Review of ‘Sadakat’ by Inci Aral Turkuvaz Kitap 2009 This is a subtle and disturbing book. It starts with Azra (name meaning ‘virginal, untouched’) writing a journal from her communal prison cell. She is in prison awaiting the results of a post mortem on her husband’s body, accused of murdering him. She details her seven-year relationship with Ferda (name meaning ‘tomorrow’ or ‘Judgement Day’), their attraction, their arguments and fights. Their relationship is fraught; he can be irritable and Click for more
Book Fairs Galore…
Last week saw Canakkale’s 1st International Book Fair, held in the Megaron Conference centre in the Kolin Hotel. The book fair consisted of one book shop from downtown, a few publishers, foundations and local authors. On the day I visited the international was provided by a stand apparently run by the Cuban tourist board (there was no one on the stand to ask). Still it’s a start and hopefully next year will see a bigger and better book fair. From Click for more
Translation Day
Over the summer I came across a competition which I felt compelled to enter. It was to translate one or more prose pieces or one or more poems from Turkish into English. Though I’d never attempted literary translation and had only been doing technical translation (of academic papers) for six months I thought I’d give it a go. It was a lot of fun. I really enjoyed the challenge of the actual translation and of shaping it into a piece Click for more
Fish Flops
This book was an impulse buy when the kids dragged me into a bookshop (ok who am I kidding, myself and the Brown-Eyed Girl dragged Little Boy Blue). While they searched in the children’s section I scanned the shelves. Interestingly the books were arranged by author, not genre, so my search for a novel was complicated by the fact that Buket Uzuner has written travel memoirs and essays. This book was most definitely a novel with a rather strange picture Click for more
Changing My Viewpoint
A while back I realised that I had an attitude problem. It wasn’t immediately noticeable to everyone, in fact for the most part, nobody knew. But I knew and it was eating me up inside. This attitude was one that is probably not uncommon in expats. It’s a negative view of the country you live in, a pessimism that colours your view of everyone and everything. For a short-term expat this leads to a lot of comparisons with how things Click for more
Grateful
“The ESSENCE of learning to be GRATEFUL is to learn to WANT what you HAVE.” Maureen Gaffney – Flourishing
Trust
I recently read Proust Was a Neuroscientistand I thoroughly enjoyed it. The author takes a look at various writers, thinkers, painters and gourmets and cleverly explains how they predicted things that neuroscience later proved to be true. For instance Auguste Escoffier cleverly forsaw the fifth taste, umami. He published a recipe book in 1903 that includes sauces that seem to be based solely on satisfying our desire for umami. Umami is better known because MSG, that ubiquitous additive, gives us Click for more
Being Short-sighted
I need to start wearing glasses, metaphorical ones, I’m already wearing ones for distance. I can see the outline of my goal, the bright shiny vision of the future. I can see exactly what it will be like and how good it will make me feel. There is a soft-focus effect at play though, the image is not crystal clear. What is perfectly clear is the wall between me and my goal. It’s a wall that can only be broken Click for more
Don’t Panic!
Fittingly enough given it would have been Douglas Adam’s 60th birthday on the 11th of March these words have been running through my head repeatedly in the last few days. The government have decided to change the education system. This should be greeted with shouts of joy and delight as there are plenty of things that could be improved on. But instead of changing the curriculum or adjusting the exam system (which changes every few years anyway) the plan is Click for more
Homage to Hybridity
When I read the Week 9 post it immediately brought to mind my wonderful hybrid sisters. They deserve to be named: Anastasia Ashman, Tara Lutman Ağaçayak, Rose Deniz, Sezin Koehler, Judith van Praag, Elmira Bayrasli, Catherine Salter Bayar and Jocelyn Eikenburg. These are women consistently remind me that being myself is ok, in fact, that it is terrific. Our backgrounds are varied, our locations global, what unites us is a belief in ourselves and an acceptance of our hybrid nature. What Click for more