Dear Europe: I Promise I’m Not Staying
Sure, I had the privilege of choosing to leave my homeland, but how much of that choice was really mine to begin with? Continue reading Dear Europe: I Promise I’m Not Staying
Category: Turkish Literature
Ece Temelkuran’s Together: Heart-Shaped Stones, Whitman & Us
Together is, indeed, a crucial text that is brutally, lovingly, and magically real. It is the ultimate celebration of our kind and what we can achieve to not only survive but to survive beautifully. Continue reading Ece Temelkuran’s Together: Heart-Shaped Stones, Whitman & Us
Monthly Wrap-Up | August 2020
In the midst of chaos, I wasn’t able to write as much as I wanted in August, but we are coming back full force. Continue reading Monthly Wrap-Up | August 2020
A Turkish American Story: Selma Ekrem’s ‘Unveiled’
Ekrem’s is a story of displacement and self-realization—a story of reconciliation between Eastern and Western cultural codes within a transcultural space as she grows into independence as a woman and an immigrant. Continue reading A Turkish American Story: Selma Ekrem’s ‘Unveiled’
From Greece to Turkey: Children of War by Ahmet Yorulmaz
Children of War is one of the most important translated works released in 2020. Hassanaki’s story encourages us to resist the politics of demonization that breeds polarization and fear—fear of difference and of change. Continue reading From Greece to Turkey: Children of War by Ahmet Yorulmaz
The Year of the Middle Eastern Reading Challenge + Unapologetically Muslim Reading Challenge? Yes, please.
This may all seem too idealistic to some but nonetheless conveys a crucial message about the role of the artist and what cultural and literary representations can offer in the ongoing debates about the so-called “problem” of Muslims in the Anglophone North Atlantic. Continue reading The Year of the Middle Eastern Reading Challenge + Unapologetically Muslim Reading Challenge? Yes, please.
meditations on home, belonging & all things literary 