Category: Turkish Literature

all things literary, book reviews + recommendations, books, books + writers, freedom, home + belonging, Turkish Literature, women's fictionLeave a comment

Ece Temelkuran’s Together: Heart-Shaped Stones, Whitman & Us

Neriman K., PhD

The intertextual connection between Whitman’s “Song of Myself” and Turkish journalist and writer Ece Temelkuran’s latest book Together: 10 Choices for a Better Now (2021) may seem far-fetched to some. I do think, however, that there is a reason why I walked up to my library and picked up the stiffly-aged 1983 edition of Leaves of Grass (1855) and wanted to read “Song of Myself” right after I finished Together. Continue reading Ece Temelkuran’s Together: Heart-Shaped Stones, Whitman & Us

all things literary, book reviews + recommendations, meditations on home + belonging, Middle Eastern +Unapologetically Muslim Reading Challenge, Turkish Literature, women's fiction, World literature4 Comments

A Turkish American Story: Selma Ekrem’s ‘Unveiled’

Neriman K., PhD

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’

all things literary, book reviews + recommendations, books + writers, books in translation, featured, home + belonging, Middle Eastern +Unapologetically Muslim Reading Challenge, translated books, Turkish Literature, World literature6 Comments

From Greece to Turkey: Children of War by Ahmet Yorulmaz

Neriman K., PhD

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

all things literary, books + writers, Turkish Literature, women's fiction, World literature23 Comments

The Year of the Middle Eastern Reading Challenge + Unapologetically Muslim Reading Challenge? Yes, please.

Neriman K., PhD

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.