Nese Yasin
(Cyprus, 1959) in her poetry not only tries to build a bridge between the Greek and Turkish part of Cyprus, but also in daily life. Her most famous poem 'Which part' she wrote in 1974 but it is still important to her: 'My father says: Do you love your fatherland? My fatherland has been split in half, which part must I love?'. The division of Cyprus remains an important theme in her work, but she also writes about youth traumas and love. The daughter of the Turkish poet Ozker Yasin, Yasin was born on the Turkish part of Cyprus, but lives in the Greek southern part. In 2006 she was the first Turkish Cypriot since 1963 to enter the parliamentary election on the Greek part. Yasin teaches Turkish-Cypriot literature at the Greek-speaking University of Cyprus. She also works as a radio journalist. She has published five books of poetry and a novel and has won several literary prizes. Her work has been translated into Greek, Hungarian, German and English. In the Netherlands a number of her poems were published in an anthology of Cypriot literature Wij wonen in een taal (We Live in a Language; 2004).
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Winternachten in Tropentheater: Counter Talk - literature from the Turkish region
With: Funda Müjde, Gündüz Vassaf, Kamran Nazirli, Margreet Dorleijn, Nese Yasin, Perihan Magden, Selim Temo
On Sunday afternoon, Tegenspraak (Counter Talk) a programme in cooperation with Winternachten with literature from the Turkish region, took place in Tropentheater Amsterdam. For a long time there has been a critical tradition in Turkish literature, with writers aiming their grievances at the powers that be. As early as the Ottoman Empire there has been sharp criticism, notably from the poet Tefik Fikret. Fikret shuns the Sultan and all religion. He takes a stand against everything that is regarded as holy and against the glorification of history. For the programme Tegenspraak: Turkish Controverses five Turkish authors were invited, all of them writing in the critical literary tradition of Fikret, authors who in their literary work and in columns deal with politics and society.
The writers treated the audience on their literary current affairs. The programme was hosted by Margreet Dorleijn and Funda Müjde. See www.tropentheater.nl. -
How to Bluff your Way into Turkish Literature
With: Funda Müjde, Gündüz Vassaf, Kamran Nazirli, Margreet Dorleijn, Nese Yasin, Perihan Magden, Selim Temo
In the crash course 'How to Bluff Your Way into Turkish Literature' the richness of Turkish language and literature was presented. No fewer than five writers had been invited by Winternachten: three writers from Turkey, a Turkish poet from the Greek part of Cyprus, and a writer from Azerbaijan (Azeri is a Turkish language).
The diversity of the guests should have been a sign of the complexity of the subject: Turkish is not only spoken in Turkey and the country itself knows several different languages. In Turkey, literature is still used for activistic and emancipatory goals contrary to contemporary Dutch literature.
In presenting fragments of their own work, the social context of the work clearly stands out: corruption, the influential role of the militairy apparatus, the problems of poor communities and the difficult access to good education for these groups. By the end of the afternoon, it's clear that Turkish literature indeed consists of much more then the work of Nobel Prize winner Orhan Pamuk. Turkish literature proves to be broad and vivid, consisting of socially concerned writers. -
International poetry: The Right Word
'It only needed to be found,' Esther Jansma writes in her poem 'Everything is new'. In this international poets' programme four poets of stature talked to each other about their quest for words. With Esther Jansma, the Lebanese poet Joumana Haddad, the Turkish/Cypriot Nese Yasin and Laksmi Pamuntjak (Indonesia). Hosted by the poet Tsead Bruinja.
