Istanbul prepares for 34th Book Fair

ISTANBUL

AA Photos

Organized by TÜYAP Fairs in partnership with the Turkish Publishers Association, the 34th International Istanbul Book Fair will be held between Nov. 7 and 15 at the TÜYAP Fair and Convention Center.

At a recent press conference, TÜYAP Fairs General Coordinator Deniz Kavukçuoğlu said nearly 700 publishing houses would attend the fair, adding, “Last year, the number of visitors was 500,000. We hope this year we will reach the same number or maybe exceed it.” 

Kavukçuoğlu also noted that students, teachers, writers and retired people would be able to visit the fair for free.

The theme for this year’s fair will be “Humor: Looking at Life with a Smile.”  The Fair prepares to host prominent foreign and Turkish writers around the theme.

The Book Fairs Advisory Board named illustrator Tan Oral the Illustrator of Honor of the 34th International Istanbul Book Fair. A number of panel discussions and other events will be held with Oral throughout the fair. TÜYAP will prepare a book and an exhibition on the life and selected works of Oral. Curated by Sadık Karamustafa, the Tan Oral Exhibition will be available for viewing during the fair.

This year the Istanbul Book Fair will host Romania as the Guest of Honor. The Romanian booth will be available for visiting in the International Hall for the first four days of the fair and will include all aspects and colors of Romanian literature and culture. 

Guest of Honor events will include interviews, panel discussions, poetry and music recitals, professional meetings with publishers and children’s events. 

The leading authors of Romania will meet with their readers at the fair. Romania prepares to greet Book Fair visitors with a rich event program featuring prominent writers such as Matei Visniec, Dumitru Tepeneag, Mircea Dinescu, Dan Lungu, Octavian Soviany, Carmen Muşat, Daniel Cristea-Enache and Florin Bican.


Sarah Jio at the fair

Journalist and writer Sarah Jio is frequently featured on the New York Times bestsellers list. The writer is best known for her romantic novels and her last book was “The Book of Love.” She has published in 27 countries including Turkey. Jio will meet her Turkish readers at the fair as a guest of Pena Publications.

The fair will also host international guests, including Vassilis Papatheodorou, Yannis Kalpouzos and Manuel Vilas.

After its initial success last year, the “Cuisine” section will be available for the first four days of the fair in the International Hall. The program will include interactive cooking shows and talks with gourmet writers including Ebru Omurcalı, Süleyman Dilsiz, Ömür Akkor, Eyüp Kemal Sevinç, Selin Kutucular, Jale Balcı, Sibel Güngör and Nilgün Tatlı. 

Leading Romanian writer Mircea Dinescu will hold an event that merges poetry with gastronomy.

Aziz Nesin turns 100

The Istanbul Book Fair is also preparing a program to commemorate the 100th birthday of Aziz Nesin together with the Nesin Foundation and Nesin Publishing. The program will include interviews and panels on the literary significance, life and works of Nesin. 

“A Man Larger than Life: Aziz Nesin 1915-2015,” an exhibition prepared by the Nesin Foundation in association with curator Işın Önol, will be open throughout the fair to educate viewers on the literature, humor, world view, political stance and legacy of Nesin.

The 34th International Istanbul Book Fair will be held concurrently with the 25th Istanbul Art Fair-ARTIST 2015.