A panel titled ‘Yaşar Kemal Art Days’ was held in Mersin.

A panel for the ‘3rd Mersin Yaşar Kemal Art Days’ was held in Mersin. The speakers discussed Yaşar Kemal based on the memories, life experiences, and notes of the master writer whose books have been translated into many languages.

The panel for the 3rd Mersin Yaşar Kemal Art Days was organized in collaboration with the Mersin Metropolitan Municipality, the Mersin Value Adding Committee (MEDEKA), the Yaşar Kemal Foundation, Literary Volunteers, and the Antique Bookseller Bookstore. The event, held at the Newşehir Municipality Wedding and Conference Hall, was moderated by Mithat Delioğlu. The event featured writer Feridun Andaç and Assoc. Prof. Dr. Cihan Erdönmez as speakers, who discussed the famous writer Yaşar Kemal’s work ‘The Pomegranate Tree in the Hüyük’ focusing on topics such as mechanization in agriculture and the destruction of nature. The speakers illustrated Yaşar Kemal’s life and experiences, explaining the central idea of the work concerning mechanization in agriculture and the gradual destruction of nature. The event concluded with a question and answer session.

“We set out to introduce and explain Yaşar Kemal to students”
Mithat Delioğlu, a Literature Teacher at Mezitli Anatolian High School and a member of the MEDEKA Committee, stated that they aimed to introduce and explain Yaşar Kemal, who has introduced Çukurova to the world literature in an epic way and whose works have been translated into almost all world languages, to students. Delioğlu expressed that after reading Yaşar Kemal’s works, students interpret them through various forms such as book covers, essays, short films, and comic books, saying, “The first stage of the Mersin Yaşar Kemal Art Days event was this panel. In February, after the holiday, our students will read ‘The Pomegranate Tree in the Hüyük’ and then showcase their works.”

“We aim for young people to reconnect with books”
Assoc. Prof. Dr. Cihan Erdönmez, a faculty member at Istanbul University Faculty of Forestry, stated that such events would reinforce reading culture among young people, saying, “Since the second half of the 2000s, our age has transformed into a digital age. With audiobook applications and the digital world, unfortunately, young people have somewhat distanced themselves from books. With these events, we aim for young people to reconnect with books, grasp the important advantages of reading, and gain motivation. The rest is already done by Yaşar Kemal, and we don’t need to do much.”