23 August 2016

Turkey at the Crossroads

Posted by the Bookshop


Here at the London Review Bookshop we are hosting an informal 'focus on Turkey' season to explore what's going on in Turkey today. There'll be a debate and two film screenings, along with a special display of Turkish literature in the shop.

From the Taksim Square disturbances and the Gezi riots to this year’s attempted coup, political events in Turkey have become vitally influential on the future of the two regions at which Turkey stands as a crossroads – Europe and the Middle East.

For several years, the London Review of Books has been reporting from the front-line of Turkish politics. Now Ece Temelkuran and Kaya Genç will contribute to the debate in person on Thursday 22 September. Two of Turkey’s most prominent young writers, Temelkuran and Genc will be at the shop to talk about Turkey's past, present and future. Daniel Trilling, editor of the New Humanist will chair the discussion. Index on Censorship will be joining us on the evening to talk to the audience about their work on anti-censorship in Turkey.

Get your fill of the best contemporary Turkish literature, essays and poems here. We also have a booklist of the latest writing on Turkish politics, ready to help you navigate the complexities of Turkey's role.

In collaboration with Curzon Home Cinema we'll also be hosting two film screenings, firstly Mustang, which explores the lives of five sisters in a rural Turkish village as they battle against the restrictions and limitations they are placed under from strict family members. Then we'll be showing Grant Gee's Innocence of Memories, a beautiful film exploring love stories through the landscape of Istanbul and a night-time discovery of Orhan Pamuk's real-life museum companion to his novel The Museum of Innocence. Grant Gee will be in conversation with film curator Gareth Evans after the screening.

It is set to be a lively two weeks of debate, discussion, cinema and literature. We hope that you will join us.

BOOK NOW

State of Turkey discussion

'Mustang' film screening

'Innocence of Memories' film screening