News » Istanbul is getting its international literature festival!

Istanbul is getting an international literature festival. Organized by Kalem Agency with contributions from Hare, "ITEF - Istanbul Tanpınar Literature Festival" will be organizing many literary activities in many of Istanbul's locales between October 31 - November 3 2009. American author Adam Fawer who's been on the bestseller list for months, Nawal Er Saadawi who is considered as the most important feminist and activist of the world, Cristina Fernández Cubas, author of 'In Istanbul with Agatha', Dutch author Geert Mak who had the world taste the European history with his 1200 page book 'Europe' areare among the 90 writers of whom 52 are from 32 foreign countries participating in the festival. It has been decided that the theme for Istanbul Tanpınar Literature Festival for this year will be "City & Time".

Starting off with an opening party on October 31 at the Çırağan Palace Kempinski the Istanbul Tanpınar Literature Festival will be hosting many activities for booklovers ranging from the gathering of foreign and Turkish writers to meet and discuss, literature coffee breaks/cafés with "Hare", readings at D&R bookstores, panels, book signings and interviews taking place at TÜYAP, to the festival closing party on November 3 at Ghetto where the writers will participate as DJs. Over the course of the festival book readers will have the opportunity to get together with famous writers at literature cafes for book readings and  literary chats.

Why Tanpınar?
A master of our literature Ahmet Hamdi Tanpınar holds an important place among authors who have written about Istanbul. Just as Istanbul has a smell, a voice, a colour and texture it also has its word and one of those who have written the most unforgettable words about it without question is Tanpınar. That's why ITEF incorporated Tanpınar's strength and pride to its name.

What is there about Tanpınar in the festival?
ITEF which considers 2009 as a warming up to the idea of a literature festival has planned a Tanpınar symposium organized by Handan İnci in 2010 as part of the festival. All the translators and editors of Tanpınar will be invited to our magical city of Istanbul. We'll be waiting another year to organize tours of Istanbul as in Tanpınar's novels and concerts of the composers he mentioned.

Young Writers On The Train
British Council and LAF, Literature Across Frontiers and Delta Publishing's common project Word Express with 23 young writers from 12 different countries will visit cities in Europe by train and participate in literary readings. Its last stop will be the Istanbul. Writers of Word Express will realize translation workshops, debates and readings as well as a reading as part of ITEF - Istanbul Tanpınar Literature Festival. The translations made during this journey will be published in a literature magazine in every country it will have visited.