As two of Turkey’s best novel writers who are also very well internationally acclaimed, Elif Shafak and Burhan Sönmez met with London based readers at a cosy “literature night” hosted by the Waterstones Piccadilly and with the presentation of Rosie Goldsmith.
Tackling many literal aspects like authorship, creative process and writing about Istanbul, Rosie Goldsmith brought up the fact that although both Shafak and Sönmez are renowned by their Istanbul analogies and depictions, neither of them was actually born in Istanbul.
Answering to the question Elif Shafak said Istanbul has always been similar to a woman’s existence to her, with a feminine energy and being. Extending her description more, Shafak said Istanbul has always been under the oppressive dominance of male hegemony, she (Istanbul) has always found her salvation to be her and fight back.
Talking about his latest and third novel, Istanbul Istanbul, which takes place in a prison in Istanbul with many depictions of the ways to how prisoners find their “salvations” from the unbearable tortures, Istanbul Istanbul consists of philosophy and hope. In Elif Shafak’s “the Architect’s Apprentice”, the book is Set in 16th-century Istanbul, epicentre of the vast and powerful Ottoman Empire, the novel tells the story of 12-year-old Jahan, a penniless Indian boy who stows away on a ship bound for Turkey, in part to escape his brutal stepfather and in part to protect his beloved white elephant, Chota. Boy and elephant wind up in the palace menagerie, where they soon catch the eye of the Royal Architect, Mimar Sinan, and the Sultan’s beautiful daughter, Mihrimah.
Both writers then got on with signing the copies of their books along with cherishing the moments with their readers.
Writer bios:
Elif Shafak was born in Strasbourg, France, in 1971. She is an award-winning novelist and the most widely read woman writer in Turkey. Her books have been translated into more than twenty languages.
Shafak spent her teenage years in Madrid, Spain before returning to her native Turkey. Throughout her life she has lived in numerous cities and states, including Ankara, Turkey, Cologne, Germany; Amman, Jordan; and Boston, Michigan, and Arizona. She has at the same time been deeply attached to the city of Istanbul, which plays an important part in her fiction. As a result, a sense of multiculturalism and cosmopolitanism has consistently characterized both her life and her work.
Burhan Sönmez was born in Turkey and grew up speaking Turkish and Kurdish. He worked as a lawyer in Istanbul, and was a founder of the social-activist culture organisation TAKSAV (Foundation for Social Research, Culture and Art).
He wrote in various newspapers and magazines on literature, culture and politics.
He got seriously injured following an assault by police in Turkey and had to move to Britain to receive treatment with the support of Freedom from Torture in London.
He now lives in Cambridge and Istanbul.
His first novel, North (Kuzey), was published in 2009.
His second novel, Sins & Innocents (Masumlar), was published in 2011.
Burhan Sönmez’s third novel, Istanbul Istanbul, was published in 2015.
He translated the poetry book of The Marriage of Heaven and Hell by William Blake from English into Turkish in 2016.
His novels are being published in more than twenty countries: Gallimard (France), OrBooks (USA), btb Random House (Germany), Turbine (Denmark), Nottetempo (Italy), Polirom (Romania), Klimaty (Poland), Dituria (Albania), Antares (Armenia), Thaqafa (Arabic), Lis (Kurdish), Opus (Croatia), Hohe (Ethiopia), Joshua Könyvek (Hungary), Jumhoori (Pakistan), Nepko (Mongolia), Del Vecchio (Italy), Evro Giunti (Serbia), Qanun (Azerbaijani), A.Libris (Macedonia).