|
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
March 22, 2006
Media Contact: Kim Nagy
Phone: 609-439-8667
E-mail: knagy@wildriverreview.com
New Online Magazine Takes Closer Look
at Turkish Writers and Artists
Current issue of Wild River Review features exclusive interviews with writers Orhan Pamuk
and Elif Shafak, a review of Pamuk’s Istanbul: Memories and the City, an Istanbul hotel owner’s
regular column: Of Fawlty Towers and Minarets, a lesson about carpets, and a photographic portrait of the Bosphorus.
March 22, 2006 (Philadelphia, PA) — The Wild River Review takes readers on a virtual literary tour of
Turkey this issue with exclusive interviews, reviews, photography, and columns that illuminate Turkish life, literature,
and art in its many fascinating forms.
Joy E. Stocke, Wild River Review’s Co-founder and Editor-in-Chief, contributes an
intimate interview with Orhan Pamuk,
as well as a review of his memoir, Istanbul:
Memories and the City, nominated for a 2006 National Book Critics Circle award. Readers will feel as if Pamuk is sitting
in their living rooms as he speaks frankly about his devotion to the craft of writing, his adventures with translators, why all
his characters start out with the same name, and how he identifies with his protagonists. He also discusses his family’s
reaction to his recent memoir.
Also featured is
Angie Brenner’s interview with Elif Shafak,
a young Turkish novelist and Professor of Political Science, who is becoming increasingly popular in the United States.
Shafak, born to a Turkish mother (and diplomat) in France, wrote her last two novels, The Bastard of Istanbul and
The Saint of Incipient Insanities in English and was promptly criticized by many Turkish nationalists for doing so.
Shafak’s choice of subjects — homosexuals, transvestites, and other marginalized people — also typically
outrages conservatives in Turkey.
For hotel owner Eveline Zoutendijk, traveling to Istanbul for the first time was like falling in love. Her first
“Airmail” column,
Of Fawlty Towers and Minarets,
chronicles her shift from wide-eyed tourist to seasoned Istanbul resident. Through her vivid descriptions, readers will
see the turquoise, silvery shades of the Bosphorus (which she spent hours staring at like a love-sick puppy!) and smell
“henna and spices and... kebabs roasting on an open fire.”
In a photographic portrayal of the Bosphorus,
Istanbul-based photographer, Ceren Semerci, provides stunning photos that capture the culture and life that thrives around
Istanbul’s major waterway. Finally,
Joy E. Stocke interviews Murat Küpçü,
Owner of the Double-Knot Gallery in New York City. Küpçü explains the difference between a Turkish carpet
and a kilim, as well as the intricate cultural patterns and history of carpet weaving in Turkey.
“I’ve been journeying through Turkey for more than twenty years,” says Stocke, who is co-writing a memoir
about her travels there. “I’ve seen tremendous changes, and with its bid to join the European Union, Turkey has
become a major player in international relations.”
Wild River Review maintains a quarterly theme but updates content throughout each month. The publication
continually searches for, and offers, high-quality inventive voices, experimental themes, diverse subjects, and
riveting images from around the world. It is the creation of a team of professional writers and artists who form
the eclectic cabal known as the Wild River Gang.
Contact Kim Nagy (609) 397-5458 or e-mail knagy@wildriverreview.com
Click here to download this Press Release
in Microsoft Word format.
|
