Adalet Ağaoğlu (1929–2020)

A tribute to one of Turkey’s best-loved novelists

By David Barchard | July 16, 2020


Adalet Ağaoğlu, who died on Tuesday, July 14, at the age of 90, was one of the country’s most accomplished novelists in the last quarter of the 20th century, and very widely read in her own country, though undeservedly ignored elsewhere. Two of her novels, however, were translated into English...
Posted in Literature, Obituaries

‘The Gentleman of Istanbul’ and other sly tales

Turhan Selçuk smiles satirically, almost vaguely, and you find yourself joining him – Yaşar Kemal

By Luke Frostick | July 12, 2019


And that, as the great novelist said, is what great art is about. Minimalism is the key to Turhan Selçuk’s art – his drawings all bold black lines and harsh angles. However, as is so often the case with the best artists, simplicity can be deceptive. His torpedo passing through...
Posted in Exhibitions, Fine Art, Literature

Istanbul writes herself

How four words on the side of a bus triggered Yeşim Cimcoz’s cure for writer’s block

By Yeşim Cimcoz | June 10, 2018


‘New York Writes Itself.’ Splattered across a city bus, the words roll past me (writes Yeşim Cimcoz, photographed above by Monica Fritz). Maybe that was what started it all. I grab my mobile phone, write in the web address and before me opens a bright yellow website. People all over...
Posted in Literature

Yaşar Kemal, a writer’s hero

By Cornucopia UK | March 20, 2015


Joobin Bekhrad’s moving tribute to Yaşar Kemal in Reorient magazine perfectly encapsulates the legacy the novelist left not only within Turkey’s literary history, but for storytelling in general. Bekhrad lovingly calls Kemal, who passed away last month, a ‘hero’. Writing the piece in his Toronto apartment, Bekhrad is surrounded by Kemal’s...
Posted in Literature, Obituaries
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