The well-known Turkish-Kurdish writer Yavuz Ekinci arrived in Berlin yesterday. Born in Batman, Turkey, in 1979, Ekinci works as a teacher and editor of Kurdish exile literature.
The author has been tried several times in Turkey for individual tweets and sentenced to 18 months’ probation. Ekinci’s novel »Dream Splinters« – presented at the Turkish Ministry of Culture stand at the 2014 Frankfurt International Book Fair – was recently banned and confiscated on the grounds of »terrorist propaganda for the PKK«.
Commenting on the outcome of the Turkish elections a few weeks ago, Ekinci wrote in the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung: »I had dreamed of a country where there would be no more prey and no more predators, but today I woke up with the oppressive feeling of being prey.«
Ekinci has received numerous awards for his prose work, including the Story Award of the Human Rights Association. His most recent novels, »The Day a Man Came from Mount Amar« (2017) and »The Tears of the Prophet« (2019), were published by Verlag Antje Kunstmann. His new novel »The Faraway Village of His Childhood« has been announced for October.
PEN Berlin thanks the Literarisches Colloquium Berlin (LCB) and all those who helped us welcome Yavuz Ekinci in Germany.
PEN Berlin. We stand by our word.