Join acclaimed Turkish writers Ece Temelkuran, Murathan Mungan and Oya Baydar on a rare visit to the UK… (more)…as they discuss what it means to be a writer in Turkey today and how their work has been shaped by their interactions with the cultural and political landscape. The event will include readings by the authors and a Q&A with translator and academic Maureen Freely.

 

Oya Baydar was born in 1940 her first novel was published in the Hurriyet newspaper. She was arrested in the military intervention of 1971 and dismissed from her position at the University for being a member of the Turkish Labour Party and Teachers’ Trade Union. After her release, she worked as a columnist and journalist in different newspapers until 1980. After the coup d’état on September 12, 1980, she had to flee Turkey and lived in exile in Germany until 1992. Her work has been translated into more than 20 languages. Oya Baydar currently lives in Turkey.

 

Murathan Mungan was born in 1955 in Istanbul. He worked for the State Theatre as a dramaturge then Arts and Culture Editor for the daily Soz newspaper. He then became a full time writer and has been living in Istanbul since 1988.He has written over fifteen poetry books, among them Osmanlıya Dair Hikâyat (Stories on the Ottomans), and Metal and Yaz Geçer (Summer Too Passes) which has attained the status of a cult book due to its enduring popularity. A selection of his poems were translated and published in Kurdish as Li Rojhilatê Dilê Min (In the East of my Heart). His latest publications in Turkish are Kâğıt Taş Kumaş (Paper Stone Fabric) a play in three parts; Büyümenin Türkçe Tarihi (The History of Growing Up in Turkish), a volume of short stories from the history of modern Turkish literature.

 

Ece Temelkuran

Born 1973 in Turkey, Ece Temelkuran is one of Turkey’s best-known journalists and political commentators. She has been a journalist since 1993 and has been writing political columns since 2000. Her investigative journalism books broach subjects that are highly controversial in Turkey, such as Kurdish and Armenian issues, the women’s movement, and political prisoners. She has published widely and won numerous awards for her work, including the Pen for Peace Award and Turkish Journalist of the Year..As a writer she has published twelve books and two of her books; Deep Mountain, Across the Turkish-Armenian Divide and Book of the Edge is published in English.

Mainly in Turkish, but with a Turkish-English interpreter for the discussion.

 

In Association with English Pen and The British Council

Ticket Information and Times

7pm – £5.00