Literaturk culture fest begins in Germany

ESSEN - Anadolu Agency

Murathan Mungan was the guest of honor at the opening ceremony.

The ninth edition of Festival Literaturk, a Turkish-German literature festival, opened on Oct. 1 in the Ruhr Basin of Germany. Renowned Turkish poet and writer Murathan Mungan was the guest of honor at the opening ceremony of the festival, which will continue until Oct. 9. 

As part of the festival reading workshops, interviews, conferences and theater plays will be held in key cities of the region such as Essen, Dortmund and Gelsenkirchen.
 
Turkey’s Consul General in Essen Şule Özkaya, spoke at the opening ceremony. “Multidimensional traditional Turkish-German friendship will improve more with these kinds of activities, enabling the integration of societies,” Özkaya said.

Poet Gülten Akın will read her poems and on the seventh day of the festival, while journalist-writer Dündar will talk about the Gezi Park events in Essen. Mirza Odabaşı, Frank Sundermeyer, Alper Canıgüz, Murat Gülsoy, Lütfiye Güzel, Gerrit Wustmann and Tanıl Bora will be among the other guests of the nine-day festival. 

General Coordinator Semra Uzun-Önder invited all literary lovers in the region to the event, saying the “literary winds will blow in different venues of the Ruhr Basin.” 

Literatürk was first organized in 2005 and has so far hosted many representatives of Turkish and German culture and literature in 99 events, with the number of festival attendees increasing every year. It is a platform to make a contribution to relations between the two societies through culture and literature. One of the goals of the festival is to create a platform for young talents to make their voices heard. 

Further information about the festival can be reached at www.literatuerk.com.