IZKITAP hosted tens of thousands over the weekend

IZKİTAP – The 4th İzmir Book Fair attracted great interest from İzmir readers. Journalist, writer, and politician Altan Öymen, American writer Adam Fawer, poet and writer Şükrü Erbaş, journalist and writer Saygı Öztürk, and academician-writer Prof. Dr. Behçet Yalın Özkara are among the valuable names who met with book lovers through interviews and signing events.

Hosted by the İzmir Metropolitan Municipality, the IZKİTAP – 4th İzmir Book Fair, organized with the collaboration of İZFAŞ and TACT Fair Organization, continues to welcome book lovers until November 3rd with the theme of “Cinema and Literature.” During the first weekend of IZKİTAP, it welcomed a variety of valuable names and encountered intense interest from tens of thousands of book lovers. Altan Öymen, a former chairman of the Republican People’s Party, journalist, and writer, held an interview and signing event about his book “Between Generations.” Öymen expressed, “Being in İzmir is always wonderful; İzmir is a city that has always been lively as a result of its history. İzmir is a city with a high concentration of sensible people. During my journalism days, I used to come to İzmir several times a month. I feel nostalgic when I come here because I know its history and have visited often. Especially meeting readers in a cultural event like this, at a book fair in İzmir, is a magnificent thing.” During his interview, he shared his experiences on various subjects, from his historical witnessing as a journalist, politician, and writer to his memories.

“My books are very loved in Turkey”

American novelist Adam Fawer, moderated by Algan Sezgintüredi, held an interview about his latest book “Mobius.” Fawer stated, “For the last 20 years, I have been involved in start-up work in California and New York. It’s something that ruins a person’s life. That’s why I thought it would be a good stage to tell a good story. My books are very loved in Turkey; I am very happy that they have received such a response in a different language and culture. When I write my books, I start with an idea. For example, I take concepts like fate, regret, and questioning as a starting point. I decided to base the whole story on an attempt to invent a time machine. Then, I conducted extensive scientific research. My goal was to work hard on how I can adapt a science fiction topic to real life. Afterwards, I created the characters because a good fiction relies entirely on its characters.” Fawer’s fans showed great interest in the interview and formed long lines to have their books signed.

“A literary text is rewritten as many times as it is read”

Meeting with his readers, Şükrü Erbaş stated, “If you only settle for the emotion, meaning, sound, emphasis, etc. that I express in the poems I write, then the poem has told you nothing. A poem speaks to you, and you only read that poem in your own voice; you must read it. Read it in your own voice, do not read it in anyone else’s voice. If you want to create different meanings and associations from that poem, read it with your own voice, your own emphases, your own intonations. Your anger, your pain must mix in there. A literary text is rewritten as many times as it is read.”

“These events should become a tradition”

Erbaş noted that he has been trying to create his own meaning for 50 years and said about the fair: “Such events should be held more often; these events should become a tradition, growing and intensifying. We need each other very much; at least we have cities like this and beautiful people living in them. There are people from other places coming to this event. Therefore, even the smallest thing done here reflects an extraordinary magic and power on the lives of others. You are doing this wonderfully.”

Academician and writer Prof. Dr. Behçet Yalın Özkara, known for his social media shares and the Academiclink YouTube channel, also met with readers during an interview about his book “Get Up, Work, Fail! The Realities Not Told to You in Life.”