Tuesday, April 6, 2010

MÜGE AKGÜN

ISTANBUL - Hürriyet

Elif Ţafak´s best-selling book novel ´Aţk´ (Love), which she wrote in English and was later translated into Turkish, was released in the US in the beginning of March with the titled ´Forty Rules of Love.´ For the promotion of her book, she toured US cities and shares her experiences during her travel

“Aţk” (Love), which has become Turkish literature’s best-selling novel in the shortest time by selling more than 500,000 copies, was released in the U.S. in the beginning of March. Elif Ţafak wrote this novel in English and later translated it into Turkish. The novel was published with the title “The Forty Rules of Love” in the U.S.

Ţafak toured the U.S. for two weeks after her novel hit bookshelves. Speaking about this process, she said that in the U.S. books were published in hardcover first and then the first stage of the tour started.

“Sometime later a cheaper version is published and the second stage of the tour starts. There is such a tradition there; authors read a small part of the their novels and speak about these parts. For example, I read a part from the character Ella and explained what I felt while writing. Actually, this practice of reading a novel has started in Turkey but it is not a tradition yet. Also, I like to learn what people think about my novel and talk to them during signing sessions.”

Ţafak said she had visited Boston, New York, Philadelphia, Los Angeles, Santa Cruz, San Francisco, Seattle and Chicago during the first stage of the tour.

Ţafak’s novels “The Saint of Incipient Insanities” (Araf) and “The Bastard of Istanbul” (Baba ve Piç) were previously published in the U.S. and they were among the best sellers. She said the reader profile for each of those books was very different, adding that even people in the U.S. who don’t have any connection to Turkey came to the readings. “Indians, Japanese and Hispanics were among the visitors, too,” she said.

‘Not novelist but novel is discussed’

The novel “Forty Rules of Love” has attracted great attention in Turkey, and had a reader profile very different from each other. When asked if the reader profile and reactions in the U.S. were different from the ones in Turkey, Ţafak said the book was newly published there, but reactions were very positive. “The world of books is shaped through the Internet in the U.S. Blogs and websites professionally promote books. Radio is a very important tool, too. I observed that not only an elite class of people but also housewives and students read the book. It makes me very happy,” she said.

Sufism has drawn interest in the U.S. in recent years. Ţafak said there might be many readers buying the book because of Rumi, but ordinary people like housewives felt close to the novel, too.

Ţafak said people mostly were curious about her writing process, especially when writing in two languages. “What I liked in the U.S. is that not the novelist but the novel is discussed.”

Ţafak said readers in Turkey know what they want. She said 50,000 books were published in a year in the U.S. but these books disappeared quickly. “But in Turkey, books do not disappear in that short of a time. When readers love a book, they accept it as their friend. This is why I give importance to our readers,” she said.

US books affected by crisis

Speaking about the sales, Ţafak said: “Sales are very good. They published the book in hardcover because they already estimated it. But the world of books was very affected by the crisis. Publishing houses dismissed many editors and reduced tours. TVs and newspapers removed their culture and arts section, just like in many parts of the world.”

She said publishing houses in Turkey became more professional and thinks that she is very lucky about this issue. “Metis and Dođan publishing houses made me very happy, the team was very professional. It is the same in the U.S. The only difference is that preparation for a book begins two years in advance there. Everything is scheduled; people work for weeks for a cover design. Everything progresses too fast here; we don’t pay attention to the preparation process. Many authors give their book and want it to be printed one month later,” she said.

‘Travel is necessary to be nourished’

Ţafak, whose novels have been translated into 28 languages so far, lived in different U.S. cities including New York, Boston, Michigan and Arizona over nearly four years. “I like traveling, I can’t stay in a place for a long time. I don’t know why, but traveling is important to me. I am nourished by seeing what is happening in the world and listening to people. We close ourselves in a few neighborhoods in Istanbul. I believe that we need to travel in Turkey, too. This is necessary to spread culture and for nourishing artists,” she said.