In Bruzz magazine (18 September 2024)

From 20 to 22 September was Poetik Bazar in Brussels (my home city), a literary initiative from Les Midis de la Poésie in partnership with many other cultural organisations creating space for independent publishers to showcase their work. This is also a true festival, with many literary talks, workshops, performances... all accessible for free to the public. I was invited to curate four programmes focusing on Turkiye, so I brought together poets Karin Karakaşlı, Gonca Özmen, Ceren Uzuner and Lütfiye Güzel. We talked among others about Poetry as Protest, Literature and the City (focusing on Istanbul), and read poetry because that is what brought us together - beyond nationality or identity... And I also gave a poetry translation workshop, on a Sunday morning at 10:30, I was expecting five people and more than twenty showed up; we have created magic together. Because that's where our strength lies as people: in the collective.

Poetry as Protest, Saturday 21 September 2024 at Poetik Bazar Brussels (phot by Fatma Bulaz)