Anatolia and in 1939 he became a full professor at Istanbul University, where he has taught Aesthetics, Mythology and Literature. Foreign Rights: Huzur/A Mind at Peace (Archipelago Books,USA), Seelenfrieden (Unionsverlag AG, Germany), (Kelag-E Sefid, Iran), (CHIRP, China), (Fan Noli, Albania), (Trud, Bulgaria), (ASP, Lebanon), (Athenaeum-Polak & Van Gennep, The Netherlands), (Fujiwara, Japan); Yaz Yağmuru/Summer Rain (Actes Sud, France); Beş Şehir/Five Cities (Publisud/UNESCO, France); Saatleri Ayarlama Enstitüsü/The Time Regulation Institute (Actes Sud, France), Das Uhrenstellinstitut (Carl Hanser Verlag, Germany), (Kelag-E Sefid, Iran), (Fan Noli, Albania), (Trud, Bulgaria), (Einaudi, Italy), (Potamos, Greece), (Athenaeum-Polak & Van Gennep, The Netherlands), (La Campana, Catalan), (Schocken, Israel), (Yeuleumsa, Korea), (ASP, Lebanon), (Vremea, Romania), (Dereta, Serbia), (El Aleph, Spain), (Fujiwara, Japan)

HUZUR - A MIND AT PEACE Archipelago Books, USA, 2006, 391 pages, Novel Translated into English by Erdağ Göknar ISBN: 9789750801754 www.kalemagency.com

Between our pasts, our identities, and the broad cultures of East and West – between two worlds – our attitude of sometimes being ourselves and sometimes not, our hesitations, how we live a day or a moment, our habits, our convictions, the pleasure we take from “the music of silence”, the Istanbul that produces its own culture and consumes it as soon as it’s produced, its flutes, its drums, the halo of the music they produce that still draws us in, wanderings of the soul, soft but deep questions, the delicious restlessness that all of this “synthesis” leaves us with… A Mind at Peace is first a novel of the love between Mümtaz and Nuran and then the novel of our lives.

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BOOKS FROM TURKEY

AHMET HAŞİM

Ahmet Haşim (1887-1933) was one of the most influential poets, along with Yahya Kemal Beyatlı, of 20th century Turkish literature. He attempted to create a pure form of poetry during the decline of the Ottoman Empire. The men of letters of the time were engaged in didactic literature and Ahmet Haşim’s efforts were somehow seen as futile. But both he and Yahya Kemal channelled all their efforts into these pure poems. His small books of poetry Göl Saatleri (The Hours of the Lake), and Piyale (The Goblet) were subjected to much criticism when they were first published and were mocked in satirical magazines. His response to these attacks attempted to explain his conception of poetry. Ahmet Haşim was also famous for his prose. His essays are still read and loved by many. WORKS: Bütün Şiirleri: Piyale-Göl Saatleri-Diğer Şiirleri (Collected Poems: The Goblet, The Hours of the Lake and Other Poems), Bütün Eserleri I: Bize Göre İkdam’daki Diğer Yazıları (Collected Works I: According to Us and Other Essays Published in İkdam), Bütün Eserleri II: Gurabahâne-i Laklakan, Diğer Yazılar (Collected Works II: A Hospital of Storks and Other Essays), Bütün Eserleri III Frankfurt Seyahatnamesi - Mektuplar - Mülakâtlar (Collected Works III: The Frankfurt Journey, Letters, Interviews)

FRANKFURT SEYEHATNAMESİ THE FRANFURT JOURNEY Literaturca Verlag, Germany, 2008 Translated by Beatrix Caner, 200 pages, Memoir ISBN: 9789750808754 [email protected]

This small book is comprised of 20 short essays which contain the view of a Turkish intellectual, who went to Germany to receive medical care, of Germany in the 1930s, as seen through the eyes of Frankfurt. Haşim leaves by train from Sirkeci Station, gloomily watching Üsküdar, and arrives in Frankfurt, after crossing the Balkans and the plains of Central Europe. He describes this old German town before the Second World War from many different perspectives.

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AHMET MİTHAT EFENDİ

Ahmet Mithat Efendi (Istanbul 1844-1912) completed his secondary education in Tophane and Niş, and learned French in the meantime. He then joined the public service in the province of Danube and went to Baghdad alongside the Danube governor, Mithat Pasha. There, he worked in the publishing of Zevra newspaper. It was there that he also published his first books Hace-i Evvel and Kıssadan Hisse (The Moral of the Story, 1870) here for students. He established a small publishing house in 1871 and continued with journalism. He published the journal Dağarcık (Repertoire). He was exiled to Rhodes for an article he wrote about Darwin, but returned to Istanbul after the declaration of the constitutional monarchy. He served as the director of Takvim-i Vekayi newspaper and in the Matbaa-i Amire Directorate. He later facilitated the publishing of the Tercüman-ı Hakikat (Interpreter of Truth) newspaper (1877-1912). The writing career of Ahmet Mithat Efendi played an important role in instilling a love of books and reading. His attempt to teach while entertaining is obvious in his works. Ahmed Mithat Efendi has produced over 200 works including novels, short stories and plays as well as many books on philosopy and research, textbooks, encyclopedic books and translations. Some of Works: Hasan Mellah, Hüseyin Fellah, Felâtun Bey ile Rakım Efendi (Felatun Bey and Rakim Efendi), Dünyaya İkinci Geliş (The Second Incarnation), Karı Koca Masalı (A Fairytale of Husband and Wife), Paris’te Bir Türk (A Turkish Man in Paris), Süleyman Musli, Çengi (The Dancing Girl), Yeryüzünde Bir Melek (An Angel on Earth), Henüz On Yedi Yaşında (Only Seventeen Years Old), Karnaval (Carnival), Vah (What a Pity), Dürdane Hanım, Acaib-i Âlem (The Extraordinariness of the World), Cellat (The Hangman), Esrar-ı Cinayat (The Mystery in Murders), Hayret (The Astonishment), Haydut Montari (Montari, the Bandit), Arnavutlar-Solyatlar (Albanians and Soliots), Demir Bey, Gürcü Kızı (The Georgian Girl), Müşahedat (Observations), Papazdaki Esrar The Mystery of the Priest), Hayal ve Hakikat (Dream and Reality), Ahmed Metin ve Şirzad (Ahmed Metin and Sirzad), Taaffüf (Chastity), Gönüllü (The Volunteer), Eski Mektuplar (Old Letters), Jön Türk (Young Turk).

FELATUN BEY İLE RAKIM EFENDİ FELATUN BEY AND RAKIM EFENDI Inner Mongolian Cultural Publishing House, China, 2009 Translated by Ye Jian Xin 172 pages, Novel ISBN: 9789758994038

The novel Felatun Bey ile Rakım Efendi is a fine example of Ahmet Mithat’s work, who produced both his works and, in Tanpınar’s words, his readers, for forty years with amazing diligence, remaining committed to the concept of “educating the public while entertaining”. The subject of this “lesson” from the head teacher of Turkish literature is how the new Westernization process should be perceived and experienced. The entertaining story of the smart and resourceful Rakım, who grew up in poverty, and Felatun, who inherited a big fortune and embraced a European lifestyle, embraces the author’s answer to this question aswell.

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BOOKS FROM TURKEY

AHMET RASİM

Ahmet Rasim was born in Istanbul in 1865 and completed his education in Darüşşafaka. He went into journalism under the guidance of Ahmed Mithat. His articles, travel writings, memoirs, conversations, poems and translations have been published in various magazines and newspapers. He wrote for İleri, Vakit, Akşam and Cumhuriyet newspapers. He worked briefly as a teacher and after the Second Constitutional Monarchy, he published, together with Hüseyin Rahmi Gürpınar, a humorous magazine entitled Boşboğaz (Blabbermouth). He worked as a reporter in Syria, Sofia and Romania. He became a member of Istanbul parliament in 1927, where he served until his death. Excluding his textbooks and translations, Ahmet Rasim’s oeuvre contains approximately 140 works. He wrote in a pure Turkish that is based on vivid, short sentences and current expressions, and he adopted a realistobservationist approach. With his unique style, he was widely read; he also composed nearly 60 songs, with his own lyrics. Ahmet Rasim, journalist, historian, and author, died in his Heybeliada residence on 21st September, 1932. WORKS: Afife, Ülfet, Kitabei Gam (Letters to a Lover), Şehir Mektupları (Letters of the City), Falaka (Foot Whipping), İki Güzel Günahkâr (Two Beautiful Sinners), Fuhşı Atik (The Old Days of Prostitution), Muharrir Şair Edip (Columnist and Poet Edip), Ramazan Sohbetleri (Ramadan Conversations) , Menakıbı İslam (Stories of Islam), Eşkali Zaman (The Shapes of Time), Ciddü Mizah (Biographies), Gülüp Ağladıklarım (What Makes Me Laugh and Cry), Muharrir Bu Ya (The Reporter), Osmanlı Tarihi (Ottoman History), İki Hatıra Üç Şahsiyet (Two Memories and Three Personalities), İstibdattan Hakimiyeti Milliyeye (From Tyranny to the Rule of the Nation), Romanya Mektupları (Letters from Romania).

FALAKA FOOT WHIPPING Inner Mongolian Cultural Publishing House, China 2010 128 pages, Novel Translated by Zhang Shi Ming ISBN: 9789756342114

In his novel entitled Falaka (Foot Whipping) Ahmet Rasim collects his memoirs about his childhood, especially those of his school years. When you read these stories which he penned in a humorous style, you will see how improperly and primitively children were educated at that time and cannot help but feel compassion for them.

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AHMET ÜMİT

Ahmet Ümit (Gaziantep, 1960) graduated from the Public Management Department at Marmara University in 1983, completing his studies at the Moscow Academy of Social Sciences. His first book, Sokağın Zulası (The Street’s Secret Hiding Place), was published in 1989. The book which reflects the political atmosphere of the period, consists of the poems of a young person who is in despair because of the death and darkness which surrounds him and his way of coping with it by sticking to his utopia. Ümit’s first book of short stories, Çıplak Ayaklıydı Gece (Barefoot Night), was published in 1992 and won the Ferit Oğuz Bayır Philosophy and Arts Award in the same year. Almost all of his works are tinged with an air of suspense. Sis ve Gece (Fog and Night), published in 1996, exemplifies this feeling throughout. Ahmet Ümit is one of the most important writers of Turkish detective fiction and some of his works have been made into films and TV series. WORKS: Sokağın Zulası (The Street’s Secret Hiding Place), Çıplak Ayaklıydı Gece (Barefoot Night), Bir Ses Böler Geceyi (A Noise in the Night ), Masal İçinde Masal (Tale within a Tale), Sis ve Gece (Fog and Night ), Agatha’nın Anahtarı (Agatha’s Key), Kar Kokusu (The Fragrance of Snow), Patasana (Patasana), Kukla (Puppet), Beyoğlu Rapsodi (Beyoğlu Rhapsody), Aşk Köpekliktir (Love is Slavery), Başkomiser Nevzat, (Chief Inspector Nevzat), Çiçekçinin Ölümü (Death of a Florist), Kavim (Tribe), Ninatta’nın Bileziği, (Ninatta’s Bracelet), Insan Ruhunun Haritası (A Map of the Human Spirit), Olmayan Ülke (The Land That Never Was), Bab-ı Esrar (The Gate of Mystery) Foreign Rights: Sis ve Gece/The Fog and the Night (German, Greek); Patasana, (Spanish), (German); Beyoğlu Rapsodisi/Rhapsody of Beyoglu (Greek); Şeytan Ayrıntıda Gizlidir/The Devil is in the Details(German); Kukla/The Puppet (French); Masal Masal İçinde/Fairy Tales (Korean)

BEYOĞLU RAPSODİSİ - BEYOGLU RHAPSODY Kedros Publishers, Greece, 2006, 386 pages, Novel Translated by Sofia Ipsilandi ISBN: 9789759915599 [email protected]

This novel, telling the stories of three friends, also relates, in part, Beyoğlu’s own story. It is the story of the mysteries concealed amongst the jostling, hustle and bustle of Beyoğlu’s streets. Beyoğlu Rhapsody is the tale of a continuing friendship, starting in childhood, set against the background of today’s Beyoğlu. Three contrasting personalities, three distinct lifestyles are drawn together within this friendship. First, we become acquainted withthem, and then we become eyewitnesses in their lives. Thinking that everything is going along nicely, quite naturally, their lives are changed by a photography exhibition. Interrogations, questions... then secrets are revealed, one after the other. Ahmet Ümit, with this novel, takes the Detective thriller form into a different dimension. In addition to giving the reader the bonus of a twist in the ending, he also makes us think about the notions of eternal life, friendship, family and ownership.

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BOOKS FROM TURKEY

AHMET YORULMAZ

Ahmet Yorulmaz was born in 1932, in Ayvalık, where he grew up. He started his literary life by translating Modern Greek literature. First, he translated short stories and poems, then children’s books and later on, novels. His translations have been published in Varlık. His, Savaşın Çocukları - Girit’ten Sonra Ayvalık (Children of War - After Crete, Ayvalık), which is about the compulsory population exchange between Greece and Turkey and more precisely, about the tragedy of the Turkish people on Crete, was recognized as the first and only novel written by a Turk about the “Exchange”, at a conference held at Oxford University, in the United Kingdom. WORKS: Ayvalık’ı Gezerken (Strolling Through Ayvalık), Ayvalık’ta İz Bırakanlar (Those Who Left Their Traces in Ayvalık), Ayvalık’tan Cunda’dan (From Ayvalık and Cunda), Girit’ten Cunda’ya (From Crete to Cunda), Kuşaklar ya da Ayvalık Yaşantısı (Generations or Life in Ayvalık), Portreler (Portraits), Savaşın Çocukları - Girit’ten Sonra Ayvalık (Children of War - After Crete, Ayvalık).

SAVAŞIN ÇOCUKLARI - GİRİT’TEN SONRA AYVALIK CHILDREN OF WAR - AFTER CRETE, AYVALIK Omega Publishing, Greece, 2005 148 pages, Novel Translated by Stylianos Roidis ISBN:9751408474 [email protected]

This is the first book of a trilogy. The book, which is based on the compulsory population exchange between Greece and Turkey, has achieved great success in international literary circles. Children of War, by tracing the story of Aynakis Hasan, expresses the painful realities, sufferings and longings experienced during the Exchange years. The trilogy was subsequently completed by Kuşaklar (Generations) and Girit’ten Cunda’ya (From Crete to Cunda).

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ALEV ALATLI

Alev Alatlı was born in Izmir in 1944. She earned a degree from the EconomicsStatistics Department of Middle East Technical University. She went to the USA for her graduate education, returning with a PhD in Philosophy. While working in the State Planning Organization, she also engaged in research on theology and the history of thought, focusing solely on her writing after the year 1984. Alatlı’s published novels are the following: Yaseminler Tüter mi Hâlâ? (Do the Jasmines Still Fume?, 1985), İşkenceci (Torture,1 986), Orda Kimse Var mı? (Anybody There, 1992), Valla Kurda Yedirdin Beni (Honestly, You Fed Me to a Wolf,1993), Nuke Türkiye (Nuke Turkey,1993), OK Musti Türkiye Tamamdır (O.K. Musti Turkey is Done, 1994), Kadere Karşı Koy A.Ş. (Defy Fate, Inc.,1995), Schrödinger’in Kedisi - Kâbus (Schrödinger’s Cat - Nightmare,1999), Schrödinger’in Kedisi (Rüya/Schrödinger’s Cat - Dream,2001), Aydınlanma Değil Merhamet (Grace over Enlightment, 2004), Dünya Nöbeti (World Vigil, 2005), Uhnem, Eyy Uhnem (My Grudge, O My Grudge, 2008). The author has also penned translations and essays. Foreign Rights: Gogol’un İzinde I: Aydınlanma Değil Merhamet (On the Footsteps of Gogol: Grace over Enlightenment – published in Ukraine), Gogol’un İzinde II: Dünya Nöbeti (On the Footsteps of Gogol II- World Sentry- published in Ukraine)

GOGOL’ÜN İZİNDEAYDINLANMA DEĞİL MERHAMET ON THE FOOTSTEPS OF GOGOLGRACE OVER ENLIGHTMENT Çetverta Hviliana, Ukraine, 501 pages, Novel Translated by Iryna M. Dryga ISBN:9752891543 [email protected]

Grace over Enlightenment is the first volume of Alev Alatli’s four-volume novel which became known as “Viva la Muerte” of Russia. For the first two volumes of the quartet, the writer was awarded the Mihail Aleksandrovič Šolohov 100th Anniversary Literary Award in 2006 on the merits of her success in keeping an equal distance to the nations and the extraordinary insight with which she penetrates into a foreign culture’s journey through time. Alatli deals with the problems of our era through a global perspective and tackles the quest for survival of the Russian people from history to this day combining multiple aspects in the form of a novel, depicting it in an artistic language. “One morning you wake up and you don’t exist anymore. You look in the mirror, your face is the same face, and your hands are the same hands... You touch your body and it’s still there. But you’ve been invalidated, you don’t exist anymore. Including the book of God you worship, everything and everyone has changed, you no longer recognise anything...This is what happened to me and Russia.”

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BOOKS FROM TURKEY

ALİ AKBAŞ

Ali Akbaş was born in Kahramanmaraş in 1942. He completed his primary and secondary education in Kahramanmaraş and his university education in the Department of Turkish Language and Literature in the Faculty of Letters at Istanbul University. He worked as a teacher and an administrator in various high schools and colleges under the Ministry of Education; he also worked as a script writer in the Film, Radio and Television Educational Department. A contemporary poet, Akbaş has collaborated in the publication of Divan, Doğuş, Edebiyat and Kanat magazines. He was one of the founding members of the Eurasia Writer’s Association in 2006 and has worked as an editor-in-chief for Kardeş Kalemler Magazine. Continuing in this vein, Akbaş was chosen as the best writer of children’s literature in 1991 by the Turkish Writers Association for his book entitled Kuş Sofrası (The Dinner Table of Birds). WORKS: Poetry: Şairin Masal Çağı (The Fairytale Epoch of the Poet), Kuş Sofrası (The Dinner Table of Birds); Fable: Gökte Ay Portakaldır (The Moon in the Sky is an Orange).

KUŞ SOFRASI THE DINNER TABLE OF BIRDS TONET, Macedonia, 2008, Poetry Translated by Mariya Leontic ISBN: 9786082080079 [email protected]

This book of poetry, which contains poems dedicated to children, begins with the poem “Armağan” (The Gift). The book is comprised of lyrical poems that could be read by both children and adults alike. The poems discuss the good and bad aspects of life. As the poet advises us to always be hopeful in life, he draws us into the world of fairy tales. Kuş Sofrası, which was reprinted during the last few years and has reached a total circulation of 35 thousand copies, is a significant work in children’s literature.

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ALİ NAR

Ali Nar was born in Sarıkamış in 1941. His family moved to Yozgat-Sarıkaya in 1950; he entered Istanbul Higher Institute of Islam and graduated in 1964. He taught in Diyarbakır, Erzincan, Izmit and Istanbul Imam Hatip high schools and retired in 1990. He is a member, and the Turkish representative of, the World Islamic Literature Association. His first poem “Su” (Water) was published in 1961 and his first book Fetih (The Conquest) in 1975.His articles were published in periodicals such as Milli Gazete, Yeni Devir, and Vahdet Magazine. Nar translated from Classical and Modern Arabic and he is also the writer of Uzay Çiftçileri (The Space Farmers), the first science-fiction novel of the Turkish and Islamic world. Ali Nar has penned over 50 religious, scientific and literary works, including his copyright and translated works. His novels have been translated into Arabic, his books have been analysed in international literary magazines published in English, and some of his plays have been staged hundreds of times. WORKS: Fetih (The Conquest), Koro (The Choir), Muhtar Kafası (The Mind of a Village Headman), Ezan Donanması, İki Sonsuza Gidelim (Let’s Go to Two Eternities), Anadolu Günlüğü (The Diary of Anatolia), Arılar Ülkesi (The Land of Bees), Uzay Çiftçileri (The Space Farmers). Foreign Rights: Arılar Ülkesi/ The Land of Bees (Arabia, 2003), (Egypt, 2005)

ARILAR ÜLKESİ THE LAND OF BEES Mektebu’l-Bilâd El- Arabiyye, Arabia, 2003 166 pages, Novel Translated by Dr. Macide Mahluf ISBN: 9756469013 [email protected]

Arılar Ülkesi (The Land of Bees) is a utopian novel with a social-political theme. A nation’s struggle for existence is depicted in a gripping style as a novel. In terms of thought and reflection, Arılar Ülkesi is similar to Gulliver’s Travels, Utopia and The Land of Sun.

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BOOKS FROM TURKEY

A. ALİ URAL

A. Ali Ural was born in Ladik, Samsun in 1959. He received his elementary school education in Ankara and then studied Literature and Theology in Riyadh. A. Ali Ural’s first poem was published in the journal Mavera (1982). He founded Şule Publishing and his poems, stories and articles were published in Merdiven Sanat and Kitaphaber magazines. A. Ali Ural is currently the vice-president of the Turkish Writers Association. He has a weekly column in Zaman newspaper. He has been teaching creative writing at different institutions in Istanbul for fifteen years. WORKS: Körün Parmak Uçları (Finger Tips of the Blind, Poems, 1998), Posta Kutusundaki Mızıka (Harmonica in the Mail Box, Essays, 1999), Yangın Merdiveni (Fire Escape Stairs, Stories, 2000), Makyaj Yapan Ölüler (The Dead Putting on Make-up, Essays, 2004), Resimde Görünmeyen (What Can’t be Seen in the Painting, Essays, 2006), Kuduz Aşısı (Rabies Vaccine, Poems, 2006), Güneşimin Önünden Çekil (Do not Block My Sun, Novel, 2007), Satranç Oynayan Derviş (The Chess Playing Dervish, Essay2008).

YANGIN MERDİVENİ FIRE ESCAPE STAIRS Pojarna stılba, Bulgarian 133 pages, Short Story Translated by Mariya Leontic ISBN:9756841516 [email protected], [email protected]

We are all trying to escape from something. We successfully escape from our lives, from the ones we hate or love, from our responsibilities… But upon reading Yangın Merdiveni (Fire Escape Stairs) , we realise that we are only running away from ourselves. The loving arms, which will embrace us in the end, are nothing but loneliness.

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ALPER CANIGÜZ

Alper Canıgüz was born in Istanbul in 1969, completed his secondary school education at Dârüşşafaka High School and undertook his further education at the Department of Psychology at Boğaziçi University. He began writing at high school, and published his first novel, Tatlı Rüyalar (Sweet Dreams), in 2000. His other novels are entitled Oğullar ve Rencide Ruhlar (Sons and Tormented Souls, 2004) and Gizli Ajans (Secret Agent, 2008) His first novel, Tatlı Rüyalar (Sweet Dreams), was described as a psycho-absurd romantic comedy. It is a parody of a novel, which flows in a festive manner with its strange characters and fantastical stories. In Sons and Tormented Souls, he persists with a similar style; on the one hand he abides by all the rules and conventions of a detective novel, while on the other hand satirizing them.

OĞULLAR VE RENCİDE RUHLAR SONS AND TORMENTED SOULS Galata Edition , Germany Translated by Oliver Kontny, 204 pages, Novel ISBN: 9750502051 www.iletisim.com.tr, [email protected]

In Sons and Tormented Souls, Alper Canıgüz tells the story of a five year old boy who finds himself in a mysterious adventure in the throes of his daily life. Taking advantage of his young age, this insightful and smart child with philosophical talents turns out to be the one able to solve this mystery. The neighbours and the neighbourhood itself are revealed as authentic characters unfolding in the story. An ambitious literary work uniting the genres of thriller, fantasy and humour.

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BOOKS FROM TURKEY

ASLI ERDOĞAN

Aslı Erdoğan was named as one of the “fifty writers who will be remembered” by the French journal, Lire. From her first book onwards it was evident that she offered a different kind of narrative: melancholy stories and a rich language that effectively conveys the tale to the reader. These characteristics feature prominently in the the novel which made her popular, Kırmızı Pelerinli Kent (The City in a Crimson Cloak,1998). The book is one of the most important narratives in recent Turkish literature and has been translated into many languages. Her short story “Tahta Kuşlar” / “Wooden Birds”, which received an award in Berlin in 1997, is also considered one of her most important narratives. Her other works include; Kabuk Adam (Shell Man, novel, 18th edition), Mucizevi Mandarin (Miraculous Mandarin, novel, 7th edition), Kırmızı Pelerinli Kent (The City in a Crimson Cloak, novel, 7th edition), Hayatın Sessizliğinde (In the Silence of Life, essays), Bir Delinin Güncesi (The Diary of a Mad Woman, essays), Bir Kez Daha (One More Time, essays) Bir Yolculuk Ne Zaman Biter (When a Journey Ends), Taş Bina ve Diğerleri (Stone Building and Others, stories) Foreign Rights: Mucizevi Mandarin/The Miraculous Mandarin: (Edition Galata, Germany), (Actesud, France), (Buybook, Bosnia Herzegovina), (Ramus, Sweden), (Gyldendal, Norway); Kırmızı Pelerinli Kent/The City in Crimson Cloak (Soft Skull, USA), (Buybook, Bosnia Herzegovina), (Aton Odd., Bulgaria), (Unions, Germany), (Cadmus, Syria), (Zamus, Switzerland), (Gyldendal, Norway), (Actes Sud, France)

KIRMIZI PELERİNLİ KENT THE CITY IN CRIMSON CLOAK Soft Skull, USA, 2007, 144 pages, Novel Translated by Amy Spangler ISBN: 9789752893580 [email protected]

Özgür, having deserted her past and secluded herself from the outer world, is poor, hungry, and on the verge of a mental breakdown. She has a single weapon left in the all-out war she has declared against Rio de Janeiro: to write the city, which has trapped her and robbed her of everything. As we read the bits and pieces of Özgür’s unfinished novel, The City in a Crimson Cloak, with its autobiographical protagonist named, for the time being, only as Ö, we begin to put together the fragments of Özgür’s story. Meanwhile, the narrator tells us of a single day in Özgür’s life which is, in fact, her last.

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ASLI TOHUMCU

Aslı Tohumcu was born in 1974. She continued her studies in the English Language and Literature Department at Istanbul University, but left during the third year. She has worked consecutively at Varlık, Mitos (both, literary journals) and at Yapı Kredi Publishing House. Her first short story was published in 1992, in Varlık. For a while, she worked on poetry with poets contributing to the literary magazines, Sombahar ve Ludingirra and had her own poems and articles published there as well. She has made a documentary, with Kerem Eryavuz, as a supplement to Abis. She is currently working as a freelance writer in Istanbul. WORKS: Yok Bana Sensiz Hayat (No Life without You), Abis. Foreign Rights: Yok Bana Sensiz Hayat/No Life Without You (Steno, Bulgaria), (Cadmus, Syria), (Ruffel,Germany)

YOK BANA SENSİZ HAYAT NO LIFE WITHOUT YOU Steno, Bulgaria, 2007 51 pages, Novel Translated by Ayser Ali ISBN: 9789544493240 www.kalemagency.com

Yok Bana Sensiz Hayat (No Life without You), tells the story of friendship becoming love, love becoming friendship, love turning into pain, anguish and inferno, because of the interference of others. This book, sometimes written in a fantastic, poetic style, sometimes more realistically, is the story of the journey made after losing one’s soul mate, or life partner and the quest to understand the reasons for this separation seen through the eyes of four characters: Mine, Adnan, Cumurkuşu and Sur.

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BOOKS FROM TURKEY

ATAOL BEHRAMOĞLU

Ataol Behramoğlu was born in Çatalca, Istanbul in 1942. He graduated from Çankırı High School and the Department of Russian Language and Literature in the Faculty of Language, History and Geography at Ankara University in 1966. He completed his masters degree at the University of Moscow and Paris-Sorbonne University, and his doctorate at Istanbul University. His first book of poetry Bir Ermeni General (An Armenian General) was published in 1965. With his second book Bir Gün Mutlaka (Certainly One Day, 1970), he became one of the pioneering poets of his generation. In addition to his books of poetry, he published works in the genres of drama, essay, travel writing, children’s literature and translation. He is the recipient of the international Lotus Literary Award given by the Asia Africa Writers Association (1981) and the Puşkin Medal awarded by the Russian Federation (2007). His poems have been published in various languages, both as books and individually in magazines and anthologies. He is currently a columnist for Cumhuriyet newspaper, and a professor of Russian Language and Literature at Beykent University.

YAŞADIKLARIMDAN ÖĞRENDİĞİM BİR ŞEY VAR I’VE LEARNED SOME THINGS The University of Texas at Austin, USA,2008 200 pages, Poetry Translated by Walter G. Andrews ISBN: 978-0-292-71969-9 [email protected]

I’ve Learned Some Things allows English language readers the rare opportunity to experience the work of Ataol Behramoglu, one of Turkey’s most celebrated poets. The sixty-six poems in this collection span the author’s extraordinary career and are stunning examples of the intense emotional quality of his work. Behramoglu celebrates the rich fabric of everyday life by exploring both personal and social struggles, sometimes employing a whimsical note.

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AYFER GÜRDAL ÜNAL

Ayfer Gürdal Ünal was born in 1953; she graduated from the Üsküdar American Academy for Girls and then in 1975, from Istanbul University, the Department of Business Administration. She has worked as a manager for twenty years. Her first book, Doğum Gününde Gelen Ağaç (The Tree that Arrived on the Birthday) was published in 1996. This illustrated children’s book was followed by nine other illustrated children’s books, two novels for children ages 8 through 12 and three translated works for adults. The author, who has been in charge of the Çocuk Gözü column (Through Children’s Eyes) since June 2006 in the Dünya newspaper’s book insert, tries to emphasize the importance of children’s books in communication within families. The author has taught a course titled Contemporary Turkish Children’s Literature in the summer of 2007 at the Boğaziçi University Summer School. She is currently pursuing her master degree in Turkish Language and Literature at the same university. Ayfer Gürdal Ünal is a member of IBBY (International Board on Books for Young People) Turkey, SCWIB, Turkish Pen Association, and the Children’s Literature Association, USA. The author is fluent in English and can read and understand Spanish and Ottoman.

TAKMA ADI GAGALI NICK NAMED PLATYPUS Sardes Verlag, Germany, 2008 110 pages, Young Adult Novel Translated by İnci Pazarkaya ISBN: 9789944885256 [email protected]

The book, addresses the issue of abuse that stems from gossiping, nicknaming, and insulting among girls, and points out the role and the responsibility of the audience in preventing this form of abuse. The novel depicts the tyranny of the “queen bee” Sema and her clique over a student who is new in school. This novel is about dealing with this tyranny and escaping its grip.

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BOOKS FROM TURKEY

AYFER TUNÇ

Ayfer Tunç, is a story writer and novelist who has been declared one of the most recent brilliant writers in Turkish literature. Her first short story book Saklı (Hidden 1989 Yunus Nadi Short Story Award) has been critically acclaimed both by literary circles as well as by readers. Tunç graduated from the School of Political Sciences at Istanbul University and started working as a journalist for highly circulated periodicals and daily newspapers in 1989. She worked as editor-in-chief at Yapı Kredi Publishing House from 1999 to 2004. Tunç writes about the virtues of being a lonely city dweller and a human being, and with deep insight she describes the suffering it also brings. Her book Bir Maniniz Yoksa Annemler Size Gelecek (My Parents Will Visit You If You Aren’t Occupied: Our Life in the ‘70s) first published in 2001, won the International Balkanika Literary Award in 2003 and was translated into six Balkan languages. The same year her screenplay Havada Bulut (Cloud in the Sky) inspired by Sait Faik’s short stories, was filmed and televised. WORKS: Saklı (Hidden), Kapak Kızı (Cover Girl), İkiyüzlü Cinsellik (Hypocritical Sexuality), Mağara Arkadaşları (Cave Friends), Aziz Bey Hadisesi (Aziz Bey Incident), Bir Maniniz Yoksa Annemler Size Gelecek (My Parents Will Visit You If You Aren’t Occupied), Ömür Diyorlar Buna (If They Call This Life) Belki Varmış Belki Yokmuş (Maybe It Exists, Maybe It Doesn’t). Foreign Rights: Aziz Bey Hadisesi /The Mr. Aziz Phenomenon (Fan Noli, Albanian); Bir Maniniz Yoksa Annemler Size Gelecek / My Parents Will Visit You If You Aren’t Occupied (Cadmus, Syria)

AZİZ BEY HADİSESİ AZİZ BEY INCIDENT Fan Noli, Albania, 2008 172 pages, Short Story Translated by Orkida Muça ISBN: 9789994352371 www.kalemagency.com

Aziz Bey is the most genuine and saddest hero of Ayfer Tunç’s fictional world; a world usually portraying stories of scarred lives, lives that are wasted because of human frailties and mistakes. Some readers are struck by the tangible presence of such a character when reading the story of Aziz Bey.

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AYLA ÇINAROĞLU

Ayla Çınaroğlu was born in Ankara in 1939. She graduated from the State Academy of Fine Arts in 1961. Since 1972, she has written for children, and illustrates some of her books. Her first book, Yedi Kapılı Kent (The City Of Seven Gates) was published in 1977. Her tales and poems are published in magazines and language lesson books for Turkish children in foreign countries. She works towards promoting literacy by speaking at libraries, schools, and universities. Her theatrical works, Miğfer (Helmet), Al Takkeli Dev (The Giant with the Red Cap) and Boş Kaplumbağa (Empty Turtle) have been produced for theatres. Of the 58 titles which she currently has in circulation, she has received awards for the following works: Mut Teyze’nin Bahçesi (The Garden of Aunt Mut, Poem Story), Miğfer (Helmet, Play), Kara Yusuf (Black Yusuf, Tale), Beyaz Benekli At (White Spotted Pony, Stories),Uzay Güzeli (Space Beauty, Screenplay), Küçük Mor Balık (Little Purple Fish, Poem Story), Yaşasın Kar Yağıyor (Hurray, it’s Snowing, Story) and Veli’nin Kurabiyesi (Veli’s Cookie, Story), Tülüş (Novel). Foreign Rights: Mut Teyze’nin Bahçesi/The Garden of Aunt Mut (Iran), Beyaz Benekli At/White Spotted Pony (The Netherlands), Küçük Mor Balık/Little Purple Fish (Egypt)

MUT TEYZE’NİN BAHÇESİ THE GARDEN OF AUNT MUT Andisheh Farzanegan, Iran, 2007 36 pages, Children’s Book Translated by Mohammad Reza Mehrafza ISBN: 978975580298 [email protected] [email protected]

In a country, all shades of green decide to leave one day because of the air pollution caused by excessive industrialisation. Shades of green are now replaced by shades of black and grey. The greens hues meet, there in the sky, with other shades of green which have also left their respective countries for reasons such as inertia, insensitivity, and fires. As all shades of green prepare to abandon the world, thinking that there is no place for them to live, a bird advises them to visit Aunt Mut’s garden. Despite the fact that she is blind, Aunt Mut takes good care of her garden. All those shades of green go there and settle down in the garden. This intensive green allows Aunt Mut to regain her eyesight. People outside are jealous and apathetic with this gleam in the garden. Some of them attempt to steal some of the green, but fail since the green of each and every branch and leaf return to the garden. However, two children ask Aunt Mut for a pot of flowers, promising to take very good care or them. And then some other children follow suit... With each seedling she hands out, she loses her sight little by little, but Aunt Mut continues to hand them out since one of the paths to happiness is to distribute it. Sensitive children will help the colour green find its place in the world once again.

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BOOKS FROM TURKEY

AYLA KUTLU

Ayla Kutlu was born in Antakya in 1938 and after graduating from the Faculty of Political Sciences in 1960, she worked in various institutions for 20 years. She became a professional literary writer in 1975 and since her retirement in 1980, she has been intensively producing literary works. She is interested in various areas of literary genres, such as novels, stories, children’s novels, movie scripts, scenario writing, introductory papers, documentaries, conversation and radio plays. Ayla Kutlu was awarded with the first movie script prize at the 13th Antalya Meeting on Cinema and History (with Tunç Başaran and Macit Koper), and the Altın Koza Scenario Prize. Five of her stories have been adapted for cinema. She was awarded with the Madaralı Novel Prize for her most famous work Bir Göçmen Kuştu/He was a Migrating Bird in 1986. WORKS: Kaçış (Escape), Islak Güneş (Wet Sun), Cadı Ağacı (Witch Tree), Tutsaklar (Prisoners), Bir Göçmen Kuştu O (She Was a Migrant Bird), Hoşçakal Umut (Farewell Hope) , Kadın Destanı (Women’s Legend), Hüsnüyusuf Güzellemesi (Sweet Words for Hüsnüyusuf ) , Sen de Gitme Triyandafilis (Don’t Go Triyandafilis), Mekruh Kadınlar Mezarlığı (Sinful Women’s Graveyard). Foreign Rights: Sen de Gitme Triyandafilis/Don’t You Go Triyandifilis! (German), Merhaba Sevgi/ Hello Love (Macedonian)

SEN DE GİTME TRİYANDİFİLİS DON’T GO TRIYANDAFILIS Literaturca Verlag, Germany, 2007 224 pages, Short Story Translated by Beatrix Caner ISBN: 9754942013 [email protected] [email protected]

The book includes nine stories on imaginary beauty. The stories are basically about women against the background of a cultural mosaic of thousands of pieces. The stories are written in fabulous Turkish. Don’t you go Triyandafilis presents unique pleasures to the reader thanks to its emotional melancholy. The story of the same title brought the Altın Koza award to the author.

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AYSEL GÜRMEN

Aysel Gürmen was born in Cyprus in 1956. She studied Business Administration and Science Education at Bosphorus University. She continued her studies in Non-Formal Education at the same University. She started writing for children in 1992. She is well known as the author of the Selen’in Öyküleri (Selen’s Stories) series (consisting of 12 books). Children and parents alike are great fans of the series in Turkey. Currently, she has 42 books in circulation and has been granted 6 awards by different institutions. Foreign Rights: Kuli’nin Rüyası/Kuli’s Dream (Safeer Publishing, Egypt), Şıkırdağın Çıngırağı/The Rattling Bell (Talisa Kinderbuch, Germany), Ninemin Hazinesi/ My Grandma’s Treasure (Oraman-Iran)

NİNEMİN HAZİNESİ MY GRANDMA’S TREASURE Oraman Publishing, Iran 16 pages, Children’s Book Translated by Nilufar Olfat-Shayan ISBN: 9789755870830 [email protected]

One of the books in the Ninem (My Grandma) series, Ninemin Hazinesi (My Grandma’s Treasure), brings the concepts of opposites, the cause and effect relationship, the topics of neighbourhood, mountain houses and seasons, together with life within the flow of entertaining stories. The poetic diction of the writer in these stories reinforces the memory capacity in children. The friendship of the grandmother and the grandchild helps children regard the elders in the family not only as old people but as friends. The friendship of a small child and an elderly person. Poetic stories moulded with ideals and emotions.

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BOOKS FROM TURKEY

AYSEL ÖZAKIN

Aysel Özakin studied French Literature in Poitiers and worked as a lecturer in Istanbul and as a guest lecturer at Frankfurt Johann Wolfgang von Goethe University. She won two major Turkish literary prizes (Sabahattin Ali and Madaralı). Her works published in Turkish include novels such as Gurbet Yavrum (My Child the Foreign Lands, 1975), Alnında Mavi Kuşlar (Blue Birds on Your Forehead, 1978), Genç Kız ve Ölüm (The Young Girl and Death,1980), Mavi Maske (Blue Mask,1988), Güzellik Acısı (Pain of Beauty, 2006) and short story books entitled Sessiz Bir Dayanışma (A Silent Solidarity,1976) and Kanal Boyu (Along the Canal, 1981). Abroad she received several fellowships and grants, among them Gunter Grass, Worpswede, Valporariso and Yaddo. Özakin is an author with a multi-layered literary identity. In her novels and plays, she transcends the notions of culture, background, relationship and identity. Foreign rights: Mavi Maske/Blue Mask (German),Gurbet Yavrum/My Child the Foreign Lands (German), Genç Kız ve Ölüm/The Young Girl and Death (German)

ALNINDA MAVİ KUŞLAR BLUE BIRDS ON YOUR FOREHEAD Luchterhand Literaturverlag, Germany, 1989 164 pages, Novel Translated by Carl Koss ISBN: 9789944122146 [email protected]

This novel examines the ongoing clash between three forces: individuals aiming at self-fulfilment, intellectual and emotional emancipation, the political activists who give absolute priority to social and political engagement and the reactionary forces who want to eliminate them both. The representatives of these three ideologies fight for their cause on a May first celebration in Istanbul which ends in a massacre mise en scene both by external and internal dark forces. This novel has been awarded the Madaralı Prize in Istanbul and has been highly acclaimed for creating a lyrical and political atmosphere.

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AYŞE KİLİMCİ

Mainly an author of short stories, Ayşe Kilimci also writes essays and children’s books. She has 30 books published thus far and around 30 waiting to be published. She was born and raised in İzmir; she has earned her living working as a social worker, where she has shared stories of different people from many walks of life, and her experience in this field has contributed to her writing career. Her first story appeared in Varlık, a popular literary magazine, when she was 17 and she completed her first book when she was 19. She thinks that short story writing is by far the most difficult type of writing which is really exhausting. To her, it means resistance. She resists injustice, cruelty and despair in the stories and shelters in her writing. She received several international story awards and was invited to participate in various literary events in different parts of Turkey as well as Europe. Kilimci’s favorites among her many books are Merhaba Dünya (Hello, World), Şu Ölüm Dedikleri (That Which They Call Death), Gül Bekçisi (Rose Keeper), Mucize Var mı Mehmet Abla? (Is There a Miracle, Mehmet Abla?), Ah Benim Akortsuz Kalbim (Oh, My Discordant Heart). Foreign Rights: Mucize Var Mıdır Memet Abla?/Is There a Miracle, Mehmet Abla? (France); Benim Adım Çocuk/My Name is Child (Yugoslavia)

MUCİZE VAR MIDIR MEMET ABLA IS THERE A MIRACLE, MEHMET ABLA? Forum Femmes Mediterranee de Marseille, France 189 pages, Short Story ISBN: 9753313764 www.znn.com.tr

“The story is people forgetting everything and being grateful for being alive; it is the north star of not being lonely. It is a bullet shot through the dark night. Even if it does not untangle the knot, it is resonant. Mothers can prepare their daughters’ throne but not their good fortune. Now, that good fortune is the story... Everyone weaves his or her own story, the mistakes and faults in the loops alike are their own making. This book, like others, bears that intense, wild, and complicated theme of my heart, my mind, and my personal adventure. In between the lines are humor for all of us, of all colors and languages that make Turkey what she is. I have tremendously enjoyed writing it, I’m still laughing. You, too, remember, as you enter this house of mirrors of laughter, that tears and laughter are intertwined... “There sure are miracles!” insists little Mehmet in the story entitled “Yıldızları Dinle” (Listen to the Stars) which received several awards. Is there? “Sure there is,” he says, taking the miracle from the rainbow to Istiklal Street... Let there be a miracle, let dreams reach the sky, let there be fewer dungeons and let hope come to life…”

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BOOKS FROM TURKEY

AYŞE KULİN

Ayşe Kulin graduated from the American College, Turkey and worked as an editor for several newspapers and magazines and in the film industry. Her first novel entered the bestseller lists and sold more than 400.000 copies and she holds many fiction awards for her works. She has been nominated as author of the year by several organizations on a number of occasions and her works have been translated into many languages. WORKS: Adı: Aylin (Name: Aylin, Biography, 89.edition), Babama (To My Father, Poems), Bir Gün (One Day, Novel), Bir Varmış Bir Yokmuş (Once Upon a Time, Stories), Foto Sabah Resimleri (Photo Morning Pictures, Stories), Füreya (Biography), Geniş Zamanlar (Present Tenses, Stories), Güneşe Dön Yüzünü (Turn Your Face to Sun, Stories,12. edition), İçimde Kızıl Bir Gül Gibi/(Like a Red Rose within Me, Essay), Köprü (Bridge, Novel, 48. edition), Bir Tatlı Huzur (Sweet Peace, Biyografi, 7. Edition), Sevdalinka (Novel, 55. edition), Nefes Nefese (Last Train to Istanbul, Novel), Umut - Hayat Akan Bir Sudur (Hope - Life is like Flowing Water, Novel) Gece Sesleri (The Voices of the Night, Novel), Veda (Farewell, Novel), Kardelenler (Snowdrops, Research).

NEFES NEFESE LAST TRAIN TO ISTANBUL Ramsey, France, 2009 450 pages, Novel ISBN: 9752894532 [email protected]

Based on a real event during the World War II…The marriage of Selva, daughter of an old Ottoman General, to Rafael, a Jewish Turk, is denounced by both families. The young couple moves to France. But their newfound peace is shattered with the start of World War II and the arrival of Nazi forces to France. Now they have to pass each day in fear of being sent to a concentration camp. Their only hope is the Turkish diplomats who are trying to protect all Turkish citizens in Europe, while negotiating the tight rope between the Axis and the Allies without falling into the abyss of war.

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AYTÜL AKAL

Aytül Akal was born in 1952. Aytül Akal’s childhood dream was to become a writer or a poet. In 1973, she started writing professionally for magazines and has done so ever since. Her stories and poems have been published in different magazines and newspapers, and she has also written columns and conducted interviews for various publications. She has devoted herself completely to Children’s Literature since writing her first children’s book in 1991. She has given lectures, conducted book signings, and has endeavored to promote a reading culture in Turkey. She has also developed social projects that support children’s development. She has written fairy tales, stories, plays, novels, poems and has so far published 100 books. Some of her books have been translated into German, English, Spanish, Persian and Bulgarian. WORKS: Masallar Dizisi (Fairy Tales), Sihirli Kapı Dizisi (Magical Door Series), Mevsimler Kralı’nın Serüvenleri Dizisi (The King Of Seasons’ Adventures Series), Masallar (Fairy Tales), Fil Masalları (Elephant Tales), Ağaç Masalları (Tree Tales), Uzaylı Çocuk Masalları (The Space Child Tales), Çikolata Masalları (The Chocolate Tales), Güzel Dünyamıza Masallar (Tales To Our Lovely World), Orman Masalları (The Forest Tales), Kitap Masalları (The Book Tales), Uyku Masalları (The Sleep Tales), Çocuğuma Masallar (Tales To My Child), En Matrak Canavar Öyküleri (The Funniest Monster Stories), Öyküler (Stories), Süper Gazeteciler Dizisi (Super Journalists Series), Muhtelif Kitaplar (Miscellaneous Books), Çocuklar İçin Şiirler (Poetry For Children), Yetişkinler İçin Öyküler, Şiirler (Stories, Poetry For Adults).

DİLEK AĞACI - THE WISH TREE Talisa Kinderbuch, Germany, 2008 16 pages, Children’s Book Translated by Pervin Tongay ISBN: 9783939619055 [email protected]

Trees are the heroes of each one of this series of fairy tales; “The Two Quarreling Trees”, “The Peace Tree” and “The Tree Who Loved to Travel”, which expresses children’s passion for going places. The Wish Tree is a tale which both, helps children to see that trees are living beings and encourages them to love school. “The Most Beautiful Tree of The World” tells the delightful story of seasonal change through a tree which changes its hair style... What do you think happens when the animals try to build an apartment block in the forest? What should you say to mysterious neighbours when the newcomers are going to destroy their trees and habitat? In these eco-friendly stories, we also come across numerous fairy tale heroes who are trying to remember which fairy tale they come from.

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BOOKS FROM TURKEY

AZİZ NESİN

He was born in 1915 in Istanbul. Worked as a journalist and published satirical/ humoristic magazines. In 1979 he was elected general secretary of the Turkish Writers Union and was reelected to the same position for many years to follow. Aziz Nesin, who holds a very distinguished place not only in Turkish literature, but also in international satirical/humoristic literature, died in 1995. In his stories he gives us delightful, detailed pen portraits representing the whole cross-section of Turkish society. He uses Turkish folk literature elements in his stories and employs an anecdotal or satirical style to criticise social problems. Aziz Nesin introduced modern satirical writing techniques into Turkish literature and opened the way for younger generations of satirical writers. He was awarded several literary prizes at home and abroad. Some of Works: Novels: Kadın Olan Erkek (The She-Man), Gol Kralı Sait Hopsait (The Goal King Sait Hopsait), Erkek Sabahat (Tomboy), Saçkıran (Ringworm), Zübük, Şimdiki Çocuklar Harika (Today’s Kids are Wonderful), Tatlı Betüş (Sweet Betüş), Yaşar Ne Yaşar Ne Yaşamaz (Yaşar is Neither Alive nor Dead), Surname (Hayri the Barber Surnamé), Tek Yol (The Only Way); Stories: Fil Hamdi (Hamdi the Elephant), Damda Deli Var (There’s a Madman on the Roof), Toros Canavarı (The Monster of the Toros Mountains), Bay Düdük (Mr Whistle), Gözüne Gözlük (You Need a Pair of Glasses), Ah Biz Eşekler (Us Donkeys), Yüz Liraya Bir Deli (A Madman for Hundred Liras), Biz Adam Olmayız (We Can’t Be Men), Sosyalizm Geliyor Savulun (Socialism is Coming: Stand Aside), Vatan Sağolsun (For the Good of the Country), Maçinli Kız İçin Ev (Home for a Girl from Maçinli), Memleketin Birinde (In One Country), Hoptirinam, Uyusana Tosunum (Go to Sleep Fatty), Aziz Dededen Masallar (Tales from Grandpa Aziz).

YAŞAR NE YAŞAR NE YAŞAMAZ YAŞAR IS NEITHER ALIVE NOR DEAD Prunsoop Publishing, South Korea, 2006 343 pages, Novel Translated by Nana Lee ISBN 89-7184-469-8 [email protected]

One of the greatest Turkish satirical writers, Aziz Nesin’s Yaşar Ne Yaşar Ne Yaşamaz book is a fine example of Turkish satire which illustrates a universal truth. For this book, Aziz Nesin was awarded the Madralı Novel Prize, in 1978. Yaşar Yaşamaz is a person who is alive, but seems to have died according to the registry office. The whole problem starts when he tries to get an identity card for his son at the beginning of the school year. Yaşar Yaşamaz, who has given up hope of obtaining an identity card for himself, fights against all the bureaucracy in order to get an identity card for his son. However, the identity card is refused on the grounds that he himself has died before the child was born, therefore, he does not exist. Yaşar loses his mind and goes insane. He is put in prison from where he tells his story.

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BARIŞ MÜSTECAPLIOĞLU

Bariş Müstecaplıoğlu was born in the city of İzmit in 1977. He is a graduate of Boğaziçi University’s Department of Civil Engineering. His stories have been published in magazines such as Yaşasın Edebiyat, Varlık and Kitap-lık. He received the İffet Esen Short Story Award in 1995. He wrote his first novel, Korkak ve Canavar (The Coward and the Beast, 2002) at theage of 22. The Coward and the Beast was the first book of the fantasy series Perg Efsaneleri (The Perg Legends), which continued with Merderan’ın Sırrı (The Secret of Merderan, 2002), Bataklık Ülke (Marsh Country, 2004) and Tanrıların Alfabesi (The Alphabet of the Gods, 2005) In December 2005, his novel Şakird (Şakird), which is about Islamic communities and one man’s search for the meaning of life, was published. Kardeş Kanı (Brother’s Blood, 2006) and Bir Hayaldi Gerçekten Güzel (Beautiful Dreams, 2009). He also wrote a children’s book, Hodi Podi (Hodi Podi). Foreign Rights: Kardeş Kanı/Brother’s Blood (Maletz, Poland), Korkak ve Canavar /The Coward And The Beast (Arka,Bulgaria), Merderan’ın Sırrı/The Secret of Merderan (Arka,Bulgaria)

KARDEŞ KANI BROTHER’S BLOOD Maletz, Poland, 2008, 240 pages, Novel Translated by Mikolaj Sobczak, Anna Sobczak ISBN: 9789752893528 www.kalemagency.com

With the plot of a riveting detective novel, Müstecaplıoğlu sheds light on the lives of street children, their plight a bleeding social wound, thus refreshing our social memories as readers in this touching and engrossing novel.Two of the heroes of this gripping detective novel, set in the streets of Istanbul, are two children who have landed on the streets: Tamer and Murat. What they create over time is an ever-expanding organization: Brotherhood. Then, a journalist is killed and an act of terror shocks the country, all triggered by the bloody pursuit of a young woman looking for her brother’s murderers… A novel that reads like a fast-paced detective film, Kardeş Kanı is the story of street violence and the criminal organizations that profit from it.

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BOOKS FROM TURKEY

BEHİÇ AK

Behiç Ak was born in 1956; he is a cartoonist, writer of children’s books, playwright and documentary filmmaker. Behiç Ak studied architecture at Yıldız University and Istanbul Technical University. His children’s books have been published in Turkey, Japan and Korea and his cartoon strip books have been published in Turkey and Germany. His cartoons have been exhibited in many cities in Turkey, as well as in Holland, Germany and Sweden. Ak’s plays have been staged in many theatres both at home and abroad. His 1994 documentary film, “the History of Censorship in Turkish cinema - Black Curtain,’’ won the Best Documentary award, in the same year, at the Ankara Film Festival. Many of his works have been translated into German. WORKS: Plays: Fay hattı ( Fault Line), Tek Kişilik Şehir (One Person City), Bina (Building), Ayrılık (Separation), Hastane (Hospital), İmaj Katili (The Image Murderer), Newton Bilgisayardan Ne Anlar (What Would Newton Know about Computers ?), Benim Küçük Global Köyüm (My Little Global Village), İki Çarpı İki (Two Times Two), Children’s Books: Yüksek Tansiyonlu Çınar Ağacı (The Plane Tree That Had High Blood Pressure), Gökdelene Giren Bulut (The Cloud That Floated into the Skyscraper), Büyükannem ve Miyop Ejderha (My Grandma and the Short-sighted Dragon), Uyurgezer Bir Fil (A Sleepwalking Elephant), Rüzgârın Üzerindeki Şehir (The City Above the Wind), Kedi Adası (Cat Island), Bizim Tombiş Taştan Hiç Anlamıyor (Our Fatty Doesn’t Know Anything About Stones), Ben Ne Zaman Doğdum (When Was I Born?), Benim Bir Karışım (My Hand Span), Tombiş Maskeli Baloya Katılmak İstemiyor (Fatty Doesn’t Want to go to the Masked Ball), Karadenizdeki Yunus (Black Sea Dolphin), Doğum Günü Hediyesi (The Birthday Present), Ayşe’nin Bulut Projesi ( Ayşe’s Cloud Project), Dikkat Su ( Look out Water), Dikkat Dünya (Look out World), Bilyalar (Marbles), Kim Kime Dum Duma ( Do Your Own Thing), Ben Yapmadım Ögretmenim (It Wasn’t Me Sir), Galiba Seni Seviyorum (I Think I Love You), Ne Biçim Kurbağasın Sen? (What Kind of Frog are You?), Iletişim Karikatürleri (Communication Cartoons), Zelzele (Quake), Was Kümmerts Mich? (What do I Care?), Yıldızların Tembelliği (The Stars’ Laziness).

YAZAR YÜKSEK TANSİYONLU ÇINAR AĞACI THE PLANE TREE THAT HAD HIGH BLOOD PRESSURE Schulbuchverlag Anadolu, Germany, 2007 30 pages, Children’s Books, Translated by Sabina Adatepe ISBN: 9789944717113 [email protected]

Ayşe and Ahmet spent all their time either sitting in their dad, Ibo’s lap, or right at the top of their village’s only tree, a huge plane tree. They believed that the tree had high blood pressure just like their dad. When you looked at the plane tree that had high blood pressure, from the mushroom topped roofs, or through the tiny windows of the village houses, the tree looked like a giant hovering over the sea. One day Ahmet shouted excitedly, “The plane tree has dried up!”

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BEJAN MATUR

Bejan Matur was born of an Alevi Kurdish family in Maraş. She studied Law at Ankara University, but never practiced. In her university years, she was published in several literary periodicals. Her first book, Rüzgâr Dolu Konaklar (Winds Howl Through the Mansions, 1996), won several literary prizes. She published four more poetry books: Tanrı Görmesin Harflerimi (God Must Not See My Letters, 1999), Ayın Büyüttüğü Oğullar (Sons Reared by the Moon, 2002), Onun Çölünde (In His Desert, 2002), and most recently İbrahimin Beni Terketmesi (Abraham Forsaking Me, 2008). A collection from her poems was published in English as In the Temple of a Patient God (Arc Publications, 2004) and in German-French as Winddurchwehte Herrenhauser (PHI, 2006) and transaled into Catalan and Swedish. She is currently living in Istanbul and writing political and cultural commentaries in the daily press.

IN THE TEMPLE OF PATIENT GOD Ark Publications, UK, 2004 134 pages, Poetry Translated by Ruth Cristie ISBN: 900072963 [email protected]

“To read Bejan Matur is to walk into a windswept desert strewn with bones and broken bodies and stones stained red by absent gods. Nothing is whole; nothing explains itself; nothing lasts. Horsemen gallop out of the night only to fade into the mountains on the horizon. Gravestones line the roads. Ruined houses howl with wind while shepherds sing dirges about a shattered, scattered tribe left to wander in the dark. It is a haunted, desolate and fragmented landscape in which every stone glows with a grief beyond words...” Maureen Freely

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BOOKS FROM TURKEY

BEKİR YILDIZ

Bekir Yıldız (Urfa - 1933, Istanbul - 1988) spent his childhood in Kastamonu, Gaziantep and Adana. He graduated from the Istanbul School of Printing House in 1955. He went to Germany as a worker in 1962 and he worked there for four years. With the money he saved, he bought a printing machine and returned home to establish Asya Printing House in Istanbul. Later he shut down the printing house and became a full time writer. He collected his observations on Germany from the four years he lived there, in a book called Türkler Almanya’da (Turks in Germany, 1966). The theme of his second book came from the city of Urfa and surrounding areas, in this book he depicts the tales of Chief Reso. He was awarded the May Literary Award for his book Kara Vagon (The Black Wagon) in 1968, Sait Faik Short Story Award for his book Kaçakçı Şahan (Sahan, the Smuggler) in 1970 and the Milliyet Publications Novel Award for his novel Darbe (The Coup) in 1990. In addition to his novels and short stories, he has also written interviews, articles and children’s books. Some of His Works: Short Stories: Kaçakçı Şahan (Sahan, the Smuggler), Sahipsizler (The Abandoned), Evlilk Şirketi (The Marriage Company), Beyaz Türkü (The White Song), Alman Ekmeği (German Bread), Dünyadan Bir Atlı Geçti (A Horseman Passed Through Earth), İnsan Posası (Human Pulp), Demir Bebek (The Steel Baby), Mahşerin İnsanları (People of Judgement Day), Bozkır Gelini (The Steppe Bride), Seçilmiş Öyküler (Selected Short Stories); Novels: Halkalı Köle (The Ringed Slave), Aile Savaşları (The Family Wars), Ve Zalim ve İnanmış ve Kerbela (And the Cruel and the Believer and Karbala), Darbe (The Coup), Kara Vagon (The Black Wagon); Children’s Books: Şahinler Vadisi (The Valley of Falcons), Canlı Tabanca (The Animated Gun), Arılar Ordusu (The Army of Bees), Ölümsüz Kavak (The Immortal Poplar Tree), Kör Güvercin (The Blind Dove). Foreign Rights: Evlilik Şirketi/The Marriage Company (The Netherlands), Halkalı Köle/The Ringed Slave (Russia).

ÖLÜMSÜZ KAVAK THE IMMORTAL POPLAR TREE Rotendam Kunstishing, The Netherlands, 1982 56 pages, Children’s Book ISBN: 9759099837 [email protected]

The Immortal Poplar Tree is the first book Bekir Yıldız wrote for children. The protagonist of the book is an immortal poplar tree which lives at a time when books are collected and burnt. The Immortal Poplar Tree is a story told by this poplar tree. Freedom is not something gained easily, because freedom has many enemies. Read what this little poplar tree has to say, and you will understand this as well.

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BEŞİR AYVAZOĞLU

Beşir Ayvazoğlu (1953, Sivas) graduated from the Department of Literature at the Institute of Education. He is a well-known journalist and television producer, but besides his identity as a journalist, he is also recognized as a man of letters due to his particular emphasis on literature and poetry in his essays. He has published voluminous biographies on Mevlânâ, Fuzuli, Yahya Kemal, Ahmet Haşim, Peyami Safa, Tarık Buğra and Nazım of Florina. He is a prominent representative of the otherwise rather inconspicuous community of Turkish conservative intellectuals. By managing to stay away from ideological fanaticism thanks to an objective attitude, he is able to produce works of informative value for the public at large. He is the editor-in-chief of the monthly Türk Edebiyatı Dergisi (Turkish Literature Revue). He has published books of poetry, novels, stories, plays and interviews. Besides addressing current cultural and literary issues in his newspaper column, he also uses the essay form to write on current social issues. Some of His Works: Aşk Estetiği (The Aesthetics of Love), Güller Kitabı (The Book of Roses), İslam Estetiği (The Aesthetics of Islam), Tarık Buğra Güneş Rengi Bir Yığın Yaprak (Tarık Buğra-A Pile of Gold Coloured Leaves), Defterimde Kırk Suret (Forty Figures in My Book), Peyami-Hayatı Sanatı Felsefesi Dramı (Peyami-His life, Art, Philosophy and Personal Drama), Siretler ve Suretler (Attitudes and Figures), Kuğunun Son Şarkısı (The Last Song of the Swan), Ömrüm Benim Bir Ateşti-Ahmet Haşim’in Hayatı Sanatı Estetiği Dramı (My Life was a Fire-Ahmet Hasim’s Life, Art and Philosophy and Personal Drama, Bozgunda Fetih Rüyası (Dream of Conquest during Defeat), Divanyolu-Bir Caddenin Hikâyesi (Divanyolu-The Story of a Street), 1924-Bir Fotoğrafın Uzun Hikâyesi (1924-The Long Story of a Photograph), Neyin Sırrı (The Secret of the Ney), Yahya Kemal (Encyclopaedic Biography), Florinalı Nâzım ve Şaşaalı Edebî Hayatı (Nazım from Florina and his Glorious Literary Life), Yahya Kemal’in İstanbul’u (Yahya Kemal’s Istanbul), Alatav’dan Şardağı’na (From Alatav to Sardag)

İSLAM ESTETİĞİ - THE AESTHETICS OF ISLAM Logos A, Macadonia, 2002 Translated by Ali Payaziti ISBN: 9753460309 [email protected]

The book explores the philosophical and spiritual background of Turkish and Islamic art. The book argues that the ban on image depiction led Islamic artists to steer away from figurative art towards the abstract, which resulted in a whole new aesthetic fed by Tasavvuf, and this went on to create dazzling pieces of art over the centuries.

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BOOKS FROM TURKEY

BETÜL SAYIN

Betül Sayın was born in Istanbul in 1958 and graduated from the Department of Architecture at the Istanbul Academy of Fine Arts. She has been working as a professional illustrator since 1989. She has illustrated and prepared numerous children’s books and children’s magazines and some of her works have been published as UNICEF greeting cards. Sayın’s latest book 5 Çocuk 5 İstanbul (5 Children 5 Istanbuls) featured on the International Board On Books for Young People (IBBY) Honours List in 2006 in the illustration category. The illustrator, who manages to take children on a trip into a dream world with her magical artwork, lives in Istanbul with her husband and daughter. Foreign Rights: 5 Çocuk 5 İstanbul/5 Children 5 Istanbuls (Elf Publishing, Georgia), (Edition Orient, Germany)

5 ÇOCUK 5 İSTANBUL 5 CHILDREN 5 ISTANBUL Elf Publishing, Georgia Translated by Tamar Alpenidze 32 pages, Children’s Book, Short Story ISBN: 9756227087 [email protected], [email protected]

Written and illustrated by Betül Sayın, the book depicts the story of pre-school children in Istanbul. The author relates the five different eras of Istanbul through five different characters. The colourful pictures and the unique structure of the book, which begins in the present and looks backwards to prehistoric times, offer children a unique reading and learning experience. Mert who lives in a crowded neighbourhood of present day Istanbul visits his ill grandmother. In his grandmother’s attic, he finds a fez which belongs to Hamdi who had lived in Ottoman Istanbul... Anxious to go to festivities held for the Ottoman Sultan, Hamdi finds a mirror decorated with purple stones in the Covered Bazaar when he goes there with his sister. The purple mirror belongs to Helen who had lived in the Byzantine era... An old coin sold in a shop catches the attention of Helen who goes to watch the races at the Hippodrome with her family. The coin bearing the figure of a fish belongs to Milya who helps his grandfather, a fisherman in Byzantion... The boat of Milya and his grandfather is filled with the fish they have caught. On the way back from the ceremony held at the temple, Milya finds an old piece of ceramic pottery on the street, a piece from a dish made by the mother of the Girl-witha-Bone-Hairpin, who lives in a cave near Istanbul in prehistoric times.

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BİLGE KARASU

Bilge Karasu (1930-1995) graduated from the Philosophy Department of Istanbul University and taught at Hacettepe University for many years. One of Turkey’s most respected writers, he published four books of short stories, three novels and four collections of essays. His first novel Gece (The Night) is the winner of the 1991 Pegasus Literature Award; Uzun Sürmüş bir Günün Akşamı (The Evening of a Very Long Day) won the 1971 Sait Faik Short Story Award, and the English translation of Karasu’s Göçmüş Kediler Bahçesi (The Garden of Departed Cats) by Aron Aji won the 2004 National Translation Award in the USA. Usually referred to as “the sage of Turkish literature,” Bilge Karasu is an influential reference point in the progress of Turkish fiction writing. A perfectionist, a philosopher, and a master of literary arts, he left behind a body of work, which skillfully outlines a world unmatched in its crystal clear transparency. Foreign Rights: Göçmüş Kediler Bahçesi/The Garden Of Departed Cats (Die Garten entschwundener Katzen, Literaturca, Germany), (New Directions, USA), (Scripta, Greece), (Amphora, Russia), (Estriendomudo, Peru); Gece/Night (Die Nacht, Literaturca, Germany), (Luisiana State University Press, USA), (La Nuit, La Difference, France), Uzun Sürmüş Bir Günün Akşamı/The Evening of a Very Long Day (Scripta, Greece)

GÖÇMÜŞ KEDİLER BAHÇESİ THE GARDEN OF DEPARTED CATS New Directions, UK, 2003, 232 pages Novel Translated by Aron Aji ISBN: 9789753422296 [email protected]

In an ancient Mediterranean city, a tradition is maintained: every ten years an archaic game of human chess is staged, the players (visitors versus locals) bearing weapons. The game may prove as fatal as the attraction our narrator feels for the local man who is the Vizier of the home team. Their “romance” provides the skeletal structure of the novel. Each of their brief interactions works as a single chapter. And interleaved between their chapters are a dozen fable-like stories, which work independently of the main narrative but, in curious and unpredictable ways echo and double its chief themes: love, its recalcitrance, and its refusal to be rushed…

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BOOKS FROM TURKEY

BUKET UZUNER

Buket Uzuner was born in 1955, in Ankara. She graduated as a biologist from Hacettepe University. She has worked as a lecturer and researcher at universities in Turkey and abroad. Her first short story was published in Dönemeç magazine. Her stories and articles have been published in various periodicals like Yarın, Türk Dili, Oluşum, Varlık, Sanat Olayı, Cönk, Gergedan and Argos. She edited the women’s and travel sections in Rapsodi Magazine (1989, 1992). She served on the executive committee of the Turkish PEN Writers’ Association between 1993 and 1995. In 1989, she received a commendation at the Yunus Nadi Short Story competition and was awarded the Yunus Nadi Novel Prize in 1993, for her book, entitled, Balık İzlerinin Sesi (The Sound of Fish Steps). WORKS: Bir Fincan Türk Kahvesi (A Cup of Turkish Coffee), Şiirin Kızkardeşi Öykü (Tale, the Sister of Verse), Şairler Şehri (City of Poets), Karayel Hüznü (The Sorrow of the North Wind), Güneş Yiyen Çingene (The Sun Eating Gypsy), Ayın En Çıplak Günü (The Most Naked Day of the Month), Benim Adım Mayıs (My Name is May), İstanbullular (Istanbullites), Uzun Beyaz Bulut - Gelibolu (Long White Cloud Gallipoli), Kumral Ada Mavi Tuna (Mediterranean Waltz), Balık İzlerinin Sesi (The Sound of Fish Steps), İki Yeşil Su Samuru (Two Green Otters), New York Seyir Defteri (New York Log Book), Bir Şehir Romantiğinin Günlüğü (The Diary of a City Romantic), Bir Siyah Saçlı Kadının Gezi Notları (Travel Notes of a Brunette).

GELİBOLU-UZUN BEYAZ BULUT GALLIPOLI-LONG WHITE CLOUD Psichogios, Greece, 2005, 323 pages, Novel Translated by Thanos Zaragalis ISBN: 9752890296 [email protected], www.istanbultelifofisi.com

This is the amazing account of an eightyfive year old mystery, which unfolds through the chance encounter of two people, one, a young New Zealand woman who comes to Turkey to search for the grave of her grandfather who died in the battle for Gallipoli, the other, an old Turkish grandmother who wanders around Gallipoli National Park, hunched over her walking stick. This book tells the story of a period that currently, no country allows to be written in history books; it is a challenge to humanity. How can the same man be a war hero in two enemy countries? Can history be seen as a linear process? Should history be rewritten?

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BURAK TURNA

Burak Turna was born in Istanbul in 1975 and gained his university degree in Business Studies from the Girne American University in Cyprus. He then worked as a translator and economics reporter, occupying a variety of media posts. His writing career began with the sensational debut Metal Fırtına (Metal Storm), and his imagination has never ceased to amaze his readers since then. Metal Storm kept its top spot on the bestsellers list for fourteen weeks. Turna has published SistemA, which is about the rationale behind all his novels, including Metal Storm. Works: Metal Fırtına (Metal Storm, 4 volumes novels), Bigeran, SistemA, 3. Dünya Savaşı (3rd World War). Foreign Rights: Metal Fırtına/Metal Storm (Polish, Greek)

METAL FIRTINA METAL STORM Livanis, Greece, 304 pages, Novel ISBN: 9752631096 www.burakturna.com, [email protected]

Metal Storm is a political novel about a fictional war between the US and Turkey. The book has become so popular that it has also attracted the attention of Turkish government officials and the international media. The Christian Science Monitor has also described the book as “one of the fastest-selling books in Turkish history,” while the Chicago Tribune conducted an interview with the author. “The hottest selling book in Turkey is a thriller that portrays a fictional war between the United States and Turkey.” Chicago Tribune

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BOOKS FROM TURKEY

CAHİT KÜLEBİ

Cahit Külebi (1917-1997) graduated from the Turkish Language and Literature Department of a Teacher Training College in Istanbul. He worked as a literature teacher, then as chief inspector and as cultural undersecretary at the Ministry of Education. He retired in 1972, but continued to work for the Turkish Language Institution until 1983. From 1976 onwards he was chairman of the Turkish Language Institution. Cahit Külebi wrote about his experiences and collected facts relating to Anatolia and Turkey. He wrote poems from the perspective of workers who experienced the urban reality and lead urban lives during the social realism movement in the 1940s. Unlike other poets involved in this movement, Külebi wrote about his own experiences and not about the facts known to everyone. He observed Anatolia and Istanbul as well as life in the West. This surely affected his poetry, though not to a great extent because he established a strong link between the content and form of poetry. WORKS: Atatürk Kurtuluş Savaşında (Ataturk and the Independence War), Yeşeren Otlar (Greening Grass), Süt (Milk), Şiirler (Poems), Türk Mavisi (Turkish Blue), Sıkıntı ve Umut (Boredom and Hope), Yangın (Fire), Bütün Şiirleri (The Complete Poems), Güz Türküleri (Autumn Folksongs), Güzel Yurdum (My Beautiful Homeland), Zerdali Ağacı (The Wild Apricot Tree), İçi Sevda Dolu Yolculuk (Journey of Love), Şiir Her Zaman (Poetry Always), Ecem’in Günlüğü (Ecem’s Diary).

LYRICS-SELECTED POEMS Bata Press, Macedonia, 2007 Translated by Mariya Leontiç ISBN: 9789989819650 [email protected] [email protected]

This book consists of 52 poems which are characterized by a bright “saz” sincerity, a Karacaoğlan like simplicity, together with a limpidity of language. The poems, from time to time, convey feelings of pessimism, insecurity and solitude. Half rhymes, inner voices, thoughts and feelings, ornamented by elegant metaphors make Cahit Külebi one of the most popular poets in Turkey.

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CAHİT ZARİFOĞLU

He was born in 1940 in Ankara and graduated from the German Language and Literature Department at Istanbul University. He went twice to Germany in order to improve his German at the Goethe Institute, which allowed him the possibility of traveling around Europe and experiencing different cultures. In 1976 he was appointed translator/interpreter for the General Director of TRT (Turkish Radio Television). He continued to work at TRT for different departments and in different capacities until his death in 1987. When he died he was working as an inspector at TRT Istanbul Radio. Zarifoğlu became known for his distinctive style of poetry. His poems take the form of inner dialogues, without recourse to external voices. In his short stories, novels and diaries he reflects his poetic sensitivity. In his children’s books, fantasy, extraordinary reality and dreams blend into one. Some of His Works: İşaret Çocukları (Signpost Children), Yedi Güzel Adam (Seven Handsome Men), Menziller (Target Ranges), Yaşamak (Living), Serçekuş (Sparrow), Ağaçkakanlar (Woodpeckers), Katıraslan (Stubborn Lion), Yürek Dede ile Padişah (Grandpa Heart and the Sultan), Savaş Ritimleri (War Rhythms), Korku ve Yakarış (Fear and Prayer), Bir Değirmendir Bu Dünya (The World is a Wind Mill), Motorlu Kuş (The Engine-Powered Bird), Sütçü İmam, Gülücük (Smile), Ağaç Okul (Tree School).

MOTORLU KUŞ THE ENGINE-POWERED BIRD Yalda Ghalam, Iran, 2008 108 pages, Children’s Book Translated by Muhammed Rıza Mehrafza ISBN: 9789645745620 [email protected]

Some creatures attach an engine to a swallow. Theswallow is really happy with it and in time, it forgets that it’s a swallow; its wings lose their strength and shrink, leaving only the flesh on its body to cling onto the engine and its beak becomes useless due to theconstant drumming on the dashboard so, one day, they decide to take off the engine to save the swallow. But, who attached the engine to the swallow in the first place? Why did they do it? Was the swallow saved in the end? The Engine-Powered Bird is a delightful account of this adventure.

042

BOOKS FROM TURKEY

CELİL OKER

Celil Oker was born in Kayseri, Talas, in 1952. After studying at Talas Amerikan Junior Shool, he graduated from Tarsus American High School. Subsequently, he moved to Istanbul and studied at Boğaziçi University. After graduating from the English Language and Literature department, he worked as a translator, journalist and encyclopedia writer. Currently he is working as a lecturer in the Communication Faculty at Bilgi University. WORKS: Kramponlu Ceset (Corpse With Cleats), Son Ceset (The Last Corpse), Rol Çalan Ceset (The Corpse that Stole the Role), Çıplak Ceset (The Naked Corpse), Bin Lotluk Ceset (The Thousand Lot Corpse) Foreign Rights: Kramponlu Ceset/Corpse with Cleats (Kastaniotis Editions, Greece), (Unionsverlag, Switzerland); Çıplak Ceset/ The Naked Corpse (Roca Editorial de Libros, Spain, 2006), (Uitgeverij Elmar, The Netherlands, 2006), Bin Lotluk Ceset (Kastaniotis Editions, Greece)

SON CESET - THE LAST CORPSE Unionsverlag, Switzerland, 2008 360 pages, Novel Translated into German by Nevfel Cumart ISBN: 9752931597 www.turkuvazkitap.com

The main character of Celil Oker’s novels, Detective Ünal, tries to get to the bottom of mysteries which are closely intertwined with politics, murder and shady dealings… When events start to unfold after the murder of one of his clients -a woman who asks the detective to take on an unpaid debt case- the plot starts to thicken and the pace becomes more frenetic. Readers find themselves swept along in a complex, but breathtaking adventure, made even more compelling by the unexpected twist at the end. The Last Corpse is the fifth in the Celil Oker detective series, in which he successfully recaptures the style of the classic detective novel. The author’s fluent prose and convincing dialogues reveal subtle aspects of contemporary life.

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CEM MUMCU

Cem Mumcu was born in 1966, in Akçaabat and is a medical doctor. He writes poems, short stories, novels, essays and critical reviews and won the Doruktakiler Story Prize in 2004. He works in the Communications Faculty at Marmara University, where he lectures on Creative Writing and the Psychology of Art. He also works as the general editor for OkuyanUs Publishing House. WORKS: Hassas Ruhlar Terazisi (Balance for Sensitive Souls), Hayal Kırıklığı (Disappointment), Makber (Grave), Muallakta - Araf’ta ve Düşte (In Limbo - In Purgatory and In a Dream), Sahici Aşklar Külliyatı (Real Love Compilation), Terapi Şeysi (Therapy Thing), Üçüncü Sayfa Güzeli (Page Three Girl).

MAKBER GRAVE Ráció Kiadó, Hungary, 2007 120 pages, Novel Translated by Edit Tasnadi ISBN: 9789639605299 www.kalemagency.com

We are looking for one, single, definitive answer... What is it we want to know, comprehend and solve? Is it the details that we are after? Or just the same thing in all its detail? While we are being assailed by this clamour of detail, can we really find the answer in such a cacophony? Are we trying to understand why we are here, why we will go away or why we decide to stay here, knowing that we’ll leave one day anyway ?

044

BOOKS FROM TURKEY

CEM SELCEN

Cem Selcen was born in Istanbul in 1962. He completed his elementary and high school education in Bursa. In 1984, he received his degree from the Mechanical Engineering Department of Yıldız Technical University. His career, which started as a mechanical engineer, has continued as the manager of a nightclub. WORKS: Elmanın Suçu (Blame the Apple), Saat Kaçtır Acaba (What Time Is It?), 1578, Öğle Paydosu (Lunch Break). Foreign Rights:Elmanın Suçu /Blame the Apple (Trud, Bulgaria) (Fan Noli, Albania)

ELMANIN SUÇU BLAME THE APPLE TRUD Publishing House, Bulgaira 315 pages, Novel Translated by Paulina Anastasova Mateeca ISBN: 9789755703244 www.kalemagency.com

An international crime organization, an old man, a rape suspect, a lost gang member, two lovers drifting away, and an incredible robbery that extends from Havana, to Paris and finally to Istanbul... Blame the Apple begins in jail. The narrator, an anti-hero, is a privileged convict whose money affords him many privileges in jail. Although he is a professional robber, he had not always been an unlawful man. In fact, he is quite refined. Cem Selcen tells the story of this skillful criminal by touching on the stories of other people: his friends in jail as well as the accomplices with whom he robs the Istanbul branch of the Central Bank of Turkey.

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CEMİL KAVUKÇU

Cemil Kavukçu was born in 1951. He graduated from the Geophysical Engineering Department at Istanbul University. His short stories have been published in various journals since 1980. He is one of the best short story writers of recent years and bases his stories on ordinary people and ordinary lives, from which he creates a rich, colorful world. Two recurring features of his works are his focus on minute details and the strength of his dialogues, particularly his use of slang. Cemil Kavukçu succeeds in fashioning his own style through his use of lucid, uncomplicated language. WORKS: Suda Bulanık Oyunlar (Dirty Games in Water), Mimoza’da Elli Gram (Fifty Grams in Mimosa), Başkasının Rüyaları (Somebody Else’s Dreams), Bilinen Bir Sokakta Kaybolmak (Getting Lost in a Familiar Street), Dönüş (Return), Dört Duvar Beş Pencere (Four Walls, Five Windows), Gamba, Gemiler de Ağlarmış (Ships Also Cry), Nolya, Pazar Güneşi (Sunday Sun), Selo’nun Kuşları (Selo’s Birds), Temmuz Suçlu (July is Guilty), Uzak Noktalara Doğru (To Far Away Places),Yalnız Uyuyanlar İçin (For Those Who Sleep Alone), Angelacoma’nın Duvarları (The Walls of Angelacoma), Otobiyografik Bir Anlatı (An Autobiographical Story)

BAŞKASININ RÜYALARI SOMEBODY ELSE’S DREAMS Literaturca Verlag, Germany, 2007 238 pages, Short Story Translated by Beatrix Caner ISBN: 9750703383 [email protected]

Readers of Somebody Else’s Dreams are struck by the strange connections between the stories. In this book Kavukçu prompts the readers to feel as if they are in search of the writer’s personal motivation for writing, as he himself draws back the curtain on his stories. As we pass through the sharp but blurred zone between fiction and reality, writer and narrator, hero and writer merge; the one melting into the other, resulting in our entering a world in which we don’t really know who is who. The use of the same heroes and same narrators links the stories to each other, giving us snapshots taken at different moments of the same life.

046

BOOKS FROM TURKEY

CEVAT ÇAPAN

Cevat Çapan was born in Darıca in 1933 and studied English at Cambridge University. He later taught English Literature and Drama in the English Department of Istanbul University from 1960 to 1980, and worked as Professor of Drama in Mimar Sinan University from 1980 to 1996. He is currently Professor of English at the Yeditepe University in Istanbul. His first large collection of poems entitled Dön Güvercin Dön (Return Oh Dove!) was awarded the Behçet Necatigil Prize in 1986. His later poems were collected in four other volumes Doğal Tarih (Natural History, 1989), Sevda Yaratan (Creator of Love, 1994), Ne Güzel Yolculukta Aklımdan Çıkmaz (I Cannot Forget What a Beautiful Journey It Was, 2001), and Bana Düşlerini Anlat (Tell Me Your Dreams, 2007). A selection of his poems was published in France under the title L’hiver est fini in 1996 and in Great Britain under the title Where Are You Susie Petchek. He has translated widely American and Greek poets from English into Turkish and has also edited anthologies of verse translation. Foreign Rights: A Selection from his poetry books Dön Güvercin Dön, Doğal Tarih, Sevda Yaratan: Where Are you, Susie Petsheck (Arc Publications, English), L’hiver est fini (Creaphis, French)

WHERE ARE YOU, SUSIE PETSHECK Arc Publication, UK, 2001 120 pages, Poetry Translated by Michael Hulse and Cevat Çapan ISBN: 1900072432 [email protected] yky@ ykykultur.com.tr

A.S. Byatt says: “The poems of Cevat Çapan sound ancient and traditional, and yet they are recognizably related to modernism. They are rooted in Turkish life and literature and yet they are European, and beyond that, aware of a world literature which means something, and in which they have a place.” Rather than pessimistically dwelling on pain and sorrow, he looks to the good, to joy and hope, and his poetry, without ignoring life’s disappointments, has a knowledge and exaltation of joy and enthusiasm. Embracing friendship and humanity with the memories of a lifetime, a wind of optimism, calling from isolation, calling to isolation, blows through his poetry.

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CÜNEYT ÜLSEVER

Dr. Cüneyt Ülsever (Ankara, 1951) graduated from the Department of Economics at Boğaziçi University. He completed his masters degree in International Relations at The Johns Hopkins University and in Economics at Colombia University. He pursued his doctorate in Human Resources and Economics between 1978 and 1983 at Harvard University. Ülsever worked in various management positions between 1983 and 1997 and as a consultant between 1997 and 1999. He has been a columnist in Hürriyet and Daily News newspapers and a Human Resources consultant since 1999. The writer is known on the literary scene, particularly for his murder novels. WORKS: Novels: Kara Dul (Black Widow), Hacı (Hadji), Topal Devrimci Cinayeti (The Murder of the Crippled Reformist), Hisarüstü Cinayetleri (Hisarüstü Murders) Memoir: Teneke Evin Torunu (The Grandchild of the Tin House) Other works: Kendini Arayan Türkiye-Bir Siyaset Modeli Tezi (Turkey in Search of Herself-Thesis of a Political Model), 21. Yüzyılda Küreselleşme ve Türkiye Perspektifi-Siyaset Üzerine Bir Tez (Globalisation and the Perspective of Turkey in the 21st Century-A Thesis on Politics), Neden Liberalizm?-Liberal Teoriye Bir Bakış (Why Liberalism-A Look at Liberal Theory), Kendini Arayan Dünya-21. Yüzyılın Paradigmalarını Dünya Liderleri İrdeliyor (A World in Search of Herself-Paradigms of the 21st Century Explicates World Leaders), İnsan Yönetimi-21. yüzyılda Üretimin Temel Kaynağı İnsana Yeni Bir Bakış (Human Resources Management-A New Perspective on the Human Being, the Resource of 21st century Production), Huzura Yeniden Yolculuk: XXI. Yüzyılda Bütün İnsan (A Journey Back to the Peace of Mind-The Holistic Person in the 21st Century). Foreign Rights: Topal Devrimci Cinayeti/The Murder of the Crippled Reformist (Foremost Press, USA), Hisarüstü Cinayetleri/Hisarüstü Murders (Foremost Press, USA), Hacı/Hadji (Foremost Press, USA).

HACI - HADJI Foremost Press, USA, 446 pages, Novel Tanslated by Mert Akcanbaş ISBN:9752891705 [email protected]

26 August 1997… Time, 02.23… Place, Kayseri… Hayrullah Gesili, known as Hacı in the entire city of Kayseri, is jolted awake by a phone call in the middle of the night, informing him about the arrest of his brother as a suspect in a double homicide case. As Hacı approaches Ankara in his car, he journeys into his past as well. Homicide Detective Yağız Balcı realises that one of the slained victims is Sevil Ötüşken, known as “100% Sevil”, a consultant to foreign companies who bid in the Department of Defence and for government contracts in Turkey, the incident could be explained by “reasons” that go much “deeper.” Hacı is a follower of shariah who could be arrested just because of the salt and pepper beard hanging down to his chest, if it were left to the media. Without delay, newspapers announce headlines such as “Political homicide”, “Islamic green capital renders account in Ankara”, “The revenge for 28 February”. As he draws closer to the heart of the matter, Yağız Balcı will realise that even the facts behind “those that appear to have happened” can be altered, if necessary.

048

BOOKS FROM TURKEY

ÇETİN ALTAN

Çetin Altan was born in Istanbul in 1927 and graduated from the Faculty of Law at Ankara University, but instead of practicing his career, he worked as a journalist for various newspapers. Meanwhile, his poems and short stories were first published in 1946 and he has worked as a columnist in prominent newspapers for more than 60 years. He currently works as a columnist for the newspaper Milliyet. Altan is a profilic writer with more than 50 published books (memoirs, novels, futuristic short stories, travel notes, theatrical plays, etc.). He is considered to be one of the leading writers of Turkish literature and has written more than 35,000 essays on various subjects. He has written 9 theatrical plays, which have all been performed by state and private theater groups. Foreign Rights: Büyük Gözaltı/The Great Surveillance (French, Swedish, Greek, Bulgarian, Romanian and Spanish); Bir Avuç Gökyüzü/A Handful of Sky (French, Swedish, Greek, Bulgarian, Romanian and Spanish); Küçük Bahçe/The Little Garden (French, Swedish, Greek, Bulgarian, Romanian and Spanish); Viski/Whisky (French, Swedish, Greek, Bulgarian, Romanian and Spanish)

BÜYÜK GÖZALTI THE GREAT SURVEILLANCE Flammarion, France, 1992 280 pages, Novel Translated by Julie Pavesi ISBN: 975101459X [email protected] [email protected]

The Great Surveillance was on the recommended reading list for high schools in France. Critics in the European press praised his novels and compared his style to that of Kafka. Written with an allegoric, literally rich style, Altan’s novels are mainly about the loss of identity of individuals in society due to political and social presures.

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DEMİR ÖZLÜ

Demir Özlü was born in Istanbul in 1935 and graduated from the Law Faculty at Istanbul University in 1959. After studying Philosophy from 1961 to 1962 at the Paris (Sorbonne) University, he returned to Turkey and worked as a research assistant in the Department of Law Philosophy and Methodology at Istanbul University Law Faculty for four years. He also worked as a lawyer. After the military coup of 1980, he was denaturalized, but he was able to return to Turkey in 1989. After 1980, he focused on novel, narrative, memoir, diary and travel books. He currently lives in Stockholm. His first work, Discomfort (Short Story) was published in 1958. Some of His Works: Short Stories: Soluma (Breathing, 1963, TDK Story Award), Stockholm Öyküleri (Stockholm Stories,1988, Sait Faik Short Story Award), İstanbul Büyüsü (Charm of Istanbul), Geçen Yaz Kentte Kızlar (Girls in City in Past Summer), Şapka, Deniz Kıyısı ve Yüz (Hat, Seashore and Face). Novels: Uzun Bir Sonbahar ( A Long Fall); Bir Beyoğlu Düşü (A Beyoğlu Dream), Berlin’de Sanrı (Hallucination in Berlin); Bir Yaz Mevsimi Romansı (A Romance of A Summer Season, 1990, Orhan Kemal Novel Award), Tatlı Bir Eylül (Sweet September), İthaka’ya Yolculuk (Journey to Ithaca, World Book Magazine Book of Year, 1998-Yunus Nadi Novel Award), Dalgalar (Waves). Foreign Rights: Berlin’de Sanrı/ Hallucination in Berlin (Halluzination in Berlin, Berlin, Aubau Verlag, Germany, 1992), Hallucination à Berlin, France, 1993)

İSTANBUL BÜYÜSÜ - CHARM OF ISTANBUL Literaturca Verlag, 2002, 148 Pages, Short Story Translated by Beatrix Caner ISBN: 9755104194 [email protected]

Demir Özlü is an author who loves Istanbul and who can describe it beautifully. Demir Özlü is one of the most original and important names of the 1950’s, a writer whose place in Turkish storytelling is undeniable. His main goal has been to investigate depression intellectually as an existential problem. He has always been inspired by themes of morality, tradition, alienation and loneliness. He is an intellectual author with a global perspective whose stories seem to be possible anywhere in the world.

050

BOOKS FROM TURKEY

DURSUN AKÇAM

Dursun Akçam (1930, Ardahan-2003, Ankara) the Ankara Gazi Institute of Education in 1958. He worked as a teacher, journalist, writer, and unionist. He served as the second chairman of the Teachers Union of Turkey. He was arrested after the military coup of March 12, 1971, and was sentenced to eight years and ten months in prison. He was later acquitted on appeal in the Supreme Court. After the closing of the newspaper Demokrat, which he helped to found in 1977, he went abroad due to the military coup of September 12, 1980 and did not return home for ten years. His first article entitled “Köyden Sesler” (“Voices from the Village”) was published in the journal Varlık in 1952. His other works were published in many newspapers and journals. He won first prize in the Milliyet Ali Naci Karacan Interview Competition in 1985 with his work Analarımız (Our Mothers), the Golden Orange Award at the 12th Antalya Art Festival in 1976 with his short story “Haley,” and received the Turkish Language Association’s Novel Award in 1977 with his novel Kanlıdere’nin Kurtları (Wolves of Bloody River). WORKS: Sevdam Ürktü (My Love Is Frightened), Ucu Ucuna Yaşam (Nearly Life), Kanlı Derenin Kurtları (Wolves Of Bloody River), Maral (Asian Elk), Kafdağının Ardı (Behind Kaf Mountain), Ölü Ekmeği (Bread for the Dead), Dağların Sultanı (The Sultan Of The Mountains), Öğretmeni Kim Öptü? Generaller Birleşin ve Tüm Öyküler (Who Kissed The Teacher? Generals Unite And Other Stories), Haley, Doğunun Çilesi (The Ordeal of the East), Kan Çiçekleri (The Blood Flowers), Taş Çorbası (Stone Soup), Kafkas Kızı (The Caucasian Girl) Foreign Rights: Ölü Ekmeği/Bread for the Dead ( Bulgarian and Russian); Alaman Ocağı/The German Guild (German)

ÖLÜ EKMEĞİ - BREAD FOR THE DEAD BS-Ansisa, Russia, 1975, 164 pages, Novel ISBN: 9789755090467 www.arkadas.com.tr

Dursun Akcam is one of the masters of the Turkish literary world and an important representative of Turkish literature focussing on social reality. Ölü Ekmeği (Bread for the Dead) is based on his observations on rural life and consists of ten short stories: Ölü Ekmeği (Bread for the Dead), Seher Tayfası (The Dawn Crew), Tezek Payı (A share of dried cow dung), Kahraman (The Hero), Ölü Ölü Ekmeği (Bread for the Dead), Pantol (Trousers), Kiraz (Cherry), Seher (The Dawn), Kurban (The Victim), Bade (Wine), Yoğurt ve Oğlan Uşağı (Yoghurt and the Boy Servant). Dursun Akcam writes with full awareness of the social role played by literature and the writer, and acts as an intermediary to reflect the expectations of the rural population in which he grew up. Dursun Akcam internalises the resources of the verbal culture in his works and in the words of the literary critic Dogan Hizlan, “With his works, he taught us that without understanding the realities of village life, without visiting the remotest villages of Anatolia and living there, and without digesting the East, it is impossible to understand and perceive this country and its people.”

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DURSUN ÖZDEN

Dursun Özden was born in Niğde in 1950. He graduated from the Department of Press and Public Relations at Ankara University. He received diplomas from Kırcali Academy Balkans Folklore Institute and Bucharest University as well as Grigore Kiazim Popular Music Research Institute. His first poem was published in 1970. He began to work as the Kocaeli reporter for Politika newspaper in 1976. He was tried and acquitted in 1971 and in 1981 for “Crime of Thought”. Özden’s work has been published in literary, culture, art, tourism, language, criticism, folklore and research magazines and newspapers and broadcast on radio and television. Some of his poetry, analysis, essay and travel writings have been published in English, Spanish, Arabic, Chinese, Macedonian and Russian. He has travelled to 66 countries and ventured to every corner of Anatolia; he conducted research on near extinct ethnic cultures in Africa, faith, folklore, the Population Exchange, Anatolian Nomads, Turkish culture and traces of Atatürk in the world. Investigative reporter Dursun Özden has worked as Press and Public Relations Advisor, manager, documentary script writer, editor and editor-in-chief and he is the Turkish representative of Assa-Irada (Daily News Agansia), Azer News (English Newspaper), and Daily News Travel (Italian) newspapers. He is the recipient of several awards, both at home and abroad, in literature, cultural research and press. Some of His Works: Poetry: Gökkuşagı Tarlası (The Field of Rainbows), Yeni Zamanlar Dervişi (The Dervish of Modern Times), Sevginin Uçları (The Tips of Love), Kanayan Türkü (Bleeding Folk Song), Türküler Kanamasın (Don’t Let the Folk Song Bleed), Yitik Zaman Işığı (The Light of Lost Time), Dudak İzi (Lip Imprint), Ateşli Al Atlar (Fiery Red Horses). Travel: Küba Uzak Değil (Cuba is not Far), Yalansız Cennet Küba (Cuba: Paradise with no Lies), Uygur Karızlarına Yolculuk (Journey to Uyghur Kariz). Essays: Yüreğimin Açkısı-Deneme (Key to My Heart), Kuşatılmış Yazılar (Writings Under Siege)

The book comprises of 42 poems by the traveller poet Dursun Özden about love, nature, freedom and peace. The poems are written in a sincere, plain, austere and accessible language yet enriched with powerful imagery. The internal sounds, emphases and melodies which occasionally end a line, or occur within a line, support Dursun Özden’s authentic and free poetry technique and make him different..The book received the 1999 Al Cahez Poetry Award. KANAYAN TÜRKÜ - BLEEDING FOLK SONG Tribina Makedonska Publishing, Macedonia, 1999 Translated by Esad Bayram ISBN: 9989623155 [email protected], www.dursunozden.com.tr

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BOOKS FROM TURKEY

ECE AYHAN

After graduating from the School of Political Science in Ankara, Ece Ayhan (1931, Muğla) worked as a civil servant and kaymakam (governor of a town district). His first poem was published in 1954 in the magazine Türk Dili. Ayhan employs a web of associations and allusions which give him a distinctive, even unique place in modern Turkish poetry. His work embodies the slang as well as the historical texts and living street culture. He passed away in 2002. He is a master of images, who integrated into his poetry many other art forms, including painting and cinema. Ece Ayhan is not only the most original representative of the Second New, but also the symbol of explosion in Turkish poetry. Some of His Works: Poetry Collections: Kınar Hanımın Denizleri (Mrs. Kınar’s Seas); Bakışsız Bir Kedi Kara (A Black Cat with No Gaze); Ortodoksluklar (Orthodoxies); Devlet ve Tabiat (The State and Nature); Yort Savul, Sivil Şiirler (Civilian Poems), Essay: Bir Şiirin Bakır Çağı (The Copper Age of a Poetry)

BAKIŞSIZ BİR KEDİ KARA VE ORTADOKSLULAR A BLIND CAT BLACK AND THE ORTHODOXIES Green Integer, USA, 2009 81 pages, Poetry Translated by Murat Nemet Nejat ISBN: 1557131023 [email protected] [email protected]

Ayhan takes the reader through the dark streets of Galata district of Istanbul, a neighbourhood where historically European minorities lived alongside red light zone. Like a modern-day Rimbaud, Ayhan, in this amazing translation, explores linguistically and conceptually what the Turkish culture and authorities outlawed. A daring innovator, Ayhan uses language not as a rational wordcarrier, but as an instrument to unveil new insights into the world of his visions.

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EDİP CANSEVER

Edip Cansever (1928-1986, Istanbul) graduated from Istanbul High School for Boys, after which he attended Business School. He quit the school after some time and worked in his father’s antique shop in the Grand Bazaar until 1976. He was one of the leading members of the “Second New” poetry movement along with Turgut Uyar and Cemal Süreya in the fifties. His first poetry book İkindi Üstü (Towards Afternoon, 1947) was the story of the first contact of a 19-year-old youth with the world and his first protests. His second poetry book, Dirlik Düzenlik (Peace and Harmony,1954), was influenced by the “Garip” poetry movement. The many poetic influences he came under were instrumental in developing his very personal and mature style. He found his own language, as well as his own themes, inclinations and predilections by the time he published his third and major poetry book Yerçekimli Karanfil (Gravitational Carnation,1957). The foundations of Cansever’s poetry, summarized as the “neverending search of the individual motivated by his loneliness and alienation”, were laid down in this book.

DIRTY AUGUST: SELECTED POEMS Talisman House Publishers, USA Translated by Richard TillinghastJulia Clare Tillinghast Akalın [email protected] [email protected]

Edip Cansever is one of the masters of modern Turkish poetry. He bears out T.S. Eliot’s remark that “poetry only pursues its own function.” He wrote poems that display the fine details of poetic craftmanship. From some poets, we can remember complete verses; Edip Cansever is of a different kind. In his work, it is the poetic essence that pervades our memories.

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BOOKS FROM TURKEY

EGEMEN BERKÖZ

Egemen Berköz was born in Zonguldak in 1941. He completed his elementary and middle school education in Zonguldak and high school in Bolu. He studied Italian language and literature at the Faculty of Letters at Ankara University (1959-1963). He worked as a copywriter. He is the editor of the art page of the newspaper Cumhuriyet. He published the journal Alan 67 (1965), and has translated poetry, novels and stories from Italian into Turkish. His first poem, Akşam (Evening), was published in 1959 in Yeditepe. His poetry has been published in journals such as Dost, Ataç and Yelken. A poet of the 1960’s generation, the enthusiasms of 1968 can be detected in his poetry. He is concerned with politics and the world. An urban dweller’s anxieties, pains, enthusiasms, loves and battles with the city are the subjects of his poetry. He has a balanced, clear and original style. His Books of Poetry: Çin Askeri Ah Devran (The Chinese Soldier, Oh Fortune, 1966), Yalnızlıklar, Yalnızlıklar (Loneliness, Loneliness, 1977), Bu Kitapta Sen Nerdesin (Where are you in this Book ?, 1981), Unutma (Forgetting, Collected Poems, 2006).

BU KİTAPTA SEN NERDESİN? WHERE ARE YOU IN THIS BOOK Bandecchi e Vivaldi, Italy, 2009 96 pages, Poetry Translated by Rosa Gali Pellegrini ISBN: 975329042X [email protected]

In the introduction of this book Berköz says, “As subject matter, I am interested in man, and as a man, I am interested in me. But, this should not be taken as selfishness. Because there are people like me who exist in the same chaos, contradictions and depressions; in short, there are thousands, tens of thousands of people who are part of this century and this land. I know that when I talk about them, I talk about myself, and when I talk about myself, I talk about them.” In these poems, a middle class Istanbulian’s distress, observations and impressions are masterfully and clearly crafted.

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ELİF ŞAFAK

Elif Şafak, born in Strasbourg, France in 1971, graduated from the International Relations Department at Middle East Technical University. She holds an MSc. in Gender and Women’s Studies and has a PhD in Political Sciences from the same university. Her first book of short stories, Kem Gözlere Anadolu (To Evil Eyes: Anatolia), was published in 1994. She won the Mevlâna Prize with her first novel Pinhan (The Sufi), in 1998. This first book was followed by two more, Şehrin Aynaları (The Mirrors of the City) and Mahrem (The Gaze, 2000), for which she was awarded the Turkish Writers’ Association Best Novel Award. Elif Şafak, whose articles have been published in international newspapers and journals, has been translated into more than fifteen languages. Her books are published by eminent international publishers such as Farrar, Straus & Giroux, Viking and Penguin. WORKS: Pinhan (The Sufi), Şehrin Aynaları (The Mirrors of the City), Mahrem (The Gaze), Bit Palas (The Flea Palace), Araf (The Saint of Incipient Insanities), MedCezir (Ebb and Tide), Baba ve Piç (The Bastard of Istanbul), Siyah Süt (Black Milk), Aşk (Love).

BABA VE PİÇ THE BASTARD OF ISTANBUL Eichborn, Germany, 2007, 386 pages, Novel Translated by Juliane Gräbener-Müller ISBN: 9753425538 www.marionboyars.co.uk

On one level, The Bastard of Istanbul traces the interwoven threads of a story, set over a period of 90 years, of the Turkish- Muslim Kazancı family and that of an American family of Armenian origin. On another level, as it is the story of four generations of women coming from a family in which men always die unexpectedly, leaving the women behind, it is a women’s novel.

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BOOKS FROM TURKEY

EMRAH SERBES

Emrah Serbes was born in 1981 in Yalova. After dropping out of various schools, he concluded his extended educational career in the Department of Drama in the Faculty of Language, History, Geography. From time to time, he conducted interviews for Birgün newspaper, and wrote drama critiques for Radikal 2. He worked as the Ankara representative of Hayvan magazine. The conversations that he regularly had with Ahmet İnam and Cengiz Güleç were collected in a book entitled Şen Profesörler: Metaforla Saadet Olmaz (Jovial Professors: Metaphors Don’t Bring Bliss, 2006). WORKS: Her Temas İz Bırakır (Each Contact Leaves a Trace), Son Hafriyat (Final Excavation), Erken Kaybedenler (Early Losers) Foreign Rights: Her Temas İz Bırakır /Each Contact Leaves a Trace (Galata Edition, Germany)

HER TEMAS İZ BIRAKIR EACH CONTACT LEAVES A TRACE Galata Edition, Germany, 2009 299 pages, Novel Translated by Oliver Kontny ISBN: 9750504409 [email protected]

Kızılay, Sakarya Avenue, SSK Office Building, Language-History Campus, Atakule, student housing... and Police Station... Homicide desk. Unable to adapt to the “new legal acquis” Behzat Ç., the awkward and “formidable” chief of police. He listens to the police wireless, not to music. He doesn’t read books, he begins to read the newspaper for sports news. He holds no political views. It is as if he is “one of us” as reflected on the third page news, even his name is incomplete. He used to be a Centre Fullback who kicked well in the First Amateur League, but then he stopped playing football and started kicking other people. For instance, those who stabbed people in the heart for five liras, those who raped 13-year-old girls, those who killed their own relatives for honour... There are no problems in terms of his own sense of justice, evildoers seem to be obvious... But is that really the case? Things may disturb Behzat Ç. and his sense of justice could sometimes... A murder case where tracks of horseshoe get mixed in with those of dogs. Why would anyone kill this girl? And why in this way? What if we say politics was involved? Strange... A detective novel, abundant in intrigue, peeking into the world of students, other worlds, but especially into that of the police.

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ENGİN GEÇTAN

Engin Geçtan is a practicing psychotherapist. He taught psychology at several universities in Ankara and Istanbul. Between the years 1975-1987, he wrote four psychiatry books that have a significant following outside professional readership: İnsan Olmak (Being Human), Varoluş ve Psikiyatri (Existence and Psychiatry), Normaldışı Davranışlar (Abnormal Behavior), Psikanaliz ve Sonrası (Psychoanalysis and After). Later Geçtan began working on novels and scenarios. His novels are Kırmızı Kitap (The Red Book), Dersaadet’te Dans (Dance in Dersaadet), Bir Günlük Yerim Kaldı İster misiniz? (I Have Space for One Day Only, Taking?), Kızarmış Palamutun Kokusu (The Smell of Fried Bonito), Tren (The Train) and most recent one, Kuru Su (Dry Water). Drawing on his forty years of experience in psychiatry, he published Kimbilir? (Who Knows?) and Hayat (Life), books on psychiatry and contemporary life on the verge of chaos. Seyyar (Always Moving) is a book of interviews with him. Geçtan currently lives and works as a psychotherapist in İstanbul.

KIZARMIŞ PALAMUTUN KOKUSU THE SMELL OF FRIED BONITO Dar Kreideh, Lebanon 248 pages, Novel ISBN: 9789753423020 [email protected]

A beautiful novel about Istanbul, the city of innumerable cultural and historical layers. After many years in New York, the main character is enticed by the nostalgic smell of fried bonito to return to his native Istanbul, only to find that he never really knew this city, the city which is not “one”. His phantasmagoric journey through the different ages and cultures of the megalopolis is at once a quest after culture and a journey of self-knowledge. With its vivid descriptions of the ages and people that Istanbul has accommodated, the novel can also be read as a literary exploration of what it is to be foreign and what “nativeness” involves.

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BOOKS FROM TURKEY

ENİS BATUR

He was born in 1952. His first article was published in 1970, to be followed by his first novels in 1973. He led UNESCO’S ‘’Our Cultural Heritage-from Göreme to Istanbul‘’ campaign in 1984. Between 1978 and 1998 he wrote regular weekly articles for various periodicals and newspapers and his work was also published in several foreign journals. He has been awarded the Cemal Süreya, Golden Orange and Sibilla Aleramo awards for his poetry and has won the TDK (Türk Dil Kurumu-Turkish Language Institution) award for his essays. Enis Batur is a lecturer at Galatasaray University. His novel “Elma” has been translated into Romanian and also “Selected Poems of Enis Batur” has published in English. WORKS: Eros ve Hgades (Eros and Hgades), Bir Ortaçağ Yalnızlığı (A Medieval Solitude), Nil (The Nile), Ara Kitab (Apocrypha), İblise Göre İncil (The Bible According to Lucifer), Kandil (Oil Lamp), Meseller (The Book of Sayings), Sarnıç (Cistern), Tuğralar (Monograms), Yazılar and Tuğralar, (Writings and Monograms), Gri Divan (Grey Divan), Koma Provaları (Coma Rehearsals), Perişey (Fairylike) Ondört+X = 14 (Fourteen+X = 14), Taşrada Ölüm (Preparations for Death and Life in the Country), (Darb ve Mesel (Blow and Parable), Opera 1-4004 (Opera 1-4004), Doğu-Batı Dıvan (Ash Divan), Sütte Ne Çok Kan (What a Lot of Blood There is in Milk), Kanat Hareketleri (The Flapping of Wings), Papirüs (Papyrus), Mürekkep (Ink), Tüy (Feather), Ağırlastırıcı Sebepler Divanı (Aggravating Factors Divan), Abdal Düşü: Düzyazı Şiirler (Abdal’s Dream: Prose Poems).

ASH DIVAN: SELECTED POEMS OF ENIS BATUR Talisman House, Publishers, USA, 2006 Translated by Saliha Paker, Clifford Endres, Selhan S.Endres, Mel Kenne ISBN: 1584980494F www.kalemagency.com

One of Modern Turkish Literature’s foremost essayists and poets, Enis Batur, began his literary career as a film and music critic. His works which are the products of a profound, cultural and intellectual knowledge are highly regarded for their critical, probing and research centered approaches. His poems, which usually pose existential questions, although written in a prose-like style, still retain their clarity.

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ENVER ERCAN

He was born in 1958 in Istanbul. He did not complete his studies and for a long time worked in factories as a manual worker. Between 1984 and 1992 he worked for several newspapers and prepared art and literature programs for various television channels. Since 1992, he has been the general editor of Varlık Dergisi, which is the most influential literature journal in Turkey. Enver Ercan has won several important poetry awards. WORKS: Eksik Yaşam (An Unfulfilled Life), Sürçüyor Zaman (Time Slip), Geçtiği Her Şeyi Öpüyor Zaman (Time Kiss).

SELECTED POEMS Cum Ltd., Bulgaria, 2007 Translated by Kadriye Cesur Özgür, Hüseyin Mevsim ISBN: 9789549171723 [email protected], [email protected]

Enver Ercan is one of the figureheads of Turkish poetry that appeared after 1980. He uses ordinary words to create novel, extraordinary images; his discourse is smooth, relaxed and unhurried. He continues to struggle with life and poetry.

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BOOKS FROM TURKEY

ERDAL ÖZ

Can Publishing House founder Erdal Öz was born in 1935. His father was a civil servant and his family traveled and lived in many different parts of Turkey. Öz began to study at the Law School at Istanbul University and finished his degree at the University of Ankara, though he did not practice law after graduating. It was only when he was imprisoned for his political views between 1971 and 1973 that he returned to law in order to clear the false charges imputed on him. Erdal Öz belongs to the 1950s generation that made great strides in the Turkish short story genre. His books bear the traces of his political imprisonment. His novel Yaralısın (You Are Wounded) first appeared in the daily newspaper Cumhuriyet in 1973 and was published the following year. In 1975, You Are Wounded brought him the Orhan Kemal Literary Award. Erdal Öz passed away in 2006. WORKS: Novels: Gülünün Solduğu Akşam (The Night His Rose Wilted)  Odalarda (In the Rooms). Short Stories: Sular Ne Güzelse (If the Waters Are So Beautiful), İki Deniz Öyküsü (Two Sea Stories), Kanayan (Bleeding), Havada Kar Sesi Var (There is the Sound of Snow in the Air), Cam Kırıkları ( Pieces of Broken Glass). Travel: Bir Gün Yine Allı Turnam (Again One Day My Red Crane). Memoir: Defterimde Kuş Sesleri (Voices of Birds in My Notebook) Foreign Rights: Yaralısın/You are Wounded (Du Bist Verwundet, Buntbuch Verlag, Germany, 1982); (Je bent gewond, Ambo & Novib, The Netherlands, 1988)

YARALISIN - YOU ARE WOUNDED Buntbuch, Germany, 1982, 272 pages, Novel Translated by Wolfgang Scharlipp ISBN: 9755100876 www.onkagency.com

One of the works recounting the period of terror beginning with the period of the Marshall Plan and continuing until the military coup of March 12, 1971, it tells of the period of detainment spent by a young man in Ankara, whose house was raided one night by five police officials and who was taken into custody because of a sack with books. The young man, a recent university graduate, has no illegal connections. None of his books are banned or confiscated publications. And yet, he is taken from his home, beaten, despised, tortured, deprived of basic human rights. Two months pass by. He has not yet been allowed to see his parents. His memories sway back to his childhood, to his mother, who used to work in a primary school, cleaning floors every morning and doing all kinds of chores until the school day was over. “You are Wounded” was awarded the “Orhan Kemal Novel Prize” in 1975.

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ERENDİZ ATASÜ

Erendiz Atasü was born in Ankara in 1947. She graduated from the Faculty of Pharmacy at Ankara University in 1968, and was a professor of pharmacognosy at the same institution until her retirement in 1997. Her short stories, written with a feminist consciousness, have been published in literary journals such as Sanat Edebiyat ‘81, Düşün, Çağdaş Türk Dili, and Varlık and her essays and articles on literary topics, women’s issues, secular society, and Republican reforms have appeared in journals and dailies such as Saçak, Çağdaş Türk Dili, Cumhuriyet Kitap, Varlık, Papirüs, Cumhuriyet, and Aydınlık. Atasü’s work has been the subject of various literary studies, which have looked at both the context and form of her writings. She is known for approaching problematic themes such as the alternative history of women, feminine perspectives on the Republican reforms, and women’s conceptualizations of sexual relationships and female sexuality, as well as for her usage of imagery and language. Some of her short stories have been translated into other languages and been published in anthologies in Great Britain, the United States, France, Germany and Holland. WORKS: Short Stories: Kadınlar da Vardır (Women Also Exist), Lanetliler (The Damned), Onunla Güzeldim (Beautiful With Him), Dağın Öteki Yüzü (The Other Side Of The Mountain), Taş Üstüne Gül Oyması (Roses Engraved In Marble), Uçu (Evanescence). Novels: Gençliğin O Yakıcı Mevsimi (That Scorching Season Of Youth), Açıkoturumlar Çağı (The Age Of Open Debate), Bir Yaşdönümü Rüyası (A Mid-Life Dream). Essays: Benim Yazarlarım (My Writers), Kadınlığım, Yazarlığım, Yurdum (My Womanhood, Authorship And My Country), İmgelerin İzi (Reflections Of Images), Kavram ve Slogan (Concept and Slogan). Foreign Rights: Yaş Dönümü Rüyası/A Mid-life Dream (Greece), Lanetliler/The Dammed (Germany), Dağın Öteki Yüzü/The Other Side of the Mountain (UK)

BİR YAŞDÖNÜMÜ RÜYASI - A MID-LIFE DREAM Derdanos Publishing House, Greece, 2005 311 pages, Novel, Translated by Anti Karra ISBN: 9789750702129 www.eredizatasu.com

This book is about various kinds of repression. It is mainly about Feride’s painful confrontation in her fifties with the probability that her sexual choice has not been the right one after all. The story revolves around the mother-daughter relationship between Feride and her stepdaughter Şirin, whom she loves as her own child. The central story is encircled by the social unrest of Turkey’s last twenty-five years and the impact of these experiences on the characters. The deeper message of the book is that an individual’s life is not actually a limited patch of time, but rather a passage from one’s own past which flows into the future lives of others. Confrontations with love, pain, and violence uproot the repressed inclinations of the deeper self, and the impacts of these confrontations are felt beyond one individual lifespan.

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BOOKS FROM TURKEY

ESMAHAN AYKOL

Esmahan Aykol was born in 1970. She graduated from the Faculty of Law at Istanbul University before going to Berlin Humboldt University, where she obtained her Masters Degree in Law. Kitapçı Dükkanı (The Bookstore) is Aykol’s first book. One of the most well-known Turkish detective story writers, Esmahan Aykol has also written a book of poetry entitled O Şehirde Düşlerim Kaldı (I Left my Dreams in That City). WORKS: Kelepir Ev (A Bargain House), Kitapçı Dükkanı (Bookstore), Şüpheli Bir Ölüm (A Mysterious Death), Savrulanlar (Dispersed) Foreign Rights: Kitapçı Dükkanı/Bookstore (Hotel Bosforo, Roca Editorial, Spain, 2007), (Hotel Bosforus, Diogenes, Switzerland, 2003); Kelepir Ev/A Bargain House (Diogenes, Switzerland, 2003); Savrulanlar/Dispersed (Diogenes, Switzerland, 2007)

KİTAPÇI DÜKKANI BOOKSTORE Roca Editorial de Libros, Spain, 2007 237 pages, Novel Translated by Karen Eskenazi ISBN: 9944860178 [email protected]

This book introduces us to Kati Hirşel, a German woman who has settled in Tunel, Istanbul where she owns a bookstore which only sells detective stories. Kati’s childhood friend Petra comes to Istanbul to make a film, but the director of the film gets killed. Katy, who’s a detective story addict, tunes into the amateur sleuth within her, tries to trace the crime back to its source and untangle the web of relationships. She finds herself caught up in a nail biting adventure in pursuit of murderers and victims.

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FAKİR BAYKURT

Fakir Baykurt was born in Burdur in 1929 and worked as a teacher in various villages after graduating from Gönen Village Institute in 1948. He also worked as a Turkish language teacher after training at Gazi Education Institute. During his teaching career, he was elected as president for the Turkish Teacher’s Uninon (TÖS). Fakir Baykurt became involved in literature with poetry, although he is mostly known as a storyteller and novelist. He won the Yunus Nadi Novel Prize with Yılanların Öcü (The Revenge of the Snakes), the TRT Story Prize in 1970 with Sınırdaki Ölü (The Corpse at the Border) and the Turkish Language Institute Novel Prize in 1971 with Tırpan (The Scythe), the Orhan Kemal Novel Prize in 1978 with Kara Ahmet Destanı (The Epic of Kara Ahmet), the Berlin Senate Child Literature Prize in 1984 with Barış Çöreği (The Peace Muffin) the German Industry Union (BDI) Literature Prize with Gece Vardiyası (The Night Shift). A further selection of his work includes Irazca’nın Dirliği (The Life of Irazca), Onuncu Köy (The Tenth Village), Amerikan Sargısı (American Bandage), Köygöçüren (Village Migrator), Keklik (Partridge), Yayla (The Plateau) Yüksek Fırınlar (High Ovens), Koca Ren (The Big Ren), and Yarım Ekmek (Half a Loaf of Bread). Fakir Baykurt died in 1999. Foreign Rights: Yılanların Öcü?/The Revenge of the Snakes (German), (Georgian), (Russian); Irazca’nın Dirliği/The Life of Irazca (German), (Bulgarian), (Uzbek); Anadolu Garajı/Bus Terminal Anatolia (English);Barış Çöreği/The Peace Muffin (German); İki Türk Masalı/Two Turkish Fairy Tales (German), Sakarca/Sakarca the Cockerel (German); Türkiye’de Köy Enstitüleri/ The Village Institutes in Turkey (German)

YILANLARIN ÖCÜ - THE REVENGE OF THE SNAKES Ararat Verlag, Germany, 1981, 221 pages, Novel Traslated by Horst Wilfrid Brands ISBN: 9750403959 [email protected]

Karataş is a beautiful yet very impoverished village in Turkey and Kara Bayram is one of the poor residents of the village. He lives in a one room house, left by his father, with his good-natured wife, three children and his mother Irazca, the pillar of his home. Irazca is a troubled, grieving woman, but she is very formidable, too. As they go on living standing on their own feet, their peaceful existence is disturbed one day. Favoured by Mukhtar Cımbıldak Hüsnü, Haceli decides to build a house in front of theirs. Of course, Irazca protests and all hell breaks loose in the village... and in the town... . A lot of things happen to the family... In this novel, Fakir Baykurt depicts little power relations prevalent in village life, the opportunists who pursue these relations, the extensions of these people in politics and bureucracy, and finally bright and beautiful people whom those cruel people want to crush and eliminate; in short, he touches upon the “issues of the country” at the risk of being labelled objectionable and becoming the center of much debate, and hence animosity, at the time...

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BOOKS FROM TURKEY

FALİH RIFKI ATAY

Falih Rıfkı Atay, who is known for his books on Atatürk, was born in 1894 in Istanbul and graduated from the Faculty of Letters at Istanbul University. After the 1908 revolution, he began writing in the Tanin newspaper. He was a third lieutenant in the First World War. He also travelled across Europe in this position. He founded Akşam newspaper in 1918. He became a member of parliament as a Bolu deputy. In 1950, he withdrew from politics and dedicated all his time to journalism. Falih Rıfkı passed away in 1971. WORKS: Çankaya, Zeytindağı (The Olive Mountain), Falling Years Çöküş Yılları (Years of Decline), Kurtuluş (Survival), Babanız Atatürk (Your Father Atatürk), Vahidettin, Atatürkçülük Nedir? (What is Kemalism?) Foreign Rights: Zeytin Dağı/The Olive Mountain (Editions Turquoise, France), (Rose Verlag, Germany)

ZEYTİNDAĞI (ÇÖKÜŞ YILLARI) THE OLIVE MOUNTAIN (FALLING YEARS) Rose Verlag, Germany, 2009 368 pages, Memoir Translated by Nüvit Çalış ISBN: 9756461071 [email protected]

The name of the book, Zeytindağı (The Olive Mountain) comes from a mountain on which Cemaş Pasha had his headquarters. The author goes to Cemal Pasha’s headquarters on a mission. He tells his memoirs from the last days of the Ottomans to the first days of the Republic of Turkey. This book is one of the masterpieces on Turkish history.

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FATİH ERDOĞAN

Fatih Erdoğan was born in 1954 in İzmir, and moved to Istanbul in 1958. He graduated from Boğaziçi University, the Department of Mechanical Engineering in 1979. He worked as an editor for children’s publications at the Redhouse Publishing from 1980 to 1991. He worked in the Munich International Youth Library (Internationale Jugendbibliothek München) in 1984. He received his master’s degree in 1989 from Istanbul University, Faculty of Letters, the Department of Library Science. From 1992 to 2002, he worked as a faculty member in the same department and taught “Children’s Literature”, “Desktop Publishing”, “The Publishing World and Its Problems”, “Texts for Librarianship” and “Texts for Information Science” courses. He received his doctorate in 1999 from the same department. In addition to several conference papers and articles about children’s literature, he has written over fifty books for children and has translated a number of books.

SİHİRLİ ŞAPKA  THE MAGICAL HAT Önel Verlag, Germany, 2007 135 pages, Children’s Book Translated by Christel Schütte ISBN: 9753100191 [email protected]

When he said “Oh, I wish I were invisible, and no one could see me unless I wanted them to...” all that Burak actually wanted was to go unnoticed by the teacher who was going to check their homework in the first period at school. The trunk of the oak tree shook from one side to another, its branches went up and down and an acorn broke off and fell on top of Burak’s head. Now Burak finds an outlandish, blue hat on his bed that same night...

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BOOKS FROM TURKEY

FATMA KARABIYIK BARBAROSOĞLU

Fatma Karabıyık Barbarosoğlu was born in Afyon in 1962, and gained her degree in Philosophy from Istanbul University in 1984. The title of her master’s thesis is “Assessing Sufistic Education”. She gained her PhD in 1994, with a thesis called “Fashion and Mentality Relations along the Modernization Process”. She was selected as “Story Writer of the Year” by the Turkish Writers’ Association in 2001. Barbarosoğlu has been writing in the newspaper Yeni Şafak since 1996. Some of Her Works: Moda ve Zihniyet (Fashion and Mentality), Acı Deniz (Bitter Sea), Sözün ve Sükûtun Renkleri (Colors of Words and Silence), Gün Akşamsızdır (Day without Evening), Senin Hikâyen (Your Story), Hiçbiryer (Nowhere).

FATMA ALİYE: UZAK ÜLKE FATMA ALIYE: FAR LAND Asia Publishers, South Korea 357 pages, Novel Translated by O. H. Eunkyung ISBN: 9789752635067 [email protected]

Far Land, by Fatma Karabıyık Barbarosoglu, one of the most significant writers of contemporary literature, is a novel based upon the life of Fatma Aliye, who was the first-ever female Muslim writer. Far Land has a dual narrative: on the one hand we read the story of Fatma Aliye, an Ottoman intellectual, writer, mother and wife, while on the other we focus on the story of another writer, who lives in Turkey in the 21st century and who is studying Fatma Aliye. In this story of the first female Muslim writer, Far Land refreshes our understanding of what the late Ottoman intellectuals went through, and also presents a panorama of contemporary Turkey through its second heroine.

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FAZIL HÜSNÜ DAĞLARCA

Fazıl Hüsnü Dağlarca was born in Istanbul in 1915 and completed his primary education in different parts of Anatolia. He graduated from Kuleli Military High School in 1933. In 1950 he resigned from the army to devote himself to poetry. He worked for several government offices and retired in 1959. He opened the Kitap Publishing House in Istanbul and published the journal entitled Türkçe from 1960 to 1964. He closed his publishing house in 1970. He has written more than one hundred books, including more than twenty books for children, and children are a continual theme in his works. His fame rests on the poetry collections published between 1940 and 1968. He also wrote politically motivated books like Hiroşima (Hiroshima,1970). In 1974 Dağlarca received Yugoslavia’s Golden Wreath Award and in 1977 he was named “Poet of the Year” at the Rotterdam Poetry Festival. A panel of distinguished Turkish men of letters honored him as “Turkey’s leading living poet” in 1976. Dağlarca is one of the most widely translated Turkish poets of our time. Foreign Rights: Balina ve Mandalina/Whale and Tangerina (Hvalen og mandarinen, Vindrose, Danish), (Rotterdamse Kunststichting, Dutch), Hollandalı Dörtlükler/ Quatrains of Holland (English), Seçme Şiirler/Selected Poems (Pittsburg, English), Cezayir Türküsü/Song of Algeria (L’Oisaeau a quatre ailes, Cheyne, French), (Avantlumiére Arfuyen, French), (Rotterdamse Kunststichting, Dutch)

SELECTED POEMS University of Pittsburg Press, USA, 1969 Translated by Talat Sait Halman ISBN: 9780822952046 [email protected] [email protected]

Dağlarca’s poetry is like self-rising yeast. The veiled periphery of the whole of his poetic quest is concealed within a single poem. His entire poetry is contained in a momentous line. His poetic quest is part of humanity’s quest. The wonder that man has felt since the beginning of his existence appeals to the poet, and in a sense his work is a kind of anthropology. The concept of the human fascinates him, and he has a great sensitivity to all stages of the human and of humanity. Perhaps the source of this sensitivity is rooted in his respect for man and in his own humanity.

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BOOKS FROM TURKEY

FERİDE ÇİÇEKOĞLU

Feride Çiçekoğlu studied architecture at METU (Ankara) and obtained her PhD from the University of Pennsylvania. After the 1980 military coup in Turkey, she was a political prisoner until 1984. She owes her first novel Uçurtmayı Vurmasınlar/Don’t Let Them Shoot the Kite to the stint in prison. Adapted by the author to screen, it won a number of awards, national and international, including “Prix du Public Rencontres Internationales” (Cannes, 1989). Among her other filmed scripts are Journey to Hope (Academy Award for Best Foreign Film, 1991) and Suyun Öte Yanı which she rewrote as a novella (The Other Side of the Water, 1992). Her short stories were translated into and published in several languages. Between 1995-99, she was the editor-in-chief of the quarterly journal Istanbul published by the History Foundation. She has been Course Director for the graduate program in Film and Television Studies at Istanbul Bilgi University since 2005, and she has recently published a book on the representation of cities and women in cinema, Vesikalı Şehir (The Prostitute City, 2007). Foreign Rights: Uçurtmayı Vurmasınlar/Don’t Let Them Shoot the Kite (Ze Mogen Niet Op De Vileger, Beverwijk, Dutch), (Kastaniotis, Greek).

UÇURTMAYI VURMASINLAR DON’T LET THEM SHOOT THE KITE Kastaniotis Editions, Greece, 1998 112 pages, Novel ISBN: 9789755101415 Fiction: [email protected] Non fiction: [email protected]

İnci is a political prisoner. Barış is the son of another prisoner who has been jailed for drug dealing. The boy has been condemned to grow up in prison since there is no one else to take care of him. He learns about nature, the world outside, and affection through İnci. The film version of Don’t Let Them Shoot the Kite won many national and international awards, including the Golden Orange (Antalya, 1989) and the Prix du Public Rencontres Internationales (Cannes, 1989). Asked about Don’t Let Them Shoot the Kite, Çiçekoğlu says, “When the iron door closed behind me one June afternoon in 1984, leaving me on the outside and Barış’s wails on the inside, I never dreamed that his voice would one day reach so many people. It wasn’t that I hadn’t thought of noting down my memories about Barış, but I felt that even the words that were actually committed to paper usually did not reach the limited number of people who were in the habit of reading. When Barış’s tiny voice rose on the screen, a new opportunity to get Don’t Let Them Shoot the Kite published was born. This is why the book owes a debt of gratitude to the screen.”

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FERİDUN ANDAÇ

Feridun Andac was born in Erzurum in 1954. He received his first degree from the Faculty of Education at the University of Marmara. He obtained his masters degree from the Faculty of Literature at the University of Istanbul. He taught literature and comparative literature. In addition to his research work, and essays, his short stories and travel writings were published in various magazines and newspapers. Andac, who published many books in these fields, became the Editor in Chief of Dünya Books from 2002 onwards. He has written columns for Cumhuriyet and Dünya newspapers and continues to teach “Contemporary Turkish Literature” in the Faculty of Communication and Fine Arts at University of Marmara. Some of His Works: Critical Writings: Gerçekçilik Yolunda (In the Path of Realism), Yazınsal Gerçekçiliğin Boyutları (Dimensions of Literary Realism), EdebiyatımızınYol Haritası/Yazınsal Oluşumun Göstergeleri (A Roadmap for Our Literature/ The Indicators of Literary Formation). Essays: Işık Ol (Be the Light), Günüme Ağ (Netting for my Day), Söz Uçları (The Edges of Words) Yazı Burçları (The Star Signs of Writings), Aynanın Arkası (The Back of the Mirror), Celile’de Kuşlar Ölüyor (Birds are Dying in Celile), Babil’e Yolculuk (A Journey to Babylon), Günün Gölgedeki İzi (Traces of the Day in the Shadows), Küllenen Her Şey (Everything in Ashes), Aşk Hayatı Gölgeler (Love Shadows Life), Susan Bir Yerin Dili (The Language of a Silent Place), Zamana Yazılan Sözler (Words Written for Time), Öykü Yazmak Öyküyü Düşünmek (To Write a Story, to Imagine a Story), Gönlümün Yitik Yurdunda (In the Lost Lands of My Heart) , Kar Masalları (Snow Fairytales), Yoksa Aşk Ölür (Or Else Love Dies). Narrative:Ferhad ile Şirin (Shirin and Farhad) Foreign Rights : Babam ve Kiraz Ağacı-Seçme Öyküler/My Father and the Cherry Tree-Selected Short Stories (CUM Publications, Bulgaria), Kar Masalları/Snow Fairytales (Connectum, Bosnia Herzegovina).

KAR MASALLARI - SNOW FAIRYTALES Connectum, Bosnia Herzegovina, 2009 140 pages, Novel Translated by Džejla Dautović ISBN: 9789958590726 [email protected]

The writer started writing this book during a journey to the East, and the stories accumulate as they follow the axis of place/belonging/nature, love/passion/ loyalty-commitment/break up and journey to memory. The stories are written in the narrative style of a novel which ensures that each story retains its own thematic reality within that story.

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BOOKS FROM TURKEY

FERİT EDGÜ

Ferit Edgü (1936) first came on the Turkish literary scene in the 1950’s, publishing his poetry in various journals. He later received attention for his short stories. His first story was published when he was 18 years old (1954) in the journal Yeni Ufuklar, a literary venue for young authors. Before age 32 he had published three more important books of short stories, Kaçkınlar (Deserters, 1959), Bozgun (Defeat, 1962) and Av (Hunting, 1968). In Bir Gemide (On Board , 1978) and Çığlık (Scream, 1982), he wrote about characters unable to feel at home in a bleak world. He began to seek out a new reality by creating characters outside of the real world. His craft improved with every new book. Ferit Edgü occupies a special place in the Turkish short story due to the commentary on the role of language and literature within his stories. His construction of reality in his novels Kimse (No One, 1976) and O/Hakkâri’de Bir Mevsim (He/A Season in Hakkâri, 1977) can serve as a guide to young authors who seek a distinctive style. Some of His Works: Eylülün Gölgesinde Bir Yazdı (It Was a Summer in the Shadow of September), Binbir Hece (A Thousand and One Nights), Doğu Öyküler (Eastern Tales), İşte Deniz (There’s the Sea), Maria, Do Sesi (The sound of Doh), Avara Kasnak (Idler Wheel), Nijinski Öyküleri (Tales of Nijinski), Tüm Ders Notları (All Class Notes),Yazmak Eylemi (The Act of Writing), Şimdi Saat Kaç? (What Time is it Now?), Yeni Ders Notları (New Class Notes), Seyir Sözcükleri (Words for a Voyage), Devam (Continuation), Sözlü/ Yazılı (Oral/Written), İnsanlık Halleri (States of Humaneness), Ah Min-el Aşk (Oh, Love), Dağ Şiirleri (Mountain Poems), Görsel Yolculuklar (Visual Journeys), Abidin, Avni Arbaş, Osman Hamdi-Bilinmeyen Resimleri (Osman Hamdi - Unknown Paintings), Doğa Dostları (Nature Friends). Foreign Rights: Hakkari’de Bir Mevsim/A Season in Hakkari (Unionsverlag, Switzerland, German, 1997), (Gallimard, France, 1989), (De Martinis & C., Italy) (Shobun-sha Publishers, Japan, 1995), (Bardon Chinese Media Agency, China, 1999), (Connectum, Bosnia-Herzegovina, 2004); Eylül’ün Gölgesinde Bir Yazdı/A Summer Under the Shade of September (Unionsverlag, Switzerland, German, 1990).

HAKKARİ’DE BİR MEVSİM A SEASON IN HAKKARİ Connectum, Bosnia-Herzegovina, 2005 198 pages, Novel Translated by Kerima Filan ISBN: 9755702857 [email protected]

Ferit Edgü, as one of the most eminent figures of Turkish Literature, is notable for his use of poetic language and the surrealist style of his works. Hakkari’de Bir Mevsim, clearly autobiographical, is regarded as Edgü’s most important book, blending real life with fiction and describing solititude, poverty and life in the country with perfect narrative technique and vivid images.

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FEYYAZ KAYACAN

Feyyaz Kayacan was born in 1919 in Istanbul. He worked for a long time at the BBC Turkish Section. He wrote short stories and poems in French, English and Turkish. In 1992 he published Modern Turkish Poetry, in English. His first two books were in French, the third Kaşık Havası (A Folk Dance) and fourth Benim Örümceğim Başka (My Spider is Different) were in Turkish and his fifth poetry book was in English. Better known as a short story writer, Feyyaz Kayacan’s short story collection was published by Yapı Kredi Cultural Activities, Arts and Publishing, a month after his death, in 1993. WORKS: Şişedeki Adam (Bottled Man), Kaşık Havası (A Folk Dance), Sığınak Hikayeleri (The Shelter Stories), Benim Örümceğim Başka (My Spider is Different).

SIĞINAK HİKAYELERİ THE SHELTER STORIES Rockingham Press, UK, 2007 125 pages, Short Story Translated by Ruth Christie ISBN: 9753630467 [email protected] [email protected]

The Shelter Stories comprises six magnificient short stories proving how hope and wisdom can render life more beautiful. The stories focus on a group of Londoners clinging onto life by living their own lives to the full during the war years.

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BOOKS FROM TURKEY

FEYZA HEPÇİLİNGİRLER

Feyza Hepçilingirler was born in 1948. She graduated from Istanbul Teacher Training College and from the Turkish Language and Literature Department at Istanbul University. At present, she is a lecturer at Yıldız Technical University, Istanbul. She won the Success Award in 1979, for her play Yanlışlıklar (Mistakes), in the Turkish Ministry of Culture, Children’s Works Competition, the Sait Faik Short Story Award for Eski Bir Balerin (An Ex-Ballerina) in 1985, the Borski Grümen Award (Balkan Writers’ Association) for her short story Ne Güzel Ölmüştüm (What Luck! I Was Dead) in 1991 and the Sedat Simavi Literature Award for her short story book entitled Savrulmalar (Confusions) in 1997. Her short stories have been translated into French, German, English, Serbian and Croatian. WORKS: Türkçe “Off” 3 (Turkish is Off 3), Dilim Dilim Ana Dilim (My Mother Tongue), Ya Armut Ağacı Olursam (And If I should Turn Into a Pear Tree), Dilin Zamana Dokunduğu - Türkçe Günlükleri (When Language Touched Time - Turkish Diaries), Yıldızların Suya Döküldüğü-Türkçe Günlükleri (When the Stars Fell into the Water - Turkish Diaries), Sorulmadan Dedim “Ah” (I Said “Oh” Without Being Asked), Türkçe “Off” (Turkish is Off), Sabah Yolcuları (Morning Voyagers), Türkçe Dil Bilgisi Öğretenlere ve Öğrenenlere (For Those Learning and Teaching Turkish Grammar), Tanrıkadın (Goddess), Öykünmece (Putting on Airs) Savrulmalar (Confusion), Kırmızı Karanfil Ne Renk Solar (Onto What Color Does Red Carnation Fade), Üç Nokta Bir Çizgi (Three Dots and a Dash), Kırlangıçsız Geçti Yaz (Summer with No Swallows), Ürkek Kuşlar (Timorous Birds), Eski Bir Balerin (An ExBallerina), Uçtu Uçtu Pelin Uçtu (Pelin Flew Away), Çirkin Prenses (The Ugly Princess), Yanlışlıklar-Altı Çocuk Oyunu (Mistakes-Six Plays for Children).

FEYZA HEPÇİLİNGİRLER SHORT STORY SELECTION Literaturca Verlag, Germany, 2005 Translated by Beatrix Caner ISBN: 3935535104 [email protected]

This book by Sait Faik Short Story Award winner Feyza Hepçilingirler, contains 21 short stories on life, human warmth and ordinary people, which will give great pleasure to the reader through its striking use of narrative.

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FİLİBELİ AHMET HİLMİ

Filibeli Ahmet Hilmi graduated from the Imperial Galatasaray High School in Istanbul. He commenced his imperial service as a clerk in the Office of Public Debts. While in service in Beirut, he was compelled to flee to Egypt because of his “Young Turk” activities. It was in Egypt that he started up the newspaper Çaylak (Rookie). Although he returned to Istanbul in 1901, he was exiled to Libya by Sultan Abdulhamid II. While in Libya, he cultivated an interest in Sufism and became a member of the Arusiyya dervish order. Ahmed Hilmi returned to Istanbul on the proclamation of the Second Constitutional government in 1908, and founded the newspaper Ittihad-ı Islâm (Islamic Unity), which enjoyed but a brief existence. The author of some forty works, Ahmed Hilmi died in 1913 and is buried in the courtyard of the Mosque of Mehmed II at Istanbul.

AMAK-I HAYAL AWAKENED DREAMS Treshold Books, USA, 1998 158 pages, Novel Translated by Refik Algan and Camille Helminski ISBN: 9756963050 [email protected], [email protected]

The hero of the novel is a young man called Râci. He has studied science, philosophy and religion but he is cynical about the meaning of life. In a cemetery, he meets Aynalı Baba, an old man who wears clothes with pieces of mirrors and looks like a madman. Aynalı Baba starts teaching Râci by playing a reed flute. Râci experiences a set of life-like dreams. He meets prophets and holy beings and begins to understand the meaning of his existence.

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BOOKS FROM TURKEY

FİLİZ TOSYALI

Filiz Tosyalı was born in Izmir in 1945. She graduated from Üsküdar American Girls High School in 1964 and from Bradford Junior College in the USA and from the Graphics Department of the State School of Applied Fine Arts in 1966. After working as a script writer and graphics artist for advertising companies, in 1978, she began to write and illustrate books for preschool children. She attended a three-month training and research program in Munich International Children’s Library in 1980. She currently works as a freelancer, and has had several books published by private publishing houses, the Ministry of Culture and The Environmental Foundation. In addition to this, she has participated in numerous national and foreign exhibitions. WORKS: Sevmeyi Öğrenirken (Learning to Love), Yaşamayı Öğrenirken (Learning to Live), Sevgiyle Yaşarken (Living with Love), Dost Kuzenler-1 (Friendly Cousins-1), Dost Kuzenler-2 (Friendly Cousins -2), Kırmızı Motosiklet-1 (The Red Motorcycle -1), Kırmızı Motosiklet-2 (The Red Motorcycle -2), Mesajımı Bekle (Wait for my Message), Evde ve Ana sınıfında Okul Öncesi Eğitim (Pre-school education in Kindergarden and at home), Tekerlekli Sandalye (The Wheelchair).

KIRMIZI MOTOSİKLET THE RED MOTORCYCLE Anadolu Verlag, Germany, 2007 86 pages, Children’s Book, Novel Translated by Sabine Adatepe ISBN: 9789756022887 [email protected]

Emir has to take a challenging exam. When his nature-loving family decide to continue their life in Bayramoğlu during winter, too, they buy him a motorcycle, thinking that he might revolt at the thought of weekends with no friends. Just the right size for a 10-year-old child, this motorcycle embellishes Emir’s dreams. In the meantime, Emir who passes his exam, is sent to boarding school at the tender age of 10 while he is happy living with his family. He thereafter spends the weekends with his family.

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FÜRUZAN

Füruzan was born in Istanbul, in 1935. She could only continue her school life until the end of primary school. Her short stories were published when she was very young and she immediately attracted the attention of the literary world. Her stories, both long and short are remarkable for the way in which she employs an uncomplicated form of language, viewed from an optimistic perspective, while never overdramatizing either the characters or the events. Füruzan, whose books have been constantly republished, won the Sait Faik Short Story Award in 1972 with Parasız Yatılı (Free Boarding School), and in 1975, the Turkish Language Association Novel Award for her novel 47’liler (Born in 1947). She has written a film script based on her short story Benim Sinemalarım (My Cinemas) which was made into a film in 1989. She has also written a play based on her short story Kış Gelmeden (Before Winter Comes) in 1997. WORKS: Parasız Yatılı (Free Boarding School), Kuşatma (The Siege), Benim Sinemalarım (My Cinemas), 47’liler (Born in 1947), Yeni Konuklar (New Guests), Ev Sahipleri (Landladies), Redife’ye Güzelleme (Sweet Words for Redife), Gecenin Öteki Yüzü (The Other Face of the Night), Gül Mevsimidir (It’s the Season of Roses), Berlin’in Nar Çiçeği (The Pomegranate Blossom of Berlin), Lodoslar Kenti (The City of the Southwest Wind), Balkan Yolcusu (Balkan Traveler). Foreign Rights: Kırk Yedi’liler/Those Born in ‘47 (Sevka Pirvaova, Bulgarian), Sevda Dolu Bir Yaz/A Summer Full of Love (Milet Publishing, English), (Europa Verlag, Vienna-Münich-Zürich, Aufbau-Verlag, DTV-German), Yeni Konuklar/New Guests: (DTV, German), Parasız Yatılı/Free Boarding School (Editions Bleu Autour, French)

ÖYKÜLER (SEÇMELER) SHORT STORY SELECTION Connectum, Bosnia Herzegovina, 2008 Translated by Kerima Filan ISBN: 9789958590542 [email protected] [email protected]

It would be quite misleading to confine Füruzan’s talent for storytelling to her awareness of social issues. What makes Füruzan such a wizard of detail, in addition to her choice of theme and her excellent use of language, is her ability to imbue the feeling of all five senses into her stories, not only to convey what is there, but also, to imply what is not.

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BOOKS FROM TURKEY

GAYE BORALIOĞLU

Gaye Boralıoğlu was born in Istanbul on 22nd October, 1963. She studied Philosophy in the Faculty of Letters at Istanbul University. She received her masters degree with her thesis which examined the relationship between social anthropolgy and ethics. She worked as a journalist, an advertising script writer, and a screenwriter. She wrote articles about politics, literature and cinema for various magazines and newspapers. Her first book of short stories, Hepsi Hikâye (All Story) was published in 2001 and her novel constructed from photographs, Meçhul (Unknown), was published in 2004. 

HEPSİ HİKAYE ALL STORY Cadmus Press, Syria 124 pages, Short Stories Translated by Bakr Sidqi ISBN: 9789754709483 [email protected]

A series of stories... a story of series... telling about the profession called dealing with life, a profession that gets harder and harder each day... about the perpetual adolescent daze as a basic human condition... the abysmal anxiety of being misunderstood, inability to express one’s self, to pick things up, to control one’s relationships... still shooting for happiness, dreaming about moments of bliss... stories that tell such things differently from the way they have always been told... That’s why, young and fresh... That’s why, cool and refreshing... That’s why, humorous stories without being forced to be humourous... Plus... all that through the language of women!

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GÖNÜL KIVILCIM

Gönül Kıvılcım was born in 1963 in Kırıkkale. She graduated from Boğaziçi University in İstanbul with a degree in Economics. She also received an MA in Mass Communication at Bergen University, Norway. Kıvılcım has lived and worked as a journalist in Berlin and Cologne and worked for the German television broadcaster WDR. She has worked for the Turkish newspaper Radikal . Her first book, Kasaba ve Yalanlar (A Small Town and Lies) was a collection of short stories, published in 2001. Her other books are: Jilet Sinan (Razor Sinan, 2002), Can Publishing House, Parçalı Aşklar (Kaleidoscope of Love, 2004) Everest Publishing House. Her story called “Kasaba ve Yalanlar”from the book with the same title was translated into German for the short story anthology Love, Lies and Ghosts, Unionsverlag, 2006.

JİLET SİNAN RAZOR SİNAN Fan Noli, Albania, 2009 188 pages, Novel Translated by Orkida Muça ISBN: 9789750701450 www.kalemagency.com

The violence in our life. The violence in the street. The violence on the tongue. Walking among those at the bottom of the society, in the streets of a different republic, Gönül Kıvılcım displays that multi-layered violence. In the streets rape, murder, and suicide are ordinary and frequently occurring incidents. Kıvılcım’s narrator wanders in the streets like an invisible hero and pushes a door we have long forgotten: that of conscience. In Razor Sinan, this door, which is inclined to stay closed in welfare societies, is pushed open. In order to settle a conscientious issue, the crimes and dreams of glue sniffers and street urchins, are displayed, portrayed in their language, which is wholy blasphemous. This is a world which exists very close to us, but also one which will seem frightening to most of us.

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BOOKS FROM TURKEY

GÜL İREPOĞLU

Gül İrepoğlu was born in stanbul in 1956 and graduated from the Academy of Fine Arts at Istanbul University. İrepoğlu is presently a professor and teaches Art History at Istanbul University. She has penned various essays and books examining artistic links between the cultures of the East and the West. Gül İrepoğlu is a member of UNESCO, acting as director for the Cultural Inheritance Committee and chairperson for the TAÇ Foundation. Gül İrepoğlu gives lectures and produces a television program for the Turkish Radio and Turkish Corporation (TRT) called “Sanat-Mekan”. Following her first novel entitled Gölgemi Bıraktım Lale Bahçelerinde (I left My Shadow Over The Tulip Gardens), a novel on 16th century miniaturist Levni, İrepoğlu published her second historical novel Cariye (The Concubine), set in XXVIII Century Ottoman Seraglio. Foreign Rights: Gölgemi Bıraktım Lale Bahçelerinde/I Left My Shadow Over The Tulip Gardens (Cadmus Press, Syria); Cariye/The Concubine (Oceanida, Greece), (Cadmus, Syria), (Damyan Yakov, Bulgaria), (Vivaldi, Romania), (Uklad ANKA, Poland)

GÖLGEMİ BIRAKTIM LALE BAHÇELERİNDE I LEFT MY SHADOW OVER THE TULIP GARDENS Cadmus Press, Syria 338 pages, Novel ISBN: 9752931618 www.kalemagency.com

Gül Irepoglu’s novel I Left My Shadow over the Tulip Gardens portrays a glamorous picture of one of the most pompous eras in the history of the Ottoman Empire. Throughout the pages of this marvelous novel, the reader witnesses the stories of sultans, artists, viziers and odalisques and becomes acquainted with them not as historical figures, but as unique individuals who love, hate, fear, desire, suffer and who give themselves up to their destiny. These skillfully interwoven stories display the most fabulous details that shine a light on the life and traditions of an important era. Although the novel is based on historical facts and extensive research, the author’s subtle style, descriptive story-telling craft and vivid imagination enable us to make the most of an unforgettable reading experience.

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GÜLSÜM CENGİZ

Gülsüm Cengiz was born in 1949 in Sütçüler, Isparta. She graduated from the Teacher Training College and worked as a teacher in Istanbul and Balıkesir for 14 years. After leaving her job, she worked in publishing as an editor and manager, which prompted her into opening her own publishing house, Demet Yayıncılık. Subsequently, she worked as children’s page editor for various newspapers and journals and as a radio programmer. She has won several prizes in Turkey and abroad. Her poems have been translated into different languages and have been published in journals, anthologies and selected writings. WORKS: Akdeniz’in Rengi Mavi (The Mediterranean Sea is Blue), Arı ile Papatya (The Bee and the Daisy), Başak’ın Çevre Günlüğü (Başak’s Environmental Diary), Bir Dilim Ekmek İçin (For a Slice of Bread), Çiçek ile Kirlikara (Çiçek and Kirlikara), Damlacık (Water Drop), Doğanın Öfkesi (Nature’s Anger), Doğum Günü Armağanı (Birthday Present), Hayvanlarla Konuşan Çocuk (The Child Who could Speak with Animals), Kente Gelen Çam Ağacı (The Pine Tree That Came to the City), Mayısta Üzgün Gönlüm (My Heart Feels Sad in May), Taş Devrine Yolculuk (Trip to the Stone Age), Herkesin Bir İşi Var (Everybody Has A Job), Aslı Okula Başladı (Aslı Started School), Ayşe’nin Günleri (Ayşe’s Days), Bıcırık, Bir Kedinin Günlüğü (A Cat’s Diary), Evdeki Altınlar (Gold at Home), Eylül Deyişleri (September Sayings), Kırda Bir Yaz Sabahı (A Summer Morning in the Countryside), Kuşlar Kralı Kim Olacak? (Who’ll be the King of the Birds?), Küçük Beyaz Güvercin (Little White Dove). Foreign Rights: Ayşe’nin Günleri/Days of Ayşe (Nagel und Kimche, Switzerland), (Gabriel Verlag, Austria), (Dar ül Haris, Syria). 19 of Cengiz’s children’s books have been published in German by Verlag Anadolu and FreiAkademie.

Ayşe is one of us. She may be the classmate we are sharing our desk with, or maybe she is one of the tens of thousands of children living in the same city as us. She is a child who loves people, animals and nature with all her heart. She looks at life with optimism and hope, with the feelings of friendship, cooperation and comradery. Ayşe’nin Günleri tells us the story of this little girl.

AYŞENİN GÜNLERİ - DAYS OF AYŞE Gabriel Verlag, Austria1997, 256 pages, Children’s Book Translated by Hasibe Kalkan Kocabay ISBN: 9757837563 [email protected], [email protected]

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BOOKS FROM TURKEY

GÜLTEN AKIN

Gülten Akın was born in 1933 and is Turkey’s most distinguished female poet. She studied Law at Ankara University and worked as a barrister in various parts of Anatolia. She is at the forefront of poets for whom poetry is synonymous with social responsibility. Her poetry has a calm yet powerful voice. Her poems have been translated into English, German, Flemish, Danish, Italian, Bulgarian, Arabic, Polish, Spanish and Hebrew, and used in academic studies. Akın won the 1961 and 1971 Turkish Language Association Poetry Awards and the 1992 Sedat Simavi Literature Award. WORKS: Rüzgâr Saati (Hour of the Wind), Kestim Kara Saçlarımı (Cut My Dark Hair), Sığda (In the Shallows), Kırmızı Karanfil (Red Carnation), Maraş’ın ve Ökkeş’in Destanı (Epic of Maraş and Ökkeş), Ağıtlar ve Türküler (Elegies and Folk Songs), İlahiler (Hymns), Sevda Kalıcıdır (Love Endures), Sonra İşte Yaşlandım (It Was Then That I Aged), Sessiz Arka Bahçeler (Silent Back Yards), Uzak Bir Kıyıda (On a Distant Shore), Şiir Üzerine Notlar (Notes on Poetry), Seçme Şiirler (Selected Poems), Toplu Oyunlar (Collected Plays). Foreign Rights: Kadın Olanın Türküsü/ The Song of Women (Das Lied vom Frausein, Sardes Verlag, German); Seçme Şiirler/Selected Poems (Contemporary Literature in Translation, The Penguin Book of Women Poets, The Penguin Book of Turkish Verse, Pacific Quarterly Moana, Contemporary Turkish Literature, International Poetry Review, Modern Turkish Poetry, English)

KADIN OLANIN TÜRKÜSÜ THE SONG OF WOMEN Sardes Verlag, Germany, 2008 Translated by Yüksel Pazarkaya ISBN: 9783941025004 [email protected] [email protected]

The book is consisted of the most important poems of Gülten Akın in chronological order. The main theme of Gülten Akın’s poems is human and society and notably several life conditions of women. Gülten Akın is recognized as a writer who enlivens the international poetry with elaborated type of writing and specific timbre.

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GÜLTEN DAYIOĞLU

Gülten Dayıoğlu was born in Kütahya in 1935. She completed her primary and junior high school education in different areas of Turkey and graduated from the Istanbul Atatürk High School for Girls. She studied Law at Istanbul University, before deciding to become a primary school teacher and obtaining her Teaching Certificate. She went on to work as a primary school teacher for 15 years. For the last 45 years, she has continuously contributed to children’s and young adult’s literature. In 2004, the Turkish Ministry of Education named Dayıoğlu the most read author of all time. She has also won numerous awards and her stories have been translated into many languages and published in several anthologies. Foreign Rights: Geride Kalanlar/Those Who Have Stayed (Swedish); Yurdumu Özledim/I Miss My Home (Kaufman, German); Geriye Dönenler/Back Home (IKOO Publishing House, German); Kalbi Kirik Ayicik/Little Bear with a Broken Heart (Russian); Dünya Çocukların Olsa/If the World Belongs the Children (German); Fadiş (German)

MO’NUN GİZEMİ BURTCH & DAPHNE AND THE SECRET OF MO Xlibris Corporation, USA, 2009 288 pages, Children’s Book Fantasy Novel ISBN: 9789754059809 [email protected], [email protected]

I was on my way to Australia when I met a most peculiar young man on the plane. He was a genetic engineer. We had a very interesting conversation on cloning and he told me a story of a remarkable adventure, which inspired met to write this novel. The story was about a young girl, Defne, and a young boy, Burc, two high school kids who were passionately in love with each another. Well, this is how the breathtaking novel came about. Each page fills the reader with increasing wonder. And yet, there are still some questions in my mind that I have not been able to answer to this day. Was Burc, my travelling companion, a real human being? Or had I travelled with a human being produced in a laboratory using some advanced genetic technology and cloning techniques?

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BOOKS FROM TURKEY

GÜNDÜZ VASSAF

Gündüz Vassaf was born in 1946. His works reveal a sharp wit, with an instinctive eye for the absurdities of life. Transcending the limitations of genre, he is a storyteller and essayist of consummate skill, weaving philosophy, psychology, and literature into a web of words. He is part Socratic, part Nietzschean, and wholly original in his quest for freedom and individuality. A leading figure in Turkish intellectual life, Vassaf has also been writing a weekly cultural column in the newspaper Radikal since 1997. His books and articles open the mind to new venues of thought and new inquiries into the state of humanity. A unique author, whose works are universal. WORKS: Cehenneme Övgü (In Praise of Hell), Cennetin Dibi (Depths of Heaven), Tarihi Yargılıyorum (I Judge History), Kırk Yıl Önce Kırk Yıl Sonra Rusya Amerika (Forty Years Ago Forty Years Later Russia America), Annem Belkıs (My Mother Belkıs) Foreign Rights: Cehenneme Övgü/In Praise of Hell (Dostoyevskyi Publications, Russia - Fan Noli, Albania), Annem Belkıs/My Mother Belkıs (Dostoyevskyi Publications, Russia), (Steno, Bulgaria).

ANNEM BELKIS MY MOTHER BELKIS Steno, Bulgaria 303 pages, Biography Translated by Rüstem Aziz Mümin ISBN: 9789754708264 www.kalemagency.com

My Mother Belkıs is a biography of the author’s mother, a fascinating tale of a woman’s life in transition from East to West, spanning the 20th century. The book presents everyday life in the late Ottoman Empire, the young Republic of Turkey, and the United States as seen through the eyes of a 94-year-old psychologist. My Mother Belkıs takes the reader from Koranic school in Macedonia to Harvard Graduate School and beyond. 20,000 copies sold to date. “A must for anyone interested in the lives of women in the twentieth century.”

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GÜNGÖR DİLMEN

He was born in 1930. Dilmen, who won first prize in the Sinema Tiyatro Dergisi (Cinema and Theater Magazine) competition, in 1959, with his one-act play, entitled, The Ears of Midas, graduated from the Classical Philology Department, Faculty of Humanities, at Istanbul University, in 1960. Dilmen has worked with Israeli and Greek theatres and studied theatre at Yale and Washington Universities in the USA. Currently, he is a lecturer at Istanbul University State Conservatory. WORKS: Galile’nin Günahları (Galileo’s Sins), Osmanlı Dram Kumpanyası (Ottoman Drama Company), Hakimiyeti Milliye Aşevi (National Soup Kitchen), Kurban (Victim), Aşkımız Aksarayın En Büyük Yangını (Our Love Consumes Aksaray), Ben Anadolu (I, Anatolia), Bağdat Hatun (Lady Baghdad), Deli Dumrul (Dumrul the Fool), Midas’ın Kulakları (The Ears of Midas), Midas’ın Kördüğümü, (Midas’ Gordian Knot), Akad’ın Yayı (Akad’s Bow), Troya İçinde Vurdular Beni (I was Shot in Troy), Ayak Parmakları (Toes), Avcı Karkap (Hunter Karkap) Canlı Maymun Lokantası (Live Monkey Restaurant), Ak Tanrılar (White Gods), Hasan Sabbah.

BEN ANADOLU I, ANATOLIA Editoria & Spettacolo, Italy, 2007 420 pages, Drama Translated by İclal Aydın Margariti ISBN: 97899443964431 [email protected]

One actress plays sixteen different characters, against the background of six thousand year- old Anatolia. Each woman’s story differs in time and genre, ranging from tragedy to comedy, within a time span covering thousands of years, from the mythological ages to the Turkish Independence War. The play has been translated into English, German, French and Italian and has been staged by various theatre companies in Turkey and abroad.

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BOOKS FROM TURKEY

HAKAN BIÇAKÇI

Hakan Bıçakçı was born in Istanbul in 1978 and moved to Ankara in 1996 to attend university. His first articles were published in the literary magazine Dört Mevsim (Four Seasons). He graduated from the Department of Economics at Bilkent University in 2001 and subsequently returned to Istanbul. His first novel, Romantik Korku (Romantic Fear), came out in 2002, his second novel, Rüya Günlüğü (Dream Diary), in 2003, the third, Boş Zaman (Spare Time), in 2004, his first book of short stories, Bir Yaz Gecesi Kabusu (A Mid-Summer Night’s Nightmare), in 2005 and his fourth novel and fifth book, Apartman Boşluğu (The Apartment Shaft), in 2008. He has written many articles on literature, film and popular culture for various newspapers and magazines in addition to other articles which appear regularly in various publications. He has also written feature film scenarios for Asya Film. He currently lives in Istanbul and works as an ad writer. Foreign Rights: Apartman Boşluğu/The Apartment Shaft (Fan Noli, Albenia), (Etrak, Egypt)

APARTMAN BOŞLUĞU THE APARTMENT SHAFT Fan Noli, Albenia, 256 pages, Novel Translated by Jimmy Lazri ISBN: 9753295987 www.kalemagency.com

A musician who confines himself to his home in order to compose music, strange voices that come from within his home, the dark hole on the wall of his flat, and songs without writers… A psychological suspense story that is based on creativity, inspiration and the artistic ego, and which takes place in an apartment haunted by a muse… Arif is a harmless, quiet man in his thirties who has just been dismissed from his job where he has worked for many years. He lives alone in an old flat in Istanbul. He is also the vocalist of a rock group that plays in bars, covering songs by foreign groups. He is prepared to sacrifice anything if only he could sing his own songs, and make an album of his own compositions, in other words, really make music…

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HAKAN YEL

Hakan Yel was born in Istanbul in 1968 and studied Archaeology and Art History at Ankara University. During his professional life, he worked as a furniture upholstery worker, wall paper application laborer, private driver, apprentice in dental prosthesis laboratories, waiter in pizzerias, machine operator in fairgrounds, restaurant manager, bar manager, product manager, and sales inspector. He currently offers training workshops to companies on sales techniques. His first book entitled Sultana Dokunmak (Touching the Sultan, 2005) has been reprinted many times. The author’s second novel, Lokanta (Restaurant), a horror-suspense novel which examines the idea that the aggression and violence taking hold of society day by day will soon bring its own sense of justice; it also analyzes the resulting chaos. The book was met with a strong response from literary critics with its style that reflected the violence it discussed. WORKS: Novel: Sultana Dokunmak (Touching the Sultan), Lokanta (Restaurant), Rüzgâr Ekenler (Wind Sowers). Non Fiction: Her Şeyi Satarım Ruhum Hariç (I can Sell Everything Except My Soul). Foreign Rights: Sultana Dokunmak/Touching the Sultan (Celia and Soft Publishing, Bulgaria), (Triton, Romania), (Maletz, Poland); Lokanta/Restaurant (Celia and Soft Publishing, Bulgaria)

SULTANA DOKUNMAK TOUCHING THE SULTAN Celia and Soft Publishing, Bulgaria 350 pages, Novel Translated by Alina Asparuhova Karahanova ISBN: 9789752105928 www.hakanyel.com

Istanbul is shaken by a series of murders targeting imams - Muslim prayer leaders. The violence of these murders attracts public attention. That all of the victims are imams make people suspect that the murders are related to a specific tariqa (sect). A the same time, a substantial amount of arms are purchased in Northern Iraq. The purchasing of the arms by two old men from Istanbul alerts the Israeli and Turkish intelligence departments that survey the region on a continuous basis. The secret agents tracking the arms purchase direct their search to Istanbul when the two old men who actually purchased the arms are killed. All this activity is monitored by a special unit within the Turkish state. The Israeli intelligence department wants to find out what is happening in Istanbul. A female agent called Helin, who has been kept dormant in Istanbul for a long time, is assigned this duty.

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BOOKS FROM TURKEY

HALDUN TANER

Haldun Taner was born in 1915 and died in 1986. He was the pioneer of epic and cabaret theatre in Turkey. Haldun Taner’s works are marked by a keen sense of observation, criticism and humour. He is known for his short stories reflecting upon chaotic city life, characterized by its surfeit of contradiction, ignorance and absence of good manners. He wrote sketches, short stories, plays, cabarets, film scripts, satire, essays and newspaper columns. He became internationally famous with his epic play Keşanlı Ali Destanı (The Ballad of Ali from Keşhan). He won several national and international literature awards. His works have been translated into many languages. WORKS: Yaşasın Demokrasi (Long Live Democracy), Tuş (Key), Şişhane’ye Yağmur Yağıyordu (It Was Raining in Şişhane), Ayışığında Çalışkur (Çalışkur under the Moonlight), Onikiye Bir Var (One Minute to Twelve), Konçinalar, Sancho’nun Sabah Yürüyüşü (Sancho’s Morning Stroll), Kızıl Saçlı Amazon (Red Headed Amazon), Yalıda Sabah (Morning in the Mansion), Günün Adamı - Dışardakiler (Man of the Hour - Outsiders), Ve Değirmen Dönerdi (And the Windmill Turned), Fazilet Eczanesi (The Goodwill Pharmacy), Lütfen Dokunmayın (Please Don’t Touch), Huzur Çıkmazı (Tranquility Impasse), Keşanlı Ali Destanı (The Ballad of Ali from Keşhan), Gözlerimi Kaparım - Vazifemi Yaparım (I Just Close My Eyes and Do My Duty), Zilli Zarife (Gaudy Zarife), Vatan Kurtaran Şaban (Şaban, the Nation’s Savior), Bu Şehr-i İstanbul Ki (This City: Istanbul), Sersem Kocanın Kurnaz Karısı (The Shrewd Wife of the Stupid Husband), Astronot Niyazi (Niyazi the Astronaut), Ha Bu Diyar (Oh, This Country!), Dün Bugün (Yesterday, Today), Aşk-u Sevda (Passionate Love), Dev Aynası (Giant Mirror), Yâr Bana Bir Eğlence (A Little Bit of Fun Please), Ayışığında Şamata (Fun and Games in the Moonlight), Hayırdır İnşallah (Good News, I Hope).

A SHORT STORY SELECTION Sardes Verlag, Germany, 2007 Translated by Yüksel Pazarkaya, İnci Pazarkaya, Cornelius Bischoff ISBN: 9783981041941 [email protected]

Haldun Taner focuses his short stories on the celebration of life and nature, the praise of sincerity and honesty but, more importantly, on the love of human beings. The joy of life, the search for happiness and a deep humanism form the background to his short stories. Taner, although well aware of developments in the modern short story, remains true to the traditional approach. He neither looks for novelty in the structural form, nor accentuates tension or poetic style in the language. For the most part, he is content to employ a plain, simple, narrative style.

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HALİD ZİYA UŞAKLIGİL

Halid Ziya Uşaklıgil (1867-1945) was a well-known author of the late Ottoman and early Republican years. The author of six novels and numerous short stories, he also served the Ottoman government in different posts at home and abroad, and for that reason was well informed both about the Ottoman state structure and about Ottoman daily life in general. The author also achieved fame for his realistic, psychological works, which were influenced by the French realists and naturalists.  Some of His Novels: Nemide, Bir Ölünün Defteri (The Notebook of a Deceased), Ferdi ve Ortakları (Ferdi and his Partners), Mai ve siyah (Blue and Black), Aşk-ı Memnu (Forbidden Love), Kırık Hayatlar (Shattered Lives). Foreign Rights: Aşk-ı Memnu Forbidden Love (Verbotene Lieben, Unionsverlag, German), (Verboden Liefte, Atheneaum-Polak & Van Gennep, Dutch)

AŞK-I MEMNU FORBIDDEN LOVE Unionsverlag, Switzerland, 2007 472 pages, Novel Translated into German by Wolfgang Riemann ISBN: 97510054934 www.onkagency.com, www.turkishauthors.com

A story about an extra-marital love affair and the difficulty of the status of women in the Ottoman period. Bihter, an attractive lady married to Adnan who is much older than herself, falls in love with Behlül and enters into a passionate affair with him. However Behlül, a moody adventurist, is bored with this relationship after a short while and falls in love with Bihter’s stepdaughterBihter. A short time before the marriage of Behlül and Nihal, the family finds out about the ‘forbidden love’ affair of Behlül and Bihter. Bihter cannot take the pressure and commits suicide. This leads to a chain of events which leaves everyone in solitude.

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BOOKS FROM TURKEY

HALİDE EDİP ADIVAR

Halide Edip Adıvar (Istanbul, 1884 -1964) graduated from the Üsküdar Academy for Girls in 1901 and started writing newspaper articles about women’s rights in 1908. This created a backlash from the Ottoman conservatives. During the March 31st insurgency she went to Egypt for a brief period. She returned to Istanbul in 1909, and worked as a teacher and inspector. She served in various hospitals during the Balkan War. She delivered a very influential speech at the Sultanahmet Square in 1919 at a protest rally against the invasion of Izmir. She believed that Turkey should be ruled under a mandate regime of the United States. She took part in the War of Independence in 1920 as a lance corporal and was promoted to the rank of sergeant major. During the remainder of the War of Independence, her ideas began to diverge from the political views of Mustafa Kemal Atatürk and the Republican People’s Party. After the Progressive Republican Party she supported was closed, the Law of Declaration of Peace came into effect and the era of single party rule began. She left Turkey together. When she returned to Istanbul in 1939, she was appointed chairman of the Department of English Philology at Istanbul University. In 1950, she entered the Turkish Grand National Assembly as an independent MP from the candidate list of the Democratic Party. She resigned office in 1954 and retreated into seclusion. Adıvar was a writer who lived through the transition from the Ottoman Empire to the Turkish Republic, an important Turkish Author who witnessed the events of this dramatic period and captured their details in her novels. Some of Her Novels: Sinekli Bakkal (The Clown and His Daughter), Handan (Handan), Ateşten Gömlek (The Shirt of Flame),Türkün Ateşle İmtihanı (The Turkish Ordeal), Vurun Kahpeye (Strike the Harlot).

SİNEKLİ BAKKAL - THE CLOWN AND HIS DAUGHTER Manesse Verlag, Random House, Germany, 2008, 424 pages, Novel , Translated by Renate Orth Guttman ISBN: 9750707766 [email protected]

Adıvar’s first novel, Sinekli Bakkal (The Clown and His Daughter), was first published in English, and then in Turkish. She struggled to overturn the prevalent backward mentality regarding women and introduce a new understanding of the role of women in the Republic. Adıvar never compromised her opinions nor relinquished her ideals even in the difficult times Turkey went through. Many of her characters carry traces of her own life. Whether in The Clown and His Daughter, Handan (Handan, 1912), Ateşten Gömlek (The Shirt of Flame, 1922) or Türkün Ateşle İmtihanı (The Turkish Ordeal, 1962), the characters often embody the author herself. As a significant intellectual of her time, Adıvar influenced other writers in her close environment.

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HAMDİ KOÇ

Hamdi Koç was born in 1963. He studied English literature and has translated the works of Bechett, Joyce, and Jane Austen. His first novel, Songs on the Death of Children, succeeds, in therms of both language and style, in capturing the fantasies of a “still” and depressed boy. WORKS: Novels: Melekler Erkek Olur (Angels are Male), Çiçeklerin Tanrısı (The God of Flowers), İyi Dilekler Ülkesi (The Land of Good İntentions), Çocuk Ölümü Şarkıları (Songs on the Death of Children), Kalpten Parçalar (Pieces of the Heart) , Bir Eski Kocanın Öğleden Sonrası (One Afternoon of an Ex-Husband).

MELEKLER ERKEK OLUR ANGELS ARE MALE Ruffel Verlag, Germany 308 pages, Novel Translated by Vedat Çorlu and Sabine Çorlu ISBN: 9786051111667 [email protected]

In his novel Melekler Erkek Olur (Angels are Male), Koç tels us about a bored man; bored of his car, clothes, lost of money to spend... This is a story of our modern days, not yet in the past. “I was doing a secret thing.... And I was afraid o my wife, my children, my boss, my friends, my colleagues... In short, I was afraid of everything that owes me, that has the potential to my my life harder o even unbearable. One by one and all together, I was afraidof all of them”

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BOOKS FROM TURKEY

HANDE ALTAYLI

Hande Altaylı was born in Edremit in 1971. After finishing Galatasaray High School she studied Public Relations and Politics at Boğazici University. She has worked as an ad writer for several agencies and has also composed a selection of lyrics. Her first novel Aşka Şeytan Karışır (The Devil Interferes in Love) was published in 2006. Her second and most recent novel Maraz (The Sickness) was published in 2009.

AŞKA ŞEYTAN KARIŞIR THE DEVIL INTERFERES WITH LOVE Univers, Romania 188 pages, Novel Translated by Emilia Comanici ISBN: 9756287582 www.kalemagency.com

Ordinary people would not deviate, the most innocent ones would not become sinners, and the good would not act maliciously if only the devil did not interfere with love... Aslı goes into love blindly with the courage youth gives her. Putting the social rules, her morality, conscience, and shame aside she falls in love with Ömer, her aunt’s lover. In the beginning, she does not even care that her lover is married. But after bouts of jealousy, questioning, dreams and disappointments she finds a way out by running away. Years later, when she thinks she is a mature woman Ömer crosses her path again.

091

HASAN ALİ TOPTAŞ

He was born in Denizli’s Çal County in 1958. His first collection of short stories was published under the title Bir Gülüşün Kimliği (The Identity of a Smile) in 1987; his second book Yoklar Fısıltısı (The Muttering of Nonentities) came out in 1990. With his manuscript titled Ölü Zaman Gezginleri (Dead Time Travelers), he won a short story contest in 1992. He was awarded an Honourable Mention by the Ministry of Culture in the same year for his unpublished book Sonsuzluğa Nokta (Period to Eternity). In 1994, he won the Yunus Nadi Prize for Novels with his unpublished Gölgesizler (The Shadowless). With his novel Bin Hüzünlü Haz (A Thousand Gloomy Pleasures), he won the Cevdet Kudret Prize for Literature. The author also has a book, Yalnızlıklar (Desolations), which is written as poetic prose, a novel titled Kayıp Hayaller Kitabı (Book of Lost Dreams), and a children’s novel called Ben Bir Gürgen Dalıyım (I am a Hornbeam Branch). Toptaş’s last novel Uykuların Doğusu (East of Slumber), was published in 2005. Foreign Rights: Gölgesizler/The Shadowless (German, Finnish, French)

GÖLGESİZLER THE SHADOWLESS Plon, France, 2009 232 pages, Novel Translate by Noemi Cingöz ISBN: 975293434X www.hasanalitoptas.net

In a village, people disappear without a trace all of a sudden, but this is such a case of disappearance that it is as if they evaporated or vanished into thin air... Cıngıllı Nuri, Güvercin, the mukhtar who goes all the way to the city searching for them, Cennet’s son who loses his mind and keeps asking why it snows, the barber’s apprentice who goes to buy razor blades and then dissapears... Gölgesizler is the story of “lost people, lost lives” in which fact and fantasy collide, written in a melodious tone, almost as if poetry; it is the story of people whose “souls get too bored”, “whose skins are too tight for their bodies all of a sudden; whose hands do not match their arms and their feet to their legs; whose eyes have become insufficient for seeing. Gölgesizler is a novel which will grip, tax, surprise and enrich the reader with its surrealistic narration and extraordinary language bordering the edges.

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BOOKS FROM TURKEY

HASAN ERKEK

Hasan Erkek was born in 1970 in Adıyaman. He graduated from the Theatre Department at Ankara University where he also obtained his Master’s and PhD degrees. Currently he is a faculty member at Anadolu University Conservatoire. He is a member of the executive committees of the Turkish Playwrights Association (vicepresident), Turkey’s ASSITEJ (International Association of Theatre for Children and Young People-vice-president) and UNIMA (Union Internationale de la MarionnetteNational Center). WORKS: Bir Gençlik Şarkısı (A Song of Youth), Eşik (The Threshold), Don Kişot’un Ruhu (The Soul of Don Quixote), Yaşasın Barış (Long Live Peace), Ezginin Güncesi (Ezgi’s Diary), Radyo Çocuk Oyunları (Radio Plays for Children), Oyun İçinde Anlatı ( The Narration in the Play), Özgürlük Yarışı (Race for Freedom), Bu Dünya Hepimizin (This World Belongs to All of Us), Barış Cumhuriyeti (Republic of Peace), Radyo Oyunları (Radio Plays), Sahne Çocuk Oyunları-1 (Children’s Stage Plays -1), Mızıka (Harmonica), Kağıthelvacı (Wafer Seller) Tahta Otobüs (Wooden Bus), Müzik Kutusu (Music Box), Güzel Kemanım (My Beautiful Violin), Güzelyurt Çocukları (Children of Beautiful a Country), Bedel (Cost), Sevda Pınarı (Love Fountain), Hayatın Çiçekleri (Flowers of Life), Buluşan Yollar (Converging Roads), Gençlik Irmağı (Youth River), Umut Kuşları (Birds of Hope), Heyecanlı Bir Senaryo (An Exciting Script). Foreign Rights: Eşik/The Threshold (Mütercim Publishing, Russian), (Le Seuil, Turkish Ministry of Culture, French); Özgürlük Yarışı/Race for Freedom (Der Wettstreit um die Freiheit, Frieling Verlag, German)

EŞİK - THE THRESHOLD Mütercim Publishing, Azerbaijan, 2007 164 pages, Drama Translated into Russian by Makbule Muharremova ISBN: 9751726336 [email protected], [email protected]

We follow the life story of a family who has had to move to the city because of desperate economic conditions in the country side. Although the family frees itself from the repressive patriarchal traditions, it has difficulties in integrating itself into urban life. The play centers on the family’s struggle to cope with the psychological, cultural and economic challenges faced in order to cross the threshold, during their process of integration.

093

HASAN KIYAFET

Hasan Kıyafet (1938, Kırşehir) was educated at the Village Institute and obtained a degree in English from Gazi Eğitim. He worked as a teacher throughout Anatolia. He published his first poems and articles in Çaltı newspaper. He translated I. Yılmaz Sunucu’s short story Muska from Turkish into English with the name “The Charm”. He became well known for his novel Komünist İmam (The Communist Imam) which was published in 1969. The novel which is currently on its 54th edition, had wide repercussions at the time it was published and politically it cost the writer dearly. Kıyafet spent his teaching career in exile, as well being adversely affected by the events of 12 March and 12 September like other intellectuals. The writer has over 40 printed books including his children’s books and his research work. He won many awards with is various works: Barac, achievement award in Sebahattin Ali Short Story Competition; Diyarbekir’e Girmek (Entering Diyarbekir), Mezapotamia Cultural Centre Film Story Competition; Yürüyüş Okulu (The School of Walking), the Turkish Ministry of Culture Film Story Competition; Ve Umut Direniyor (And Hope Resists), the Disk-Abdullah Baştürk Blue Collar Literature Competition. Some of His Works: Novels: Komünist İmam (The Communist Imam), Başlayan Kavga (The Beginning of the Strugle) Aliali, Yaşamak Yasak (It is Forbidden to Live), Yatırım Çocuklar (Investment Children), Bizim Lise (Our High School), Bismillah Sevda ve Sosyalizm (Bismillah, Love and Socialism), İnsan Yokuşu (The Human Hill), Umut Direniyor (Hope Resists). Children’s Stories: Çingene Çocuğu (The Gipsy Child), Bizim Fabrika (Our Factory), Cin Top (Ball Game), Almanya Afacanları (The Little Rascals of Germany), Küçük Kapıcı (The Small Porter), Kurnaz Kurt (The Sly Wolf), Kuşkalenin Kuşları (The Birds of Kuşkale), Sığırcık Kayası (The Rock of Sığırcık), Uçan Tilki (The Flying Fox).

KOMÜNİST İMAM THE COMMUNIST IMAM 3C Utigeverij, The Netherlands, 2004, 184 pages, Novel, Translated by Erhan Gürer ISBN: 9758426788 [email protected]

What did the Communist Iman mean to say: He emphasised that Communism is not a religion, it is an economic movement. In the area where the Kop Mountains are located, there lived a legendary rebellious imam who was a firm believer and practiser of Islam. Just like Robin Hood, he not only took from the rich to give to the poor, but in this remote village by the mountains he set up an exemplary village where they lived a communal life...Those who called him a communist were the feudal land owners and the state...

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BOOKS FROM TURKEY

HASAN LATİF SARIYÜCE

Hasan Latif Sarıyüce was born in 1929. He graduated from Gazi Education Academy and worked as a Turkish language and literature teacher in the schools. He served one term as an MP. He has had more than a hundred books published, most of which have been brought out by the Ministry of Culture. His first poem appeared in Çığır, a magazine published in Ankara, in 1947 and subsequently, his short stories were published in the magazine, Sesimiz. Since 1947, Sarıyüce has been writing poems, tales and novels more specifically aimed at children. WORKS: Beyaz Kanatlı Kuş (The Bird with White Wings), Dört İsimli Prens (The Prince with Four Names), El Evinde (In Somebody Else’s House), Güle Güle Küçük Arkadaş (Bye Bye Little Friend), Kuş Seslerinden Korkan Çocuk (The Child Who was Afraid of Bird Song), Tarla Kuşlarının Öyküsü (The Tale of the Skylarks), Uğur Böceğinin Düğünü (Marriage of a Ladybird), Üç Ayaklı Oğlan (The ThreeLegged Boy), Çocuklara Şiirler (Poems for Children), Düş Yağmuru (Dream Rain), Altın Öğütler (Golden Advice), Anadolu Efsaneleri 1-2 (Anatolian Legends 1-2), Anadolu Masalları Dizisi (Anatolian Tales Series), Ders Veren Türk Masalları (Turkish Parables), Keloğlan Masallar Dizisi (Keloğlan Tales Series), Manzum Ezop Hikâyeleri (Aesop’s Fables in Verse), Manzum Nasrettin Hoca Hikâyeleri (Nasreddin Hodja Tales in Verse), İncili Salkım (Cluster of Pearls), Mavi Kahkaha Çiçeği (The Blue Laughter Flower), Mercan Kız (Coral Girl).

ÇITI PITI HANIM - MISS PETITE 109 pages, Children’s Book Yalda Ghalam, Iran, 2008 Translated by Muhammed Rıza Mehrafza ISBN: 9754947627 [email protected] ozlem@ bilgiyayinevi.com.tr

This is the fifth book in the Anatolian Tales Series. It contains such charming tales as Çıtıpıtı Hanım (Miss Petite), İğci Baba (Pop the Weaver), Ağlayan Nar ile Gülen Ayva (The Weeping Pomegranate and the Smiling Quince), Karlı Dağları Aşan Kız (The Girl Who Crossed Snowy Mountains), Cesur Mıstılıcık (Brave Mıstılıcık), Menekşe Yaprağından İncinen Kız (The Girl who was Hurt by a Violet Petal) and Safoğlan (Naive Boy). These tales have been illustrated by Cavit Yaren. This series of tales won the Türkiye İş Bankası Literature Award in 1991.

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HIFZI TOPUZ

Hıfzı Topuz was born in Istanbul in 1923 and graduated from the School of Law at Istanbul University in 1948. He received his MA from the University of Strasbourg were he studied International Law and Journalism and completed his PhD on Journalism. He has also worked at the daily Akşam newspaper, first as the chief of intelligence and then as the editor. He was among the founders of the Trade Union of Journalists of Istanbul and served as the Chairperson. He worked at the UNESCO Headquarters in Paris as head of the Free News Circulation Department (1959-1983). He worked for TRT, the Turkish Radio and Television Company, as the Vice General Manager responsible for the radio channels (1974-75). In 1986, he founded the Communications Research Association (ILAD), and he has acted as the chairperson since then. He has penned articles for Vatan, Milliyet and Cumhuriyet newspapers as well as for various magazines. He gave lectures at the Faculties of Communication Studies at the Anatolian University, Galatasaray University and Istanbul University, including courses on the press, the history of television and radio, international communication, and political communication. WORKS: Özgürlüğe Kurşun (Bullets Against Freedom), Çamlıcanın Üç Gülü (Three Roses of Çamlica), Başın Öne Eğilmesin (Keep Your Head Up), Meyyale, Gazi ve Fikriye (Gazi and Fikriye), Elvada Afrika Hoşçakal Paris (Farewell Africa), Goodbye Paris, Taifte Ölüm (Teath in Taif), Eski Dostlar (Good Old Friends).

BAŞIN ÖNE EĞİLMESİN - KEEP YOUR HEAD UP Steno Publishing House, Bulgaria, 2009 264 pages, Novel Translated by Rüstem Aziz Mümin ISBN: 9751411505 [email protected], [email protected]

Sabahattin Ali always kept his head up. He never gave up defending his views in his literary works and newspaper articles. In his short life lasting only for 41 years, he not only produced outstanding works of Turkish literature which were translated into many languages worldwide, he also demanded independence, freedom and modernization for his country. He lived dreaming of these values. After a life blighted by prison and exile he paid the final price for this dream and was slaughtered in the Forest of Istiranca. In this novel, author Hıfzı Topuz, using real documents while developing his own style, holds a mirror to the tragic life of Sabahattin Ali from his youth up until the day he was murdered. Sabahattin Ali certainly features among the unforgettable names in Turkish literature.

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BOOKS FROM TURKEY

HİLMİ YAVUZ

Hilmi Yavuz was born in1936. He graduated from the Philosophy Department at London University. He has worked as a lecturer at Mimar Sinan University, Istanbul Technical University and Boğaziçi University. Hilmi Yavuz, who started writing poems as part of the Second New poetry movement, has managed to fashion his unique style by producing poems that are refined, intensive and profound. Hilmi Yavuz, who continues to write poems, won the Yeditepe Poetry Award in 1978 and the Sedat Simavi Vakfı Literature Award in 1987. WORKS: Bakış Kuşu (Glance Bird), Bedreddin Üzerine Şiirler (Poems on Bedreddin), Doğu Şiirleri (Poems of the East), Yaz Şiirleri (Summer Poems), Gizemli Şiirler (Mysterious Poems), Zaman Şiirleri (Time Poems), Söylen Şiirleri (Spoken Poems), Ayna Şiirleri (Mirror Poems), Hüzün ki En Çok Yakışandır Bize (It’s Melancholy That Most Becomes Us), Gülün Ustası Yoktur (The Rose Has No Master), Erguvan Sözler (Erguvan Lyrics), Çöl Şiirleri (Desert Poems), Akşam Şiirleri (Evening Poems), Yolculuk Şiirleri (Road Poems), Hurufi Şiirler (Hurufi Poems). Felsefe ve Ulusal Kültür (Philosophy and National Culture), Roman Kavramı ve Türk Romanı (The Concept of Novel and the Turkish Novel), Kültür Üzerine (On Culture), Felsefe Üzerine (On Philosophy), Yazın Üzerine (On Literature), Denemeler Karşı Denemeler (Essays and Counter Essays), Dilin Dili (The Language of Language), İstanbul Yazıları (Istanbul Writings), Taormina, Fehmi K.’nın Acaip Serüvenleri (The Strange Adventures of Fehmi K.), Kuyu (The Well), Okuma Notları (Reading Notes ), İstanbul’u Dinliyorum (Listening to Istanbul), Ah Kadınlar (Sweet Women).

SEASONS OF THE WORD: SELECTED POEMS OF HİLMİ YAVUZ Syracuse University Press, USA, 2007 Translated by Walter G.Andrews ISBN: 0815608799 [email protected] [email protected]

This volume is a selection of eighty-seven poems taken from a number of works by Hilmi Yavuz. Hilmi Yavuz has sought to blend traditional and contemporary elements in his poetry and has established a harmonious balance between form and essence. Moreover, by making use of Islamic Mysticism-more specifically, Sufism-he has created a new vocabulary. His outstanding contribution bears testimony to the venerable position he has held in Turkish poetry for the last fifty years.

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IŞIK SÜKAN

Işık Sükan was born in Istanbul in 1936 as the child of a well-established Istanbullite family. As she continued with her training in music and arts, she received her education in law and journalism. The author worked in Babıali as a journalist and upon her graduation, she worked as a lawyer and legal consultant. Her children’s books entitled Prens Kardu (Prince Kardu) and Altın Kalem Masalı (The Tale of the Golden Pen) were published in two volumes. Işık Sükan visited the elderly ladies of Istanbul, inquiring about life during the last period of the Ottoman Empire, how they lived and entertained in their youth. She penned Asitane Efsaneleri (Legends of Constantinople) as a result. Music, plastic arts, drawing and literature have always been part of her life. Sükan also has a keen interest in architecture, history and Sufism. WORKS: Asithane Efsaneleri (Legends of Constantinople, Short Story), Aklın Ötesinde (Beyond the Mind, Poetry), Prens Kardu (Prince Kardu, Children’s Book), Altın Kalem Masalı (The Tale of the Golden Pen, Children’s Book).

ASİTANE EFSANELERİ LEGENDS OF CONSTANTINOPLE Arab Scientific Publishers, Lebanon, 2008 192 pages, Short Story Translated by Abdulkadir Abdelli ISBN: 9752561526 [email protected], [email protected]

The book is a collection of 23 short stories depicting the lifestyle and traditions of Ottoman culture. The stories will allow you to draw an extremely interesting and realistic mental picture of Ottoman women. You will learn quite a lot about the social structure and values of the Ottomans as well as the relationships between men and women. You will capture details which are about to fall into oblivion, such as the colloquial language, common household items, traditions and manners. The stories, which take place in the atmosphere of âsitâne (capital city), one of the many names given to Istanbul throughout history, will certainly offer tremendous reading pleasure.

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BOOKS FROM TURKEY

IŞIL ÖZGENTÜRK

Işıl Özgentürk was born in Gaziantep in 1948 and after graduating from the Faculty of Law at Istanbul University started her writing career. Her first works were in children’s literature. In the competitions held by Arkın Publishing House, she won awards with her children’s stories and poems. Then she started to write for adults. For many years she conducted interviews for Cumhuriyet newspaper. She wrote film scripts and plays. She wrote the script for the film “Seni Seviyorum Rosa” (I love you Rosa), which she also directed. She has won many awards in international film festivals and represented Turkey in various festivals overseas. Her children’s plays have been performed by Istanbul City Theatres. Özgenturk has written film scripts for the cinema and directed films. At present, she continues to write for Cumhuriyet newspaper. WORKS: Children’s Books: Mavi Karaca (The Blue Deer), Düyaya Masallar (Fairytales for Duya), Geniş Mavi Bir Gök (A Wide Blue Sky), Kuş Ne Yana Öter? (In Which Direction Do Birds Chirp?), Hayat Okulu (The School of Life), Güneşe Giden Yiğitler (Brave Men off to the Sun), Yokuşu Tırmanır Hayat (Life Climbing up the Hill), Hançer (The Dagger). Other Works : Küçük Sevinçler Bulmalıyım (I Need to Find Little Pleasures, Play), Büyülü Bir Yolda (On a Magical Road, Travel Writing), Hiçbirimiz Masum Değiliz (None of Us Is Innocent, Articles), Sessizlik ve Sırdır Ötesi (Beyond Is Silence and Mystery, Short Stories and Poems), Tırmanır Hayat (Life will Climbe, Short Stories)

HAYAT OKULU THE SCHOOL OF LIFE Express Verlag, Germany, 1983 48 pages, Children’s Book ISBN: 9789944942584

The School of Life consists of interesting stories told by little children. Those children, whose stories we’re told about in The School of Life, attempt to take on the toughest jobs, in order to survive. Some sell flowers, some sell newspapers and others clean shoes...

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İHSAN OKTAY ANAR

İhsan Oktay Anar was born in Yozgat in 1960. He studied at the Philosophy Department at Ege University and obtained his Bachelor’s, Master’s and PhD degrees from the same university. At present he is a faculty member at Ege University. He is one of the most important names in recent Turkish literature. Each of his books is notable for its use of detailed historical knowledge, resulting from meticulous research. The structure of his novels usually comprises a central narrative, around which the threads of many interconnected stories are intricately woven... Puslu Kıtalar Atlası (The Atlas of Hazy Continents) has been translated into more than 20 languages. WORKS: Puslu Kıtalar Atlası (The Atlas of Hazy Continents, 1995), Kitab-ül Hiyel (Book of Mechanics, 1996), Efrâsiyâb’ın Hikâyeleri (Tales of Afrasiab, 1997), Amat (Amat, 2005), Suskunlar (The Mute, 2007). Foreign Rights : Puslu Kıtalar Atlası/The Atlas of Hazy Continents (Magyar Napló, Hungary), (Ammann Verlag, German, Switzerland), (Actes Sud ,France), (Munhakdongne Publishing, Korean); Kitab-ül Hiyel/Books of Mechanics (Actes Sud, France); Efrâsiyabın Hikâyeleri/Tales of Afrasiab (Rácıó Kiadó, Hungary).

PUSLU KITALAR ATLASI THE ATLAS OF HAZY CONTINENTS Munhakdongne Publishing, South Korea, 2008 238 pages, Novel Translated by Nana Lee ISBN: 9754704724 [email protected]

This was İhsan Oktay Anar’s first novel. The book, which was first published in 1995, attracted attention for its content and form. The book won critical acclaim and has been reprinted several times. Anar, who has been described as a “breath of fresh air for Turkish literature,” is able to convey to the reader, his profound understanding of history, emanating from his philosophical background. His limpid use of language has sparked interest in history amongst his readers.

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BOOKS FROM TURKEY

İLHAN BERK

İlhan Berk was born in Manisa in 1918, diedin Bodrum in 2008. His first poems were published in journals Manisa Halkevi, Uyanış, Varlık, Çığır to name a few. He graduated from the French department of Gazi Education Institution and taught for ten years. His poems were mostly realist until 1953 and after this date his poetry became the forerunner of “Second New” movement. He is the most prominent member of this movement. History and sexuality are the main themes of his poetry. Berk has been a vital force in the modernization of Turkish poetry. Foreign Rights: Madrigals (Sherman Books, English), (Histoire secrete del poésie, Artuyen, French); Galile Denizi/The Sea of Galile: Mar de Galilea (Ediciones del Oriente y del Mediterraneo, Spanish&Turkish); Güzel Irmak/River (Rio Hermoso, Ediciones del Oriente y del Mediterraneo, Spanish&Turkish); Seçilmiş Şiirler/ Selected Poems (Talisman House, English), (Logos Publishing, Albanian), Seçilmiş Şiirler/Selected Poems (A Leaf about to Fall, Salt Publishing, English)

SEÇME ŞİİRLER SELECTED POEMS: A Leaf about to Fall Salt Publishing, UK, 2006 160 pages, Poetry Translated by George Messo ISBN: 9781844712748 [email protected] [email protected]

İlhan Berk is a poet who wrote about the theory of poetry just as he wrote poetry, considering and defining his own concept of the art. More importantly, starting with his first poem, he was an innovator in language, concept and thematic matter, giving his work an importance that continues even today. He especially elaborated the issue of language, the language of poetry and, more importantly, strove to develop his own poetic language. Objects, numbers, things and abstract concepts are turned into most exceptional expressions in his poetry. İlhan Berk’s poetry is open to innovation and linguistic creativity in each and every word.

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İNCİ ARAL

Aral was born in Denizli in 1944. She completed Manisa Primary Education School and the Arts and Crafts Department of the Gazi Institute of Education serving as a teacher in Samsun, Manisa, and Izmir, as well as at the Gazi Institute of Education. From 1977 onwards she began writing short stories that were published in magazines. Her first collection of stories, Ağda Zamanı (Leg Waxing Time), won the 1980 Akademi Press Achievement Award. Kıran Resimleri (Pictures of Death, 1983) in which the violent events that took place in Kahramanmaraş are depicted, won the Nevzat Üstün Short Story Award. This book was translated into French and published in 1989. The Yunus Nadi Prize for Novels, which she won for Ölü Erkek Kuşlar (Dead Male Birds) in 1992, was another addition to her awards. Aral, who also writes essays, memoirs, and stories, is the author of Yeni Yalan Zamanlar (Times of New Lies, 1994), Hiçbir Aşk Hiçbir Ölüm (No Love No Death, 1997), İçimden Kuşlar Göçüyor (Birds Migrate from within Me, 1998), Mor (Purple, 2003), and Taş ve Ten (Stone and Flesh, 2005). Foreign Rights: Uykusuzlar/Sleepless (Les Insomiaques, Publisud, France, 1994); Kıran Resimleri/Pictures of Dead (Scenes de Massacres, L’Harmattan, France, 2000); Mor/Purple (Oceinada, Greece, 2008); Safran Sarı/Saffron Yellow (Oceinada, Greece).

SAFRAN SARI SAFFRON YELLOW Oceinada, Greece 311 pages, Novel ISBN 9789759174873 www.turkuvaz.com

From İnci Aral, on her 30th Anniversary of writing, a notable novel about these days of Turkey. A young investment banker; an antique smuggler woman; a graduate call-girl... İnci Aral, narrates the intersecting paths of these three characters, on her novel grounded on the idea of “No Future”. On the eve of the second millenium, these people affected by social, economical and cultural turbulences, questions their drifts and unforeseen futures. On one side there is hefty money, all kinds of earthly pleasures, colourful lifes, and on the other side soiled and corrupted values, dissatisfaction, exploited system and degenerated sexuality… Saffron Yellow is an adventure of thirtysomethings, estranged from their identities, loves and hopes on the pursuit of money, power and success; first by loosing their affections, then their beliefs in future and their souls at the end...

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BOOKS FROM TURKEY

İSKENDER PALA

Iskender Pala was born in 1958 and, after completing his degree in the Faculty of Literature at Istanbul University in 1979, he received his PhD in the field of Divan Poetry (Ottoman court literature). He then became an associate professor in 1983 and professor in 1998. As a literature researcher, he published many scientific and literary essays in various encyclopedias and periodicals. He wrote course books for middle school and high school education. He conducted research on Ottoman naval history and published some of his research studies as books. He has attracted attention especially in the field of “divan” literature and has 45 books published so far. Foreign Rights: Babil’de Ölüm, İstanbul’da Aşk/Death in Babylon, Love in Istanbul, (Europa, Hungary), (Ednorog, Bulgaria)

BABİL’DE ÖLÜM, İSTANBUL’DA AŞK DEATH IN BABYLON, LOVE IN ISTANBUL Europa Publishing House, Hungary 416 pages, Novel ISBN: 9789758950119 www.kalemagency.com

When the Ottoman Sultan Suleiman, the Law-maker, is about to conquer Bagdad, Fuzuli is examining secret volumes in the library of the Academy. He is reading the last bits of information before the sultan’s soldiers come to the library to pillage it. Just before the soldiers arrive, the Syrian librarian gives Fuzuli a double-horn handled dagger in the shape of a forked-tongued snake’s head. The librarian says, “For those who know how to die, a dagger means life, and for those who know about love, there are but seven truths.” Then he asks Fuzuli to safeguard this secret forever. Fuzuli is a young poet whose work is well-liked. The Ottomans show interest in him and enjoy his art; however, certain people aim to take the dagger from him.

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İSMET ÖZEL

İsmet Özel (1944, Kayseri) is an important figure in the past forty years of Turkish poetry. He studied at the Faculty of Political Sciences of Ankara University. He had to discontinue his studies before he graduated and did two years of military service. In 1963, the year when his first poems were published, he became a member of the Labour Party. He took part in activities such as the editing and distribution of the magazine Dönüşüm (Transformation). He became one of the founders of the Federation of Clubs of Ideas, which later evolved into the organisation Dev-Genç. In 1969, at a panel titled “Reformist Young Poets Start a Fight,” he and three friends protested against pacifist poetry. Later he and Ataol Behramoğlu founded the magazine Halkın Dostları (Friends of the People). It issued 18 numbers before it was closed down by martial law. Following the intervention of 12 March 1971, Özel felt the need to reassess his opinions and beliefs. He graduated from the Department of French Language and Literature at Hacettepe University and became a French teacher at the State Conservatory for eighteen years. WORKS: Geceleyin Bir Koşu (A Running At Night), Evet, İsyan’ın (Yes, Your Rebellion) Cinayetler Kitabı (The book Murder), Şiir Okuma Kılavuzu (Guide for Reading Poem), Çenebazlık (Chatty), Celladıma Gülümserken (Smiling to My Executioner), Şiirler 1962-1974 (Poems 1962-1974), Şiir Kitabı (The Book of Poetry), Erbain (The Forty), Bir Yusuf Masalı (A Yusuf Tale), Of Not Being A Jew. Foreign Rights: Faydasız Yazılar (Logos A Publishing House, Macedonia 2002)

ERBAİN - THE FORTY 240 pages, Poetry ISBN: 9757796312 [email protected]

İsmet Özel’s poems have been discussed in modern Turkish literature not just because of his idiosyncratic views on poetry, but also because of his political opinions and changing views. Despite his changing ideology, the quality of his poems remained consistent throughout his career. Critic Memet Fuat describes İsmet Özel’s poetry: “In the beginning İsmet Özel was a revolutionary. He tended to dismiss those poets who were not bold, quarrelsome and ‘militant’ like him. Then one day his views changed. He laid aside collectivism and militancy and chose Islam. While the revolutionaries lost a promising poet the had set their hopes on, the Muslim side gained a talented poet.

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BOOKS FROM TURKEY

JAKLİN ÇELİK

Jaklin Çelik was born in Diyarbakır, but at a young age moved with her parents to Kumkapı, Istanbul. She studied at the Surp Mesropyan Armenian primary school and at the Çemberlitaş High School. Çelik, who worked as both a columnist and editor for Agos, the Turkish-Armenian Istanbul based paper, has also published stories and interviews in various journals. In 1999 she won honourable mention in the Yaşar Nabi Nayır Short Story Awards. Her short stories are collected in three books: Kum Saatinde Kumpkapı (Stories from the Sandgate, 2000), Yılanın Yolu (The Snake’s Trail, 2003) and Kaçak Yolcu (Stowaway, 2005).

KUM SAATİNDE KUMKAPI STORIES FROM THE SANDGATE Nettleberry-Çitlembik Publications, USA, 2002 212 pages, Short Stories Translated by Nancy Öztürk ISBN: 9789756663127 [email protected]

Çelik’s book of short stories, Kum Saatinde Kumkapı (Stories from the Sandgate), contains eleven stories, mostly about the Armenian community in Turkey. She examines the lives of ordinary people and the monotony of their life. From time to time, Turks and Kurds are also featured in her stories, but the author does not place an emphasis on ethnic identity. In fact, had it not been for their names, such as Kayane, Azat, Arşaluys, Onnik or Yerçenik, it would be impossible to distinguish these characters as belonging to an ethnic group which have lived in Anatolia for hundreds of years, from any other Turkish character.

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KARACAOĞLAN

The dates of birth and death of Karacaoğlan, one of the 17th century bards, are unknown. He is assumed to have been raised among the Turcomen who had lived in the Taurus mountains. His poetry hints that he had travelled in Eastern and Southeastern Anatolia, had been to Egypt, Tripoli and Rumelia, and had lived away from home for many years. Karacaoğlan had not been influenced by divan and dervish poetry, had not aspired to write like madrasah and dervish poets, had not even used Ottoman prosodic meter. Instead, like a traditional bard, he had remained committed to traditions, life and the taste of the public, to the themes of love and homesickness. He had been a village and tribal poet of love and nature, voicing the beauties of nature and countryside, love, joys and sorrows in village life. The poems of Karacaoğlan, who appears to have written mostly ballads, semai, and occasionally epic poems, are those which first come to mind today when one speaks of Turkish popular poetry-singing. The life of Karacaoğlan was turned into a story in Yaşar Kemal’s book Üç Anadolu Efsanesi (Three Anatolian Legends).

KARACAOĞLAN BÜTÜN ŞİİRLERİ KARACAOGLAN THE COLLECTED POEMS Kelag-E Sefid, Iran 368 pages, Poetry Translated by Şepnal Şeydaiy ISBN: 9759950972

The book presents all of the poems of Karacaoğlan, the most significant name in Turkish popular poetry-singing. The themes explicit in the focus on human beings of Karacaoğlan’s poetry are nature and love. Separation, homesickness, and death are other themes that become evident in the totality of his poems. The poet voices his emotions in a realistic way and expresses his thoughts in a clear and accessible style. He relies more on reality than fantasy. The source of his joy of living is his passion for the beautiful, for the loved one, and nature. The essence of his lyrical diction exhibits the features of his characters’s being and thought. Nature, the essential part of nomadic life, is one of the main themes of his poetry. He expresses the nature of the places he visited in a magnificent way. Another important theme in his poetry, the existence of love, becomes even more beautiful with his metaphors of nature. The joy experienced with the lover, the pain brought on by her are shared with nature. He deals with the concept of love/lover, which form the focal point of his poetry in addition to nature, in a different way to that of the traditional rules of love poetry.

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BOOKS FROM TURKEY

KEMAL BİLBAŞAR

Kemal Bilbaşar (1910-1983) graduated from the Department of History-Geography in the Gazi Educational Institute in 1935. He taught at Nazilli and Izmir Karakaş Middle Schools and retired in 1961. After being involved in politics for a while, he settled down in Istanbul in 1966. He published his first stories in the Aramak magazine which he published together with Cahit Tanyol and İlhan İleri in Izmir (1939). He received his first award in the short story competition held by community centers at that time. With the exception of the period between 1945 and 1952, Bilbaşar continually published short stories and wrote scripts for radio sketches. His short stories, novels and articles were published in various newspapers and magazines. He also wrote drama, screenplay and textbooks, but tended more towards novel writing after 196l. Kemal Bilbaşar won the Ankara Community Center Short Story Competition in 1939 with his story “Budakoğlu”, the Turkish Language Institution Novel Competition with his novel Cemo in 1967, and May Novel Competition in 1970 with his novel Yeşil Gölge. With 27 reprints, Cemo is considered to be themasterpiece of the writer. Bilbaşar died on 21st January, 1983. Some of His Works: Novels; Denizin Çağırışı (The Call of the Sea), Ay Tutulduğu Gece (The Night of the Eclipse), Cemo (Cemo), Memo (Memo), Yeşil Gölge (The Green Shadow), Yonca Kız (The Girl Yonca) Başka Olur Ağaların Düğünü (Agha weddings Are Different), Kurbağa Çiftliği (The Frog Farm), Kölelik Dönemeci (The Turn of Slavery), Bedoş (Bedos), Zühre (Venus) Short Stories: Anadolu’dan Hikayeler (Tales from Anatolia), Cevizli Bahçe (The Walnut Garden), Pazarlık (The Bargaining), Pembe Kurt (The Pink Wolf), Irgatların Öfkesi (The Anger of the Workers on the Field), Kurbağa Çiftliği (The Frog Farm).

CEMO - GEMMO Peter Owen Unesco Collection, UK, 1976, 223 pages, Novel Translated by Enis B. Rey and Mariana Fitzpatric ISBN: 0720604246 www.kemalbilbasar.com

The first years of the Republic. Cemo is a legend living in the harsh geographical conditons of the Eastern Anatolia, in its remorseless air, in its nature that makes one excited and exhausted with its thousand and one plays. Cemo sets hearts on fire with her burning eyes as black as coal, with her black hair bearing the glow of the sky, with her eyebrows which turn into daggers when knitted. Cemo is a brave woman who is stubborn, not yielding to anything, protecting her people and her life with everything she has. She is a symbolic name in Turkish literature with her fable-like life in Eastern Anatolia. Kemal Bilbaşar’s Cemo has secured her place among unforgettable novel characters. In Cemo, Bilbaşar depicts people in a squirarchy, their tribal conventions, convictions, and lifestyles in an amazingly realistic way. It is a novel of resistance.

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KEMAL ÖZER

Kemal Özer was born in Istanbul in 1935 and studied at the Department of Turkish Language and Literature at Istanbul University. He worked for Cumhuriyet newspaper and Karacan Publications, and was editor of Varlık magazine for a number of years. Kemal Özer set up his own publishing house, Yordam Yayınları, and publishes his own books. He served as Vice Chairman of the Turkish Writers Syndicate. So far sixty of his books from different genres have been published, 16 of which are poetry books. He has received a number of awards for his poems, which show a realistic approach to the problems of society. The poetry of Kemal Özer, who has taken part in international poetry events in Bulgaria, Yugoslavia, the Netherlands, Denmark and Slovakia and has been the guest of Hungarian PEN and the Union of Soviet Writers, has been translated into twenty foreign languages and has been published in book form in Bulgaria, Denmark and the Netherlands. His most important works include Ölü Bir Yaz (A Dead Summer), Kimlikleriniz Lütfen (Your IDs please), Oğulları Öldürülen Analar (Mothers with Murdered Sons). The writer wrote in many different disciplines of literature from poetry to children’s stories, from comical writings to travel books. He passed away in 2009. Foreign Rights: Trenler Ne Güzeldir/How Beautiful Trains Are (Öner Verlag, Germany).

TEMMUZ İÇİN YARALI SEMAH A WOUNDED SEMAH FOR JULY 80 pages, Poetry ISBN: 9789944122351 [email protected]

Kemal Özer, who has embedded the act of “bearing witness to events” in his poetry, maintains this approach in “A Wounded Semah for July”. He views the tragic events that took place in Sivas in 1992 through the eyes of poetry. These poems, which aim to render visible the deaths caused by the fire, and the feelings, reactions, pain and drama caused by these deaths, are as much an expression of “setting out again at the place where the road ends” as they are a “witnessing statement” that revolves again and again round the central theme of the crime that was committed like the semah, a religious dance. A Wounded Semah for July points a finger of accusation at attempts to bury this tragedy, at hopes that it will be forgotten

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BOOKS FROM TURKEY

KÜRŞAT BAŞAR

Kürşat Başar was born in Istanbul in 1963 and graduated from the Department of Philosophy at Istanbul University in 1985 where he received his MA from the same department. Since 1981, his essays, articles and interviews have been published in various newspapers and magazines such as Gösteri, Hürriyet, Yeni Yüzyıl, Güneş, Akşam, Star, Picus, Nokta, Aktüel and Tempo. His books Konuştuğumuz Gibi Uzaklara (Far Away as we’ve Agreed, 1990), Sen Olsaydın Yapmazdın Biliyorum (You Wouldn’t Do it, I Know, 1992), Aşkı Bulmanın ve Korumanın Yolları (Ways to Find and Keep Love, 1996), Başucumda Müzik( Music by my Bedside, 2003) are novels; Kış İkindisinin Evinde (In the House of the Winter Afternoon, 1998 - Milliyet Haldun Taner Short Story Award) is a short story book; İğreti Yaşamlar (Makeshift Lives, 2000) and Çok Güldük Ağlamayalım (We’ve Laughed Much, Hope we Don’t Cry Now, 2006) are essays; Doğan Hızlan: Bir Roman Kahramanı (Doğan Hızlan: A Protagonist, 2005) is a biography.

BAŞUCUMDA MÜZİK MUSIC BY MY BEDSIDE Colibri, Bulgaria, 2008 440 pages, Novel Translated by Rozilya Samouilova ISBN: 9789752893422 [email protected]

“If I had been told that I could stop at a certain moment in my life and stay there forever, I would have chosen one of two moments. The first is when I was rocking in the swing hanging from the branches of a tree in the garden of my childhood. The other is the day I first kissed the man I loved more than anyone in my whole life… Many strived to write the common language of falling in love. In fact, it is quite simple: you are in love if you feel as if you are rocking on a swing when you kiss someone.”

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LATİFE TEKİN

Latife Tekin was born in Kayseri, in 1957. Her family moved to Istanbul in 1966, when she was nine years old. She completed her studies at Beşiktaş Girls High School, then, worked briefly at the Istanbul Telephone Company. Her first book, Dear Shameless Death, was published in 1983. She earned her reputation with this novel, in which she gives a surrealistic account of Anatolian village life and its people, in a style similar to that of Gabriel Garcia Marquez’s One Hundred Years of Solitude. After this first novel, which is considered as belonging to the genre of magical realism, other works followed and have been translated into English, German, French, Italian, Persian and Dutch. Tekin’s variety of style and approach has enabled her to become one of the most eminent novelists of her generation. WORKS: Sevgili Arsız Ölüm (Dear Shameless Death), Berci Kristin Çöp Masalları (Berji Kristin: Tales from the Garbage Hills), Gece Dersleri (Night Lessons) Buzdan Kılıçlar (Swords of Ice), Aşk İşaretleri (Love Signs), Ormanda Ölüm Yokmuş (No Death in the Forest), Unutma Bahçesi (Oblivion Garden), Muinar (Muinar), Bir Yudum Sevgi (A Drop of Love). Foreign Rights: Buzdan Kılıçlar/Sword of Ice (Marion Boyars, English), (Stock, French); Berji Kristin Çöp Masalları/Berji Kristin: Tales from the Garbage Hills (Marion Boyars, English), (Unionsverlag, German), (Stock, French), (Giunti, Itailan)

BUZDAN KILIÇLAR SWORDS OF ICE Marion Boyars, UK, 2007, 128 pages, Novel Translated by Saliha Paker, Mel Kenne ISBN: 9789752891005 [email protected]

“Nobody knows or understands poor people’s souls better than other poor people’’. Poverty is the only thing which is as certain and razor-edged as death and for hundreds of years, poor souls, in order to resist the pressure of this reality, have been communicating with each other, by means of signs and a secret language that rich people can never learn. If they didn’t have this knowledge of poverty, which is like an impudent frog in their pockets, fully aware that there is no place for them in the cruel world of others, how could they bear to exist in this perpetual state of trepidation, forcing them to tiptoe their way through life. How could anyone know this?”

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BOOKS FROM TURKEY

LEVENT METE

Mete was born in Izmir in 1958 and, after graduating with a degree in medicine from Hacettepe Medical School, he specialized in thought, language and concentration problems in schizophrenia and has won the Turkish Psychiatry Association Research Award four times. In addition to his works entitled Şizofreni: En Uzak Ülke (Schizophrenia: the Remotest Land, 1998) and Depresyon: Hüzünden Melankoliye (Depression: from Sadness to Melancholy, 1999). He has also published the novels entitled Terapi (Therapy), Rika’nın Beyni (Inside Rika’s Brain), Büyücüler (Sorcerers), and Aşk Hastalığı (Love-Sickness). Mete acted as stage assistant for the play Albay Kuş (Colonel Bird) staged at Izmir State Theatre. He is currently the head of the Psychiatric Clinic at Izmir’s Atatürk Training Hospital. Foreign Rights: Aşk Hastalığı/Love-Sickness (Steno, Bulgarian), (Fan Noli, Albanian ); Rika’nın Beyninde/Inside Rika’s Brain (Fan Noli, Albanian)

AŞK HASTALIĞI LOVE-SICKNESS Steno Publishing House, Bulgaria 232 pages, Novel Translated by Rüstem Aziz Mümin ISBN: 9789750707094 [email protected] [email protected]

A man and a woman who try to make sense of what has happened to them while being dragged away by the sudden exuberant feelings that wrecked their lives. Hesitant souls who come and go between love, passion and emotion on the one hand, and spouse and children, conscience and reason on the other. Love-Sickness is an extraordinary novel about uncontrollable passion, deceiving against all odds, inner conflicts, and eventually, questioning love itself. One day the man goes after the eyecatching woman he has been encountering on the street for a while. In a few days both of their lives are turned upside down and a series of swift events take place around the main themes of love, eroticism, and existential worries.

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LEYLA ERBİL

Leyla Erbil is one of Turkey’s leading contemporary female writers, author of four novels and three collections of short stories, a book of essays and a biographical text about one of the best woman writers in the Turkish language, Tezer Özlü. Educated in Istanbul, she has worked as a translator. In the 1960s she was involved in the activities of the Turkish Labor Party, which was the most influential socialist party at the time. Her stories are usually based on emotional and sociological conflicts of individuals and their relationship to society. Whether it is a love story or the story of a family or about the political and social developments of society, she usually presents contradictory states and situations and motivates the reader to reflect upon the matter more deeply. One of the author’s main principles is that her works are not to be nominated for any of the literary contests or for any organizations that distribute awards. WORKS: Short Stories: Hallaç (Cotton Fluffer), Gecede (In the Night), Eski Sevgili (Old Lover). Novels: Tuhaf Bir Kadın (A Strange Woman), Karanlığın Günü (The Day of Darkness), Mektup Aşkları (Love Letters), Cüce (Dwarf), Üç Başlı Ejderha (The Three Headed Dragon). Essays: Zihin Kuşları (Mind Birds). Letters: Tezer Özlü’den Leyla Erbil’e Mektuplar (Letters from Tezer Özlü to Leyla Erbil). Foreign Rights: Tuhaf Bir Kadın/A Strange Woman (Eine seltsame Frau, Unionsverlag, German); Karanlığın Günü/The Day of Darknes (Actes-Sud, French)

TUHAF BİR KADIN A STRANGE WOMAN Unionsverlag, Germany, 2005, 154 pages, Novel Translated into German by Angelika Gillitz-Acar & Angelika Hoch ISBN: 9756287454 www.onkagency.com, www.turkishauthors.com

A Strange Woman is a novel which could also be read as four short stories which are independent of each other. The novel had wide repercussions when it was published and this has continued throughout the subsequent decades. The novel was considered a pioneer, as for the first time in Turkish literature it was confronting issues such as virginity, incest and sexual and physical abuse. A Strange Woman was published at a time when the word feminism had not yet entered the Turkish vocabulary and mindset; hence feminists consider the novel to be a first of its kind. Leyla Erbil made important headway in Turkish literature with the distinctive style and format she developed in this novel, paving the way for others to follow.

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BOOKS FROM TURKEY

MARİO LEVİ

Mario Levi was born in 1957, in Istanbul and grew up in Şişli, Feriköy and Kadıköy, districts of Istanbul, generally inhabited by religious minorities. In 1980, he graduated from the French and Roman Philology Department at Istanbul University, determined not to continue with any kind of academic study. He wrote his first short story in 1975. After 1984, he wrote several articles, predominantly about music, in newspapers and periodicals such as Şalom, Cumhuriyet, Cumhuriyet Dergi, Stüdyo, İmge, Gösteri, Milliyet Sanat and Argos. His first book, Jacques Brel: Bir Yalnız Adam (Jacques Brel: A Lonely Man) was published in 1986, to be followed by his first book of short stories in 1990. The story, “Bir Şehre Gidememek” (An Inaccessible City) won the Haldun Taner Award in the same year. In 1993, he started writing a novel, which would take six years to complete. This novel, entitled İstanbul Bir Masaldı (Istanbul, a Fairy Tale) won the Yunus Nadi Novel Award in 2000. At present he is a lecturer at Yeditepe University. WORKS: Bir Şehre Gidememek (An Inaccessible City), Madam Floridis Dönmeyebilir (Madam Floridis May Not Return), En Güzel Aşk Hikâyemiz (Our Exquisite Love Story), İstanbul Bir Masaldı (Istanbul, A Fairy Tale), Lunapark Kapandı (The Fun Fair Is Closed). Foreign Rights: İstanbul Bir Masaldı/Istanbul was a Fairytale (Istanbul war ein Märchen, Suhrkamp, German), (Baldini Castoldi, Italian)

İSTANBUL BİR MASALDI ISTANBUL WAS A FAIRY TALE Baldini Castoldi Dalai, Italy, 2007 800 pages, Novel ISBN: 9752930271 www.kalemagency.com

To be born a foreigner on the “peninsula closest to the West” of Istanbul was not my fault... Neither was experiencing Istanbul like a fairy tale, nor trying to resemble the people in other books or the heroes of the stories, plays that have shaped my life... My Istanbul, at the end of the day, has been a fairy tale...

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MAVİSEL YENER

Mavisel Yener was born in Ankara in 1962 and graduated from the Faculty of Dentistry at Ege University. Her short stories, fairy tales, newspaper articles and critiques have been published since 1978 and she has penned over thirty published books. She won the Second Prize in the Tömer Fairy Tale Competition in 1999, Third Prize in the Bu Publishing Humour Stories 2000 competition for her work called Üşengeç (Couch Potato); in the Bu Publishing Children’s Novel 2001 competition she won First Prize for her work entitled Kayıp Seslerin İzinde (Trailing Lost Sounds). In the Tudem Literature Awards, she won the First Prize for her novel Mavi Zamanlar (The Blue Times) in 2003. In the “Association for Children’s Book Writers” 23rd April Children’s Poetry Awards, she shared the award with Aytul Akal for their joint work Mavi Ay (The Blue Moon) in 2004. She is a member of PEN Writers, Literature Union, Turkish Writers Union, and the Language Association. She still writes for children. Her first book Mavi Elma (The Blue Apple) was published in 1999. She has had more than forty children’s books published and children’s plays performed. She has also worked as a trainer in children’s literature workshops. Foreign Rights: Mavi Elma/Blue Apple (The Safeer, Egypt); Evinden Kaçan Masal/ The Fairytale That Ran Away From Home (Shtypshkronja Siprint, Kosovo)

EVİNDEN KAÇAN MASAL THE FAIRYTALE THAT RAN AWAY FROM HOME Shtypshkronja Siprint, Kosovo 72 pages, Children’s Book Translated by Nehar Şişko ISBN: 9789752201156 www.maviselyener.com

Did the fairytale get caught after it ran away from its creator because it did not want to be like the other fairytales with witches and giants? What happened when the aged book met the computer? What about the adventures of the talking armchair and the magical socks? Mavisel Yener provides four beautiful fairytales written in her simple and entertaining style for children to enjoy. Each and every child can leaf through the pages of the book, pick his/her fairytales and delve deep into a sea of dreams.

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BOOKS FROM TURKEY

MEHMED NİYAZİ ÖZDEMİR

Mehmed Niyazi Özdemir was born in Akyazı, in 1942. He graduated from the Faculty of Law at Istanbul University in 1967. He completed his doctoral thesis on Fundamental Rights in Turkish Public Law, at Marlburg, Bonn and Köln Universities in Germany, where he lived for many years. He has written for Zaman and Tercüman newspapers in Turkey. He has had his articles published in periodicals such as Ufuk Çizgisi, Bayrak, Genç Akademi, Türk Yurdu, İnsan and Kainat. He is particularly well-known for his novel, Mehmed Niyazi. He focuses on national issues in his works and comments on the social structure of Turkey in his essays. WORKS: Bayram Hediyesi (Holiday Present), Var Olmak Kavgası (Fight for Existence), Çağımızın Aşıkları (Lovers of Our Age), İki Dünya Arasında (Between Two Worlds), Ölüm Daha Güzeldi (Death Was More Beautiful), Yazılamamış Destanlar (Unwritten Epics), Çanakkale Mahşeri (The Last Judgment in Çanakkale), Dahiler ve Deliler (The Genius and the Insane).

ÇANAKKALE MAHŞERİ THE LAST JUDGMENT IN ÇANAKKALE Nun-r Dooel, Macedonia, 2007 542 pages, Novel Translated by Seydula Halili ISBN: 9754372764 [email protected]

Mehmed Niyazi wrote his novel of the Dardanelles War, neither in terms of a place, nor a person. The novel starts with the first bullet fired and continues the account of all the fronts, until the end of the conflict. According to the author, the historical novel should be faithful to reality and only, with the express aim of recreating the atmosphere, should fictional heroes be used. However, Mehmed Niyazi had no need to create fictional heroes, as there were so many real ones in the Dardanelles War.

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MEHMED UZUN

Mehmed Uzun (Siverek, 1953-Diyarbakır, 2007) was a multilingual, multicultural writer who published books in Kurdish, Turkish and Swedish. Mehmed Uzun wrote seven novels in Kurdish. He was tried for his novel Aşk Gibi Aydınlık Ölüm Gibi Karanlık (As Luminous As Love, As Dark As Death) and for his collection of essays, Nar Çiçekleri (Pomegranate Flowers) in spring 2001 and was acquitted. That same year he received the Freedom of Thought and Expression award from the Turkish Publishers’ Association as well as Scandinavia’s most important award, the Torngy Segerstedt Pen of Freedom Award for the literature he produced and his stand for the freedom of expression. Some of His Works: Ölüm Meleğiyle Randevu (Rendezvous With Angel of Death), Dicle’nin Sesi I-Dicle’nin Yakarışı (Voice of Tigris I-Entreaty of Tigris), Dicle’nin Sesi II-Dicle’nin Sürgünleri (Voice of Tigris II-Exiles of Tigris), Kürt Edebiyat Antolojisi (Anthology of Kurdish Literature), Sen (You), Yaşlı Rind’in Ölümü (The Death of an Old Rind), Yitik Bir Aşkın Gölgesinde (In The Shadow of a Lost Love), Kader Kuyusu (The Well of Destiny), Nar Çiçekleri (Pomegranate Flowers), Kürt Edebiyatına Giriş (An Introduction to Kurdish Literature), Bir Dil Yaratmak (Creating a Language), Dengbêjlerim (My Dengbêjs), Zincirlenmiş Zamanlar Zincirlenmiş Sözcükler (Chained Times Chained Words), Abdal’ın Bir Günü (One Day of the Abdal), Ruhun Gökkuşağı (Rainbow of the Soul), Küllerinden Doğan Dil Ve Roman (A Language and a Novel Born out of Its Ashes). Foreign Rights: Aşk Gibi Aydınlık Ölüm Gibi Karanlık/As Luminous As Love, As Dark As Death (Unionsverlag, German, Switzerland, 1998); Nar Çiçekleri/The Pomagranate Flowers (Ortfrod, Sweden); Yitik Aşkın Gölgesinde/In the Shadow of a Lost Love (Ortfrod, Sweden)

DİCLE’NİN SESİ I-DİCLE’NİN YAKARIŞI VOICE OF TIGRIS I - ENTREATY OF TIGRIS 327 page, Novel ISBN: 9752732283 [email protected]

Mehmed Uzun takes us back to the ancient times, to the land of everlasting love and people from different religions who live in peace together. Kurds, Yezidis, Assyrians, Arabs, Jews, Armenians, Turks… Ester and Biro’s broken, desperate love… Uzun narrates the story of Mir Bedirhan, who lives on the Tigris bank of Mesopotamia, his achievement of taking over the throne when he was only 16, his exile and death by using Biro’s words and memory who is passionately in love with words and considers them as his palace. Biro is a word hunter. He always narrates so that people can learn. And for listeners to be able to narrate these to others. “You want it, then I will tell. Burn the candle and listen to the voices of the forgotten ones.”

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BOOKS FROM TURKEY

MEHMET AKİF ERSOY

Mehmet Akif Ersoy, was born in Istanbul in 1873 and died in the same city in 1936. He studied veterinary science at the university. Although his poems give the impression of simplicity, due to their reliance on the spoken form of the language, Mehmet Akif in fact, had an extremely meticulous approach to form. He displayed his inclination towards a plainer form of language in all his poems. He improved the expression in the verse, without destroying the natural structure of the language and tempered the Divan rhythm, thereby illustrating the extensive possibilities of the Turkish language in poetry writing. Mehmet Akif achieved a personal style in his works by emphasizing the social identity of language. WORKS: Safahat (Phases), Süleymaniye Kürsüsünde (On the Pulpit of Süleymaniye), Hakkın Sesleri (The Sound of God), Fatih Kürsüsünde (On the Pulpit of Fatih), Hatıralar (Memoirs), Asım, Gölgeler (Shadows).

SAFAHAT PHASES Logos-A, Macedonia, 2007 605 pages, Poetry Translated by Mithat Hoxha ISBN: 9789752693319

Safahat seems to consist of seven separate sections. The parts of each poem in this book, although entire in themselves, seem also to be completely separate entities. From this perspective, Safahat is neither a book of verse stories, nor a collection of poems, neither novel, nor some other kind of work. It is only Safahat. It is specific to itself and unique; it is a literary work which expresses Mehmet Akif’s thoughts and feelings, desires, complaints, anguished cries, sorrows, joys and ideals. Mehmet Akif was a poet deeply attached to his culture and climate; honest, responsible, sensitive, sincere and full of patriotic feelings.

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MEHMET CORAL

Mehmet Coral was born in Izmir, in 1947. He graduated from Izmir Maarif High School and from the Business Administration and Economy Department at Amsterdam University. He obtained his Master’s degree from The Hague International Law Academy. He started writing in the early 1990s, in Istanbul, to where he had moved after completing his academic studies. In 1999, during the Balkan people’s literary award, Balkanika, where he represented Turkey, the award committee decided to support the translation of all his works into Balkan languages. His books have been translated into English, French, Italian and Greek. WORKS: Bizans’ta Kayıp Zaman (Lost Time in Byzantine), Konstantiniye’nin Yitik Günceleri (The Lost Diaries of Constantine), Sonsuz Meltem (Undying Breeze), Işıkla Yazılsın Sonsuza Adım (Write My Name in Light for Eternity), İzmir - 13 Eylül 1922 (Izmir - September 13, 1922), Zamanın ve Düşüncenin Sınırlarında Uçarken (Flying on the Borders of Time and Thought), Paslı Güneş (Rusty Sun), Tımarhane Adası (Mad House Island), Meryem Planı (The Maria Plan).

İZMİR - 13 EYLÜL 1922 IZMIR - SEPTEMBER 13, 1922 Kedros Publishers S.A., Greece, 2006 228 pages, Novel Translated by Niki Stavrithi ISBN: 9752931022 [email protected]

Mehmet Coral, in İzmir - 13 Eylül 1922 (Izmir - September 13, 1922) makes his hero recall through hypnosis, the factors which created the hostility between the Greeks and the Turks. İzmir - 13 Eylül 1922, through the astral voyage of its hero, tries to untangle the complex historical thread, answer questions dating from the Byzantine period to the present day that the hero himself could not understand and shed light on the strategic tussles played out on Anatolian soil.

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BOOKS FROM TURKEY

MEHMET KARASU

Mehmet Karasu was born in Antakya (Hatay) in 1950. He graduated from Antakya High school and then the Department of Turkish Language and Literature in the Faculty of Literature at Istanbul University. He continues to write for various magazines. WORKS: Eserleri: Doğu’ya Açılan Pencere (The Window Opening to the East), Evvel Zaman İçinde Antakya Masalları (Antakya Fairytales from Ancient Times - written in collaboration with Nebihe Karasu), Doğa ve Tarih Beldesi Harbiye (Harbiye- a Place of Nature and History), Bir Tutam Işık (A Ray of Light), Nusayrilik Alevilik ve Çokkültürlülük (The Nusayri, the Alawites and Multiculturism), Pembe Yapraklı Utanç Şafak DAPHNE, (Pink Leafed Shame Dawn DAPHNE), Davud el Antaki Sempozyumu Bildiriler Kitabı (The Proceedings of the Davud el Antaki Symposium), Antiochos Orontes.

EVVEL ZAMAN İÇİNDE ANTAKYA MASALLARI ANTAKYA FAIRYTALES FROM ANCIENT TIMES Dar-ül Haris, Syria, 2009 96 pages, Tales Translated by Süha Kıyak ISBN: 9750068734 [email protected]

This work, consisting of a nursery rhyme and 21 fairytales, was written by Mehmet Karasu and Nebihe Karasu. The fairytales were collected from different neighbourhoods and villages of Antakya. These fairytales depict the regional characteristics of Turkish language, the unique storytelling methods of the Turkish people, and regional phrases and idioms. Each fairytale has a message, either explicit or implicit. One such message is that to fight that which is evil and to champion the truth is a virtue.

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MEHMET MURAT SOMER

Mehmet Murat Somer was born in Ankara in 1959. He received his BA dagree in engineering from Middle East Technical University. His career of working at a bank outlived his career as an engineer. He gives seminars at companies concerning personal development and is an executive adviser. He wrote scripts for movies and television series and published essays on classical music in several periodicals. In his own words, he still “enjoys being a twenty-seven-year old in Istanbul and the Tropics.” He is the scriptwriter of several movies and TV series. He lives in Istanbul and Rio de Janerio. His “Hop-Chiki-Yaya” crime series went hit number one on the bestseller lists immediately after their release and stayed there for months. His new series Champagne Trilogy (Holding, Podium and Backstage) takes the reader into the glittering world of Istanbul’s fame, fashion, theatre, financial and publishing scene where there is no shortage of power games and revenge... Foreign Rights: Hop-Çiki-Yaya Polisiyeleri, Peygamber Cinayetleri/Hop-Ciki-Yaya Thrillers, Prophet Murders (UK, France, Greece, Poland, Italy, Germany, Brasil); Hop-Çiki-Yaya Polisiyeleri, Buse Cinayeti/Hop-Ciki-Yaya Thrillers, Kiss Murder (USA, UK, France, Greece, Germany, Poland, Spain, Brasil, Italy); Hop-Çiki-Yaya Polisiyeleri, Jigolo Cinayeti/Hop-Ciki-Yaya Thrillers, Gigolo Murder (USA, Brasil, Italy, UK, France); Hop-Çiki-Yaya Polisiyeleri, Peruklu Cinayetler/Hop-Ciki-Yaya Thrillers, Wig Murders (UK, France)

BUSE CİNAYETİ - KISS MURDER Penguin, USA, 2008, 208 pages, Novel ISBN: 9944 860 51 2 www.istanbultelifofisi.com, [email protected]

One evening Buse comes to see the uncrowned queen of the night, - and the manager of the club which is the meeting point and marketplace of vanities. For many years, Buse holds compromising letters and photos of an old lover, which she has never used for blackmail, though. As there are people after her and her apartment got rummaged through, she feels threatened. The papers she’s hidden in her blind mother’s apartment. What begins as a small investigation for a favour and out of curiosity, very quickly leads into an unpredictable network of gloomy evil, with different parties tugging at its ends. Powerful interests seem to be in the game, and when Buse is found murdered a few days later, it is clear that there are no punches pulled. Her blind mother disappeared without a trace, her apartment turned upside down and there is no trace of the papers… Not only an arch-conservative politician is involved, also the Mafia claims her wishes briskly and insistant in an unpleasing way, but the worst is that the lady boss must realise that even among her closest confidantes in the club some were bought by the Mafia. In such a constellation winners are rare, each and everyone must try to get away unscarred while picking the attractive flowers along the way

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BOOKS FROM TURKEY

MEHMET ZAMAN SAÇLIOĞLU

Mehmet Zaman Saçlıoğlu was born in 1955 in Bursa. He graduated from Ankara College, and then from the School of Applied Fine Arts in 1977 in Istanbul. He worked as a faculty member in various universities. His two collections of short stories, Yaz Evi (Summer House) and Beş Ada (Five Islands) are considered as among the best examples of contemporary short story in Turkey. Rüzgâr Geri Getirirse (If the Wind Brings It Back, subtitle: Stories with a Threshold), the third collection of his short stories, was published in 2002. With its visual and textual thresholds, the book is the first of its kind in contemporary Turkish literature and possibly in the world literature. Some of his short stories have been translated into German and English. He won many short story awards such as the Yunus Nadi Award in 1993, the Sait Faik Story Award in 1994, the Haldun Taner Award in 1998. He also has two books of poetry, Sarkaç (Pendulum, 2002), and Günden Önce (Before the Day, 1985). WORKS: Poetry: Günden Önce (Before the Day), Sarkaç (Pendulum); Short Stories: Yaz Evi (Summer House), Beş Ada (Five Islands), Rüzgâr Geri Getirirse (If the Wind Brings Back)

RÜZGÂR GERİ GETİRİRSE IF THE WIND BRINGS BACK Napkut Kiado, Hungary, 2008 116 pages, Short Story Translated by Sallai Bence, Sipos Aron, Szemerics Agnes, Szollossy ISBN: 9789632630236 [email protected]

In order to get into the stories in this book, the reader may have to pass through two gates.At the beginning of each story are a graphic statement and a threshold text. A figure drawn within the usual page decoration gives the reader the first clue about the story . Then, a poetic threshold of no more than two pages greets the reader. This text contains various reflections of the story. Readers may opt to read the book following its original order or choose to skip and read the threshold texts separately. Such different readings of the book can leave the reader with different feelings each time.

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MELİH CEVDET ANDAY

With his poems, novels, dramas and essays, Melih Cevdet Anday (1915-2002) is one of the most versatile authors of the 20th century modern Turkish literature. He graduated from the Faculty of Letters, History and Geography in Ankara. Due to his work as an official for the state railway, he was unable to continue his studies. Later, the institution he worked for sent him to Belgium to study sociology. He returned to Turkey when World War II began and worked as an advisor at the Ministry of Education, General Directorate of the Press, also as a librarian, journalist, translator, teacher and freelance author. In 1941, he published a collection of poetry Garip (Strange), together with Orhan Veli and Oktay Rifat. With this book the three high school friends started the Garip movement, initiating an era of innovation in Turkish poetry. Later on, Anday diverged from the Garip movement with his collection Kolları Bağlı Odysseus (Odysseus Bound, 1963), and became the pioneer of his own philosophical poetry movement. Anday did not believe that poetry had to be dominated by emotion rather than reason, nor that it was obliged to serve a socialist function. He rejected the hegemony of artistic reason. In his works every word and concept is filtered by reason and logic. WORKS: Poetry: Rahatı Kaçan Ağaç (The Disturbed Tree), Telgrafhane (The Telegraph Office), Yanyana (Side by Side), Kolları Bağlı Odysseus (Odysseus Bound), Göçebe Denizin Üstünde Teknenin Ölümü (Death of a Boat on the Nomadic Sea), Sözcükler (Words), Ölümsüzlük Ardında Gılgamış (After Immortality: Gilgamish); Novels: Gizli Emir (Secret Order), Aylaklar (The Futiles), İsa’nın Güncesi (The Diary of Jesus), Raziye (A Love Triangle); Plays: İçerdekiler (Insiders), Mikado’nun Çöpleri (Mikado Sticks), Dört Oyun (Four Plays). Foreign Rights: Yağmurun Altında/Rain One Step Away, (Charioteer Press, USA, 1980)

ÖLÜMSÜZLÜK ARDINDA GILGAMIŞ AFTER IMMORTALITY: GILGAMISH Kelag-E Sefid, Iran, 108 pages, Poetry Translated by Şehram Şeydaiy, ISBN: 9754184046

“The unknown poem, or should I say unknowable? There is no other subject so close to my heart and yet so unknown. I can hear the poem, I can even see it; it is almost as if I am touching it. I have experienced this many times over the years, yet every time it leaves me feeling so confused. Throughout all of world history a poem exists and yet no one can work out what it is. You try hard, you struggle a lot, you see how it can make you happy, you feel as though you are acquainted, but then it is lost, only to turn up on another occasion wearing a different disguise. Lately I have been much preoccupied with these thoughts.”

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BOOKS FROM TURKEY

MELİKE GÜNYÜZ

Melike Günyüz was born in 1968 in Erzurum. She completed her elementary, secondary and high school education in Istanbul and graduated from Boğaziçi University, the Department of Turkish Language and Literature in 1991. She worked as an English teacher for the Ministry of Education from 1992 to 1994. She received her master’s degree from Boğaziçi University in 1994 and her doctorate in 2003 from Istanbul University, the Social Sciences Institute, the Department of Old Turkish Literature with her dissertation Ahmedî Divanı’nın Tahlili (Analysis of the Ahmedi Diwan). She has been an editor and publishing director at Erdem Publishing since 1994. She conducts academic research on children’s literature, prepares Turkish course books for elementary education and writes tales for children. She is married with two children. Foreign Rights: Gakgukların Maceraları/The Adventures of GakGuks (Beijing Yuanliu Classic Culture, China), (Wydawnctwo Uklad Anka, Poland), (Tanany Book Services, Egypt), (Edition Orient, Germany)

GAKGUKLARIN MACERALARI THE ADVENTURES OF THE RAVENS Wydawnctwo Uklad Anka, Poland 16 pages, Children’s Book Illustrated by Reza Hammetirad ISBN: 9789755016085 [email protected]

Books of The Adventures of The Ravens are Şarkıcı Gukki (Gukki The Singer), Ses Yarışması (Singing Contest), Pamuk Karga (Cotton Raven), Ay Nereye Kayboldu (Where Has The Moon Gone), Süslü Çikolata (Decorated Chocolate), Ay Nereye Kayboldu (Gaki The Blue) The Land of Caws is a place where tiny and cute crows live. These black crows are adorable characters made up of fingerprints. Gukki the singer, a baby crow with the voice of a nightingale, is looking for a place where others will enjoy his songs and accept him. Is there such a place? Gaki is good friends with their neighbors, the Blue Feathers. But he does not want to be just a friend of theirs. He wants to be just like them. He even wants to live with them. Could a Caw be like a Blue Feather? Decorated Chocolate wants her beak to be just like the beak of a Magpie, so she decides to have surgery. Could the beak of a Caw be turned into a Magpie beak? What happens if it can be? How would you like to travel to the Land of Caws where you can hear the music words played in a simple and fun style?

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MEMDUH ŞEVKET ESENDAL

Memduh Şevket Esendal (1886-1952) did not find a wide audience in his lifetime and was only fully appreciated decades later as one of the first and most creative modern Turkish short story writers. The stylish, uncluttered Turkish diction he forged 70 years ago seems to have been written today. Along with Sait Faik, he was responsible for developing the short story as a genre of Turkish literature and created opportunities for those who followed him. Many of Memduh Şevket Esendal’s stories were published in journals during the years 1908-1925. After the establishment of the Turkish Republic he took an active role in politics, serving as General Secretary of the CHP (Republican People’s Party) and Turkish Ambassador to various countries. In this period he used the initials “M.Ş.E.” or pennames for his fiction. An edition of his collected stories was published in two volumes in 1946, but his entire output was published only after his death. His formal contribution to short story writing was well ahead of the conception of literature in his time. An unforgettable collection of modern Turkish short stories could doubtless be made with a selection from his books Otlakçı (Freeloader, 1983), Mendil Altında (Under the Handkerchief, 1983), Bizim Nesibe (Our Nesibe, 1985), Gödeli Mehmet (Mehmet from Göde, 1986) and Güllüce Bağları Yolunda (On the Road to Güllüce, 1992).

AYAŞLI VE KİRACILARI AYASLI AND HIS TENANTS Unionsverlag, Switzerland, 2009, 256 pages, Novel Translated into German by Carl Koß Nachwort and Monika Carbe ISBN: 9754940517 [email protected]

Memduh Sevket Esendal, in his novel Ayaşlı and his Tenants, considered to be one of his most important works, portrays segments from the everyday lives of nine households each occupying a flat in a building after the foundation of the Republic in the city of Ankara. He narrates the lives of the “little people” who are struggling with the tremors of the transition from the collapsed order to the new society order. He masterfully depicts the relationships between these people who come from different educational and occupational backgrounds with a different outlook on life; he reflects all the characteristics of the period in their characters.

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BOOKS FROM TURKEY

METİN CENGİZ

Metin Cengiz was born in Kars in 1953 and finished his elementary through high school education in Göle, Kars. He studied at Atatürk University in Erzurum and Marmara University in Istanbul. He was sentenced and jailed for his political views after the 1980 military coup. He currently teaches French and has worked at various publishing houses. He has translated French prose and poetry, and written books on poetry. He participated in the poetic movement “Yenibütün” (New Whole) and published his first poem in the newspaper Demokrat (1980). He has been published in journals like Yazko Edebiyat, Varlık, Yeni Düşün and Broy. He has a modern vision of poetry which nevertheless draws upon the traditional. His main themes are the reality allowed to humans, the sensory world and fragmentation in modern life. His poems have been translated into a number of languages including French, English, German, Spanish, Italian, Bosnian, Russian, Romanian, Arabic, Hebrew, Azeri and Kurdish. WORKS: Bir Tufan Sonrası (The Aftermath of a Flood, 1988), Büyük Sevişme (Great Lovemaking, 1989), Zehrinde Açan Zambak (The Lily that Blooms in its Own Poison, 1992), İpek’a (To İpek, 1993), Şarkılar Kitabı (Book of Songs, 1995), Gençlik Çağı (The Age of Youth, 1998), Aşk İlahileri (Love Hymns, 2006), Özgürlük Şiirleri (Freedom Poems, 2007), Sonsuzluk Çiseler Büyük Sularda (Eternity Drops in Deep Waters), Bütün Şiirleri I (Complete Poems I).

BİR TUFAN SONRASI VE DİĞER ŞİİRLERİ AFTER A DELUGE AND OTHER POEMS L’Harmattan, Fransa, 2006, Poetry Translated by Metin Cengiz, Gerard Augustin, ISBN: 2296012183 [email protected]

This book contains Metin Cengiz’s first poetry book Bir Tufan Sonrası (After a Deluge), and a translation of selected poems from his books; Büyük Sevişme (The Great Lovemaking), Zehirinde Açan Zambak (The Lily that Blooms in its Poison), İpek’A (Silk’A), Şarkılar Kitabı (The Book of Songs) and Gençlik Çağı (The Age of Youth).

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METİN KAÇAN

Metin Kaçan is one of Turkey’s most eccentric writers. He was born in Kayseri in November 1961, and came to Istanbul when he was 6 months old. He emerged onto the literary scene with his short stories which were published in humorous magazines, after which his first novel, Ağır Roman (Cholera Blues), was published. He wrote the scenario for Chlore Blues in 1995, and it was adapted for film by Mustafa Altıoklar in 1997. He also worked together with Kemal Aratan on a comic book, Going Wherever They Want, about the lives of street children addicted to sniffing turpentine and glue. The ballet version of Cholera Blues was produced in December 2002 by the Turkish State Opera and Ballet, and it was also staged as a play by the Eylül University Theatre Department in Izmir, in January 2003. Foreign Rights: Ağır Roman/Cholera Blues (Dağyeli Verlag, Germany), (Actes Sud, France); Fındık Sekiz/Hazelnut 8 (Dağyeli Verlag, Germany)

AĞIR ROMAN CHOLERA BLUES Dağyeli Verlag, Germany, 2003 153 pages, Novel Translated by Michael Hes ISBN: 9789750702709 [email protected]

Gıli Gıli Salih, the protagonist of Metin Kaçan’s popular novel Cholera Blues, tries to gain a place for himself in the world of gangsters, tough guys, whores and pimps. He falls in love with a whore named Tina. Her ex-lover spills nitric acid onto her face in order to take his revenge, and flees. Gıli goes after him and when he catches the man he kills him. This event makes him renowned among the gangs, but it also signifies the impossibility of his being a “good boy” thereafter. One of the most striking aspects of this novel is its language use, enriched with Gypsy jargon and mythical characteristics

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BOOKS FROM TURKEY

MEVLANA CELALEDDİN RUMİ MAWLANA JALAL AD-DIN MUHAMMAD RUMI

Mawlana Jalal ad-Din Muhammad Rumi (known as Rumi in the English speaking world) was a 13th century Sufi poet who founded the Mevlevi order of Sufism. He was born in Balkh (now in Afghanistan) in 1207 and died in Konya (in Turkey) in 1278. Rumi’s father Baha ud-Din Walad, also known as “Sultan of the Scholars” left Balkh in 1212 and relocated to Anatolia where he was warmly welcomed by Ala’ ud-Din Key-Qobad and he continued to preach here. Two years later, upon his death, Rumi replaced his father as the Head of Madrassa. In 1244 Rumi met with the Dervish Shams from Tabriz who was visiting Konya and it was through this friendship that Rumi found his true identity and gave himself completely to Sufism and became a poet. Rumi is now considered to be one of the greatest poets in the world. He especially had wide spread influence in the Islamic world with his Masnavi (poetic form) which is considered to be the essence of eastern Islamic culture, and his works also cultivated the Sufism line of dervish lodge and divan poetry for many centuries. Comprising of six volumes and around 26 thousand verses, Masnavi is a didactic masterpiece full of stories, symbols and words of wisdom explaining the ways of Sufism. His work Divan-i Kebir, where he uses Shams-e Tabrizi as his pseudonym, contains over 2000 lyric poems and over 1750 rubaiyat (poetic form). WORKS: Mesnevi-6 Cilt, (The Masnavi-6 Volumes), Divân-ı Kebir (5 Volumes), Fihi Mâ Fih, Mektuplar (Letters), Rubailer (Rubaiyat), Mecâlis-i Seb’a (to the Council of Sevens)

MESNEVİ THE MASNAVI Janet-45, Bulgaria, 2009 272 pages, Poetry Translated by Hüseyin Mevsim ISBN: 9789544915346

Rumi’s Masnavi is widely recognized as the greatest Sufi poem ever written. The thirteenth-century Muslim mystic Rumi composed his work for the benefit of his disciples in the Sufi order named after him, better known as the whirling dervishes. In order to convey his message of divine love and unity he threaded together entertaining stories and penetrating homilies. Drawing on folk tales as well as sacred history, Rumi’s poem is often funny as well as spiritually profound.

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MEVLANA İDRİS ZENGİN

He was born in 1966. He is one of the most prominent writers of Turkish children’s literature. He graduated from the Faculty of Law, at Istanbul University, in 1989. His poems, short stories and essays have been published in many journals and newspapers, such as İkindiyazıları, Diriliş, Dergâh, Albatros, Geniş Zamanlar and Gerçek. He won the Gökyüzü Publishing House Children’s Literature Award for his book of poetry, Kuş Renkli Çocukluğum (My Bird-Colored Childhood) and the Turkey Writers’ Association Children’s Literature Award for Korku Dükkânı (Horror Shop) in 1998. Some of his books have been translated to German, Urdu, Persian and Arabic. WORKS: Kuş Renkli Çocukluğum (My Bird-Colored Childhood), İyi Geceler Bayım (Good Night, Sir), Sufi ile Pufi (Sufi and Pufi), Çınçınlı Masal Sokağı (Fairy Tale Street), Dondurmalı Matematik (Maths with Icecream), Hayâl Dükkânı (Fantasy Shop), Kirpiler Şapka Giymez (Hedgehogs Don’t Wear Hats), Korku Dükkânı (Horror Shop), Sinir Dükkânı (Nerve Shop), Tehlikeli Bir Kitap (A Dangerous Book), Ütüsüz Ayakkabılar (Unironed Shoes), Masal Alan Adam (The Man Who Bought Fairy Tales), Para Dağıtan Adam (The Man Who Gave Away Money), Profesör Haşır Huşur (Professor Rustler), Saçları Dökülen Adam (Bald Man), Televizyonları Bozulan Şehir (The City of Broken Televisions), Tersine Adam (Back-to-Front Man), Yağmurlu Şehirdeki Adam (The Man in the Rainy City), Uçan Eşek (Flying Donkey), Vay Canına (Oh, My God).

YAĞMURLU ŞEHİRDEKİ ADAM THE MAN IN THE RAINING CITY Edition Lingua Mundi, Germany 20 pages, Children’s Book Translated by Monica Carbe ISBN: 9759005069 [email protected]

There was a man, who was fifty two years old and who lived in a city plagued by heavy rain. Whenever it rained that man would go out of his house and say to whomever he met “I cough while I am reading my newspaper and I hear the voice of a deer from deep inside the forest”… This book tells that even though a person may seem to be an outcast in society, every human being has a special value.

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BOOKS FROM TURKEY

MİNE G. KIRIKKANAT

Mine G. Kırıkkanat, is an Istanbullite born in Ankara. She graduated from Fevzi Atlioglu Primary School, Notre Damme de Sion Highschool and the Department of Sociology in the Faculty of Literature at the University of Istanbul. Her writing career took off as she was the first female writer of satire and humour in Turkey and she continued her career as Cumhuriyet newspaper’s Spain correspondent, Milliyet newspaper’s France correspondent and as a columnist for Radikal newspaper. Currently she works as a columnist for Vatan newspaper. Kırıkkanat is amongst the foreign correspondents affiliated with TV5Monde channel and continues to hold her place in the literary world through a number of novels, short stories and essays she has written. WORKS: Destina, Amerika Amerika (America America), Paris Paris, PandIspanya (Sponge cake- travel writings on Spain), Allah Allah Bizim Kontesi Kim Sevdi (God Knows who loved our Countess), Yalnız Kalem Unutmaz (The Lonely Pen Won’t Forget), Her Şeye Rağmen (Despite Everything), Bir Gün Gece (One Day Night) , Carrissima Sevgilim (Carrissima My Love), The Palace of Flies (Sinek Sarayı), Aşk Hikayeleri (Love Stories), Good Bad Woman (İyi Kötü Kadın), Gülün Öteki Adı (The Other Name of Rose).

DESTİNA - DESTINA Editions Metailie, France, 189 pages, Novel Translated by Valerie Gay-Aksoy ISBN: 9789750404801 [email protected]

Mine G. Kırıkkanat portrays a near future that has not yet taken place in her novel Destina and says “Everything I wrote in this novel is correct, none of it is real”. In this near future, Istanbul is ruled by the Global Governance, and Turks have been assimilated into the different countries to which they have migrated. The war between the Cross and the Crescent (referring to Islam) is over, and it has been replaced by a war amongst Christian sects. The winner of this war will depend on whether a descendant of Constantine the Great, the first Christian emperor of the Roman Empire who made Constantinople his capital and gave it to the Christian world, can be found or else whether he can be destroyed. Three Turkish spies are appointed for this mission because of their expertise on the subject and the region. They start this journey back in time by retracing dreams and find themselves in the middle of a tough struggle. Destina is the work of a brilliant imagination, page after page it flows like scenes from an action film. The reader will hold their breath and will not be able to put the book down, and the impact of the book will linger on long after it has been read… But in the end the truth will always prevail.

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MİNE SÖĞÜT

Mine Söğüt was born in 1968 in Istanbul. She graduated from the Latin Language and Literature Department at Istanbul University and completed her MA in the same department. In1990, she started working as a reporter for Güneş newspaper. Subsequently she worked for Tempo and Yeniyüzyıl. In 1993, she received a commendation for her journalism, from the Türkish Journalists Association. Between 1996 and 2000, she worked as a script writer for the television documentary series, Haberci (Reporter). Since 2001, she has been working in a voluntary capacity as editor for the local paper, Cihangir Postası (Cihangir Post). WORKS: Beş Sevim Apartmanı (Five Sevim Apartment Block), Kırmızı Zaman (Red Time), Sevgili Doğan Kardeş (Dear Brother Doğan), Adalet Cimcoz-Bir Yaşam Öyküsü Denemesi (Adalet Cimcoz : A Biography), Şahbaz’ın Harikulade Yılı 1979 (1979: A Magnificent Year for Şahbaz), Aşkın Sonu Cinayettir-Pınar Kür ile Hayat ve Edebiyat (Love Always End in Murder - Conversations with Pınar Kür on Life and Literature). Foreign Rights: Beş Sevim Apartmanı/ Five Apartment Buildings Named Sevim (Cadmus,Syria), (Ruffel, Germany)

BEŞ SEVİM APARTMANI FIVE SEVİM APARTMENT BLOCK Ruffel Verlag, Germany, 2008 130 pages novel Translated by Sabine Adatepe ISBN : 9750805488 [email protected]

The cats in Pürtelaş Street were howling. Something strange was going on in Five Sevim Apartment Block. In five rooms, in the five windowed apartment block, lived five weird creatures. Those from the elves’ world, those from the fairies’ world and those from the elf fairies’ world wrote five peculiar stories... Sorry, they wrote six stories! I forgot to mention the story of Doctor Samim and his diary. Mine Söğüt, with her first novel Five Sevim Apartment Block, transports the reader to a magical world of elves and fairies.

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BOOKS FROM TURKEY

MİYASE SERTBARUT

Miyase Sertbarut was born in Adana. She graduated from the Department of Turkish Studies at Gazi University. She is a teacher of Turkish Literature. She writes short stories, novels, fairy tales and radio plays. She started writing radio plays. She has written many works in different genres. She won the First Prize in the Tudem Literature Awards with her two long stories Tuna’nın Büyülü Gemisi (Tuna’s Magic Ship) and Kırmızı Kartal (The Red Eagle) in 2003. These books were published separately as two books. She won the Second Prize in the Tudem Literature Awards in 2004 with her novel Sisin Sakladıkları (Hidden in the Haze) and the Honorary Mention with her work entitled Akvaryumdaki Deniz Kızı (The Mermaid in the Aquarium). She won the First Prize in the 2006 Tudem Literature Awards in the category Preteen Novels for her work Kapiland’ın Kobayları (Guinea Pigs of Kapiland). Her first book, Fasulyem Bulutlara Çıkamaz (My Bean Cannot Climb up to the Clouds), was published in 1996.

KAPİLAND’IN KOBAYLARI GUINEA PIGS OF KAPILAND Önel Verlag, Germany, 2008 124 pages, Children’s Book, Novel Translated by, Angelika Gillitz-Avar and Angelika Hoch ISBN: 9789944691260 [email protected]

Scientists from Kapiland and Turkey claim that children and teenagers’ inclination to violence is a result of a virus and they develop an anti-virus syrup. All the children between the ages of seven and seventeen drink the syrup, which finally decreases their inclination to violence and increases their appetite as a side effect. Parents are happy, but in time they have difficulty in meeting their need for food and clothing. Kapiland now starts selling food and clothing to Turkey. Later, however they learn that food brought from Kapiland is made of genetically modified organisms. In the meanwhile, Hayri, a teenager who does not take the medication but is also not aggressive, observes everyhing

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MURAT GÜLSOY

Murat Gülsoy was born in Istanbul, in 1967. He studied engineering and psychology. At present he lectures on creative writing, in the Department of Western Languages and Literature, at Boğaziçi University, as well as being the general editor of Boğaziçi University Press. With a group of friends, he published a periodical called Hayalet Gemi (Ghost Ship) between 1992 and 2002. He won the Sait Faik Short Story Award for Steal This Book, in 2001 and the Yunus Nadi Novel Award for his novel, Bu Filmin Kötü Adamı Benim (I’m the Villain in This Film) in 2004. WORKS: Oysa Herkes Kendisiyle Meşgul (Whereas Everyone’s Busy with Themselves), Bu Kitabı Çalın (Steal This Book), Belki de Gerçekten İstiyorsun (Maybe You Really Want It), Binbir Gece Mektupları (A Thousand and One Night Letters), Bu Filmin Kötü Adamı Benim (I’m the Villain in This Film), Bu An’ı Daha Önce Yaşamıştım (Déjà Vu), Büyübozumu:Yaratıcı Yazarlık (Breaking the Spell: Creative Writing), Sevgilinin Geciken Ölümü (The Belated Death of a Sweetheart), Kâbuslar (Nightmares), İstanbul’da Bir Merhamet Haftası (A Charity Week in Istanbul).

BU KİTABI ÇALIN - STEAL THIS BOOK Literaturca Verlag, Germany, 2007 189 pages, Novel Translated by Beatrix Caner ISBN: 9789758440726 www.kalemagency.com

Murat Gülsoy’s second book, Bu Kitabı Çalın (Steal This Book) conveys a feeling of unity throughout, although it does consist of seemingly independent stories. Murat Gülsoy’s short stories do not have the stillness of contemporary story telling, quite the contrary, they are based on events. Gülsoy, assuming that the border between reality and fiction is completely blurred and that fiction has filtered into every corner of life, forces back the boundaries of fiction, expecting the reader to interact with the story. In many of his stories, reality and fiction do indeed, evanesce into each other, since by playing around with the plot, he continually surprises the reader, as the narrative alternates between reality, the surreal and the fantastic.

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BOOKS FROM TURKEY

MURAT TUNCEL

Murat Tuncel was born in Kars-Hanak in 1952. He graduated from the Turkish Department of the Atatürk Faculty of Education at the Marmara University in Istanbul. His short stories and works are published in various literary journals in Turkey. His first book Dargın Değilim Yaşama (I’m not Angry with Life) was published in 1981. He currently lives in Holland and teaches Turkish language and Literature at the Rotterdam Conservatory. Many of his short stories are published in both Turkish and Dutch anthologies, and some in Russian and Polish. His novel on a Hungarian’s life, Üçüncü Ölüm (The Third Death) has been adapted into a film script and was awarded the Novel Prize of the “Halkevleri Culture and Art Contest” in 1997. He won the “Orhan Kemal Short Stories Award” in 2000 with his short stories Gölge Kız (The Shadow Girl). His novelks are Dargın Değilim Yaşama (I’m not Cross with Life), Mengelez, Güneşsiz Dünya (Sunless World), Beyoğlu Çığlıkları (Beyoğlu Screams), Hollandaca (Dutch), Üçüncü Ölüm (Third Death), Yarımağız Anılar (HalfHearted Memoirs) and İnanna. Foreign Rights: İnanna (Al Takwa, Syria), (Asia Publishing House, Korea); Maviydi Adalet Sarayı/Court of Justise was Blue (3C, The Netherlands)

INANNA Al-Taakwin Hause Publisher, Syria, 2007 240 pages, Novel Translated into Arabic by Abdul Kadir Abdelli ISBN: 975 434 324 1 varlık@varlık.com.tr, www.kalemagecy.com

The individual stories - separately but enmeshed in each other - of an “Doğu Devşirmesi” (Eastern Devshirme) taken away from his mother at an early age and raised in Janissary garnisons, and the “Küçük Bey” (Little Chief) who was banished by his feudal father because he wanted to take an Armenian woman as a second wife, intersect in İnanna, a woman representing the goddess of love. The search for identity and love by these two protagonists is nourished with Anatolian myths that reveal much about the history and the Ottoman customs and traditions.

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MURAT UYURKULAK

Murat Uyurkulak was born in 1972 in Aydın. A university dropout, Uyurkulak worked as a waiter, technician, translator, journalist and publisher. His first novel Tol: Bir İntikam Romanı (Tol: A Revenge Novel) was published in 2002. It was received with wide critical acclaim, immediately establishing him as a new and powerful voice in contemporary Turkish literature. Tol was adapted for the theater and has enjoyed a long and successful run. It is currently being translated to German to be published by Unionsverlag in 2008 and also to Bulgarian. His second novel Har: Bir Kıyamet Romanı (Har: An Apocalyptic Novel) was published in 2006. Foreign Rights: Tol: Bir İntikam Romanı/Tol: A Revenge Novel (Unionsverlag, Switzerland, German), (Balkani, Bulgaria), (Galaade, France, 2010); Har: Bir Kıyamet Romanı/Har: An Apolcalyptic Novel (Balkani, Bulgaria), (Galata, Germany, 2010)

TOL: BİR İNTİKAM ROMANI TOL: A REVENGE NOVEL Unions Verlag, Germany, 264 pages, Novel Translated by Gerhard Meier ISBN: 9789753423721 [email protected]

The long train journey of two “defeated and exhausted” characters, once targets of the sweeping rage of the state and thus both marked with the brutal side of the country’s recent history. The Poet, a ‘68 political activist, and Yusuf, a red diaper child of the coup d’état, embark on an intoxicated and tormenting process of settling accounts with history, society and themselves. Meanwhile outside the train, all over the country, bombs are set off by an “unknown power”, destroying the most prominent official institutions and buildings that represent big money, state terrorism and oppression. When The Poet and Yusuf arrive at the last station, they step out onto a land where “the revolution is once again probable”. In a fascinating move, this “revenge novel” extends its vengeance on to the language itself, creatively destroying laws of syntax, semantics and vocabulary.

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BOOKS FROM TURKEY

MURATHAN MUNGAN

Murathan Mungan (b. 1955, İstanbul) spent his early youth in Mardin. He holds an MA degree in drama from Ankara University and has worked for the State Theater as a dramaturge. One of the most prominent and prolific contemporary writers of Turkey, he has published poetry, short stories, plays, novels, screenplays, radio plays, essays, film and theater criticism, and political columns. He has over fifteen poetry books, among them Osmanlıya Dair Hikâyat (Stories on the Ottomans, 1981), Metal (1994) and Yaz Geçer (Summer Too Passes, 1992) which has attained the status of a cult book. A selection of his poems were translated and published in Kurdish as Li Rojhilatê Dilê Min (In the East of my Heart, 1996). Mungan’s trilogy of plays, “The Mesopotamian Trilogy” has enjoyed successful theater runs across Turkey and in various countries. Other books by him include his semi-autobiographical narrative Paranın Cinleri (Money Djinns), novella Çador (Chador) and best-selling novel Yüksek Topuklar (High Heels). His latest book is Kadından Kentler (Cities of Women, 2008), a best-selling book of short stories. Foreign Rights: Çador (Chador Tchador, Actes Sud, France), (Kastaniotis, Greece), (Giunti, Italy); (Blumenbar, Germany); (Giunti, Italy); Paranın Cinleri/Money Djinns (Scripta, Greece), (Giunti, Italy); Kırk Oda/Forty Rooms (Exandas, Greece); Üç Aynalı Kırk Oda/Forty Rooms with Three Mirors (Quarante chambres aux trois miroirs, Actes Sud, France); Son İstanbul/The Last Istanbul (Exandas, Greece); Geyikler Lanetler/Deer Curses (Exandas, Greece); Kadından Kentler/Cities of Women (Blumenbar, Germany)

KADINDAN KENTLER - CITIES OF WOMEN Blumenbar, Germany 266 pages, Short Story ISBN: 9789753426657 [email protected]

This book brings together 16 stories taking place in 16 different cities in Turkey, each telling about the confrontation of two women confined or cornered by their conditions. Each story brings a close look at women from different social strata, shedding light on Turkey’s transformations through the identity of women and cities. “I tried to construct a structure progressing with moments between geography and identities,” says Mungan. An immediate bestseller, Cities of Women reads like a novel, with its vivid characters and subtle details.

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MUSTAFA KUTLU

Mustafa Kutlu was born in Erzincan, in 1947. He graduated from the Turkish Language and Literature Department at Erzurum Atatürk University. After working as a literature teacher for some time, he started working at Dergah publications. He made his first appearance on the literary stage, with several articles published in the periodical, Fikir ve Sanatta Hareket. From 1990 onwards, in addition to Dergâh, where he became editor, he has had his short stories and articles published in many other journals many other journals. He has also written scripts for movies and for television. WORKS: Ortadaki Adam (Man in the Middle), Gönül İşi (Affair of the Heart), Yokuşa Akan Sular (Upstream), Yoksulluk İçimizde (Poverty Is Within Us), Ya Tahammül Ya Sefer (Either Be Patient or Leave), Bu Böyledir (This Is How It Is), Sır (Secret), Arka Kapak Yazıları (Back Cover Writings), Hüzün ve Tesadüf (Melancholy and Coincidence), Uzun Hikaye (Long Story), Beyhude Ömrüm (My Wasted Life), Mavi Kuş (Blue Bird), Tufandan Önce (Before the Storm), Rüzgarlı Pazar (Windy Sunday), Şehir Mektupları (Letters from the City), Akasya ve Mandolin (Acacia and the Mandolin), Yoksulluk Kitabı (The Book of Poverty). Foreign Rights: Yıldız Tozu/Stardust (Sternenstaub, Önel Verlag, Germany); (Ka Powder, MultiMedia Affairs, Pakistan); Mavi Kuş/Blue Bird (Honar Rasaneh Ordibehest, Iran)

YILDIZ TOZU - STARDUST Önel Verlag, Germany, 2007, 64 pages, Children’s Book Translated by Sabine Adatepe ISBN: 9789755014159 [email protected], [email protected]

This story, set in a small town, portrays a child facing the loss of his brother. On a clear summer night, Kenan and his brother are lying on their backs on the roof of their house, gazing at the stars. They each choose a star to call their own. Kenan’s brother tells him about stars and says that when a star falls, the owner of that star dies. Kenan becomes upset. One day their uncle arrives from Germany. Now Kenan’s brother has a bicycle. He loves his bicycle so much that he does not even let Kenan go near it. Kenan begs and pleads, but his brother refuses to share his bicycle. One morning, there is a loud knock on their door. It is Abdurrahman, a close friend of Kenan’s brother. He says that Kenan has fallen off the shoulder of the road with the bicycle, while everyone thought that Kenan was at home. The brother feels responsible for the accident. On the roof of their house, he gazes at the stars, this time without Kenan. He sees a falling star; it is Kenan’s star and he runs as fast as he can to catch it..

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BOOKS FROM TURKEY

MUSTAFA RUHİ ŞİRİN

Mustafa Ruhi Şirin was born in 1955 in Trabzon. He graduated from the School of Journalism and Public Relations, the Department of Radio and Television in 1978. He began working at TRT (Turkish Radio and Television Corporation) in 1977. He established the Children’s Foundation in 1990. During the 2007-2008 academic year he taught children’s literature at Marmara University. He has served as a member of juries, consulting boards, commissions and as a negotiator for the Ministry of Culture, Ministry of Education, State Planning Agency, the Turkish Republic Government’s Ten Year Program on Human Rights, Ministry of Justice and for universities. He was the spokesperson for the civil society organizations during the Habitat II process in Turkey. He administered service, education and research projects for children on city and national levels. He also served as a spokesperson for the Turkish Action Group during the campaign “Say ‘Yes’ for Children” under coordination of UNICEF in 2001. He prepared the First Istanbul Children’s Assembly project organized in 2000 by the Istanbul Governorship, served as its general coordinator and wrote the Istanbul Children Emergency Action Plan which is the first city-scale text of social politics. He was one of the founding members of the The Turkish Coalition of Children’s Rights in 2001 and has served as a spokesperson for the coalition. Foreign Rights: Aslan Kuş/The Lion Bird (Yalda Ghalam Publishing House, Iran); Kuş Ağacı/The Bird Tree (Yalda Ghalam Publishing House, Iran); Bülbül ile Leylek/ The Nightingale and the Stork (Yalda Ghalam Publishing House, Iran); Dünyaya Gülen Adam/The Man Who Laughed At The World (Safeer Publishing, Egypt); Guguklu Saatin Kumrusu/The Dove of Cuckoo Clock (Önel Verlag, Germany)

DÜNYAYA GÜLEN ADAM THE MAN WHO LAUGHED AT THE WORLD Safeer Publishing Company, 83 pages, Children’s Book Translated by Sabri Hamm ISBN: 978754992489 [email protected]

The writer’s man who laughed at the World is the folk hero of Anatolia, Nasreddin Hodja. Nasreddin Hodja is friends with people of any age. We get to know him as a small child. As soon as we hear his name, we are ready to laugh. However, rather than to make us laugh, his purpose is to put us on the right path which he does with much tact and beauty. He makes us see our contradictions through the mirror he holds for us. He is a Wiseman. A Wiseman, who always knows how to laugh at the world. In this book, he tells his own anecdotes to children. As if he was joking with the children.

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MUZAFFER İZGÜ

Muzaffer İzgü was born in 1933 in Adana. His childhood was spent in poverty. As he completed his education, he washed dishes, waited tables and sold sodas in movie theaters. He graduated from the Diyarbakır School for Teachers. He worked as an elementary school teacher for many years before becoming a Turkish teacher in secondary schools. He settled in İzmir after retiring. One of the most productive authors in Turkish literature, he has written one hundred and thirteen books, sixty eight of which are for children, published by Bilgi Publishing. He received the second place award in Turkey’s Most Successful Children’s Books competition held by TÖMER (Turkish and Foreign Languages Research and Application Centre) in 1997.

EKMEK PARASI DAILY BREAD Onel Verlag, Germany, 2008 136 pages, Children’s Book Translated by Yüksel Pazarkaya ISBN: 9754943389 [email protected] [email protected]

The hardships a boy goes through to earn his daily bread, the difficulties he endures, hungry nights and cold winter days with little clothing. With an enduring love of life and for people. This novel is the story of Muzaffer İzgü’s own childhood. When you read it, you will realize why the author loves children so much.

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BOOKS FROM TURKEY

MÜGE İPLİKÇİ

Müge İplikçi was born in Istanbul. She graduated from Istanbul University English Language and Literature Studies Department. After her master’s degrees at Istanbul University and at The Ohio State University, she worked as a teacher and lecturer in a wide range of institutions including Kadıköy Girls High School and Istanbul Bilgi University. She became famous initially with her stories. She has had four story books published: Perende (Somersault, 1998), Columbus’un Kadınları (Columbus´ Women, 2000), Arkası Yarın (To Be Continued Tomorrow, 2001), Transit Yolcular (Transit Passengers, 2002). Apart from her novels Kül ve Yel (Ashes, and the Wind, 2004) and Cemre (Harbinger, 2006) and Kafdağı (The Kaf Mountain, 2008), she has also had two research studies, Yıkık Kentli Kadınlar (Woman of a Devastated City) and Cımbızın Çektikleri (Plucked by Tweezers, together with Ümran Kartal) published. Müge İplikçi recounts modern situations and portrays present day people in a postmodern creative style. She focuses on human relationships and on the position of women in these relationships. In almost all her writings, she emphasizes the role of women and the so-called halo, ever so ludicrous, over their heads. Her works have been translated into many languages. Foreign Rights: Cemre/Harbinger (FanNoli, Albania), (Cadmus, Syria)

CEMRE HARBINGER Fan Noli, Albania, 2009 130 pages, Novel Translated by Jimi Lazri ISBN: 9789752894723 www.kalemagency.com

Cemre is the story of women who stand their ground against the brutality of the world and they never give up questioning why. Three generations: 1960s, 1980s and 2000s. They survive two significant political earthquakes. The resonances these big jolts cause in the lives and souls of these women… With this book Iplikçi successfully brings to light the corners of the female world that remain hidden under the shadows. Yıldız, Nimet, Hülya, Cemre and others. They are our faces, our souls… “From the outside, the world looked huge, and heavy. She had a growing voice which swallowed life. Nimet was the world that was spinning in the void. From the outside, she took a glance and she could make out the void, Nimet, I, was astonished at her own speed. I saw Nimet many times from the outside. That Nimet’s brother threw large stones at Nimet. Nimet never said a word. Her brother kept on hitting Nimet with his belt covered in dust. Nimet’s mother’s headscarf was covered in the way…”

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NABİZÂDE NÂZIM

Nabizâde Nâzim, one of the 19th century novelists, was born in Istanbul in 1893. He studied at Besiktas Military Secondary School and High school. He graduated from the Military Academy In 1886 and became a staff major. In his early years in the army, he taught mathematics and military studies. He was then posted to the general staff office, and worked in Syria for two years. He returned to Istanbul, suffered from illness during the course of one year and he died in 1893 from bone tuberculosis. He featured in several editorials with his poems and scientific articles between 1880-1889 and he was also one of the first writers of Servet-i Fünun magazine which was launched in 1891. Nabizâde Nâzım was one of the earliest representatives of realism in Turkish Literature with his first full length story Karabibik, which was based on a story taken from the villages of Antalya and his novel Zehra, which portrayed a Turkish family living in Istanbul. WORKS: Novels and Stories: Yadigârlarım (My Relics), Zavallı Kız (The Poor Girl), Bir Hâtıra (A Memory), Karabibik, Sevdâ (Love), Hâlâ Güzel (Still as Beautiful), Haspa (The Minx), Seyyie-i Tesâmüh (The Malignancy of Tolerance), Zehra.

KARABİBİK KARABIBIK Manzara Verlag, Germany 48 pages, Novel Translated by Patrick Bartsch ISBN: 97590880100

Karabibik depicts the story of a village and is the first example of the realist literary movement in Turkish literature. Karabibik is a work which takes a realistic look at an Anatolian village and portrays the village and the everyday living of the peasants and their problems. The protagonist is Karabibik and the novella depicts his struggle with the land and his survival. A few days in the life of Karabibik are described through his physical conditions as well as his mental well being.

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BOOKS FROM TURKEY

NALAN BARBAROSOĞLU

Nalan Barbarasoğlu was born in Adapazarı in 1961. She graduated from the Department of Systematic Philosophy and Logic in the Faculty of Literature at the University of Istanbul in 1982. She continues her career as a script writer and editor. Her first article introducing Thomas Kuhn’s book which discussed the concept of paradigm was published in Yazko Philosophy. She also wrote for Yazko Somut. She started writing short stories in 1980s. Her first story was published in Argos. After the stories published in Nar and Adam Öykü magazines, she published her first book of short stories Ne Kadar da Güzeldir Gitmek (How Nice It Is To Go, 1996) containing ten short stories. She wrote articles in Adam Öykü magazine and Radikal newspaper on short story books. She is currently the editor in chief for Eşik Cini literary culture magazine. WORKS: Ne Kadar Da Güzeldir Gitmek (How Nice It Is To Go), Ayçiçekleri (Sunflowers), Her Ses Bir Ezgi (Each Voice a Melody), Gümüş Gece (The Silver Night).

GÜMÜŞ GECE THE SILVER NIGHT Dağyeli Verlag, Germany, 2008 129 pages, Short Story Translated by Helga Dağyeli, Bohne ve Yıldırım Dağyeli ISBN: 9756363428 alkım@alkım.com.tr

It is night time. We talk in whispers and fate blends into life with fragile letters. In the shadows, the sounds and colours of the day multiply and grow. The day obscures the moonlight and covers us up like a net. It is at night time when we rebel against our prescribed lives, it is at night time when our fates can change. Beginnings and endings are reshaped. Life undergoes a change in the mirror of the night: it is silver.

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NÂMIK KEMAL

Nâmık Kemal, a poet of the Tanzimat (Ottoman reform movement) era, was born in Tekirdağ in 1840. The poet spent his childhood in Kars and Sofia, and became a clerk at the Interpretation Chamber after he came to Istanbul in 1857. He met with Şinasi, the publisher of Tasvir-i Efkar newspaper and started writing for the paper. When Şinasi had to leave for Paris, he started publishing the newspaper himself, but later had to escape with Ziya Pasha to Paris after the Young Ottomans fighting against despotism were declared exiled. In London he published Hürriyet newspaper with Ziya Pasha. When he returned to Istanbul, he started publishing Ibret newspaper, and after a while he was sent to Gelibolu as a Governor. After he was dismissed he returned to Istanbul, and staged his play Vatan Yahut Silistre (Fatherland or Silistria) which caused a stir and he was exiled to Famagusta dungeon in Cyprus. He was then pardoned and appointed as Governor to Rhodos and Chios islands. Nâmık Kemal, known as the poet of liberty, became one of the most distinguished poets and artists of the Tanzimat reform era with his works which had repercussions across almost every genre of literature. He passed away in 1888. WORKS: Plays: Vatan Yahut Silistre (Fatherland or Silistria), Zavallı Çocuk (The Poor Child), Gülnihal, Celaleddin Harzemşah, Karabela; Novels: İntibah (Awakening), Cezmi; History and Biographical Works: Kanije, Silistire Muhasarası (Battle of Silistria), Osmanlı Tarihi (Ottoman History), Büyük İslam Tarihi (The Big History of Islam), Yavuz Sultan Selim (Selim the Grim), Critical Writings: Tahrib-i Harabat (in response to Ziya Pasha’s anthology Harabat), Takib (Second volume of Tahrib-i Harabat), Renan Müdafanamesi (The Defence against Renan). Foreign Rights: Vatan Yahut Silistre/Fatherland or Silistra (Inner Mongolian Cultural Publishing House, China); İntibah/Awakening (Inner Mongolian Cultural Publishing House, China)

Awakening is one of the first novels marking the history of Turkish literature, it portrays the dangers of the extravagance, prodigality and ignorance of life characteristic of the rich kids from the Intibah era in which the author lived as well as depicting the ways in which corrupt, deceitful femme fatales collaborate with certain criminal organisations to poison the lives of innocent people. The novel also deals with the historical facts of the era and the novelist seems to take a particular interest in some of the İNTİBAH - AWAKENING protagonists. The reader will feel as though Mehpeyker, Dilaşup, and even Sergüzeşt-i Bey Inner Mongolian Cultural, China, 158 pages, Novel still continue to live amongst us and will learn Translated by Zhang Shi Ming a lesson from their experiences. ISBN: 9756841966

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BOOKS FROM TURKEY

NAZAN BEKİROĞLU

Nazan Bekiroğlu was born in Trabzon in 1957. She gained a degree in Turkish Language and Literature at Atatürk University in the Faculty of Arts and subsequently worked as a high school teacher for four years. Upon completing her doctorate in 1985, she entered the Department of Turkish Language and Literature as a tutor in Karadeniz Technical University’s Faculty of Education. She became an associate professor in 1995 with a thesis on the poet Nigar Hanım. She continues to teach as a full professor. Bekiroğlu, who has written numerous scientific articles, essays, and short stories for various periodicals, has also published collections of short stories and a variety of research studies. Her first novel, İsimle Ateş Arasında (In Between Name and Fire) was published in 2002. WORKS: Mavi Lale (The Blue Tulip), Cam Irmağı Taş Gemi-Eski Mısırdan Aşk Hikayeleri (Glass River Stone Boat-Love Stories from Ancient Egypt), Yusuf ve Züleyha: Kalbin Üzerinde Titreyen Hüzün (Yusuf and Zuleyha:A Love Classic), Cümle Kapısı (The Gateway)

İSİMLE ATEŞ ARASINDA IN BETWEEN NAME AND FIRE TPG, UK, 2009, 304 pages, Novel ISBN: 9753627181 [email protected]

In her novel In Between Name and Fire, Nazan Bekiroğlu questions both official history and the status of love in gender relationships as she tells a story of the final days and eventual annihilation of the Janissary Corps. Bekiroğlu has composed a poetic narrative using “old” Turkish. “Chronology is transgressed” in this story, as topics and the narrator’s identity often change. At times it is a janissary who speaks, representing various eras in the history of the corps; at times it is the tale of a devshirme’s recruitment. Bekiroğlu has drawn history from the voice of the oppressed. Consequently, we witness the enslavement of janissaries, the abduction of young children to the ranks of the Sultan before they have left the laps of their mothers, learned their mother tongues, lived their childhood.

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NÂZIM HİKMET

Nâzım Hikmet Ran was born in 1901 in Salonica and died in 1963 in Moscow. He is an internationally acclaimed Turkish poet. He attended the Naval Academy in Istanbul for five years but had to leave due to poor health. Influenced by his grandfather, he started to write poetry in high school and would soon be be known among poets of the syllabist movement “Hececi Şairler” as a young voice. In 1920, the Alemdar newspaper organised a contest where the jury consisted of famous poets and Nâzım was selected for the award. Between 1925 and 1951 he was in and out of jail several times and upon his release under the 1950 amnesty, he left the country and spent the rest of his life in exile. He was a member of the Communist Party of Turkey (TKP) and died in exile in Moscow. He wrote numerous plays and novels as well as a vast corpus of lyric and epic poetry. He wrote a series of poems collected in five volumes under the title Memleketimden İnsan Manzaraları (Human Landscapes from My Country). His works have been translated into all major languages. Foreign Rights: Memleketimden İnsan Manzaraları/Human Landscapes from My Country (New York Persea Books, English), (Gallimard, French), (Uitgeverij De geus, Dutch); Seçme Şiirler/Selected Poems (Anvil Press Poetry, English), (French), Biyografi ve Şiirler/Biography and Poems (Editions Turquise, French); Şeyh Bedrettin Destanı/The Epic of Sheikh Bedrettin (Uitgeverij Douane, Dutch)

MEMLEKETİMDEN İNSAN MANZARALARI HUMAN LANDSCAPES FROM MY COUNTRY New York Persea Books, USA, 544 pages, Poetry Translated by Randy Blasing, Mutlu Konuk, Edward Hirsch ISBN: 9789750803779 [email protected], [email protected]

Despite writing his first poems in syllabic meter, Nâzım Hikmet distinguished himself from the “syllabic poets” in concept. With the development of his poetic conception, the narrow forms of syllabic verse were not able to satisfy his needs anymore. Breaking the boundaries of the syllabic meter, he changed his form and preferred writing in free verse which harmonized with the rich vocal properties of the Turkish language. Nâzım has been compared by Turkish and non-Turkish men of letters to figures such as Lorca, Aragon, Mayakovsky, and Neruda. Although his work bears a resemblance to these poets and owes them occasional debts of form and stylistic device, his literary personality is unique in terms of the synthesis he made of iconoclasms and lyricism, of ideology and poetic diction

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BOOKS FROM TURKEY

NAZLI ERAY

Nazlı Eray was born in Ankara, in 1945. After graduating from Istanbul Arnavutköy American High School for Girls, she studied at the Faculty of Law and in the Philosophy Department at Istanbul University. She did not complete her studies and worked as a translator at the Ministry of Tourism, between 1965 and 1968. She started writing stories during her high school years. She was visiting lecturer at Iowa University, for one term in 1977. She is an honorable member of the USA International Pen Association. WORKS: Ah Bayım Ah (Alas, Sir, Alas), Geceyi Tanıdım (I Met the Night), Hazır Dünya (Ready Made World), Eski Gece Parçaları (Old Night Songs), Yoldan Geçen Öyküler (Stories Walking in the Street), Aşk Artık Burada Oturmuyor (Love Doesn’t Live Here Anymore), Kuş Kafesindeki Tenor (Tenor in the Bird Cage), Elyazması Rüyalar (Manuscript Dreams), Aşkı Giyinen Adam (The Man Dressed in Love), Arzu Sapağı’nda İnecek Var (Let Me off at the Desire Detour), Kız Öpme Kuyruğu (Girl Kissing Queue), Aşık Papağan Barı I-II (The Lovestruck Parrot Bar I -II), Farklı Rüyalar Sokağı (Street of Disparate Dreams), İmparator Çay Bahçesi (The Emperor Tea Garden), Kapıyı Vurmadan Gir (Come in Without Knocking), Sis Kelebekleri (Fog Butterflies), Uyku İstasyonu (Sleep Station), Ay Falcısı (Lunar Soothsayer), Deniz Kenarında Pazartesi (Seaside Monday), Düş İşleri Bülteni (Dream Works Bulletin), Ekmek Arası Rüya (Sandwich Dreams), Örümceğin Kitabı (The Spider Book), Yıldızlar Mektup Yazar (Stars Write Letters), Orpheus.

ORPHEUS The University of Texas, USA, 2006 114 pages, Novel Translated by Robert Finn ISBN: 9780292714090 [email protected]

This book introduces the legend of Orpheus to its readers, re-written from Eurydice’s perspective. The novel, with its allusions to the film, Last Tango in Paris, relates a mysterious, irony-tinged story.

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NECATİ TOSUNER

Necati Tosuner was born in 1944. He became disabled at the age of four. His first short story was published in 1963 and he graduated from Pertevniyal High School in Istanbul in 1966. He worked at the Press Advertising Council and then lived in Germany for some years. Necati Tosuner writes stories naturalistic about painful emotions, frustrations and depressive inner worlds. He is adept at depicting the complexities of inner life in a plain, economical diction. His stories are often very short. Their apparent simplicity belies a masterful craftsmanship. He has constructed a smooth diction of short sentences in which the connotations and associations of single words carry the meaning of a whole sentence. Necati Tosuner’s style can be compared with that of Sait Faik or Orhan Kemal. His works are reminiscent of the great masters of contemporary Turkish story writing while interwoven with a profoundly personal originality and flair. His diction is his most widely noted feature of his high-quality stories and novels. WORKS: Short Stories: Özgürlük Masalı (Freedom Tale), Çıkmazda (In the Deadlock), Kambur (Hunchbacked), Sisli (Foggy), Necati Tosuner Sokağı/Necati Tosuner Street, Çılgınsı (Loony), Bir Tutkunun Dile Getirilme Biçimi (The Way a Passion is Articulated), Güneş Giderken (While the Sun was Going), Yakamoz Avına Çıkmak (Going out Seasparkle Hunting). Novels: Sancı.. Sancı... (Ache.. Ache.., 1978 Türk Dil Kurumu Novel Prize), Yalnızlıktan Devren Kiralık (Rent from the Solitude), Bana Sen Söyle (You Tell Me). Essays: Elde Kitap (Book in the Hand). Children’s Book: Keleş Osman Evden Kaçıyor (Bald Osman is Running away from Home), Keleş Osman’ın “Tarih”le Başı Dertte (Bald Osman is in Trouble with ‘History’), Dayım Balon Olmuş (My Uncle Became a Balloon). Play: Fareli Sokağın Kızı (The Girl of Mouse Street)

SHORT STORY COLLECTION Sardes Verlag, Germany, 2008 164 pages, Short Story Translated by Yüksel Pazarkaya ISBN: 9783941025028 [email protected] www.kanatkitap.com

His stories based on personal observation are some of the best in the Turkish language. He created an authentic style with autonomous, transparent language and short sentences. His rich, sensitive narratives make him one of the most powerful masters of the contemporary Turkish short story.

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BOOKS FROM TURKEY

NECİP FAZIL KISAKÜREK

Necip Fazıl Kısakürek was born in Istanbul in 1904 and passed away in 1983. He graduated from the Naval School of Heybeliada and then completed a degree in Philosophy in the Department of Literature at Istanbul University. He was one of the first group of students sent by the Republic to be educated in Europe where he studied in the Department of Philosophy at the Sorbonne University in Paris . His first poems were published in 1922 in Yeni Mecmua. He worked at various banks where he rose in rank to an auditor. He taught History and Geography at Ankara School of Languages, the National Conservatory of Arts, the Istanbul National Academy of Arts, and Robert College. He published the magazines Ağaç Ağaç (1936) and Büyük Doğu (1943-1978). He produced more than 100 works in many genres, including Çile (Suffering), a complete collection of his poems. Some of his works include Çöle İnen Nur (The Light Leading to the Desert), İdolocya Örgüsü (İdolocya Structure), Bir Adam Yaratmak (Creating a Man), Ulu Hakan II. Abdülhamid (Great Emperor Abdulhamid II). Kısakürek’s only novel is Aynadaki Yalan (The Lie in the Mirrow). Foreign Rights: Bir Adam Yaratmak/Creating a Man (Masud Akhtar Shaikh, Pakistan); Para/Money (Masud Akhtar Shaikh, Pakistan); Çile/Suffering (Adiloğlu Publishers, Azerbaijan); Reis Bey (Tamga, Tatarstan)

ÇİLE SUFFERING Adiloğlu Publishers, Azerbaijan 512 pages, Poetry ISBN: 9789758180127 [email protected]

A Masterpiece... Stating that his poetry books Örümcek Ağı (Spider Web, 1925), Kaldırımlar (Pavements, 1928), Ben ve Ötesi (Me and the Other, 1932), Sonsuzluk Kervanı (Caravan of Eternity, 1953) and Şiirlerim (My Poems, 1969) failed in many ways at adequate self expression, Necip Fazıl Kısakürek filtered, selected, edited and compiled all his poems starting with his first published poem in the magazine Yeni Mecmua in 1923. And the Poetika... This book represents an interplay of poetry and artistic understanding.

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NEDİM GÜRSEL

Nedim Gürsel began his career at a very young age at a surprisingly profound level of achievement with Uzun Sürmüş Bir Yaz (A Long Summer, 1975), which received well-deserved attention. He wrote about the attitudes of young intellectuals living in the oppressive conditions of the country at the time. He established a fluent and poetic style. He took up residence in Paris for a long while and wrote about his experience as an intellectual abroad, his longing for Turkey and Istanbul, and the psychological effects of being an expatriate. Even while living abroad he participated in the lively Turkish literary scene and the possibilities provided by Turkish as a literary language. The contribution of his high-quality literary criticism should not be overlooked. Nedim Gürsel uses abstractions when thinking about literature, but his creative writing is grounded in the concrete. He is always contemporary due to his unceasing search for new topics for his stories, novels and travel writing. The author has received many awards for his books which have been translated into 12 languages, especially into French. Some of His Works: Short Stories: Kadınlar Kitabı (The Book of Women), Uzun Sürmüş Bir Yaz (A Long Lasting Summer), Sevgilim İstanbul (Istanbul My Love), Sorguda (In an Interrogation), Son Tramvay (The Last Tram), Cicipapa (The Stepfather), Toplu Öyküler (Collected Short Stories), Yedi Dervişler (Seven Dervishes) Novels: Boğazkesen, Fatih’in Romanı (Fatih’s Novel), Öğleden Sonra Aşk (Love in the Afternoon), İlk Kadın (The First Woman), Allah’ın Kızları (God’s Daughters) Poems: Uzun Bir Ayrılık İçin Kırk Kısa Şiir (Forty Short Poems for a Long Separation)

ALLAHIN KIZLARI - GOD’S DAUGHTERS Seuil Editions, France, 228 pages, Novel ISBN: 9789959916510 [email protected]

In his new novel God’s Daughters, Nedim Gürsel depicts the story of the land where Islam was born, the pre-Islamic era, and portrays Prophet Muhammad as a protagonist. Gürsel says that his novel questions the concepts of belief and violence in Islam and some of the revelations regarding Prophet Mohammad’s private life. The story tells the story of child and his grandfather who defended Medina in the battle of Harb-i Umumiye. The child grows up to become an adult who loses his faith and questions it all and then acquires a vast knowledge of Islam and the Quran.

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BOOKS FROM TURKEY

NEZİHE MERİÇ

Nezihe Meriç (1925-2009) is one of the most important contemporary short story writers. She was noticed when her first stories were published in the journal Seçilmiş Hikâyeler Dergisi (Selected Stories Journal, 1950-52). She is particularly successful when describing women and their social sensibilities. She writes from a woman’s perspective, meticulously describing events and characters in poetic language. Her stories revolve around issues important to women intellectuals. She examines the inner wounds of women oppressed in a male-dominated society, confined by tradition, in defeat and in rebellion. She is one of the best when it comes to exploiting the possibilities of the Turkish language. She is also among the strongest at bridging traditional and progressive story writing movements in Turkish literature. The critic Asım Bezirci described her as “an important author skilled at reflecting female psychology and rebellion in a beautiful descriptive style with a smooth sensibility, strong observation, and an interesting choice of themes. Some of Her Works: Short Stories: Bozbulanık (Misty) ,Topal Koşma (Running Crippled); Menekşeli Bilinç (Violet Consciousness), Dumanaltı (Foggy), Bir Kara Derin Kuyu (A Dark Deep Well). Novels: Korsan Çıkmazı (Pirate Deadend), Boşlukta Mavi (Blue in the Void), Alacaceren. Children’s Books: Alagün Çocukları (Children of Alagün), Küçük Bir Kız Tanıyorum Altı Yaşında (I Know a Six Year Old Girl), Ahmet Adında Bir Çocuk (A Boy Named Ahmet), Dur Dünya Çocukları Bekle (Stop World, Wait for the Children).

ALACACEREN Inventaire, France, 2005, 76 pages, Novel Translated by Noemi Cingöz ISBN: 9789750805325 [email protected] [email protected]

Bengi and Gün...Two young members of a broken family trying to stick together at all costs. Bengi hugs her sister, home, mother and whatever is left of her father with her small body and big heart and puts up a roof of love and commitment on their lost family. She succeeds in making every morning of her life, a morning filled with happiness with the help of her beloved grandfather.

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NUR İÇÖZÜ

Nur İçözü was born in 1948. She has worked as a publication director and editor for several leading periodicals and has written articles on art in Milliyet and Radikal newspapers. She writes a column on children’s and adolescent books for Radikal Literature Supplement. She entered the world of children’s and adolescent literature with her two-part book, Kar Masalları (Snow Tales) in 1997 and won second prize in the Children’s Humoristic Literature competition, in 2000, with her book, Bugün Ne Cadılık Yaptım (How Witchy I was Today). WORKS: Şiirli Hayvan Öyküleri Dizisi (Poetic Animal Stories Series - 6 Books), Sevginin Mırnavcası (Love Mewling), Güneşe Tırmanan Çocuk (The Kid That Climbed to the Sun), Çikolata Öyküler Dizisi (Chocolate Stories Series - 10 Books), Sevecen Öyküler Dizisi (Caring Stories Series - 10 Books), Altındoğa Öyküleri (Golden Nature Stories - 2 Books), En Güzel Kimin İşi? (Who Did the Best Job?), Sihirli Düşler Kesesi (Magical Dreams Bag), En Güzel Kimin İşi? II (Who Did the Best Job? II), Yüreğimin Kıyısında (On the Shores of My Heart), Bana Derler Küp Cadısı (They Call Me Jar Witch), Masal Bahçesi Dizisi (Garden Stories Series - 5 Books), Farafarafilli (Farafarafili - 2 Books), Siz Olsaydınız Ne Yapardınız? (What Would You Do in My Shoes?), Artık Okuyorum Dizisi (I Am Reading Series - 10 Books), Bugün Ne Cadılık Yaptım? (How Witchy I was Today!), Cadılık Parayla mı? (Witchcraft Is not Sold), Dönemeç (The Bend), Reyhan (Reyhan), Bizim Aile (Our Family - 2 Books), Badem Çocuk Dizisi (Almond Child Series - 6 Books), Öykü Yağmuru Dizisi (Story Rain Series - 5 Books), Korku Tüneli (Ghost Train), Gökten İnen Üç Yıldız (Three Shooting Stars), Zamanda Yolculuk Dizisi (Time Travelling Series - 10 Books), Tospik Kaplumbağa (The Chubby Tortoise), En Güzel Çiçek Yarışması (The Most Beautiful Flower Competition), Tatile Gidiyoruz (We’re Going on Holiday).

BUGÜN NE CADILIK YAPTIM HOW WITCHY I WAS TODAY 120 pages, Children’s Book, Novel ISBN: 975892642X [email protected], [email protected]

Bugün Ne Cadılık Yaptım is the story of a child who tries to do good but is often misunderstood.

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BOOKS FROM TURKEY

NURAN TURAN

Nuran Turan was born in 1938. After graduating from Kandilli Girls High School, she finished Communications Faculty and Management Economy Institute at Istanbul University. She worked for newspapers such as Turan and Milliyet and local papers Yeşilköy and Yeşilyurt. Subsequently, she worked as a nursery teacher, as a director in a private company and finally, as a member of the Advisory Board for the Publication of Children’s Books at the Ministry of Culture. Some of Her Works: Serdar’ın Öyküleri (Serdar’s Stories), Sevgi Kitabı (Love Book), Nasreddin Hoca ve Serdar (Nasreddin Hodja and Serdar), Atatürk ve Serdar Yalova’da (Atatürk and Serdar in Yalova), Atatürk ve Serdar Dolmabahçe’de (Atatürk and Serdar at Dolmabahçe Palace), Nur Ana (Mother Nur), Atatürk Mersin’de (Atatürk in Mersin, with Doğan Akça), Atatürk ve Serdar Anıtkabir’de (Atatürk and Serdar at Atatürk’s Mausoleum), Atatürk’ün Dönüşü (The Return of Atatürk), Babaannemin Öykü Sepeti (My Grandma’s Story Basket), Beyaz Yalan Balonları (White Lie Balloons), Denizkızıyla Denizdelikanlısı (The Mermaid and the Sea Boy), Işık Melekleri (Light Angels), Serdar’ın Zaman Yolculuğu (Serdar’s Trip in Time), Kediler Yaz Okulu (Cats’ Summer School), Mevlâna İnternette (Mevlana on the Internet), Kaya ile Sinan Yunuslarla (Kaya and Sinan with the Dolphins), Trigotlar (Trigoths), Çocuk Sevgidir (Child Is Love), Gılgamış (The Epic of Gilgamis), Ata’ya Armağan (A Present for Atatürk), Kaya ile Sinan Masal Dünyasında (Sinan and Kaya in Fairy Tale Land), Zaman Çadırı (Time Tent). Foreign Rights: Kapadokya’nın Sırları/The Secrets of Cappadocia (Önel Verlag, German); Nasreddin Hoca ve Serdar/Nasreddin Hodja and Serdar (Önel Verlag, German); Nur Ana/Mother Nur (Anadolu Verlag, German)

NUR ANA MOTHER NUR Schulbuchverlag Anadolu, Germany, 2007 109 pages, Children’s Book Translated by Sabine Adatepe ISBN: 9754581053 [email protected]

White haired and wise, Nur Ana is a born story teller. She tells stories about Mevlana to the kids around her.

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NURDAN GÜRBİLEK

One of the foremost cultural critics in Turkey, Nurdan Gürbilek is the author of Vitrinde Yaşamak (Life in the Shopwindow, 1992), an analysis of the cultural dynamics of the 1980s in Turkey. Her other publications include Yer Değiştiren Gölge (Shifting Shadow, 1995) and Ev Ödevi (Homework, 1999), collection of essays on modern Turkish writers. She is also the author of Kötü Çocuk Türk (Bad Boy Turk, 2001), an analysis of some of the significant images and tropes in modern Turkish literature and popular culture, and Kör Ayna, Kayıp Şark (Orient Lost, 2004) which explores the sexual anxieties accompanying the Ottoman-Turkish literary modernization. In her last book Mağdurun Dili (The Language of the Downtrodden, 2008) she brings a critical look at some “downtrodden” figures in Turkish and Russian literature. Foreign Rights: Denemeler/Selected Essays (Selected Essays from Living In the Shopwindow and Bad Boy Turk, Zed Books, UK)

SELECTED ESSAYS Zed Books, UK Translated by Victoria Holbrook [email protected]

A collection of essays on Turkey’s cultural climate in the last decades from a most insightful literary and cultural critic. The first half of the volume attends to the 1980’s – a period of radical economic, political and cultural change following the coup d’état of 1980. The following essays on Turkishness and evil explore the rather sinister cultural climate of the 1990’s and 2000’s when the efforts to redefine Turkish identity predominated the cultural scene. Gürbilek takes some of the significant images and tropes in modern Turkish literature and popular culture as her point of departure. With utmost care and justice Gürbilek weaves these into a keen understanding of their political, social and cultural significance, exploring Turkishness not as an autonomous and essentialist local truth but rather as an impasse always already shaped in relation to the modern world, as a double-bind that has always produced oppositional sentiments in the cultural sphere.

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BOOKS FROM TURKEY

NURSEL DURUEL

Nursel Duruel (1941) is a short story writer who has left her mark on Turkish literature, although she has only written a few books. She graduated from Istanbul Girls’ High School and majored in Archaeology at Istanbul University. She was among the first producers of the TRT (Turkish State Broadcasting Company), and for many years she produced radio programmes on various topics, particularly literature and arts. Besides having worked as a copywriter, she has also written scripts for TV channels, articles for encyclopedias, and worked as Assistant Director for BRT (Bayrak Radio and Television Corporation) Radio. She won the 1981 Akademi Bookstore Story Award with her story Geyikler Annem ve Almanya (Deers, My Mom and Germany), she won the Sait Faik Short Story award in 1983. Deers, My Mom and Germany was made into a film by TRT (Turkish Radio Television). Duruel’s second short story book Yazılı Kaya (The Inscribed Rock) was published 1992. Her short stories have been translated to English, German, French, Greek. Foreign Rights: Geyikler Annem ve Almanya/Deers, My Mom and Germany (Kultura Publishing House, Macedonia, 1989)

GEYİKLER, ANNEM VE ALMANYA DEERS, MY MOM, AND GERMANY Kultura Publishing House, Macedonia, 1989 117 pages, Short Story Translated by Selma Elmazoviç ISBN: 9789750706592 [email protected]

Nursel Duruel enriched Turkish literature with her first book Deers, My Mom and Germany that placed her among the masters of contemporary Turkish short story writers. The book comprises of eight short stories which go back and forth between the distant history of the lands of Anatolia and the modern day. Individual lives against the backdrop of society are embroided with unique cultural motifs. The original, sharp and simple narrative, and the characters in the story she creates, are deeply effective. The short story, which gave its name to the anthology, tactfully deals with the problems of immigration caused by Turkish migrants who travelled to Germany to find work.

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OĞUZ ATAY

Oğuz Atay’s depictions of characters stranded on the margins of society make him one of the most masterful writers of modern literature anywhere. In the wake of a literary era dominated by social realism and stories of the working class, Atay stands out as the first Turkish novelist to turn his attention to urban, educated characters who are social misfits, and to employ a modernist, experimentalist style drawing upon contemporary Western literary developments, but within distinctly Turkish settings. With his impeccable grasp of the intricacies of the art of novel writing and his linguistic acrobatics, Atay’s literary works are a challenge to any translator. A keen observer of the dilemmas faced by intellectuals and the society at large, Atay approaches Turkish realities with a refined sarcasm and profoundly critical eye. He brandishes an unparalleled sarcastic wit as he unveils the hollowness and shallowness of conventional petit bourgeois values and lifestyle, the futility and fragility of which are made obvious to the reader. Though his works are tinged with a dark comedic element, Atay’s (always anti-)heroes are portrayed in a uniquely endearing light, thanks to his authorial generosity, thus setting him apart from many of his Western contemporaries. Foreign Rights: Tutunamayanlar/The Disconnected (Athenaeum-Polak & Van Gennep, The Netherlands); Korkuyu Beklerken/Waiting for Fear (Edizione Lunargento, Italy), (Galata Verlag, Germany)

TUTUNAMAYANLAR - THE DISCONNECTED Edizione Lunargento, Italy 724 pages, Novel ISBN: 9754700117 [email protected]

According to Berna Moran, The Disconnected, one of the most important works in Turkish literature, “is a revolt by both what it says and how it says it”. Further, “Oğuz Atay’s successful use of the satire, his sensitivity and the various stylistic techniques he employs makes The Disconnected a manifestation of literary talent”. Atay cunningly makes fun of the petty bourgeoisie world and thus, the novel becomes “an attack that the connected can not understand or simply would reject”. The Disconnected won the 1970 Novel Prize of TRT (Turkish Radio and Television Corporation).

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BOOKS FROM TURKEY

OKTAY RİFAT

Oktay Rifat (Trabzon, 1914 - Istanbul, 1988). The poet studied at the Faculty of Political Sciences in Paris. The writer worked at the General Directorate of Press and Publications and later as a legal advisor for the State Railways in Istanbul. Oktay Rifat started writing poetry while still a student at high school in Ankara. His first poems, written in syllabic metre, were published in the literary magazine Varlık (Existence) from 1936 to 1944. Later he started to use free verse. With Orhan Veli Kanık and Melih Cevdet Anday he published a collection of poetry entitled Garip (Strange) in 1941, and became one of the pioneers of the Garip literary movement, that changed the course of Turkish poetry. Rifat’s poetry from this period approaches the everyday life of urban dwellers with an ironic and surprising point of view. In his later collection Perçemli Sokak (The Curled Street) the poet turned to a new poetic concept, the movement of İkinci Yeni (Second New). Rifat wrote unforgettable poems that skillfully employed the vocal richness of Turkish and its ample vocabulary. He is regarded as one of the poets who influenced the general course of Turkish poetry most; each book presenting a completely different approach. He also wrote plays, novels, and theoretical works on poetry. WORKS: His Major Poetry Collections: Yaşayıp Ölmek (To Live and Die, 1945), Aşağı Yukarı (More or Less, 1952), Elleri Var Özgürlüğün (Freedom Has Hands, 1966) Koca Bir Yaz (A Great Summer, 1987). Novels: Bir Kadının Penceresinden (From a Woman’s Window/1976), Danaburnu (Snapdragon/1980), Bay Lear (Mr Lear,1982)

POEMS OF OKTAY RIFAT Anvil Press, UK, 2007, 254 pages, Poetry Translated by Ruth Christie, Richard Mckane ISBN: 9780856463709 [email protected] [email protected]

Rifat’s poetry contributed to political diversity. Starting with the Garip, and followed by the Second New, his poetry defines one of the most important stages in Turkish poetry. As a pioneer of many movements, Rifat also significantly influenced today’s poetry with his imagery, his use of language and his expertise in the depiction of landscapes, from his first to his last poem. Neither in the aftermath of the Garip period, nor in the years following Second New did he ever lose focus or did his poetry stagnate. Prominent poet and writer Gülten Akın’s words profoundly characterize him: “When universality, the inclination to integrate the human being in a broader philosophy, and poetical creativity are combined, such interesting drifts result. In our opinion, Oktay Rifat will last due to his poems accompanied from afar by a bright, clear and scientific worldview.”

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ORHAN KEMAL

Orhan Kemal ( Adana, 1914- Sofia, Bulgaria, 1970) was influenced by the socialist ideas of Nâzım Hikmet, whom he met in Bursa, in 1940. He studied French, philosophy and politics with Nâzım Hikmet, who, in fact, advised him to write novels and short stories, instead of poems. In 1958, he won the Sait Faik Award with his story entitled Kardeş Payı (A Fair Share). In 1967, he was selected as Best Playwright by the Ankara Sanatseverler Derneği (Ankara Art Lovers Association) with his 72. Koğuş (Ward 72) and won both the Türk Dil Kurumu (Turkish Language Association) and the Sait Faik Short Story Awards with Önce Ekmek (Bread First), in 1969. He wrote the stories of poor people, workers, students and “the man in the street.” He analyzed the relationship between man and society and reflected it in his stories in a realistic style. When he died in 1970, he left 51 works, of which 27 are novels and 19 are short stories. Many of Kemal’s works have been adapted to stage and screen with great success, helping to make Orhan Kemal a well-liked household name throughout Turkey. Since 1972, Orhan Kemal’s family has been holding a novel competition in order to introduce his humanist approach to new generations, and to honor new Turkish novelists. Some of His Works: Ekmek Kavgası (Scratching For a Living), Sarhoşlar (The Drunkards), 72. Koğuş (Ward 72), Grev (The Strike), Önce Ekmek (Bread First), Yağmur Yüklü Bulutlar (Rain Laden Clouds), Baba Evi (My Father’s House), Avare Yıllar (The Idle Years), Murtaza (Murtaza), Cemile (Gemile), Bereketli Topraklar Üzerinde (On the Fertile Soil), Suçlu (Guilty), Devlet Kuşu (Windfall), Gavurun Kızı (Infidel’s Daughter), Küçücük (Tiny), Dünya Evi (Marriage), El Kızı (Somebody Else’s Daughter), Hanımın Çiftliği (Lady’s Farm), Eskici ve Oğulları (The Rag-and-bone-man and his Sons), Gurbet Kuşları (Migrant Birds), Kaçak (The Fugitive), Tersine Dünya (Reversed World), İspinozlar (Snowbirds), Nazım Hikmet’le Üç Buçuk Yıl (Three and a Half Years with Nazım Hikmet). Foreign Rights: Baba Evi/My Father’s House (Sifriat Maariv, Israel), (Anatolie, English); El Kızı/Somebody Else’s Daughter (Al-Mada, Syria); Baba Evi-Avare Yıllar / My Fathers House-The Idle Years (Kastaniotis, Greece, Peter Owens, UK); Dünya Evi/ Marriage (Kastaniotis, Greece)

EKMEK KAVGASI SCRATCHING FOR A LIVING Lunargento, Italy, 2008 248 pages, Novel Translated by Barbara La Rosa Salim ISBN: 9752894624. [email protected] [email protected]

Orhan Kemal always wrote about people who lived in particularly tough conditions, who always had to fight just to earn their daily bread. While expressing this distress in the most elaborate way, he never becomes dismayed and always shows the way to reach a brighter and more hopeful tomorrow. He continually reminds the reader that mankind is worthy of a more beautiful, radiant and a hopeful life. It is for this reason that Orhan Kemal’s writings awaken such a spirit of resistance in his readers.

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BOOKS FROM TURKEY

ORHAN PAMUK

Orhan Pamuk was born in Istanbul in 1952. In 2006, he achieved the dual distinction of becoming, not only the first Turk to have ever won the Nobel Prize for Literature, but also, one of the two youngest ever winners of the Nobel prize. His books have been translated into more than fifty languages and have been published in over one hundred countries. In 2005, Prospect magazine included him in their list of the world’s top one hundred intellectuals, while in 2006, he was chosen as one of the world’s one hundred most influential people by Time magazine. He has won numerous national and international awards. WORKS: Cevdet Bey ve Oğulları (Cevdet Bey and His Sons), Sessiz Ev (The Silent House), Beyaz Kale (The White Castle), Kara Kitap (The Black Book), Gizli Yüz (Secret Face), Yeni Hayat (The New Life), Benim Adım Kırmızı (My Name is Red), Öteki Renkler (Other Colors), Kar (Snow), İstanbul: Hatıralar ve Şehir (Istanbul: Memories and the City), Babamın Bavulu (My Father’s Suitcase), Masumiyet Müzesi (The Museum of Innocence)

MASUMİYET MÜZESİ MUSEUM OF INNOCENCE Random House, UK, 2008, 554 pages, Novel Translated by Maureen Freely ISBN: 9789750506093 [email protected]

“It was the happiest moment of my life, though I didn’t know it at the time.” This is the opening line of the latest magnificent romance novel of Orhan Pamuk, Turkey’s Nobel prize winning author, who spent 6 years writing this novel. As you read through The Museum of Innocence you will see how it deeply affects your thoughts on not only love, but also marriage, friendship, sexuality, passion, family and happiness and you will not want to leave behind the fascinating world in the book. The story starts on a spring day in 1975 and follows the story of a rich kid from Istanbul, Kemal, and his distant and poor relative, Fusun, up to the present day. The story’s accelerated pace, flow of events, and the diversity of the protagonists, the sense of humour and its power in making the reader experience the storms deep inside the human spirit, makes it worthwhile to read the book over and over again. With The Museum of Innocence, Pamuk tells the readers a haunting story that will stay in our minds like an unforgettable dream.

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ORHAN VELİ

Orhan Veli (1914-1950) left Istanbul University in 1935 without having completed his studies. He worked in the Ankara Post Office until he was called up during World War II. On his discharge in 1945 he obtained a post as translator in the Ministry of Education but left his job after less than two years to lead a bohemian life. His first poems were published journals when he was a high school student. In 1941, he published a poem book entitled Garip (Strange) with his high school friends, the poets Oktay Rifat and Melih Cevdet Anday, which launched a major poetry movement in the Turkish poetry tradition. Orhan Veli was more influenced by the sketch image of the Japanese haiku. His legacy was that free verse, and an unlimited range of themes became the rule, while traditional meter became an anachronism. While discarding rhyme and meter, Orhan Veli expresses an almost nihilistic world view that placed him firmly in the company of the modern western man. Foreign Rights: Seçme Şiirler/Selected Poems (Editions Bleu Autource, French), (Orhan Veli: Poems, Hanging Loose Press, English, 1989), (Listening to Istanbul, Selected Poems of Orhan Veli Kanık, Autumn Press, English, 2002); Garip/The Stranger (Fremdarting, Dağyeli Verlag, German)

SELECTED POEMS Editions Bleu Autour, France, 2009 240 pages, Poems, Translated by Elif Deniz ISBN: 9782358480086 [email protected] [email protected]

If in a short period of ten years, Orhan Veli was able to draw all of the young poets of his time into a new style, it is clearly because he discerned the need before anyone else. To leave behind a style that already promised to earn him a place among the masters and to search for a new approach to poetry was an act of self-sacrifice, and to embark upon an adventure into the unknown. His aim was to abandon the rules of form and to change the very foundations of the work… From the time his book Garip/The Stranger completely shook up Turkish Poetry in 1940 until his death in 1950 as the result of a brain hemorrhage, he contributed poems of unforgettable beauty to Turkish poetry. During his short lifetime, he became one of the best loved poets in Turkey.

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BOOKS FROM TURKEY

OYA BAYDAR

One of the most widely read writers of contemporary Turkish literature, Oya Baydar has received perhaps more attention, and prompted more debate, than any other Turkish author in our time. While bringing literature to the intense and turbulent political environment of Turkey, she also exposes hidden issues and uses her novels to place them on the agenda. She was one of the founders of the Turkish Socialist Labor Party in 1964 and later joined the Turkish Communist Party. In 1965, she became a member of the Turkish Labor Party. She was arrested in 1971 after the March 12th military coup. Following the military coup in 1980, she was forced to go abroad after being sentenced to 27 years in jail because of her writing. She lived as a refugee first in Germany, then in different countries and cities of Europe for twelve years. Between 1981 and 1982 she lived in Moscow. She witnessed the collapse of the socialist system and the fall of the Berlin Wall in Frankfurt, where she lived in exile. WORKS: Sıcak Külleri Kaldı (Hot Ashes Remain), Kedi Mektupları (Cat Letters), Hiçbiryer’e Dönüş (Returning to Nowhere), Elveda Alyoşa (Farewell Alyoşa), Erguvan Kapısı (The Gate of Judas). Foreign Rights: Kayıp Söz/Lost Word (Ullstein,German), (Phebus, French), (Lettera, Bulgaria); Sıcak Külleri Kaldı/Hot Ashes Remain (Kastaniotis, Greek)

KAYIP SÖZ LOST WORD Editions Phebus, France 456 pages, Novel Translated by Valerie Gay-Aksoy ISBN: 9752930271 [email protected]

Ömer Eren, a famous best-selling author, frustrated for not being able to write anymore, witnesses the accidental shooting of a young pregnant Kurdish woman whereby she loses her baby. Zelal (the young woman) became pregnant after being raped in the mountains and has been sentenced to death by her family; but she manages to escape. Mahmut is a PKK guerilla who has been wounded in a clash with soldiers. As he “no longer wants to kill or be killed”, he is trying to flee the organization. The two meet in the mountains and a love reminiscent of Oriental legends is born. However, tradition, the organization, and the state are opposed to their starting a brand new life together. In order to help these fugitives from violence and perhaps to save himself from the abyss he has fallen into, the writer Ömer Eren leaves for the most eastern part of Eastern Turkey.

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ÖMER SEYFETTİN

Ömer Seyfettin (1884-1920) was a well-known Turkish short story writer. Trained in military school, he began his writing career after fighting in the Balkan War. In his early works, he wrote in the elegant style of the Servet-i Fünun tradition. However, his later collaboration with Ali Canip Yöntem and Ziya Gökalp in the Genç Kalemler (Young Pens) marked the start of a new movement calling for the simplification of the Turkish language and Turkish literature. He wrote a famous article “The New Language,” which was published under the pseudonym “question mark”. He not only defended the idea of a new language, but also used this new style in his own work, some of which drew on his own personal history. His penetrating style is marked by a simple, ironic language and a bitter conception of reality. Due to his untimely death, he was unable to publish his stories and articles in a book format. Thanks to the efforts of his devoted friend Ali Canip, and the support of his readers, he became one of the most popular Turkish authors.

PRİMO TÜRK ÇOCUĞU THE TURKISH CHILD PRIMO Manzara Verlag, Germany 96 pages, Children’s Book ISBN: 9753628678

The story starts in Thessaloniki with the opinions of a Turk, who is member of the Italian Mason Lodge, about Westerners. In actual truth, ever since the days of his arrival in Thessaloniki, Kenan Bey who never embraced being Turkish and Turkish traditions, attempts to live like a Westerner. One day he marries an Italian lady who does not like Turks at all. From this marriage a child, called Primo, is born. The growing dislike of Turks in the family and his concerns regarding Primo’s future, awakens the Turk in Kenan Bey.

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BOOKS FROM TURKEY

ÖZDEMİR İNCE

Özdemir İnce (1936, Mersin) graduated from the Department of French at Ankara Gazi Institute of Education. He studied French literature and phonetics in Paris (1965-66). He worked as a teacher and retired from TRT/Turkey Radio Television (1982). He worked as an editor in various publishing houses and is currently a newspaper columnist. He has published poetry translations and books on poetry. His poetry has been translated into many languages, primarily French. His first poem was published in the journal Yağmur in Adana (1954), and later in journals like Pazar Postası, Türk Dili, A and Değişim. Although with his first poems he was considered to be part of the “Second New” movement, he mostly emphasized the relationships of society, man, politics and history from a socialist viewpoint. He values innovation and universality in the form and essence of his poetry. Some of His Works: Kargı (Lance, 1963), Kiraz Zamanı (Cherry Time, 1969), Rüzgâra Yazılıdır (Written on the Wind, 1979), Elmanın Tarihi (History of the Apple, 1981), Siyasetnâme (Book of Politics, 1984), Hayat Bilgisi (Social Studies, 1986), Başak ile Terazi (Virgo and Libra, 1989), Gürlevik (Gürlevik Waterfalls, 1990), Yazın Ses (The Sound of Summer, 1994), Mani Hayy (Ah, Shackle, 1998), Evren Ağacı (The Tree of the Universe, 2000), Keskindoreke Fındınfalava (2006) and Magma ve Kör Saat (Magma and the Blind Hour, 2007).

BÜTÜN ŞİİRLERİM ALL MY POEMS Cum Ltd., Bulgaria, 2008 390 pages, Poetry Translated by Kadriye Cesur Özgür ISBN: 9754186960

“Özdemir İnce’s poetry holds an important place in international, contemporary poetry. The existentialist depth of his poems sheds light on the upper strata of words; daily facts of life and objects become clearer under that light.” - Gennadi Aygi (Hıbar, from the preface of the translation to Chuvas) “Özdemir İnce’s voice from the far coast of the Mediterranean Sea moves us.” - Venus Kboury - Ghata (Europe magazine, March 1994). “Selected Poems, (1998), displays the most striking themes of Özdemir İnce’s poetry: The Mediterranean Sea, women, the misery of the city, layers of history and mystics and running throughout, a vein of fierce criticism towards traditional society.” - Timour Muhidine (Poesie 2002/93).

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ÖZEN YULA

Özen Yula was born in Eskişehir and his plays have been translated into English, German, French, Bulgarian, Finnish, Polish and Japanese, and staged on tour in countries including Germany, Austria, Britain, the Netherlands, Japan and Egypt. His play Ay Tedirginliği (Lunar Confusion) was staged at the Bonn Biennial in 2002 and he represented Turkey as a writer at the “Kontext: Europa” festival in Vienna. His play Gayri Resmi Hurrem (The Inofficial Hurrem) has been staged in Berlin by the Tiyatrom Company, and performed as a reading in Bulgaria. Aşk Evlerden Uzak (Love is Far Away) has been translated into Polish and published in Dialog magazine. A comparative translation of Sahibinden Kiralık (For Rent) was carried out at Sorbonne University. One of his stories has been translated into English and published in the Canadian Descant magazine devoted to Turkey. Eksik Kitap, Tuhaf Defter (The Missing Notebook, The Peculiar Book) has been published in English, French and Turkish. He currently lives in Istanbul and Ankara, working as a freelance writer and theatre director.

SAHİBİNDEN KİRALIK FOR RENT Escape 34, France, 2009 Translated by Okan Urun ISBN: 9758648024 [email protected]

A segment from the lives of people found in the metropolis who have been marginalized from society. The story depicts the love between a young Kurdish man by the name Adnan, who works in a big park in the city as a rent boy or older men, or as a sex “toy” for married couples, and a girl- by the name of Simay who builds her life around lies and starts working as a prostitute. Not surprisingly, the fight for survival at the park and the hierarchy of evil will not let their love flourish. An old man called Sadık, who has been the head of the hierarchy in the park for many years, will not allow them to have a relationship. Simay will have no choice but to take revenge, and then move on to a different city under a different name where she will grow old doing the same job. The men in the park will continue their relationships with other men in the same brutal manner. Generations change but the rules remain the same, ensuring that the new generation turns out just like the old one.

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BOOKS FROM TURKEY

PERİHAN MAĞDEN

Perihan Mağden was born in Istanbul, in 1960. She graduated from Robert College and from the Psychology Department at Boğaziçi University. She traveled extensively through Asia for 3 years and lived in different countries like India, Japan and USA before starting to write newspaper columns. Between 1997 and 2005, she wrote in Radikal and in the autumn of 2005, started writing in Yeni Aktüel. Since February 2007, she has been writing for Radikal. Her novel, İki Genç Kızın Romanı (Two Girls) has been made into a film called Two Young Girls. WORKS: Haberci Çocuk Cinayetleri (Messenger Boy Murders), Refakatçi (Companion), Mutfak Kazaları (Kitchen Mishaps), Pazartesi Yazıları ya da Hiç Bunları Kendine Dert Etmeye Değer mi? (Monday Articles or Is It Worth Bothering About These?), Kapı Açık Arkanı Dön ve Çık!/Habaset Yazıları (Go on Now, Walk Out the Door/Wicked Writings), Radikal Yazıları ya da Fakat Ne Yazık ki Sokak Boştu (Radikal Articles or But Unfortunately the Street Was Empty), Herkes Seni Söylüyor Sahi Mutsuz musun? (Everybody’s Talking About You; Are You Really that Unhappy?), Dünya İşleri (Worldly Business), İki Genç Kızın Romanı (Two Girls), Topladım Dağılan Kalbimin Herrr Köşesini (I Glued Back the Pieces of My Broken Heart), Korkma Bu Akşam Gelip Çalmam Kapını (Don’t Worry; I Won’t Be Knocking on Your Door Tonight), The Best of Perihan Mağden, Aktüel Yazıları ya da Hangimiz Uğramadık ki Haksızlıklara? (Aktüel Articles or Is There Anyone Out There Who Hasn’t Faced Injustice?), Politik Yazılar (Political Writings), Biz Kimden Kaçıyorduk Anne? (Mom, Who Were We Escaping From?). Foreign Rights: İki Genç Kızın Romanı /Two Girls (German, English, Italian, Hungarian); Haberci Çocuk Cinayetleri/Messenger Boy Murders (French, Dutch, English, German)

İKİ GENÇ KIZIN ROMANI TWO GIRLS Serpent’s Tail, UK, 2005, 265 pages, Novel Translated by Brendan Freely ISBN: 9750707919 [email protected]

Perihan Mağden, who holds an eminent place amongst contemporary Turkish literature novelists, is renowned for her skilful use of language. The main theme of The Girls is the relationship between two girls of contrasting personalities and their struggle with life. Fascinating narrative, sharp portrayal of life and consummate mastery of language are some of the striking features of her fiction.

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PEYAMİ SAFA

Peyami Safa is one of the most important writers in Turkish literature. He was born in Istanbul in 1899 and died in 1961. His father İsmail Safa, was one of the most well-known poets of his generation. Peyami Safa, because of the deterioration in his family’s economic situation and the war years, had to give up school at 13 and started working in a printer’s. At 14 years old, he published his first short story Bir Mektepli’nin Hatıratı - Karanlıklar Kralı (Memoirs of a School Boy - King of the Darkness). In 1918, he and his brother started publishing an evening paper called 20. Asır (20th Century) for which Peyami Safa wrote short stories entitled, The Short Stories of the Century. He wrote for various newspapers during his life and in fact, wrote in every literary genre, apart from poetry. Many of his works bear the pen name, Server Bedii. Many of his published works are considered to be classics of Turkish literature. WORKS: Bir Genç (A Young Man), Gençliğimiz (Our Youth), Siyah Beyaz Hikâyeler (Black and White Stories), İstanbul Hikâyeleri (Istanbul Stories), Aşk Oyunları (Love Games), Süngülerin Gölgesinde (In the Shadow of the Bayonet), Ateşböcekleri (Fireflies), İki Öküz Arkadaş (Two Vulgar Friends), Havaya Uçan At (Flying Horse), Mahşer (The Last Judgment), Bir Akşamdı (One Evening), Bir Genç Kız Kalbinin Cürmü (The Crime of a Young Girl’s Heart), Sözde Kızlar (So-called Girls), Canan (Canan), Şimşek, (Lightning) Dokuzuncu Hariciye Koğuşu (Ward Nine), Atilla, Fatih-Harbiye, Bir Tereddüdün Romanı (The Story of a Hesitation), Biz İnsanlar (Us Human Beings), Matmazel Noraliya’nın Koltuğu (Miss Noraliya’s Chair), Yalnızız (Alone). Foreign Rights: Fatih- Harbiye (Mehd-I Temeddün, Iran, 2006), Dokuzuncu Hariciye Koğuşu/The Ninth Ward (Mehd-I Temeddün, Iran, 2006)

DOKUZUNCU HARİCİYE KOĞUŞU THE NINTH WARD Mehd-I Temeddün, Iran, 2006 144 pages, Novel Translated by Musa Rahimi ISBN 964818428-3

The novel tells the story of a sick, lonely child’s sufferings, his childish love and jealousy, the desire of a young girl to know pure love, his search for happiness, the delusions and the sobbing inside the bare, hospital walls, of a person who desperately wants to believe.

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BOOKS FROM TURKEY

PINAR KÜR

Pınar Kür was born on the 15th of April, 1945 in Bursa. She graduated from a high school in New York and completed her university studies in New York and in Istanbul. She completed her PhD at Sorbonne University, in France, with her thesis on Realism and Illusion in Twentieth Century Theatre. She worked as a literary advisor at Ankara State Theatre. At present, she is a lecturer at Bilgi University. WORKS: Yarın Yarın (Tomorrow Tomorrow), Küçük Oyuncu (Young Actor), Asılacak Kadın (Woman to Be Hanged), Bitmeyen Aşk (Eternal Love), Bir Cinayet Romanı (A Murder Novel), Sonuncu Sonbahar (Last Autumn), Bir Deli Ağaç (An Insane Tree), Akışı Olmayan Sular (Stagnant Waters).

BİR DELİ AĞAÇ AN INSANE TREE Literaturca Verlag, Germany, 2006 192 pages, Short Story Translated by Beatrix Caner ISBN: 9752891594 [email protected]

Bir Deli Ağaç (An Insane Tree) based on love stories where solitude and melancholy predominate, encourages the reader to question their own lives. Is love a branch to which one clings, in order to avoid plummeting into the emptiness of life? This book, which introduces us to the early short stories of Pınar Kür, proves that good literature

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RASİM ÖZDENÖREN

Rasim Özdenören was born in Kahramanmaraş in 1940 and graduated from the Faculty of Economics, the Institute of Journalism (1964) and the Faculty of Law (1967) at Istanbul University. He completed his MA degree on “Development Economics” in the USA. His first short story was published in the Varlık review and 2007 was the 50th anniversary of his literary life, and has been celebrated with cultural activities, conferences and special editions. Some of his stories were adapted to film and won the Special Jury Award in the International Television Films Contest in Prague (1978). He received the Thought Award 1978 from the Turkey National Culture Foundation as well the Writers Union of Turkey Short Story Award in 1978 and the Essay Award in 1986 from the same Union. Özdenören is one of the most skillful writers of his generation in the short story genre. Moreover he reached a true fame with his specific identifications and literary style. He told the stories of a Muslim individual who tries to set up his own world in a world where the bridges between the past and the present collapsed. He told today’s people of the deformity of the conditions in which people live but which many are not aware of. Some of His Works: İmkansız Öyküler (Impossible Stories), Müslümanca Düşünme Üzerine Denemeler (Essays on Islamic Ways of Thinking), Aşkın Diyalektiği (Dialectics of Love), Yüzler, Ben ve Hayat ve Ölüm (Faces, I and Life and Death), Ansızın Yola Çıkmak (Suddenly On the Road), Eşikte Duran İnsan (A Person Standing on the Doorstep), Denize Açılan Kapı (The Door Opening to the Sea), Hastalar ve Işıklar (The Patients and Lights), Gül Yetiştiren Adam (The Man Who Grew Roses), Çarpılmışlar (The Twisted).  Foreign Rights: Kirli Camlar/Dirty Windows (Selected Stories, Azerbaijan).

KİRLİ CAMLAR - DIRTY WINDOWS Adiloğlu Publications, Azerbaijan, 2006, Short Story Translated by Rasim Karaca [email protected]

Rasim Özdenören brought a new appearance and a new dimension to modern Turkish story telling. His stories travel deep into the unconscious of the individual to conduct a spiritual analysis and in his agreeable style, the stories tell of the human tragedies arising from repressed feelings impossible to reconcile with the reality of the outside world as well as providing the reader with the sociological, historical and economic backgrounds of the event.

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BOOKS FROM TURKEY

RECAİZADE MAHMUT EKREM

Recaizade Mahmut Ekrem (1847-1914), is one of the Tanzimat era poets and writers. He was a clerk at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs Mektubi Kalemi (Writing and Correspondence Office) and met Namik Kemal. He started writing for the Tasvir-i Efkar newspaper. After Namik Kemal escaped to Europe, he started publishing the newspaper. He became a member of the State Council in 1877, and taught literature at the Civil Service and Galatasaray Highschool and for a few months he became Minister for Education and Foundations. He was a member of the Senate until his death. His works included poetry, novels, short stories and critical writings which reflected his principle that art is for art’s sake. With the death of his three children, he expressed his pain by analysing people within the framework of nature, love and death. His real success was in making Tanzimat and European opinions and values widely available in literature and hence paving way for the reforms brought in by the Servetifunun movement. His novel Araba Sevdası (Love of Cars) was one of the first examples of the realist movement in Turkish literature. Some of His Work: Poems: Tan Vakti Ezgileri (Melodies from the Break of Dawn), Gençlik Yadigarı (Relics of Youth), Zemzeme (The Chant), Nijad Ekrem (Nijad Ekrem), Short Stories: Muhsin Bey Yahut Şairliğin Hazin Bir Neticesi (Muhsin Bey or a Pitiful Consequence of being a Poet), Şemsa; Plays: Afife Anjelik, Vuslat yahut Süreksiz Sevinç (Union with the Beloved or Ending Joy), Çok Bilen Çok Yanılır (One Who Knows a Lot Errs a Lot).

ARABA SEVDASI - LOVE OF CARS Inner Mongolian CPH, China, 2009 200 pages, Novel Translated by Zhang Shi Ming ISBN: 9756070455

Love of Cars, considered to be one of the earliest examples of a realist novel in Turkish literature, focuses on the erroneous westernisation process of the Ottoman Empire which was opening up to the West during the Tanzimat era under the framework of the Reform movements, and tells the story of Bihruz Bey and his romantic love. Bihruz Bey, with his broken French, chooses to communicate with hairdressers, shoemakers, tailors and waitresses in French and is proud of the way he drives a car and dresses elegantly, all of which lands him in comical circumstances. The novel depicts stories of the ignorant behaviour and hedonistic lives in Istanbul during the Abdulhamit period which lasted for 33 years.

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REFİK ALGAN

Refik Algan was born in Ankara in 1953 and completed his primary school education in Ankara and Istanbul, then graduated from the Kadıkoy Maarif College and Cerrahpaşa School of Medicine. He later worked as a medical consultant. His hobbies include chess, water color painting and classical lute. His short stories and writings were published in Yazı and Oluşum periodicals from 1978 to 1980. He also worked as a translator for English and Turkish. After 2003, he returned to literature when his stories were published in Geceyazısı and Kitap-lık. His first book, Saat Kulesi (Clock Tower) was awarded the 2006 Sait Faik Story Prize. His second short story collection, Umursamaz Uykucu (The Indifferent Sleeper), was published in 2007.

SAAT KULESİ THE CLOCK TOWER Editorial Cuarto Propio, Chile Argentina 111 pages, Short Story Translated by Gaston Fontaine ISBN: 9750809114 [email protected] [email protected]

Refik Algan became well known in Turkish short story telling during the period 1978-1980 as a innovative writer who experimented with the “short text” or “short bytes” which have become popular today. After a twenty year old period of silence and retreat, he started to dish out new stories. In The Clock Tower, short texts each equipped with the mainspring of a novel are intertwined with moving and masterful stories.

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REHA ÇAMUROĞLU

Reha Çamuroğlu was born in Istanbul on August 20, 1958. He completed his primary and secondary education in Ankara and Istanbul, where he graduated from the History Department at Boğaziçi University. He worked as publication director for the periodicals Kara, Efendisiz, Cem and Nefes and was a contributor to the history section in several encyclopedias. His first article was published in Kara in 1986, but he made his name with his articles in the journals Cem, Efendisiz and Defter. When he was a student he was interested in “center-periphery relations,” within the Ottoman Empire and more precisely, in the economic, social and political aspects of this center - namely, periphery tension and its intellectual basis and proliferation. This interest led him to focus on the history of thought, in particular, Islamic heterodoxy. WORKS: İkiilebir (One and Two), Son Yeniçeri (The Last Janissary), Bir Anlık Gecikme (A Momentary Delay ), Sabah Rüzgârı (Morning Breeze), Kalem Efendisi (Master of the Pen), “Enelhak” Demişti Nesimî (And Nesimi Said, “I Am God”), Dönüyordu, (It Was Turning), Bektaşîlikte Zaman Kavrayışı (The Concept of Time in Bektashism), İsmail (Ismail), Tarih (History), Heterodoksi ve Babaîler (Heterodoxy and Babaism), Değişen Koşullarda Alevîlik (Alevism Under Changing Conditions). Foreign Rights, Bir Anlık Gecikme/ A Momentary Delay (FanNoli, Albanian), (UkladANKA, Poland); Son Yeniçeri/ The Last Janissary (Dosteyevski, Russian), (Steno, Bulgarian)

BİR ANLIK GECİKME - A MOMENTARY DELAY UkladANKA, Poland, 2008, 146 pages, Novel Translated by Anna Sobczak ISBN: 9789752892248 [email protected]

Istanbul, 1904... Monsieur Charles, who escapes to Istanbul with his wife after saving his neck in Belgium, starts earning a living in the city as a technician. During meetings with his revolutionist friends, he shares with them his expertise on explosives. They ask him to take part in the planned assassination of the Red Sultan, Abdulhamid II. He accepts the offer because of the money. The money can give them a calm and carefree existence. However, assassinating the Sultan is not an easy job. The bomb planted in the Sultan’s car explodes right on time but the Sultan escapes the attempted assassination without the slightest injury because of a momentary delay in his program. Charles is seized and arrested. When his wife is threatened with death, he turns whistleblower on his accomplices. One day, the Sultan visits Monsieur Charles in prison. Charles tells him the whole story that had led him to attempt to assassinate the Sultan. The Sultan, pleased about what he has heard, pays Monsieur Charles the money he had been promised to realize the assassination. Moreover, the Sultan assigns Monsieur Charles the duty to act as a special intelligence agent abroad on behalf of the Sultan and the Ottoman State…

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REŞAT NURİ GÜNTEKİN

Reşat Nuri Güntekin (1889-1956) is the author of 19 novels and 7 collections of short stories. One of his most famous novels entitled Çalıkuşu (Goldcrest)is about the dynamism and hardship a young girl experiences in a rural town, (both as an educated person and as a woman), and about the role she plays in the development of the mutual understanding of the two classes, namely the uneducated rural and the educated urban. His novels are often based on strong female characters and his works are typical examples of the Turkish enlightenment of the revolutionary and post revolutionary era. Reşat Nuri Güntekin left us novels that occupy an important position in the literature of the period, such as Çalıkuşu (Goldcrest, 1922), Anadolu Notları (Notes From Anatolia, 1922), Yeşil Gece (The Green Night, 1928). Foreign Rights: Çalıkuşu/Goldcrest (Mlade Ieta, Slovak), Pitulicea (Editore Minerva, Rumanian), ( Magyar-Török Barati, Hungarian), (Alma Lettera, Lituvanian), (Mir Knigi, Russian), (Uniscorp, Bulgarian)

ÇALIKUŞU GOLDCREST Mir Knigi, Russia, 2008 408 pages, Novel Translated by Igor Pechenev ISBN: 975 10 0012 2 www.onkagency.com

Feride, a young girl nicknamed “Goldcrest” for her naughty behavior at the French School in Istanbul, falls in love with Kamuran, but finds out three days before her wedding that he has promised marriage to another woman in Switzerland as well. She leaves everything behind and takes off to the rural areas of Western Anatolia as a teacher, which is the beginning of a new era in her life.

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RIFAT ILGAZ

Rıfat Ilgaz (1911-1993) was one of the pioneering socialist-realist poets of the 1940’s, his poems and articles appearing in the regional press of small towns. He graduated from Ankara Gazi Institute of Education in 1938 and was appointed as a Turkish teacher to various schools. In 1940, he entered the department of philosophy. Together with Ömer Faruk Toprak he published the magazine Yürüyüş (Walking) in 1942 and worked with such literary notables as Orhan Kemal, Sait Faik, Cahit Irgat, A. Kadir, and Nâzım Hikmet (İbrahim Sabri). His first book, Yarenlik (Chit Chat) was published in 1943. His poetry was received with extraordinary interest. His book of poetry Sınıf (Class, 1944) was withdrawn from circulation upon the declaration of martial law and he was sent to prison under Article 142 of the Penal Code for six months. Ilgaz joined the staff of Markopaşa (periodical), published by Sabahattin Ali, Aziz Nesin and Mim Uykusuz, in 1947. He later became the editor-in-chief of this magazine, which was frequently banned by the government and continued its publication under different names. He began to work as a journalist in the 1950’s but since he was a politically “dangerous” writer, magazines and newspapers did not use his name. He worked as a typesetter, proofreader and a reporter for the newspaper Tan from 1952 to 1960. He wrote articles under the pen name of Stepne (Spare Tire) for Dolmuş (Shared Taxi), a magazine published by Turhan Selçuk and İlhan Selçuk. His works Hababam Sınıfı (Outrageous Class, 1957), Pijamalılar (The Pajamas Ward, 1959), and Don Kişot İstanbul’da (Don Quijote in Istanbul, 1957) were published as serials in this magazine. His book of poetry Devam (Continuing), published in 1953, was also withdrawn from circulation. Ilgaz succeeded in every kind of writing he attempted, producing notable works in all genres. His Outrageous Class was widely read, staged, and filmed. He has produced over hundred books. Foreign Rights: Karartma Geceleri/The Blackout Nights (Greek); Bacaksız Kamyon Sürücüsü/Little Devil Truck Driver (Edition Orient, German); Bacaksız Sigara Kaçakçısı/Little Devil Cigarette Dealer (Edition Orient, German) Dördüncü Bölük/ Fourth Company (Milet, English); Hababam Sınıfı/The Crazy Class Kopasz Mahmut diákjai (Móra, Hungarian)

BACAKSIZ SİGARA KAÇAKÇISI LITTLE DEVIL CIGARETTE DEALER Edition Orient, Germany, 2007 96 pages, Children’s Book, Novel ISBN: 9753480059 [email protected]

Bacaksız Sigara Kaçakcısı, (Little Devil Cigarette Dealer) which forms part of the series, Bacaksız Kamyon Sürücüsü (Little Devil Truck Driver), Bacaksız Okulda (Little Devil at School), Bacaksız Paralı Atlet (Little Devil Professional Athlete), Bacaksız Tatil Köyünde (Little Devil at Holiday Village), relates the amusing adventures of a naughty little boy.

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SABA ALTINSAY

Saba Altınsay was born in 1961 in Çanakkale. He completed his secondary education in Ankara and Izmir, graduating from the Journalist and Broadcasting School in the Political Sciences Faculty at Ankara University. After leaving university, he started work and published his short stories and travel articles in several newspapers and journals. His first book Kritumu was published in 2004.

KRİTİMU: GİRİT’İM BENİM KRITIMU: MY CRETE Globosino, Serbia, 2007 288, pages, Novel Translated by Mirjana Marinkoviç ISBN 9789750704093 www.kalemagency.com

Kritimu, is Saba Altınsay’s first book. The author, who is from a family of Cretan origin, relates the story of the compulsory population exchanges between Greece and Turkey and the events leading up to it on Crete. In a period when the Ottoman Empire was weakening and beginning to lose its influence, there is a heightening of tension which flares up into hostility between the two populations in Crete, despite the close relationship, traditions and language mix which had existed hitherto. Kritimu tells the story of the sad departure of the TurkishCretan family Yarmakamakis from the island. However the real hero of the book is Crete itself, with its incomparable natural beauty and soul soothing fragrance.

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SABAHATTİN ALİ

Sabahattin Ali (1907-1948) is one of the leading Turkish authors of the early years of the Turkish Republic. Educated in Turkey and Germany, his literary output consists of three novels, five collections of short stories, one collection of poems and one posthumous collection of political articles and numerous translations. He was the owner and editor of a very popular weekly periodical called “Markopaşa” which, with its political and satirical editorials, became a target of the establishment during the second part of the 1940s. His works are focused on the rural, social and psychological realities of Anatolia as well as on the urban pseudo-intellectual circle of Istanbul and Ankara. He was a strong believer in socialism and was imprisoned more than once for his political views and writings. Sabahattin Ali was assassinated while allegedly secretly crossing the border to Bulgaria. Why, where, and by whom he was really murdered and where he was buried is still a mystery. WORKS: Dağlar ve Rüzgâr (Mountains and Winds), Kurbağanın Serenadı (The Serenade of the Frog), Öteki Şiirler (Other Poems), Değirmen (The Mill), Kağnı (The Oxcart), Ses (Voice), Yeni Dünya (New World), Sırça Köşk (Glass Palace), Kuyucaklı Yusuf (Yusuf of Kuyucak), İçimizdeki Şeytan (The Devil Within), Kürk Mantolu Madonna (Madonna in a Fur Coat). Foreign Rights: Kürk Mantolu Madonna/The Fur Coated Madonna (Le Serpent à Plumes, French), (Dörleman , German); Kuyucaklı Yusuf/Yusuf from Kuyucak (Le Serpent à Plumes, French); İçimizdeki Şeytan/The Devil Within (Le Serpent à Plumes, French), (Unionsverlag, German)

KÜRK MANTOLU MADONNA MADONNA IN A FUR COAT Le Serpent Á Plumes, France, 2007 160 pages, Novel Translated by Jean Descat ISBN: 9753638029 www.onkagency.com

Some passions overwhelm us and guide our lives. We follow them, knowing that we will never regret it. In this book, Sabahattin Ali, who is the master of drawing out people’s unseen faces, describes such a passion. He poses challenging questions about personalities subdued by society, on the lightness of being and the impossibility of love.

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SADIK YALSIZUÇANLAR

Sadık Yalsızuçanlar was born in Malatya in South East Turkey in 1962 and attended Hacettepe University, where he majored in Turkology. He has since worked in publishing and teaching, and currently acts as a producer for TRT Ankara Television. He has received several awards for his stories and essays, as well as for a number of television documentaries. WORKS: Gezgin (The Wanderer), Yakaza, Garip (The Stranger), 40 Gözaltı Öyküsü (40 Surveillance Stories), Kuş Öyküsü Güzeran (Guzeran the Story of the Bird), Şey (The Thing), Hiç (Nothing), Cam ve Elmas (Glass and Diamond), Ayan Beyan (Obvious), Halvet der Encümen, Varlığın Evi (The Home of Existence), Bir Yolcunun Halleri (Conditions of a Traveller), Öyküler Kitabı (The Book of Tales), Sırlı Tuğlalar (Vitrified Bricks), Yolcu (The The Traveller), Kerem ile Aslı (Kerem and Aslı) .

GEZGİN THE WANDERER Literaturca Verlag, Germany, 2006 256 pages, Novel Translated by Beatrix Caner ISBN: 975263074X www.kalemagency.com

The Wanderer is about the spiritual life of the great philosopher, poet and sage Muhammad Ibn’ Arabi, one of the world’s great spiritual teachers, who was born into the Moorish culture of Andalusian Spain. The story begins with the encounter of Ibn’ Rusd, later known as Averroes and Ibn’ Arabi. During this interesting encounter, the two great philosophers spend on hour together yet exchange only two words: “yes” and “no”. The novel, written by a new approach to storytelling and fiction, does not contain any dramatic, tragic or absurd elements.

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SADIK YEMNİ

Sadik Yemni was born in the Kurtuluş (Tatavla) neighborhood of Istanbul in 1951; his family moved to his mother’s hometown of Izmir in 1954. In 1975, Yemni abandoned his studies in Chemical Engineering at Ege University with plans to spend some time in Amsterdam. He worked at several different jobs in the Netherlands; the last of these was as a bridge constructer for the state railway (1981-1989). He took advantage of his time off in the winters to read, contemplate, and write in a secluded rural area. His first book, a collection of short stories entitled De ljzeren Snavel (Iron Beak), was published in the Netherlands and Yemni still lives in Amsterdam. WORKS: Novels: Muska (Amulet, 1996), Amsterdam’ın Gülü (The Rose of Amsterdam, 1997), Öte Yer (The Beyond, 1997), Metros (Metros, 2002), Çözücü (Dissolvent, 2003), Ölümsüz (Immortal, 2004), Yatır (Sacred Tomb, 2005), Muhabbet Evi (Chat House, 2006). Memoir: Durum 429 (Situation 429, 2007). Foreign Rights: Öte Yer/The Beyond (Foremost Press, USA), Muhabbet Evi/Chat House (Ruffel Verlag, Germany)

MUSKA AMULET 372 pages, Novel ISBN: 9789752893924 [email protected]

Amulet is a story based on evil: Evil stretching all the way from the occupied “infidel Izmir” to the cosmopolitan, easygoing Izmir of the 1960s… Wise and good-hearted witches who oppose this evil with magic, prayers, and fortunetelling; Halit Duman, a wizened intellectual of means; Mecnun, the bum of 94th Street; Crazy Hadiye, who vanquishes her enemies with artfully hurtled potatoes; one of the last of his kind, the stripling swashbuckler Ziya; our twelve year old hero, Sarp Sapmaz, who can see what others cannot see, and hear what others cannot hear… Just to name a few of the characters… They are all behind the mirrorthe mirror that you are looking into…

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SAFİYE EROL

Safiye Erol was born in 1902, went to Germany in 1917 and returned to Istanbul after finishing high school, university and completing her PhD in 1926. She published articles in various newspaper and magazines. She has written eight books two of which are translations. The elements of eastern and western cultures she had gathered since her childhood and the perfect ability to analyse and combine different perspectives which she owned from birth brought out a Turkish intellectual in her personality. The most important feature of her books is that they are archival sources conveying vivid portraits from the old neighbourhood lives and traditions of Istanbul. Her wording is extremely sound, her descriptions and psychological analyses are precise. Meeting great Sufi thinker Ken’an Rifai when she was middle-aged constituted a milestone in her life and books. She passed away in 1964. WORKS: Ciğerdelen/The Heartbreaker, Kadıköyü’nün Romanı (Novel of Kadikoy), Ülker Fırtınası (Storm of the Pliades), Dineyri Papazı (King of Diamonds), Çölde Biten Rahmet Ağacı (The Tree of Divine Grace Growing in the Desert) ve Makaleler (Articles).

CİĞERDELEN THE HEARTHBREAKER Connectum, Bosnia-Herzegovina 272 pages, Novel Translated by Amina Şilyak ISBN: 9757663549 [email protected]

In this novel Safiye Erol narrates a love story which took place in the 20th century and combines it with a Rumelian myth (originating from the European part of the Ottoman Empire) filled with heroism. She recounts in vibrant and impressing language the adventure of the ancestors of the Turkish nation

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SAİT FAİK ABASIYANIK

Sait Faik lived between1901 and 1954. He lived a bohemian life that forced him to quit his education in France and return to Turkey. He devoted his life to writing. In 1953 he became an honorary member of the International Mark Twain Society of St. Louis, Missouri for his “services to modern literature.” Workers, retired people, fishermen, deserted children, and poor and idle folk constitute the subjects of his works. His love for people and his affinity to Greeks and Armenians in Istanbul allowed him to convey the cultural richness of the first decade of the Turkish Republic. The Sait Faik foundation is still run by his legal heir Darüşşafaka School, maintaining his Burgaz House as the Sait Faik Museum and since 1954 giving the annual Sait Faik Literature Prize to the best collection of short stories. Some of his works has been translated to English, German and French. WORKS: Semaver (Samovar), Sarnıç (The Cistern), Şahmerdan (The Hammer), Lüzumsuz Adam (Useless Man), Mahalle Kahvesi (Neighborhood Coffee House), Havada Bulut (Cloud in the Air), Kumpanya (Theatre Company), Havuz Başı (The Poolside), Son Kuşlar (Last Birds), Alemdağ’da Var Bir Yılan (There’s a Snake in Alemdağ), Az Şekerli (Just a little Sugar), Medar-ı Maişet Motoru (The Honorable Breadwinning Boat), Kayıp Aranıyor (Searching for the Missing), Şimdi Sevişme Vakti (It’s Time for Romance), Tüneldeki Çocuk (Kid in the Tunnel), Mahkeme Kapısı (In Court), Balıkçının Ölümü-Yaşasın Edebiyat (Death of the Fisherman-Long Live Literature), Açık Hava Oteli (Open Air Hotel), Müthiş Bir Tren (An Incredible Train), Sevgiliye Mektup (Letters to a Lover).

ALEMDAĞ’DA VAR BİR YILAN THERE IS A SNAKE IN ALEMDAĞ Editions Bleu Autour, France, 95 pages, Short Story Translated by Rosie Pinhas Delpuech ISBN 978 9750805046 [email protected] [email protected]

“Sait Faik wrote the way he lived – spontaneously, sensually, impressionistically, experientially, always stressing the authentic touch and the ring of truth. He probably felt that a story is a microcosm or slice of life and cannot be, should not be, any more perfect than life itself. Above all, he was conscious of human frailty, foibles, and follies. In exploring human situations, his stories reflected, not only in substance but in form as well, the flaws of life.” Talat Sait Halman

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SAMİ PAŞAZADE SEZAİ

Sami Paşazade Sezai (1836-1936), a Tanzimat era writer, worked as a clerk at the Ministry of Foundations (at the Writing and Correspondence Office) and then as 2nd Chancellor at the Turkish Embassy in London. In 1901 he escaped to Paris during the Istibdat (despotism)era and started writing feature articles and articles for Şûrâ-yı Ümmet newspaper which was the press arm of the Committee for Union and Progress (Ittihat ve Terakki Cemiyeti). He returned to Istanbul after the declaration of Constitutional Monarchy (Meşrutiyet). He became Ambassador to Spain, and lived in Switzerland during World War I, and then returned home. The author started his writing career with articles, interviews, and theatre plays; he became famous for his novel Sergüzeşt (An Adventure) and his short stories Küçük Şeyler (Small Things). He is considered a remarkable writer in terms of portraying scenes from everyday life and dialogues between his characters. He became one of the realist storytellers and novelists of the Tanzimat era with his novel An Adventure which drew its characters from the public domain and his twelve short stories which were comparable to those of his contemporaries in the West.

SERGÜZEŞT AN ADVENTURE Inner Mongolian CPH, China 140 pages, Novel Translated by Ye Jian Xin ISBN: 9789754686395

The author portrays significant segments of the way of living and everyday lives of the 1880s with An Adventure, a novel about love, questioning the concepts of slavery and liberty,that has now become a classic. An Adventure traces the marks of a love between the Circassian slave girl Dilber, and the rich mansion owner Celal Bey, who fall in love as quickly as they fall out of love. The author successfully conveys to the reader, within a strong emotional platform, the natural behaviour that the human spirit exhibits when faced with desperation. He emphasises the bitter relativity of the valid approach to concepts such as self-sacrifice, trust, honesty and patriotism during the period, resulting in unfairness. The novel passionately cultivates the innocent love of a slave girl and is remarkable in the way it particularly portrays the irresistible supremacy of love.

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SELÇUK ALTUN

Selçuk Altun was born in 1950, in Şavşat-Artvin. Upon earning his degree at Boğaziçi University in the Department of Management, he completed a Master‘s in the same department and began working in the field of finance. Altun, who has written essays on books and bookselling for periodicals and newspapers, and whose translations have appeared in various compilations, is the author of Yalnızlık Gittiğin Yoldan Gelir (Desolation Comes From The Road You Took, 2001), Bir Sen Yakınsın Uzakta Kalınca (When Far, Only You Are Near, 2002), Ku(r)şun Lezzeti (The Savor of B(ullet) ird’s, 2003), Annemin Öğretmediği Şarkılar (The Songs My Mother Didn’t Teach, 2005) and Senelerce Senelerce Evveldi (It was Years, Years Ago, 2008). Foreign Rights: Annemin Öğretmediği Şarkılar/Songs My Mother Never Taught Me (Telegram, English, 2008), Senelerce Senelerce Evveldi/Many and Many A Year Ago (Telegram, English, 2009)

ANNEMİN ÖĞRETMEDİĞİ ŞARKILAR THE SONGS MY MOTHER DIDN’T TEACH Telegram, USA, 2009 Translated by Ruth Christie, Selçuk Berilgen 176 pages, Novel ISBN: 9755702285 www.selyayincilik.com

Those who have read Selçuk Altun’s previous novels will not be unfamiliar with the characterizations, intense portrayalsof setting, progressive pace particular to detective novels, and the writer’s unique style in the probing tale of The Songs My Mother Didn’t Teach. Exploiting the enigmatic thrill common to the detective genre, The Songs My Mother Didn’t Teach presents the reader with an estranged member of a family, a family to which life has been generous, even perhaps cruelly so - in the material sense. Not inclined to protract his story, Altun uses language as economically as possible, yet does not forsake the visual in writing. Whether old or new, rich or poor, known or overlooked, a strong atmosphere is created through the portrayal of Istanbul’s byways, streets, buildings, houses, and historical locations in a novel intense in imagery, metaphor, and simile.

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SELİM İLERİ

Selim İleri was born in Istanbul in 1949. He completed Ataturk High School in 1968. For a time he attended the Faculty of Law at Istanbul University. Giving up his studies, he devoted himself to writing. His first piece was published in Yeni Ufuklar magazine in 1967. He gained fame with publications in the period’s foremost magazines. His first book of stories was published in 1968, his acclaimed first novel, Her Gece Bodrum (Halicarnassus Every Night) in 1973. Selim İleri, who has written, alongside novels and stories, scenarios, essays, literature-related surveys, and a book of poetry, has also won numerous literary awards and published the following (out of his overall 21 novels) after 1990: Mavi Kanatlarınla Yalnız Benim Olsaydın (If You Were Only Mine With Your Blue Wings, 1991), Kırık Deniz Kabukları (Broken Seashells, 1994), Gramafon Hâlâ Çalıyor (The Gramophone is Still Playing, 1994), Cemil Şevket Bey, Aynalı Dolaba İki El Revolver (Cemil Şevket Bey, Firing the Revolver Twice at the Mirrored Cabinet, 1997), Solmaz Hanım ve Kimsesiz Okurlar İçin (For Ms. Solmaz and Forlorn Readers, 2000), Bu Yaz Ayrılığın İlk Yazı Olacak (This Summer will Be the First One of Separation, 2001), Yarın Yapayalnız (Tomorrow All Alone, 2004), Kapalı İktisat (Closed Economics, 2007), Hepsi Alev (It’s All Flame, 2007), and Daha Dün: Geçmiş, Bir Daha Geri Gelmeyecek Zamanlar (Only Yesterday: The Past Times That Will Never Come Back, 2008).

HEPSİ ALEV IT’S ALL FLAME Uklad Anka, Poland 192 pages, Novel Translated by Mikolaj Sobczak ISBN: 9789752935303 www.kalemageny.com

Selim İleri presents a historical novel on the 40th anniversary of his literary career. It’s all a flame... This historical novel tells the story of the Byzantine Empress Irene, her ambition to rule, her lack of faith in love and family, her passion for art, her cruel ways and loneliness. We find out that strangely enough nothing has changed since those times in this complex city called Istanbul. Even though It’s all a flame is facing the past, it is telling us about the present. It’s all a flame is the fascinating story of a strong and lonely woman who had a vision to unite the East and the West.

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SEMA KAYGUSUZ

Sema Kaygusuz was born in Samsun in 1972 and graduated from the Department of Public Relations at Gazi University in 1994. During her university education, she was interested in the art of dancing and theatre. Her early stories have been published in various literature magazines and have received awards. Sema Kaygusuz still writes for Atlas magazine and holds workshops on creative writing. She is one of Turkey´s most prestigious short story writers. WORKS: Short Stories: Ortadan Yarısından (From the Middle, From Halfway, 1997), Sandık Lekesi (Hope Chest Stain, 2000), Esir Sözler Kuyusu (Well of Enslaved Words, 2004). Novel: Yere Düşen Dualar (Prayers Falling to the Ground, 2006). Foreign Rights: Yere Düşen Dualar/The Fallen Prayers (Actes Sud, France), (Surkamp, Germany)

YERE DÜŞEN DUALAR THE FALLEN PRAYERS Shurkamp, Germany, 2008 336 pages, Novel Translated by Barbara and Hüseyin Yurttaş ISBN: 9752934374 [email protected], [email protected]

Yere Düşen Dualar (The Fallen Prayers) is a polyphonic novel that relates the malaise of existence in the context of a family tragedy. Offering multiple levels of reading, the work has such a complex narration that it is not easy to embrace all of its aspects at once. The Fallen Prayers is written in a vigorous and daring style. In its concentrated and intricately detailed prose, the identities of the personages constantly change, all characters inscribe themselves in the universe of the plot with their own particular language and voice, and the omniscient author is entirely omitted. This novel stands out as one of the best singular works in contemporary Turkish literature.

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SERDAR ÖZKAN

Serdar Özkan, who was born in Izmir in August 1975, graduated from Robert College and studied Management and Psychology at Lehigh University in the USA. After graduating, he returned to Turkey and worked in the field of public relations. He lives in Istanbul and has been writing novels since 2002. His first book, Kayıp Gül (Lost Rose), became a bestseller abroad. It has been translated into 17 languages and published in more than 20 countries.

KAYIP GÜL LOST ROSE Hena Com, Croatia, 2007 200 pages, Novel Translated by Veja Vujovic ISBN: 9786051140193 www.timas.com.tr

“How extraordinary to devote some space to the golden jewel we know as philosophy and to the epic values of a tradition... Just as it is extraordinary, it is astonishing, exciting and joyful... The seeker in Kayıp Gül (Lost Rose), guided by philosophy, absorbs us in an adventure which, as well as educating the reader, gives extreme pleasure and gorgeous images.” Ayşe Şasa – Writer

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BOOKS FROM TURKEY

SERPİL URAL

Serpil Ural was born in 1945 and after graduating from Üsküdar American High School, Bradford Junior College and from the Graphics Department of the Fine Arts Academy, worked for publicity companies as a graphic artist and script writer. In 1978 she started writing and illustrating books for pre-school children. Some of her books have been adapted for TV and broadcast, notably, children’s television programs for TRT in Turkey and Swedish Television. In 1986, at the 5th Noma International Children’s Book Illustrations Competition she received an Incentive Award. In 1987, at the Rıfat Ilgaz Humoristic Story Competition she was awarded first prize and in 1997, Serpil Ural won the Turkiye İş Bankası Children’s Literature Award. Her book illustrations have been presented in several exhibitions and competitions at home and abroad. WORKS: Şafakta Yanan Mumlar (Candles Lit at Dawn), Ağrı’dan Zelve’ye Anadolu Anlatıyor (From Agri to Zelve - Anatolia Speaks), Ali Baba’nın Çiftliği (Ali Baba’s Farm), Bahar Nevruz’la Başlar (Spring Starts with Newroz), Cabula Mabula, Armağan (Present), Güle Güle Nereye? (See You, Where Are You Going by the Way?), Gürültücü Ali (Noisy Ali), Mikrobun Ettikleri (Microbe’s Misbehaviour), Tako Eğitsel Öyküler Dizisi (Tako Educational Stories Series, 4 Books), Tek Gözlü Kedi (The One Eyed Cat), Onbaşı Nezahat (Sergeant Nezahat), Eşek ve Berk (The Donkey and Berk), Yasaklı Pansiyon (Forbidden Guesthouse), Sabiha, Köprü Olan Deniz (The Sea That Turned into a Bridge), Armağan 4-7 Yaş Çocukları İçin Eğitsel Öyküler Dizisi (Present - Educational Stories for 4-7 Age Group Children, 32 Books), KediFare (Cat and Mouse) Müzik 5-6 Yaş Çocukları İçin Eğitsel Öyküler Dizisi (MusicEducational Stories for 5-6 Age, 36 Books) Pazarda Neler Var Neler... (What do they Sell at the Market?) Aksak Ali (Crippled Ali).

AĞRI’DAN ZELVE’YE ANADOLU ANLATIYOR FROM AGRI TO ZELVE: ANATOLIA SPEAKS Schulbuchverlag Anadolu, Germany, 2008 56 pages, Children’s Book Translated by Sabine Adatepe ISBN: 9751704308 www.serpilural.net

There are so many stories, beliefs and legends passed down from one generation to the next in Anatolia. In this book, the most important stories are presented, in alphabetical order, so that children can be introduced to Anatolian culture.

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SEVGİ SOYSAL

Sevgi Soysal was born in 1936 in Istanbul and studied Archeology at Ankara and Göttingen Universities. Her first novel Yürümek (Walking) was published in 1970. Her political career marked her life as well as her artistic work, and her work entitled Yenişehir’de bir Öğle Vakti (High Noon at Yenişehir), which was written during her imprisonment in Yıldırım Regional Women’s Prison, was awarded with the Orhan Kemal Novel Prize 1974. Her memoirs and observations from her imprisonment were published in Yıldırım Bölge Kadınlar Koğuşu (Yıldırım Regional Women’s Prison). She passed away in 1975 after a long period of illness and her articles were collected posthumously in Bakmak (Looking). WORKS: Tutku Pencerem (The Passionate Bangs), Tante Rosa, Yürümek (Walking), Yenişehir’de Bir Öğle Vakti (High Noon at Yenisehir), Barış Adlı Çocuk (The Child Called Peace), Şafak (Dawn), Yıldırım Bölge Kadınlar Koğuşu (Yıldırım Regional Women’s Prison), Bakmak (Looking)

TANTE ROSA Buntbuchverlag, Germany, 1981 135 pages, Novel Translated by Aliye Yenen ISBN: 975050092X [email protected]

Sevgi Soysal never wearied of pursuing her own unique literary quest. She strove to develop a method that she called “new realism,” in order to reveal reality in its multiple facets. Tante Rosa is the product of that quest. Sevgi Soysal treats the misfit Rosa’s individual destiny with such a delicate literary touch that the social reasons behind what makes up the individual are always right there in from of us. Despite the pain so acutely described in Tante Rosa, it ultimately remains an ebullient novel, enriched by humorous elements - a modern fairytale of odd incidents, oddly true to life.

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BOOKS FROM TURKEY

SEVİM AK

Sevim Ak, who has been writing children’s stories since 1985, won the Akademi Kitapevi Story Award with her first book, Uçurtmam Bulut Şimdi (My Kite’s Turned into a Cloud), published in 1997. Her books and short stories have been published in many children’s magazines, such as Kırmızı Fare, Doğan Kardeş, Bando, Milliyet Kardeş, Başak Çocuk, Vakıf Çocuk and Kırmızı Bilye. Sevim Ak has also written stories and scripts for children’s programs on television. Her play Düşlere Sobe (Hide and Seek/Home Free) has been staged at Istanbul City Theatre. WORKS: Uçurtmam Bulut Şimdi (My Kite’s Turned Into a Cloud), Karşı Pencere (Opposite Window), Pembe Kuşa Ne Oldu (What Happened to Pink Bird), Penguenler Flüt Çalamaz (Penguins Don’t Play Flute), Toto ve Şemsiyesi (Toto and His Umbrella), Puf Pufpuf, Cuf Cufcuf ve Cino (Puf Pufpuf, Cuf Cufcuf and Cino), Babamın Gözleri Kedi Gözleri (My Dad’s Eyes Are Like Cat’s), Kuşlar Kralı Nikola (Nikola, The King of Birds), Vanilya Kokulu Mektuplar (Vanilla Scented Letters), Domates Saçlı Kız (Tomato Haired Girl), Dalgalar Dedikoduyu Sever (Gossip Waves), Sakız ve Aytaşı (Sakız and the Moonstone), Sakız ve Haftanın Öyküsü (Sakız and the Story of the Week), Sakız ve Rüzgar Adam (Sakız and the Wind Man), Gemici Dedem (Grandpa the Sailor), Dörtgöz (Four Eyes), Çilekli Dondurma (Strawberry Icecream). Foreign Rights: Babamın Gözleri Kedi Gözleri/My Dad’s Eyes Are Like Cat’s (Germany, 2008), Perguenler Flüt Çalamaz/Penguins Don’t Play Flute (Germany, 2008), Toto Ve Şemsiyesi/Toto And His Umbrella (Germany, 2008), Uçurtmam Bulut Şimdi/My Kite’s Turned Into a Cloud (Germany, 2008)

UÇURTMAM BULUT ŞİMDİ MY KITE’S TURNED INTO A CLOUD Schulbuchverlag Anadolu, Germany, 2008 84 pages, Children’s Book Translated by Sabine Adatepe ISBN: 9750702824 [email protected]

Uçurtmam Bulut Şimdi (My Kite’s Turned Into a Cloud) consists of a number of captivating, thought provoking stories; the story of a child whose first kite, made by his father, drifts away, the adventures of two kids who open a bookstore, the story of a girl trying to discover the secret of rain, the earthquake fears of two brothers and the story of a pretty girl trying to buy a mother’s day present...

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SEVİM BURAK

Sevim Burak was born in Istanbul in 1931 and died in 1983. After finishing the Junior High Division at the German High School, she started work. She became a model and subsequently, the director of her own fashion house. She died of heart disease at Haseki Hospital in Istanbul. Her first short story was published in the daily paper, Yeni İstanbul (New Istanbul). Her other stories have been published in literary journals and daily papers such as Yenilik, Türk Dili, Ulus and Milliyet. Her stories are considered to be sophisticated examples of the ‘’stream of consciousness’’ technique. She uses poetic language in her works, in which she usually takes up women’s issues. WORKS: Afrika Dansı (African Dance), Everest My Lord - İşte Baş İşte Gövde İşte Kanatlar (Everest My Lord - Here is the Head, the Body and the Wings), Ford Mach I, Sahibinin Sesi (His Master’s Voice), Yanık Saraylar (Burned Palaces).

SAHİBİNİN SESİ - EVEREST MY LORD İŞTE BAŞ İŞTE GÖVDE İŞTE KANATLAR HIS MASTER’S VOICE - EVEREST MY LORD HERE IS THE HEAD, THE BODY AND THE WINGS L’espace D’un Instant, France, 2006, 96 Pages, Play Translated by T. Muhidine, Marie - Christine Varol ISBN: 9750810481 [email protected] [email protected]

In her most important works, His Master’s Voice and Here is the Head, the Body and the Wings, the individual defines himself according to the “Social Other.” The other, who is devious and unreliable, is the one from the other religion, other sex, other culture and other language. In these texts, every individual has a second identity. While reading these texts, which are in a perpetual state of deconstruction , we are confronted several times, on an inter-societal and inter-cultural level, with the fundamental questions that a child asks, in the process of becoming an individual, namely, “ who am I ?’’ and “ where do I come from ?”. In Here is the Head, the Body and the Wings, after the first act, repeated sentences and photos saturate the pages, making the reader focus more on their own process of getting lost in the schizophrenic disorder, rather than what is actually related in the story.

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BOOKS FROM TURKEY

SEVİNÇ ÇOKUM

Sevinç Çokum was born in Istanbul in 1943 and went to Beşiktaş High School. She graduated from the Department of Turkish Philology in the Faculty of Literature at Istanbul University and obtained an additional qualification from the Department of Sociology. Starting in her years at university, she channeled her efforts into literature by writing poems and short stories and she got the support of the people around her. In February, 1972; Bir Eski Sokak Sesi (A Voice of an Old Street), which was among her first stories, was published in Hisar, the newspaper belonging to Mehmet Çınarlı. Television films were made from the scenerios of Beyaz Sessiz Bir Zambak (A White, Silent Lily) and Yeniden Doğmak (Rebirth), in which she wrote about the Bulgarian Turks. The writer has won many prizes and made a variety of radio programs; her works are still published in various literature periodicals. She is a member of the Writers Union of Turkey, ILESAM (The Professional Union of Turkish Science and Literature Academicians), MESAM (Musical Work Owners’ Society of Turkey) and the Turkish Authors Association. The writer has written eighteen books.

BİZİM DİYAR OUR LAND Gençlik Publishing House, Azerbaijan, 1992  258 pages, Novel Translated by Azize Caferzade ISBN: 975437192X ötüken@ötüken.com.tr

Our Land was published in Turkey for the first time in 1978 and depicts the Balkan Wars and the mass immigration from the Rumeli region with the collapse of the Ottoman State. The author has adopted the events and personalities found in the book from the stories she was told by her elderly relatives who lived through these events and who were deeply affected. Our Land is an interesting novel which provides an account of recent history, weaving the cultural heritage from Rumeli to Istanbul in a poetical and detailed way.

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SEYHAN ERÖZÇELİK

Seyhan Erözçelik (1962, Bartın) completed his elementary school education in Bartın. He finished Kadıköy Maarif College. He studied psychology at Boğaziçi University and Arab and Persian languages at Istanbul University. Currently in advertizing, he is also among the founders of the journal Şiir Atı (1986). His first poem, “Düştanbul” (DreamIstanbul) was published in the journal Yazko Edebiyat (1982). He also was published in journals such as Gösteri, Gergedan, Varlık and Sombahar. He is a poet of the 1980’s generation. Focusing on objects, situations and images, he plays with the language, dividing words to create new images, thus developing his own poetic language. His Books of Poetry: Yeis ile Tabanca (Despair and Pistol, 1986), Hayal Kumpanyası (The Company of Illusion, 1990), Kır Ağı (Hoarfrost, 1991), Yeis (Despair, 1995), Gül ve Telve (Rose and Coffee Grinds, 1996), Şehirde Sansar Var (There Is a Weasel in Town, 1999), Yağmur Taşı (Rain Stone, 2004) and Vâridik, Yoğidik (Once We Were, Once We Weren’t, 2007). Foreign Rights: Gül ve Telve/Rose and Coffe Grinds (Talisman House Publishers, English)

VÂRİDİK, YOĞİDİK ONCE WE WERE, ONCE WE WEREN’T 81 pages, Poetry ISBN: 9789757172901 www.simurg.com.tr

Seyhan Erözçelik described his purpose in this book as “I tried to use all shared words from all Turkic languages. Still, this is more than an experiment, it is a sign. I always said that I love my language. I am trying to discover the secrets of this language. I would also like this book to be understood in different Turkic languages.” We do not have many shared words with other Turkic languages. Because of this, these poems are written with very few words. The poet overcomes this difficulty with the sound and music he creates. His point of view tends toward mysticism: when thinking about existence and non-existence, thinking about “I” and “you” suffice.

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BOOKS FROM TURKEY

SEZA KUTLAR AKSOY

Seza Kutlar Aksoy was born in Gaziantep. Upon graduation from Istanbul Girls’ High School, she has attended Istanbul University, Faculty of Letters, the Department of English Language and Literature but did not graduate. She has been writing novels and short stories for children and young adults since 1980. Her stories have been published in magazines such as Milliyet Çocuk and Kırmızıfare. Her books Büyülü Bahçe (The Magic Garden) and Küçük Prenses ve Kardelen (The Little Princess and Snowdrop) became the subject of studies that aim to improve children’s thinking skills. These studies were also carried out with other books of the author. For three years, she was in charge of education as a volunteer in a civil society project. She is currently involved in reading projects in civil society organizations.

TOMURCUK VE PEMBE KEDİ TOMURCUK AND THE PINK CAT Önel Verlag, Germany 67 pages, Children’s Book Translated by Sibylle Cizenel ISBN: 9753635648 [email protected]

Tomurcuk could make impossible things real with his imagination. He was oblivious to rules and the limits of his wishes, and he left home with his imaginary pink cat. However, good things were not to last long. Tomurcuk: both an ordinary and an extraordinary protagonist.

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SİBEL K. TÜRKER

Sibel K. Türker (1968) attracted attention with her first book Kalp(Y)azan (Writer of the Heart/Swindler, 2003). It is characteristic of her to display more and more of the world behind the people in her stories. Her language and writing style reflect the approach of a mature author who filters the situations and relationships she describes with refinement. She writes about common dissatisfactions and dissonance, and about the non-conformism of people who have no doubts about their subjectivity. Her attention to the telling detail creates dramatic effects which catch readers by surprise. Her subtle humour is a pleasure, as is her seriousness about crafting a perfect language for the Turkish short story. Her questioning of life and the place of women in it appears in all her stories. She has published three collections, including Öykü Sersemi (Story-Silly, 2005) and Ağula (Poison, 2007), as well as a novel titled Şair Öldü (The Poet Is Dead, 2006)

ŞAİR ÖLDÜ THE POET IS DEAD Paradox Publishing Group, Bulgaria 254 pages, Novel Translated by Aziz Shakir ISBN: 9752934307 [email protected]

Human nature has a deficiency which accompanies us from birth. As humans we are aware of this and we try to make up for it throughout our lives. Our fatigue and weariness stems from this as well as our tenderness and disagreement. The absurd thing in this is also how our hopes come to life. When the only reflection we see on the mirror is ourselves, we know that we have to run to escape. Inadequacy also keeps us under its spell. We stand there and stare at our starved beings for which further improvements are out of the question. Our being awaits and surrounds us, not letting go-it is already paid for-we are unable to buy it a bit of extra sense, depth, love, emotion or talent. Our sense of slavery is ancient; we are born expecting to be freed. Continent, country, family, gender, language, religion, skin, eyebrows, eyes, nose and even the city we live in. None out of choice, but we find ourselves thrown into them for no apparent reason. It is as ambiguous and without any sense as when a bud held by a bird’s beak falls on a piece of ground.

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BOOKS FROM TURKEY

SOLMAZ KAMURAN

Solmaz Kamuran was born in Istanbul in 1954. After completing her secondary education, she graduated from the Faculty of Dentistry at Istanbul University. She has written scripts for television and many of her travel articles have been published. WORKS: Kiraze, Minta, Bir Kadın - Bir Erkek (A Woman - A Man), Bir Levrek İskeleti (Skeleton of a Fish), Çanakkale Rüzgârı (Çanakkale Wind), Gecenin Yakamozu (Shimmering of the Night), İpek Böceği Cinayeti (Silkworm Murder), Devlet Çete Olmasın Dediğinizde (When You Said Mafia-free State…). Foreign Rights: Kiraze/Ester Kyra (Okeanida, Greece), (Partvonal, Hungary), (Via Magna, Spain), (Narodna knija, Serbia), (Casadasletras, Portuguese), (Dialog, Poland), (Mondodori Harleguine, Italy); Minta (Greece), (the Netherlands), (Italy), (Portuguese)

KİRÂZE KIRAZE Casa das Letras, Portugal, 2007 390 pages, Novel Translated by Ana Lourenço ISBN: 9751025340 [email protected], [email protected]

Solmaz Kamuran tells the story, set over a hundred year period, of the plight of the Sefarad Jews, deported from Spain in 1492. The Jews were trying to reach several destinations, Holland, North Africa and since they had been invited by Sultan Beyazid the Second, the Ottoman lands. Ester Kira (also known as Kiraze), is the daughter of a Sefarad Jew who arrives in Istanbul after a horrendous journey. Kiraze, in quite a short time, becomes a Jew who is able to enter the Ottoman palace, due to her determination, intelligence and beauty. This novel, while shedding light on the sufferance of the Sefarad Jews, also explains how Ottoman and European palaces controlled and influenced religious, social and political life. The book is a moving portrayal of the period.

191

SUAT DERVİŞ

Suat Derviş is one of Turkey’s leading female authors (1905-1972). She was educated in Berlin, Germany and wrote various articles for German newspapers and journals during her time there. After the rise of fascism in Germany, unable to continue writing, she returned to Turkey in 1932. She is the author of 12 novels and her novels are usually about the tragic lives of lost, lonely and struggling people in the urban centers of Turkey. She was a dedicated socialist and a childhood friend of the world famous Turkish poet Nazım Hikmet, who was the first person to help her works be published. After a change of government in Turkey and following pressure and imprisonment, she was forced to emigrate for a second time, this time to France. She lived in exile in France during 1953-1963. She was the first Turkish female author to have a novel published in Europe: Ankara Maphusu (The Prisoner of Ankara) was published in France in 1957, 11 years before it was first published in Turkish. WORKS: Kara Kitap (The Black Book), Ne Bir Ses Ne bir Nefes (Not a Sound, Not a Breath), Ahmet Fendi, Behire’nin Talipleri (Behire’s Suitors), Ben Mi (You Mean Me), Fatma’nın Günahı (Fatma’s Sin), Gönül Gibi (Something Like A Heart), Emine, Hiç (None), Çılgın Gibi (Madly), Fosforlu Cevriye (Flashy Cevriye), Aksaray’dan Bir Perihan (A Perihan From Aksaray), Yalı’nın Gölgeleri (The Shadows of Mansion), Ankara Mahpusu (The Prisoner of Ankara). Foreign Rights: Ankara Mahpusu/The Prisoner of Ankara (Editeurs Reuins, France); Çılgın Gibi/Madly (Aventurine, France)

ANKARA MAPHUSU - PRISONER OF ANKARA Editeurs Reuins, France, 139 pages, Novel ISBN: 9756719095 www.onkagency.com

Vasfi is a medical school student who murders one of his friends in a quarrel and fight at a night club. He is imprisoned for 12 years, and after his release cannot find a job, neither in Ankara nor in Istanbul. All he can do is find out the address of Zeynep, his lover during his student years. However Zeynep is now a shop owner, a bad-tempered and stingy woman. Vasfi never shows his face, he just follows her around and hesitates to contact her. One day, while sleeping in cold weather in one of the train stations, an old woman, who likens Vasfi to her lost son, gives him shelter in her house and Vasfi starts living there. After a while he also meets a friend from prison, who helps him find a job as a construction worker; the tragic story of a young idealistic man whose life turns into ruins but who still succeeds in surviving.

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BOOKS FROM TURKEY

ŞEBNEM İŞİGÜZEL

Şebnem İşigüzel was born in 1973 and studied Anthropology at Istanbul University. Her first book, entitled Hanene Ay Doğacak (Moon Will Rise On Your Abode), was published in 1993. The same year she received the Yunus Nadi Short Story Award. Her published works include, Öykümü Kim Anlatacak (Who Will Tell My Story?, Short Stories, 1994), Eski Dostum Kertenkele (Lizard, My Old Chap, Short Stories, 1996), Neşeli Kadınlar Arasında (Among Merry Women, Essays, 2000), Kaderimin Efendisi (The Master of my Destiny, Short Stories, 2001), Sarmaşık (The Ivy, Novel, 2002), Çöplük (The Dump, Novel, 2004) and Resmi Geçit (Parade, Novel, 2008).

ÇÖPLÜK THE DUMP Berlin Verlag, Germany 376 pages, Novel Translated by Christopher K. Neumann ISBN: 9750502787 [email protected]

In 1993, Şebnem İşigüzel entered the literary scene as a 19-year old author with her first novel Moon Will Rise On Your Abode. She acquired a solid place in Turkish literature during the nineties thanks to her later works. The Dump is the story of the homeless Leyla, who is seen as the queen of the dump by the homeless brigade. One day, Leyla finds a half-dead man among the garbage. She takes him to her hovel where she cures him in the subsequent weeks. This exciting novel reveals the secret miseries which lurk behind luxurious lives. The reader is also invited to explore the dark and dirty underbelly of Istanbul.

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ŞEYHMUS DİKEN

Şeyhmus Diken was born in Diyarbakır. He graduated from Diyarbakir High school and the Faculty of Political Studies at Ankara University. His short career of being a civil servant abruptly ended with the military coup of 12 September 1980. His first book was published in 1997. His articles and texts were published in newspapers such as Radikal, Yeni Yüzyıl, Yeni Binyıl, Evrensel, Taraf, BirGün, Özgür Gündem and magazines such as Notos, Virgül, Radikal Books and Radikal İki. He is the Diyarbakır representative of International Pen’s Turkish Headquarters and a member of the Turkish Writers Union. WORKS: Kürdilihicazkâr Metinler (Kürdilihicazkâr Texts), Güneydoğu’da Sivil Hayat (Civil Life in the Southeast), Sırrını Surlarına Fısıldayan Şehir Diyarbakır (Diyarbakır- the City that Whispers Her Secret to Her City Walls), Diyarbekir Diyarım Yitirmişem Yanarım (Diyarbekir I’ve Lost My Country and I Burn Inside), Tango ve Diyarbakır (Tango and Diyarbakır), İsyan Sürgünleri (Rebellion Exiles), Türkiye’de Sivil Hayat ve Demokrasi (Civil Life and Democracy in Turkey), Amidalılar Sürgündeki Diyarbekirliler (Amidalians - People from Diyarbakır in Exile), Taşlar Şahit (Stones are the Witness), Zevalsiz Ömrün Sürgünü Mehmed Uzun (Mehmed Uzun- Exile of the Everlasting Life).

SIRRINI SURLARINA FISILDAYAN ŞEHİR, DİYARBAKIR DIYARBAKIR- THE CTY THAT WHISPERS HER SECRET TO HER CITY WALLS Editions Turquoise, France Translated by Françosi Skvor ISBN: 9750500105 [email protected]

Diyarbakır, an eternal city, whose essence has been moulded with pain and sadness, but her hope is always kept alive…Diyarbakır, the wounded city with deep wounds in her body… Diyarbakır the city that since ancient times has been able to withstand numerous disasters and catastrophes caused by time and people. Diyarbakır, the city whose pain, sadness and hope has not yet been adequately voiced…” This is how novelist Mehmet Uzun explains the silence of Diyarbakır and the wealth of life hiding underneath in the foreword of this novel. With this book in your hands, Şeyhmus Diken takes a step towards breaking the silence of a city that whispers her secret to her city walls. Şeyhmus Diken is the voice of Diyarbakır. A soft, friendly flowing voice; a meaningful and refreshing voice. Şeyhmus Diken depicts Diyarbakır as a city, as a way of life in itself, instead of seeing her as a strategic location, a symbol or an abstract declaration of identity. He does it with a sense of humour, with a soft, friendly flowing and refreshing voice.

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BOOKS FROM TURKEY

TAHSİN YÜCEL

Tahsin Yücel, who was born in Elbistan in 1933, is not only known for his stories and novels, but for his translations, essays, and criticism. His two stories were published in Varlık magazine’s annual “New Stories” book (1950) when he was still a student at Galatasaray High School. He completed his higher education in the field of literature. Yücel, who became Professor of French Language and Literature at Istanbul University, has won numerous literary awards for his short stories and novels. Beginning with his work entitled Mutfak Çıkmazı (Kitchen Impasse) in 1960, he continued writing with Vatandaş (Compatriot, 1975), Peygamberin Son Beş Günü (The Prophet’s Last Five Days, 1992), Bıyık Söylencesi (The Moustache Myth, 1995), Yalan (Lie, 2002), Kumru ile Kumru (Kumru and Kumru, 2005) and Gökdelen (Skyscraper, 2006). Foreign Rights: Gökdelen/The Skyscraper (Uniscorp, Bulgarian), (Kedros, Greek); Peygamberin Son Beş Günü/The Last Five Days of the Prophet (Rocher, French); Vatandaş/Citizen (Rocher, French), (Fan Noli, Albanian), (Uniscorp, Bulgarian)

GÖKDELEN - THE SKYSCRAPER Uniscorp Publishing, Bulgaria 252 pages, Novel Translated by İmren Murad Tasinova ISBN: 9789750706615 [email protected] [email protected]

Can Tezcan, the protagonist of the novel that begins on the morning of 17 February 2073, is one of the most prominent lawyers in Turkey. He devises a plan to solve the legal predicament of his wealthy client, Temel Diker, who aims to turn Istanbul into a city of skyscrapers in a style that will surpass New York City in beauty and modernity. Can Tezcan wants to privatize the judicial system. The Skyscraper, the latest novel written by Tahsin Yücel, the renowned master of satire, is a feast of literature involving breath-taking surprises, and tells the story of the last house with a garden in the district of Cihangir, squeezed in between skyscrapers, of the stray cats that are viciously killed, of miserable men who have to survive in wild and remote places in destitution, of the wealthy who roam the city in one-seat planes called shuttles, of self-seeking politicians and media tycoons who do not fail to flatter them

195

TEZER ÖZLÜ

Tezer Özlü was born 1943 and died in1986 at a very young age. She was one of Turkey’s most original writers, with three “different” books published during her lifetime. Her first book, Eski Bahçe (Old Garden), comprising of short stories was published in magazines. Her first novel Çocukluğun Soğuk Geceleri (The Cold Nights of Childhood) tells a life story, a life full of abuse that is sometimes physical and sometimes passive-aggressive, and of how the protagonist suffered from being rejected for being both different and unusual. It is told in a touching and sensitive way, from the bottom of her heart, or, in her words, “feeling it in her flesh.” She wrote a narrative in German under the title Auf den Spuren eines Selbstmords (Journey to The Edge of Life). The narrative, which is a search for the meaning of life that takes the form of following the traces of her three favorite authors Svevo, Kafka and Pavese, won the Marburg Literature Prize in 1983. Later she translated this work into Turkish under the title Yaşamın Ucuna Yolculuk (Journey to the Edge of Life), rewriting it to a certain extent. WORKS: Yaşamın Ucuna Yolculuk (A Journey to the Edge of Life), Eski Bahçe-Eski Sevgi (Old Garden- Old Love), Kalanlar (Those Left Behind), Zaman Dışı Yaklaşım (Life Timed Out).

ÇOCUKLUĞUN SOĞUK GECELERİ THE COLD NIGHTS OF CHILDHOOD Berlin, Express-Edition, Germany, 1985 65 pages, Novel ISBN: 9789753632607 [email protected] [email protected]

The first novel of Tezer Özlü reflects a childhood that not only marks the beginning of life but also one that you always keep coming back to, perhaps one that you can never escape. The writer opposes the world of adults who just like in their childhood do not give a chance to those who are different, and she takes refuge in the bare reality of memories.

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BOOKS FROM TURKEY

TOMRİS UYAR

Tomris Uyar (1941-2003) was born in Istanbul and educated at the Arnavutköy American College for Girls until 1961. She then graduated from the Faculty of Economics at the Journalism Institute of Istanbul University in 1963. She is one of the founders of Papirüs Literary Review. Her works, including essays and critiques have been published in Yeni Dergi, Soyut and Varlık that are the most well-known journals of the time. Tomris Uyar is one of the masters of Turkish short story writing from the post-1960 period. She has 10 story collections and two of them, Yürekte Bukağı (A Choke in the Heart, 1979) and Yaza Yolculuk (A Journey to Summer ,1986), have won very prestigious story awards which carry the name of the well-know short story writer Sait Faik. She has also translated more than 60 books. Her diaries, recounting a period of 5 years in her life, have been published in 5 volumes. WORKS: Short Stories: İpek ve Bakır (Silk and Copper) Ödeşmeler (Payback), Dizboyu Papatyalar (Daisies knee high), Yürekte Bukağı (A Choke in the Heart), Yaz Düşleri/Düş Kışları (Summer Dreams and Winters of Dreams), Gece Gezen Kızlar (Girls Who Go Out at Night), Yaza Yolculuk (A Journey to Summer), Sekizinci Günah (The Eighth Sin), Otuzların Kadını (Woman of the Thirties), Aramızdaki Şey (The Thing Between Us), Güzel Yazı Defteri (A Lovely Notebook). Diaries: Gündökümü (Breakdown of a Day), Sesler (Voices), Yüzler (Faces), Sokaklar (Streets), Günlerin Tortusu (The Sludge of Days), Tanışma Günleri/Anları (Days/Moments of Acquaintance), Yüzleşmeler (Confrontations).

SELECTED STORIES Literaturca Verlag, Germany, 2001 233 Pages, Short Stories ISBN: 9783935535021 [email protected] [email protected]

Tomris Uyas is known for her strong observational power, for her thoroughly refined language, and for her characters that unearth what is underneath big cities. Generally, Uyar wrote about the monotonous daily lives of high society, of the life-styles of the spoiled wealthy, of their relationships and make-believe happiness.She was a relentless examiner of the details of the real life, the small pieces that escape the eye, its weaknesses, and the wretchedness that makes people human. Tomris Uyar writes to capture real life. She does not adopt a condescending or presumptuous attitude, but she has the air of having lived it all. In her stories, there is the threadbare joy, the nervousness of monotonous lives, and the never-ending war between the conscious and the subconscious. In momentary depictions, sketched in an economy of words, Uyar gives a cross-section of characters so powerful that the reader perceives their entire lives. Due to her power of description, her work achieves its mastery. Her irony is a tragedy on the brink of a smile, and serves the purpose of better describing her characters, giving a full reflection of human being, and reducing the loss in explanations, in fact eliminating excessive description altogether. Uyar’s stories carry the richness of the search for last shards of happiness, longings, and the satisfaction that smothers it.

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TUNA KİREMİTÇİ

Tuna Kiremitçi was born in Eskişehir in 1973. His first poems were published in Varlık magazine during his Galatasaray High School years. His book entitled Ayabakanlar (Moon Watchers), that also won him the Nabi Nayır Award for Poetry was introduced to his readers in 1994. In 1997 he shared the Erguvan Balkan Poetry Award with the Bosnian poet Izzet Saraylic. This was followed by his second book of poems Akademi (Academy) in 1998. His first novel Git Kendini Çok Sevdirmeden (Go Before You Make Me Love You Too Much) was published in 2002 and brought him a great deal of success and wider readership. His other novels are; Bu İşte Bir Yalnızlık Var (Way of Loneliness, 2003), Yolda Üç Kişi (Three People on the Way, 2005), Dualar Kalıcıdır (Prayers are Everlasting, 2007) Foreign Rights: Dualar Kalıcıdır/Prayers are Everlasting (Radio play, WDR, German) (Trud, Bulgaria), (Koolibri, Estonian), (Tritonic-Romanian); Bu İşte Bir Yalnızlık Var/Way of Loneliness (Kritiki, Greek)

DUALAR KALICIDIR PRAYERS ARE EVERLASTING Trud Publishing House, Bulgaria, 2008 180 pages, Novel Translated by Paulina Mateeva ISBN: 9789752935921 [email protected] www.kalemagency.com

Prayers Are Everlasting tells the story of the friendship of a woman who had taken refuge in Istanbul during World War II and a young girl who tries to survive against the odds of life in the present day. The lives of Rosella Galante, for whom this life will soon come to pass,,and young Pelin intersect in an “over-civilized” Central European country. Other than heartbreaks and past sorrows, there is one other thing that builds a bond between the two women: the Turkish language. Rosella and Pelin find themselves in the middle of a long conversation that gradually becomes more interesting. This breath-taking story reflects the interaction of two different generations, two different women and two different perspectives on life

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BOOKS FROM TURKEY

TUNCER CÜCENOĞLU

Tuncer Cücenoğlu was born in 1944. After completing his secondary education in Çorum, he graduated from the Department of Documentation and Librarianship at Ankara University. He worked for the Ministry of Education until his retirement in 1983. Cücenoğlu is at present, a member of the Turkish Writers Union Executive Committee, the Ethics Committee of the State Theatres General Management and the PEN Writers Association. He is carrying out several jobs concurrently, which include, teaching “dramatic writing” at MSM private conservatoire, working as publication director for the Theatre section at Papirus publications and writing for the newspaper Cumhuriyet. His plays have been translated into Russian, English, German, French, Bulgarian, Greek, Macedonian, Swedish, Georgian, Urdu, Japanese, Rumanian, Azerbaijani, Polish, Chuvas, Serbian, Spanish, Arabic and Persian and have been staged in those countries. Some of His Works: Aşk ya da Elmas ile Servet’in Hikayesi (Love or The Story of Elmas and Servet), Kiralık Gelinlik (Rented Wedding Gown). Arthur Miller’ın Ölümü (The Death of Arthur Miller), Atatürk ve Sanat (Atatürk and Art), Matruşka Romanya’da (Matrushka in Rumania), Bu Dünyadan... (From This World...), Gergedan’laşan Dünya (World Turning into a Rhinoceros), Polonya İzlenimleri (Impressions from Poland), Devlet Tiyatroları’na Öneriler (Suggestions to State Theatres), Repertuar Politikaları Değişmelidir (Repertory Politics Must Change), Uğur Uludağ’ın Önlenemeyen Tırmanışı (The Rise and Rise of Uğur Uludağ), Cumhuriyetimizin 80. Yılında Oyun Yazarlığımız (Play Writing on the 80th Anniversary of the Republic), Yazın ve Tiyatro (Literature and Theatre). Yurtdışında Yaşayan Türklere Düşen Görevler (2) (The Task of Turks Living Abroad 2), Yurtdışında Yaşayan Türklere Düşen Görevler (The Task of Turks Living Abroad 2), Sabahattin Ali Dosyası Açılmalıdır(The Sabahattin Ali File Should Be Reopened).

Lawina, tells the harrowing story of a village living under the imminent threat of an avalanche. This tense, atmospheric play, while giving an account of the atrocious crimes committed and the abuse of power perpetrated by a repressive village council, set up under the pretext of dealing with the avalanche, it also sends the message that, unless people raise their voices against injustice, any one of them could be the next victim.

ÇIĞ-ÇIKMAZ SOKAK - LAWINA-DEAD END L’espace D’un İnstant, France, 2008 Translated by Murat Aykaç Erginöz Valérie Gay-Aksoy ISBN: 9782915037289

Dead End is clearly a political play. The play shows the transformation of an authoritarian state into a “police state” and focuses on one of the torturers, a policeman, later questioned by the woman that he has tortured. The author asks the audience to consider whether it is morally just for a torture victim to torture their own torturer and urges them to stand firm against torture.

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TURGUT ÖZAKMAN

Turgut Özakman was born in Ankara in 1930 and graduated from the School of Law at Ankara University. Afterwards, he worked as a lawyer for some time. After attending the Institute of Theatre Science at Cologne University, he was employed as a literary reporter by the State Theater. He occupied the positions of the head of the Department of Central Programming, and Vice-general manager for Turkish Radio and Television, as well as head vice-general manager and General Manager for four years at the State Theaters. He was also a member and Vice-manager of the Turkish Radio and Television Supreme Council between 1988 and 1994. He taught dramatic writing in the Faculty of Letters at Ankara University for 30 years. Turgut Özakman is a well known novelist who, in addition to his novels, writes non-fiction books. He developed a remarkable skill at writing stage plays and screenplays, exhibiting his uniquely smooth style also evident in his novels, which became extremely successful. WORKS: Novels: Şu Çılgın Türkler (Those Crazy Turks), Korkma İnsancık Korkma (Don’t Be Afraid Little Man), Diriliş Çanakkale 1915 (Resurrection - Dardanelles 1915), 19 Mayıs 1999-Atatürk Yeniden Samsunda (19 May 1999-Atatürk is back in Samsun), Play: Bütün Oyunları (Complete Plays-6 Volumes).

ŞU ÇILGIN TÜRKLER THE CRAZY TURKS San-İcai, Japan 752 pages, Historical Novel ISBN: 975220127X [email protected]

The Crazy Turks is the only book that recounts the Turkish War of Independence in the form of a novel. Özakman decided to write a novel about the National Combat when he walked with 10 friends from Polatlı to Dumlupınar in 1948. The Crazy Turks is the product of a study that took him 57 years to complete. The Crazy Turks is the story of the most legitimate, most ethical, most sacred and most just war. It tells of the first war of independence fought and won against Imperialism, the revolution of nationalization, and the unique story of how the Turks won their independence despite the hidden and continuous threats of imperialism.

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BOOKS FROM TURKEY

YAKUP KADRİ KARAOSMANOĞLU

Yakup Kadri Karaosmanoğlu (Cairo, 1889-Ankara, 1974) is the author of nine novels, as well as several volumes of short stories, memoirs, prose poetry, monographs, and theatrical plays. One of the most important and prominent authors of the early republican era, Karaosmanoğlu’s most important works -such as the novels Nur Baba, Yaban (The Stranger), and Kiralık Konak (Mansion for Rent)- deal with the problematic relationships between the people and intellectuals, religion and modernity, idealism and reality, and the imperial legacy and the republican renewal. Yakup Kadri Karaosmanoğlu is a must-read for everyone who wants to become acquainted with Turkey. His work represents both the literary and political history of Turkey. Some of His Works: Kiralık Konak (Mansion for Rent), Hüküm Gecesi (Judgement Night), (Sodom and Gomorrah), Yaban (The Stranger), Bir Sürgün (An Exile), Zoraki Diplomat (The Unwilling Diplomat), Anamın Kitabı (My Mother’s book), Ankara, Atatürk, Bir Serencam (A Consequence),  Hep O Şarkı (Always the Same Song), Hikâyeler (Stories), Milli Savaş Hikâyeleri (Stories of the National War), Orada Bir Köy Var Uzakta (There Is a Village There in the Distance), Panorama, Politikada 45 Yıl (45 Years in Politics),Vatan Yolunda (For the Nation). Foreign Rights: Nur Baba (Adelphi Edizioni, Italy),(Editiones Destino, Spain); Ankara (Éditions Turquoise, France); Yaban (Suhrkamp Verlag, Germany)

YABAN - THE STRANGER Bibliotech Suhrkamp, 2008, German 246 pages, Novel ISBN: 9789754703696 [email protected]

The Stranger is written in line with the prevalent understanding of realism in its era, where Yakup Kadri portrays an Anatolian village during the period from the end of World War I until the end of Sakarya War, and from the eyes of an intellectual he describes the inhabitants of the village, their attitude towards the National Struggle and the situation in the village. The writer when describing The Stranger said “this piece of work self-unravelled and practically surfaced from the depths of my being”. The writer attempts to address many of the problems identified in this novel with his later work Ankara.

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YALVAÇ URAL

Yalvaç Ural was born in Konya in 1945 and is a prominent figure in Turkish Children’s Literature for which he has won numerous awards in Turkey and abroad. In 1986 he recieved the Orderu Usmiechu from Polish children to recognise his ability to make the children of the world smile. Some of his books include Korkuluğun Kalbi (The Scarecrow’s Heart), Müzik Satan Çocuklar (Children Selling Music), La Fonten Orman Mahkemesi’nde (LaFontaine Taken to the Forest Court), Tekir Noktalama İşaretlerini Öğretiyor (Tekir Teaches Punctuation), Anadolu Efsaneleri (The Legends of Anatolia), Gözü Boynuz ile İzi Yaldız (The Snail), Bir Gök Dolusu Güvercin (Sky Full of Pidgins), Akıllı Minik ile Obur (Little Smart and Always-Hungry), Kayıp Ülkenin Çocuğu (The Child from the Lost Country), Kahraman Süvariler (Heroic Cavalrymen), Korkulu Bir gün (A Frightening Day), Sihirli Pabuçlar (Magic Shoes), Sincap (Squirrel, Poems) Kulağımdaki Küçük Çan (The Little Bell in My Ear, Poems) and Mırname (The Collected Purrings of a Cat, Poems). Foreign Rights: Korkuluğun Kalbi/The Scarecrow’s Heart, (German, Farzi, Macedonian), Müzik Satan Çocuklar/ Children Selling Music, (Albanian, Macedonian), Alucura Çayevi/The Teahause Alucura (Macedonian), La Fonten Orman Mahkemesinde (Macedonian), Gölcüğün Küçük Avcıları/The Small Hunters of the Pond (English)

The weather was very cold. Perhaps the Scarecrow would have frozen if it were not for its thick jacket. There was no one else to be seen in the vast, snowy fields. Suddenly a starling appeared. They were to spend the winter together. The scarecrow told the starling it could use the inside pocket of its jacket for a nest.

KORKULUĞUN KALBİ THE SCARECROW’S HEART 37 pages, Children’s Book, Illustrated Story ISBN: 9759020628 [email protected]

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BOOKS FROM TURKEY

YAŞAR KEMAL

Yaşar Kemal Gökçeli was born in 1923 in Hemite, a 60-house hamlet in the province of Adana, in southern Turkey. At the age of five Yaşar Kemal suffered a profound shock when his father was murdered while praying at the mosque. This left him with a speech impediment which lasted until the age of 20. It was a love of poetry that made him learn how to read and write in order to record the poems he composed. He was the first villager of Hemite ever to finish primary school. Yaşar Kemal then left for Adana, the provincial seat, to attend secondary school. But in order to live he was forced to work in a ginning factory and two years later he had to give up his study plans. Yaşar Kemal’s first book of stories was published in 1952 under the title Sarı Sıcak (Yellow Heat) and he then wrote İnce Memed (Memed, my Hawk) which was published in 1955. This first novel was a success both in Turkey and abroad. The International Pen Club recommended the book to UNESCO who funded a French translation. Since then his work has won several awards all over the world and has been translated into many other languages. Some of His Novels: Teneke (The Drumming-Out), Orta Direk (The Wind from the Plain), Yer Demir Gök Bakır (Iron Earth, Copper Sky), Ölmez Otu (The Undying Grass), Demirciler Çarşısı Cinayeti (Murder in the Ironsmiths Market), Yusufcuk Yusuf (Yusuf, Little Yusuf), Yılanı Öldürseler (To Crush the Serpent), Al Gözüm Seyreyle Salih (The Saga of a Seagull), Allahın Askerleri (God’s Soldiers), Deniz Küstü (The Sea-Crossed Fisherman), Hüyükteki Nar Ağacı (The Pomegranate on the Knoll), Fırat Suyu Kan Akıyor Baksana (Look, the Firat River is Flowing with Blood), Karıncanın Su İçtiği (Ant Drinking Water), Tanyeri Horozları (The Cocks of Dawn), Üç Anadolu Efsanesi (Three Anatolian Legends), Ağrıdağı Efsanesi (The Legend of Mount Ararat), Binboğalar Efsanesi (The Legend of the Thousand Bulls).

İNCE MEMED - MEMED, MY HAWK NYRB Classics, USA, 2005 392 pages, Novel Translated by Eduoard Rodini ISBN: 9789750807146 [email protected]

Memed, My Hawk is Kemal’s debut novel and is the first novel in his İnce Memed tetralogy. In 1961, the book was translated into English thus gaining Kemal his first exposure to English-speaking readers. In 1984, the novel was freely adapted by Peter Ustinov into a film (also known as The Eagle and the Hawk. In İnce Memed/ Memed, My Hawk Yaşar Kemal criticizes the fabric of society through a legendary hero, the protagonist, who flees to the mountains as a result of the oppression of the Ağas. One of the most famous living writers in Turkey, Kemal is noted for his command of the language and lyrical description of bucolic Turkish life.

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YAVUZ BAHADIROĞLU

Yavuz Bahadıroğlu was born in Rize in 1945; he began working as a journalist in Istanbul in 1971. He worked as a reporter, researcher, interviewer and anecdote writer. He also worked as an editor for a newspaper and a magazine and as a company manager. While he worked as a reporter and interviewer, he produced works for children. He has published hundreds of children’s novels and stories. He became famous as a result of his historical novels. His first novel, named Sunguroğlu, followed by his second work, Buhara Yanıyor (Buhara is Burning), became best sellers in Turkey. He wrote more than thirty novels about various eras of the Ottoman Empire as well as hundreds of other works including novels, children’s books, short stories, research studies, plays, film scripts and intellectual works. To date, more than two and a half million books by Yavuz Bahadıroğlu have been sold.

ENDÜLÜS’E VEDA FAREWELL TO ANDALUSIA National Center for Translation, English 272 pages, Novel ISBN: 9754081069 [email protected], www.nesil.com

This is his only novel which focuses on the Andalusian period. The novel strikingly portrays the events of the last Andalusian state in Granada, the fights for the throne, Andalusians losing their warrior spirit as they concentrate on building magnificent mansions and palaces, Ayse Emir who envies the Queen of Spain, Andalusians who embrace the Spanish way of life, Sultans who collude with the enemy to seize the throne and finally the loss of Granada.

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BOOKS FROM TURKEY

YILDIZ RAMAZANOĞLU

Yıldız Ramazanoğlu was born in Ankara in 1958 and is a pharmacist, NGO representative and a writer. She graduated from Ankara Girls College and the Faculty of Pharmacy at Hacettepe University. Her essays and short stories were published in a number of periodicals. She was the editor of the book Osmanlı’dan Cumhuriyet’e Kadının Tarihi Dönüşümü (Women’s Historical Transformation from Ottomans to the Republic). Her book of short stories Deep Black received the TYP Short Story Award. WORKS: Bir Dünyanın Kadınları (The Women of a World), Derin Siyah (Deep Black, Short Stories), İkna Odası (The Room of Persuasion, Novel), İçimden Geçen Şehirler (Cities I have in Mind, Essays), Kırmızı (Red, Short Stories)

KIRMIZI RED TPG, UK, 2009 142 pages, Short Story ISBN: 9789752639720 www.timas.com.tr

Those who find themselves trapped in the slums of big cities, Zeliha who is watching with anxiety and agitation as her young daughter sets off on her first journey alone, people in carriages of a train. In the mountains of Afghanistan, the silent scream bursting out of Serbet’s eyes is lost to the numb ears of the modern people, those who are rolling downhill, and well-told stories of men. Yıldız Ramazanoglu, as one of the cornerstones of contemporary Turkish storytelling, portrays endless different versions of the human condition. Perhaps all the stories are in fact the story of one human being.

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YILMAZ KARAKOYUNLU

Yılmaz Karakoyunlu was born in 1936 in Istanbul and after graduating from the School of Political Science at Ankara University, he worked as an inspector for the DPT (State Planning Organization) for three years. Karakoyunlu completed his postgraduate degree in the USA and received a PhD from Istanbul University. He then continued his career working in Turkey’s most prominent business groups, Sabancı Holding, Kanal D, and Tekstilbank. He also served as a Member of Parliament and was a columnist for Sabah newspaper. Yılmaz Karakoyunlu’s novels are mostly based on the political events during and after the Second World War and their affects on the nation. Yılmaz Karakoyunlu’s novels include Salkım Hanım’ın Taneleri (1990 Yunus Nadi Novel Award), Üç Aliler Divanı (The Diwan of Three Alis), Yorgun Mayıs Kısrakları The Mares of Tired May, Perize, and Çiçekli Mumlar Sokağı (The Street of Flowered Candles) ve Güz Sancısı (Autumn Pain). Foreign Rights: Güz Sancısı/Autumn Pain (Livanis, Greece), Salkım Hanımın Taneleri/Lady Salkım’s Beads (Livanis, Greece)

SALKIM HANIMIN TANELERİ LADY SALKIM’S BEADS Livanis, Greece 212 pages, Novel ISBN: 9756719265 www.kalemagency.com

During the Second World War Istanbul was undergoing a critical period and the rich people in Istanbul were forced to vacate their homes for those coming from Anatolia. Under these disturbing circumstances, family relations were shattered just like Lady Salkım’s beads. Greeks, Armenians, Jews, and Turks bearing the heavy burden of the property tax, start their journey into exile from Haydarpaşa Train Station to Askale. The tragic circumstances of İbrahim Fuad, who, on his way back from exile is forced to ask a boy selling simit (turkish bagels) to lend him money to buy a ticket for the ferry home. The book tells the story of one of the most depressing periods in Turkish history. The reader will experience feeling anger at times but mostly compassion.

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BOOKS FROM TURKEY

YUNUS EMRE

Yunus Emre is a XIIIth Century Sufi poet and what we know about him is restricted to the limited information found in menakib-i nabe books, which are bibliographic works about the lives and deeds of holy men written long after Yunus Emre’s lifetime, and the assumptions we can draw from his own poems. It is believed that he embraced the path of Sufism after his Madrasa education. For many years he was the pupil of a Sheikh called Taktuk Emre who lived near Sakarya, after which he travelled through Konya, Damascus and Azerbaijan. He is known to have written Risaletü’n Nushiyye (The Book of Sermons). The poet is thought to have been born in 1240 and died in 1320/1. He was buried in Sakarya, Sarikoy where he was born. With his thinking and the concepts he developed in his works, he is considered to be one of the greatest names in Turkish Literature to have grown out of Anatolia. He exercised immense influence from his own day until the present not only on folk and dervish lodge poetry but also on divan poetry. He depicted the relationship of humans with other humans, objects and God in his verses enriched by Sufism and Islamic thought. This immortal poet wrote about concepts such as death, birth, commitment to life, divine justice, human love and the number of his poems (including hymns and poems) is about 360.

DİVAN VE RİSALETÜ’N NUSHİYYE DIVAN AND THE BOOK OF SERMONS Basam Books, Finland, 2008 Translated by Suna Marija Önder ISBN: 9789525534740

This book enables the reader to read Divan and The Book of Sermons under one roof, both written by the famous Sufi and folk poet Yunus Emre. The Book of Sermons is written in the style of the Masnavi consisting of stories full of religious, Sufi and moral knowledge and ways of thinking. Divan is a collection of Yunus Emre poems on love written according to aruz (metres consisting of sequences of long and short syllables) and hece (metre used by ‘popular’ poets). Yunus Emre’s prevalent way of thinking of his era, his language admired for its cultural tones, and his pure way of expressing himself, as well as his poems communicating timeless and placeless messages, has much to offer to the contemporary reader who is troubled by the worries of our time.

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YUSUF ATILGAN

Yusuf Atılgan (1921-1989) lived 32 years in a village after graduating from the Turkish Language and Literature Department at Istanbul University. In 1976, he moved back to Istanbul and worked in a number of publishing houses. Atılgan created unforgettable characters and a unique literary style in his short stories and novels, and was the author of some of the best examples of modern narration techniques in Turkish literature. He always viewed life from the “other side,” dealing with psychological alienation and loneliness.. He has a big following among discerning readers in Turkey. With his first novel, Aylak Adam (The Loiterer), he placed second for the 1958 Yunus Nadi Novel Award. His second novel, Anayurt Oteli (Motherland Hotel), was published in 1973. Anayurt Oteli (Motherland Hotel) was made into a successful film by director Ömer Kavur. He has a collection of short stories entitled Bodur Minareden Öte (Beyond the Short Minaret, 1960).

ANAYURT OTELİ - MOTHERLAND HOTEL Arles: Solin, France, 1992, 108 pages, Novel Translated by Ferda Fidan ISBN: 97897536300664 [email protected] [email protected]

Zebercet is a pratagonist of a life which is “neither living nor dead”. He bears the same fate as the Motherland Hotel where he first opened his eyes and in which he still resides: days passing by in a series of interim relationships which resemble one another, a life that drifts away in loneliness and solitude.

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BOOKS FROM TURKEY

ZÜLFÜ LİVANELİ

Zülfü Livaneli was born in Konya, in 1946. He is a Turkish folk singer, politician, writer and film director. Zülfü Livaneli, has won several national and international awards for his music, which has been interpreted by such artists as Joan Baez, Maria Farandouri and Maria del Mar Bonet. One of the most famous names in Turkish culture, art and politics, Zülfü Livanelli has composed approximately 300 songs and 30 pieces of film music. To date, he has directed three feature-length films; Yer Demir Gök Bakır (Iron Earth, Copper Sky), Sis (Fog) and Şahmaran (Hammer). He won the “Golden Palm Award” at the Valencia Film Festival and the “Golden Antigone” Award at the Montpelier Film Festival, in 1989. His film Sis was nominated for “Best European Film Award.” Zülfü Livanelli has undertaken joint efforts with Elia Kazan, Jack Lang, Vanessa Redgrave, Arthur Miller, and Mikhail Gorbachov, aimed at developing and improving global culture and the arts. Livanelli, who was appointed UNESCO ambassador in 1996, has also served one term as Member of Parliament. Some of His Works: Arafat’ta Bir Çocuk (A Child in Purgatory), Orta Zekalılar Cenneti (The Heaven of the Mediocre), Diktatör ve Palyaço (The Dictator and the Clown), Sosyalizm Öldü mü? (Is Socialism Dead?), Engereğin Gözündeki Kamaşma (The Eunuch of Constantinople), Bir Kedi- Bir Adam-Bir Ölüm (Memory of Snow), Mutluluk (Bliss), Gorbaçov’la Devrim Üstüne Konuşmalar (Conversations with Gorbachov on Revolution), Leyla’nın Evi (Leyla’s House).

By a strange coincidence, circumstances bring three disparate characters, Meryem, İrfan and Cemal together, giving them the chance to witness the storms gathering in each other’s lives. Bliss, besides being a period novel, is also a portrait of today’s Turkey, depicting the rural and urban realities of Istanbul and the Aegean coast. It is a masterpiece, plumbing the psychological depths of its characters Bliss was awarded the “Discovery of a Great Writer Prize” by Barnes & Noble. MUTLULUK - BLISS Gremese Editore, Italy, 2007 343 pages, Novel Translated by Elçin Kumru ISBN: 9751409004 www.livaneli.net