On the Importance of Contact Between People(s)
This is a fragment of a long and very readable piece on the situation in Iraq. I was struck by this particular quote and how it relates to the Caucasus region. I posted it as a note on my Facebook profile, but I figured I might just as well post it here. “When people aren’t [...]
Ararat by Frank Westerman
Usually I put a picture of the book cover in my post, but this time I don’t. I can give you a picture of the real thing. This is Mount Ararat as it stands over Yerevan and as I see it everyday on my way to work or when I look out of my bedroom [...]
The Implied Author by Orhan Pamuk
The Implied Author is a speech Turkish writer Orhan Pamuk gave when he received the Puterbaugh literary prize in 2006, a few months before he was awarded the Nobel Prize for literature. In this text he discusses how writing is a habit, a need even, for him. The only online English text of this speech [...]
My Father’s Suitcase by Orhan Pamuk
I have a small book in Dutch containing three speeches that Turkish writer Orhan Pamuk gave on different occasions when accepting awards for literary work. The three speeches all deal with the theme of writing, approaching this subject from different angles. This and the next two Sundays I want to read the speeches and discuss [...]
My Grandmother by Fethiye Cetin
One of my favorite bookbloggers, Lynne at Dovegreyreader Scribbles, reviewed My Grandmother: A memoir by Fethiye Cetin. Cetin is a Turkish human rights lawyer whose grandmother told her that was actually Armenian and that she survived the Genocide: As Fethiye recounts her grandmother’s life, and in this beautiful translation by Maureen Freely, you realise that [...]
