Elif Shafak on the lively literature scene in Turkey

Turkish writer Elif Shafak will discuss literature in Europe with her Catalan colleague Baltasar Porcel at the Frankfurt Book Fair on Sunday. Next year Turkey will be the fair's Guest of Honour. In an interview with Kai Strittmatter she talks about the complexity of her home country: "Of course it's unfortunate that authors and journalists are put on trial in Turkey and that my book was brought to trial, but Turkey is more than that. Turkey is a country with a tremendous diversity in voices. Our literature scene alone is bubbling with energy. But there are so many clichés about Turkey. Sometimes I get the feeling we're not exotic enough to be interesting; not important enough to be part of your literature. We still live in a one-way world: new publications in French, English and German are published very quickly here. But what about the other way round? Very little. We read much more of your literature than you read of ours."

» to the homepage (external link, Süddeutsche Zeitung)
More from the press review on the subject » EU enlargement, » Literature, » Europe, » Turkey
All available articles from » Elif Shafak, » Kai Strittmatter

» To the complete press review of Thursday, October 11, 2007