BOOKPATHS

Istanbul, Turkey

Michael David Lukas talks about his first novel, The Oracle of Stamboul.

Eleonora was conceived in Istanbul, Lukas explains, when he wandered into ‘a narrow dusty little store. In the back was a crystal bowl, and in it was a picture of this little girl with the most self-possessed, wise look in her eye. When we made eye contact, I knew that this was my protagonist and that my novel would be set in Istanbul.’

Istanbul, Turkey

Pico Iyer visits Istanbul.

We foreigners like to recall that Istanbul is the only city on earth with one shore in Asia and one in Europe. But its real heart, according to its eloquent son, Orhan Pamuk, in his evocative memoir 'Istanbul: Memories of a City', lies rather in the division between the old (which is usually the local and the Islamic) and the new (generally the western and the secular).

Nisantasi, Istanbul, Turkey

Suzy Hansen visits “Mr. Pamuk’s neighborhood,” the setting for the author’s latest novel, The Museum of Innocence.

When Pamuk was growing up there in the 1960s and ’70s, Nisantasi was one of the richest neighborhoods in Istanbul. Today it feels like any of the richest places in the world. The women have all gone exhausting shades of blond, their thin frames weighed down by Marc Jacobs or Gucci bags. The clips in their hair, the gold on their sunglasses, the necklaces, buckles and belts — everything sparkles. There’s a new Prada store opening across from the Louis Vuitton, which is down the street from La Perla. A Ferrari or a Porsche is always parked in front of the Nisantasi Brasserie, whose jaunty patrons sit for hours at sidewalk tables. – from “”Mr. Pamuk’s Neighborhood,” by Suzy Hansen, The New York Times

Turkey

Turkish writer Selçuk Altun picks his “top 10 Turkish books.”

There are many reasons for the limited number of Turkish authors and poets translated into English. Sadly Nobel prize-winner Orhan Pamuk's success hasn't yet increased Anglo-American interest in Turkish authors and poets. -- Selçuk Altun, The Guardian

Turkey

Nicholas Birch talks with Yasar Kemal, “Turkey’s master novelist.”

Kemal describes his immersion in western literature as 'the most wonderful piece of good luck'. But his imagination has stayed loyal to his own family's history, and to the Cukurova of his childhood. – from “Yesar Kemal’s Disappearing World of Stories,” by Nicholas Birch, The Guardian

Truva, Turkey

Glenn and Sarah Collins travel to Truva, Turkey in search of Troy.

“Traditional knowledge of Troy derives from Homer’s thrilling, intricate, but possibly entirely mythic, account of the 10th, and final, year of the battle. The tale is recounted in ‘The Iliad’ and flashbacks in ‘The Odyssey,’ sagas that are believed to have been intoned some 2,700 years ago chronicling a war that took place 500 years before that. There is also a wealth of traditional lore in the ‘Epic Cycle’ — six non-Homeric epic poems about the Trojan War.” – from “Searching for an Epic’s Origins,” by Glenn and Sarah Collins, The New York Times

Istanbul, Turkey

Novelist Jason Goodwin “highlights the rich flavor of Old Istanbul" in his novel, The Snake Stone.

"Historian-turned-mystery-writer Jason Goodwin steps through a centuries' old archway into the carnival-like atmosphere of Istanbul's grand bazaar, and his eyes light up. Sizing up the crowds of Turks and foreign tourists who surge past the bazaar's hundreds of shops, Goodwin declares the setting perfect for a murder. – from “Novelist Highlights the Rich Flavor of Old Istanbul,” by Ivan Watson, NPR’s Morning Edition

Istanbul, Turkey

“Ben Quinn follows Orhan Pamuk’s literary trail through Istanbul.”

“Even more rewardingly for those seeking to avoid the tourism trail - revolving around the 'old' city and the undoubted beauties of the Hagia Sophia and the Blue Mosque - Pamuk reserves a special fondness for Istanbul's lesser known quarters.” – from “Orhan Pamuk’s Istanbul,” by Ben Quinn, The Guardian

Istanbul, Turkey

Chris Wiegand talks with Barbara Nadel and Mehmet Murat Somer, “creators of two very dissimilar detectives, both at work in Istanbul’s meanest streets.”

“I arranged to meet Somer in Istanbul, and before travelling I called Nadel to ask her what the city offers crime writers. ‘Loads of history and an extremely diverse and huge population,’ is her immediate answer, before she lets out a dark laugh: ‘And there are lots of places to hide the bodies.’" – from “Different Beats,” by Chris Wiegand, The Guardian

Istanbul, Turkey

Orhan Pamuk remembers youthful visits to the barber shops of Istanbul.

“For until very recently, each coffee house and barber shop in the city served (like the dolmuses, the shared taxis, of my childhood) as places where news, legends and rampant rumours, outright lies and tales of wrath and resistance were fabricated and enriched to undermine the pronouncements of religious leaders and the state, thus paving the way for rumours of plots against them, while in the neighbourhoods surrounding mosques, churches and markets, and in the villages along the Bosphorus, each served also as a local newspaper.” – from “Short Back and Asides,” by Orhan Pamuk, The Guardian