Samuel Maoz at the Sarajevo Talent Campus

Within the Talent Campus programme, participants had the opportunity to see Golden Lion winning movie "Lebanon" by Israeli director Samuel Maoz, and to attend a session entitled "From Personal Experience of Director to the Golden Lion" in the presence of Samuel Maoz, David Silber (producer) and Katriel Schory (executive director of the Israel Film Fund).

"Lebanon" is the personal story of Samuel Maoz and was a necessity to make, explains the director, a need to find some understanding. It took Maoz twenty five years to deal with the issues he experienced as a soldier during the first Lebanon war. When he first tried to write the script in 1988, Maoz explains that the first memory that came to his mind was the burn of flesh, which made him back off. Maoz felt the need to process the story almost in a mathematical way and told himself that as long as he could smell it, he wasn't ready to write his film. It's in 2006, during the second Lebanon war, that he decided he was ready: he tried to smell again but couldn't.

The only way to deliver war, according to Maoz, is through a very strong experience, and that's how he decided to set his film inside the tank. The aim of Maoz was to make the audience feel the war, to see the victims staring back at us. That's where the text becomes an ennemy, says Maoz: how to write such extreme feelings? He therefore decided to trust the body language, the eye. After twenty five years, Maoz wrote the script in four weeks.

Samuel Maoz went to Rotterdam to sell his story to producers. After having told it twenty, forty times, he would look at himself in the mirror and think: "you're a whore!" but then, laughing, Maoz adds,"at least I'm a whore who likes his job!"

Reactions to the film differed between older and younger generations in Israel. Some older generation people would say not to show this movie or mothers won't send their children to war. But reviews were good in Israel, although the audience feelings were rather mixed. According to Maoz, "Lebanon" appeals to the human and this why it works.

Location:Sarajevo

Semih Kaplanoglu at the Sarajevo Talent Campus

On the first day of the Sarajevo Talent Campus, participants had the chance to attend a lecture entitled "Tradition vs Modern: Ebb and Flow of Cinema between Center and Periphery" by Turkish filmmaker Semih Kaplanoglu, who was awarded the Golden Bear at this year's Berlinale for his film "Bal" (Honey).

Kaplanoglu started his talk by giving literature as an example of the struggle between modern and tradition. He explained that the most powerful liteature in Turkey dealing with such struggle started bursting after the thirties - i.e. right after the creation of the Turkish Republic by Mustafa Kemal Ataturk in 1923 - with authors such as Ahmet Hamdi Tanpinar who has been a model for future works of literature in Turkey. This conflict between modern and tradition still goes on today, says Kaplanoglu, between the culture in which we were born and the one we've been educated in. He adds that Orhan Pamuk, for instance, is an author who is in between these worlds.

Kaplanoglu says that he experiences this conflict every day and presents "Bal" as an example. Yusuf for instance, the main character of "Bal", is a poet who experiences things in a passionate way. Kaplanoglu has chosen a poet to be his main character because he comes himself from a culture full of poetry, as he explains. Because it takes so much effort in today's world to be a poet, Kaplanoglu has chosen to show his own struggle through the eyes of a poet, Yusuf in his film.

The basic questions one aks oneself within this struggle is "Who am I? What am I doing here? Why am I here?", but Kaplanoglu says that we tend to forget these questions in our life journeys. He adds that he believes we come to life with a feeling of loss, and that we come to the world with a certain knowledge that opens up to a spiritual or non material understanding. Our experiences are not only about this world and material things and Kaplanoglu says that art is the struggle to try to explain and feel what's beyond our material world. We were all born into a culture and caught into something different within the environment in which we live. But beyond all this, there is something we give to the world. Kaplanoglu's work represents this searching and exploration of the loss.

When Kaplanoglu first presented his trilogy at the Rotterdam film festival, producers told he was crazy and that it would be impossible to make three movies when even producing one can be extremely difficult. Fortunately, Kaplanoglu's Greek partner believed in the project. Following that, Kaplanoglu was in Cannes with two projects, found new partners and could work further on finalizing his trilogy made of : "Yumurta" (Egg), "Süt" (Milk) and "Bal" (Honey).

Kaplanoglu was 36 when he finalized his first movie, which means that he struggled for fifteen years to find producers and professionals interested in his project. In the end, he became himself a producer and learned to perform many other roles within the film industry. It took a long time for Kaplanoglu to achieve success with his films, but not all filmmakers need to experience the same process, says Kaplanoglu. Every artist, every filmmaker has its own story, its own path. Kaplanoglu ended his lecture in a very positive note reminding talent campus participants that no matter how long it can take, "never give up, believe in your project and work hard. Someone at some point will show interest in what you are doing. There are good people out there".

You can see the photo gallery of this lecture on the following webpage: http://www.sff.ba/image_gallery/show/id/249

Location:Sarajevo

Sarajevo Film Festival

I've been im Sarajevo for 6 days now and couldn't find a minute to write a post. The festival programme is so rich and of course, the Talent Campus I am participating to has a very rich programme on its own. So far I've seen some very good movies, including "Cirkus Columbia" by Danis Tanovic, "Bibliotheque Pascal" by Szabols Hajdu, and "Red White & Blue" by Simon Rumley.

Within the Talent Campus programme, I've had the chance to listen to some great artists and experts like Semih Kaplanoglu, Frederic Boyer (Cannes Film Festival, prorammer shorts), Maike Mia Hoehne (Berlinale, programmer shorts), some I don't especially agree with but were really worth listening to, like Bruno Dumont or Licia Eminenti, and there will be more until Saturday, including Samuel Maoz, Gaspar Noé and Morgan Freeman.

If you want to see the whole programme and see some pictures, visit the festival website at www.sff.ba but I will also try to write about certain talks and sessions in seperate posts.

Location:Sarajevo

Become a Global Changemaker

If you are aged between 16 and 19 years old, care about this world's issues and want to do something about it, have a look at this wonderful opportunity to become a Global Changemaker and attend the Global Youth Summit in London from 21 to 27 November.
The call for applications is now live on www.global-changemakers.net and will run until Friday, 6 August.

Some criterias to apply:

- Applicants should be social entrepreneurs, community activists and/or volunteers aged 16-19 during the event.
- Applicants have to demonstrate their communicative abilities, track record and motivation to join the network and take their work further.
- A full application consists of a written application form detailing the applicants' personal details and previous work as well as a 2-minute YouTube video in English.

For the 60 selected participants, all costs involved in taking part in the summit (travel, visas, accommodation, meals, activities during the summit) will be covered by the British Council.

About Global Changemakers
Global Changemakers is a global and growing network currently consisting of 375 young social entrepreneurs and community activists from 91 countries around the world who have demonstrated a significant track record of achievement in their local communities. The mission of the programme is to empower youth worldwide to work together to catalyse positive social change and is built on 3 pillars - action on the ground (Community Action Projects), personal knowledge & growth (the sharing of best practices + exposure to and interaction with experienced activists), and giving youth a voice (at key global events such as the Global Humanitarian Forum, World Economic Forum & Clinton Global Initiative).

For more information and to apply, visit the global changemakers website on: http://www.global-changemakers.net/

And do spread the word!

Photo (c)Christopher Tribble

Sarajevo Talent Campus 2010

I woke up to very good news this morning, receiving an e-mail from the Sarajevo Talent Campus team. "We would like to announce that we have selected 64 participants for the 4th Sarajevo Talent Campus. Our selection committee has thoroughly viewed all the applications and we are happy to inform you that you have been accepted to take part in this year`s Talent Campus. " Aaa those magical words "You have been accepted", it does feel good indeed.

The Talent Campus is organised in the frame of the Sarajevo Film Festival which will take place from 23 to 31 July. I've been willing to go to this festival for quite some time now but always missed it.

The Talent Campus is a one week event that will give the opportunity to young artists to exchange views and ideas among themselves and with film professionals from across the world, through a programme of workshops, lectures, inter-festival excursions, panels and practical tutorials.

I am especially excited that I will be able to share my project about post 1980 Turkey. I have been working on a script, that I am still developing, to explore the repercussions of the military take-over of 1980 on people who live in and outside of Turkey today. Being a Turkish woman living in Europe I am mostly interested in the effects, if any, on the lives of the "exiles" and the "immigrants", and how do we, Turkish/Belgian or Turkish/German or Turkish/Dutch... feel about it and deal with it. Sharing ideas and receiving feedback from other young artists and professionals will definitely be a great experience for me and it will certainly help me develop my writing. And of course I will see plenty of films, which is afterall the best part of a film festival!

I will definitely post as much as I can from Sarajevo, so keep an eye here!

For more information about the Sarajevo Film Festival check: http://www.sff.ba/.

Words in the clouds

I have been thinking since a long time about a way of sharing my writings online. I had posted my short stories on issuu, received some positive comments from readers there, which motivated me to rework on my stories and put them together into a short story collection. I have sent it to about ten publishers in Belgium and in France. I knew from the start that I was going to be rejected by most (so far I have received eight rejection letters and am waiting for the last two), but why did I still want to send out my work the "traditional" way, I am not sure. Of course, even if tiny, I still had hope that a professional from the sector would put an "approval seal" on my work. But rejection after rejection (being called Mister in various letters!), having explored what was published out there, seeing the reality of the publishing world at the moment and the very low chances to get short stories published in French... I believed that I still had stories to tell and that I had access to amazing tools to do so.

What I care about is writing, writing more, failing maybe, failing again to hopefully get better at it (failing and writing), and most of all, I care about sharing. What matters in the end? Being read, it's as simple as that. So I have created a brand new website called Des mots dans les nuages where I host my short stories and make these available for download to all, under a creative commons licence. Most importantly, I left a comments section open because I care about what readers would think and I'd like to read their feedback.

Because I write fiction in French and all my short stories are in French so far, the website, as the title "Des mots dans les nuages" (Words in the Clouds") suggests, is also in French and aimed at readers who speak the language. But I still thought it useful to share my experience of "self publishing" here, and I will certainly evaluate and share the process in the months to come.

1Blog, 1Tree

I first read the info on Nicolas Quentin's blog OuiLeO.cOm and found this an amazing initiative.

The idea is pretty simple and efficient. You only need to write a short blog post about the programme “My blog is carbon neutral” and include one of their proposed buttons below on your site (see mine on the side bar). Then you send the link to your blog to CO2-neutral@kaufda.de and they plant a tree for you, neutralising the carbon dioxide emissions of your blog. The trees will be planted in the spring of 2010 by the Arbor Day Foundation.

For more information about how and where the trees are planted, visit http://www.kaufda.de/umwelt/carbon-neutral/what-we-do/

It's easy and really worth it... so spread the word!

Open for all: Het Concertgebouw Open

On 12 June 2010, the prestigious Concertgebouw opens its doors to all for this second edition of Het Concertgebouw Open. From 12 to 17h, the Concertgebouw will welcome all for free and not only to visit their wonderful halls... but to listen to amateur musicians and artists from Amsterdam: soloists, bands, chorals... Visitors will also be able to participate to this festive event by showing their talent on the Open Zang Podium, where a pianist will accompany anyone who wants to sing, by dancing in the Tango Salon and by participating to one of the many workshops. Events will be spread throughout 10 rooms, from the Groote Zaal to the Cafe, with hundreds of artists, and a royal opening at 12h12 (it says so on the programme!) with Princess Maxima.

Some performances that have caught my attention:

• Yim Kwan Fong: Cantonese opera from the Pijp.
• Viola Viola orkest & Esther Apituley: a spectacular performance with 100 musicians and dancers.
• Trio Wahnsinn: three friends improvising jazz.
• Klezmagic: Klezmermusic from Turkey, Egypt ... by a young band lead by Emirhan Tuga.

You can see the complete programme here (in Dutch)

Symposium on Graphic Design

The Breda Graphic Design Museum, which organized the excellent symposium about curating in the digital age I wrote about back in December, are presenting their second symposium: What are the concepts of the world's leading designers?

The symposium is organized in the frame of the current exhibition INFODECODATA exploring the place and role of data visualization in graphic design. The list of speakers is not as international as the first symposium's but it does include a great number of Dutch professionals who are experts in the field of graphic design and visual arts.

All the graphic designers out there who live in the Netherlands or in Belgium (Breda is a border town and is actually closer to Brussels than to Amsterdam), have a look at the INFODECODATA symposium page on the museum's website and don't be demotivated by the location or the date (13 June... it's a Sunday ...and my birthday). This museum is worth the trip if you're into graphic design, even more if there's a symposium during your visit.

Date & time: Sunday 13 June 2010 - 14:00 to 17:00
Language: English.
More info

INDIE Brussels Conference

I haven't blogged for a while, but for those of you who have followed my tweets, you know about the status of the literature projects and book fairs I've mentioned in the previous post. I will get back to these later, but for now I am in Brussels, working on the INDIE (Inclusion and Diversity in Education) conference. You can follow my posts about the event on the INDIE tree website

For more information about the INDIE project you can also visit the British Council INDIE website: http://www.britishcouncil.org/indie

Literature Projects and Book Fairs

This blog has been too silent for quite some time... but if you follow me on twitter, you may have seen that I'm still active. Next to my daily job focusing on cultural relations through arts and education, I have been concentrating a lot on my literature projects.

I have finalized my short story collection in French and have managed to send it - the old-fashioned way, by post! - to a dozen Francophone publishers in Belgium and in France last week. Those of you who have been reading my short stories online (and I thank you for that) may have seen that I have deleted all my online publications recently. The reason is that I have made a lot of editing to these stories and have presented them differently in the form of a collection I called Mouvements (Movements). I am still exploring ways to publish the whole collection in a digital format. More soon...

I have also been focusing on some translation work from three very different authors and languages, two of which are now in the hands of their authors' literary agents.

While waiting for some answers from these various publishers, I have started some research on different projects focusing on contemporary Turkish Literature by women writers and on Turkish History. I hope to tell you more about these when it takes a more concrete shape.

On the more concrete side of my literary life, I will visit the Brussels Book Fair on Saturday 6 March, and the London Book Fair next month and will definitely do some posting about the different events I am planning to attend. These will include discussions about online publishing and writing in the digital space.

To be continued...

The Art of Curating in the Digital Age

"By our own very nature we filter, forget, hear and see selectively, but that doesn't mean that we have to agree with all the filtering has to be done on our behalf" writes Geert Lovink in his essay "Post-canon or the joy of self-curation" published in the journal of the symposium Me you and everyone we know is a curator (Myaewkiac) organized by the Breda Graphic Design Museum on 19 December in Amsterdam.


Mieke Gerriken, director of the Breda Graphic Design Museum, explains in her introductory speech -and essay that you can read in the very good Myaewkiac journal, that museums will need "to cooperate structurally with digital initiatives." Together with graphic designer Sophie Krier, they have organized this one day programme focused on "quality in an age of visual overload." The title of the symposium, as Krier explains is a tribute to Miranda July's Learningtoloveyoumore blog. Speakers included Bruce Sterling, Andrew Keen, Rick Poynor, Sarah Cook, Aram Bartholl, Julia Noordegraaf, Willem Veethoven and Dagan Cohen.

Instead of analyzing all the speeches and sometimes frighteningly populist ideas I heard at the symposium, like Andrew Keen's obsession with authority and slogans "Curators are gate keepers, they have earned the right to say no!" or "Everything is free [on the internet] because it's what it's worth!" and the audience's enthusiastic response to these, I would focus on the experiences shared by some of the speakers to demonstrate the possibilities and wide range of opportunities digital tools can offer when you find a structured and intelligent way to use it.

In "Performing archival material online," Julia Noordegraaf -assistant Prof and Programme Director of the Master of Preservation and Presentation of the Moving Image, dept of Media Studies at UvA, has focused on the digital reproductions of analog objects. She gave as an example celluloidremix.nl, an online film remix competition organized by the Film Museum. Professionals and amateurs were asked to remix cinematographic material from the period between 1917 and 1932 into a new short film with their own soundtrack. This competition took place between April and September 2009. Noordegraaf showed the winning movie as an example, which Keen later called no less than "crap"! Winner Jata Haan explains on the celluloidremix website that "This virtual reflection of Amsterdam not only shows some of the literal changes that have taken place in the city during the last century - but also demonstrates the vast amount of material available online to artists and filmmakers today. Digitisation projects such as "Beelden voor de Toekomst", and Creative Commons endorsing websites such as Flickr and The Freesound Project, have all contributed towards a cultural shift of producing more easily accessible and reusable digital media. As this type of collaborative project becomes more popular, we should see an increasing amount of resources made available in the future."

Willem Velthoven from Mediamatic has presented an exciting online project called "Mediamatic Travel" as an example of how to explore evolutionary ways to build new structures to create quality content online. This travel project is a network of people working in the arts who are willing to introduce visitors to their local network. At the moment there are 81 cities available on the website (and I'm very happy to see that Istanbul is among these). A good way to monitor quality in this case, explains Velthoven, is with feedback and comment. And for those who are really scared that internet is giving away all expertise for free, therefore killing real expertise (?!), Mediamatic Travel offers the possibility for tailored advice at a fee. For the first hour of a face-to-face consultation with a guide, Mediamatic proposes a basic fee of 45 € . After that, any further relation is to be negotiated between both parties.

Berlin based artist Aram Bartholl has been exploring online visual culture in physical spaces throughout his work. "In which form does the network data world manifest itself in our everyday life? What returns from cyberspace into physical space? How do digital innovations influence our everyday actions?" are among the many questions his art work is based on and it includes online video games, social networking sites, google maps and more. "Reality is everything we experience," says Bartholl "We shouldn't describe it as digital versus analog."

And last but not least is Dagan Cohen's Upload Cinema: "Bringing web films to the big screen." Cohen says that 25% of online search is film related and that we are living in the culture of the moving image. Upload Cinema is a film club that takes the best web films to the big screen. Every first Monday of the month they present a fresh program of inspiring and entertaining short movies from the internet. There is a new theme every month and the audience can submit films. The selection is made by an editorial team who then compiles a 90 minutes program to be screened in movie theaters and special venues. In Amsterdam, Upload Cinema has been showing their selection at the wonderful Uitkijk cinema and they are seeking for more spaces in every town they can. This initiative is a great example of bringing the internet to the "real" life, and even giving new life to sometimes forgotten small venues.

So I am definitely one who believes in the indefinite opportunities offered by the internet and the digital tools. Of course there will always be loads of "crap" -to quote Andrew Keen again, but at least I can choose not to watch or read it freely, and I can even share my opinion about it being "crap" if I want to, using the many feedback opportunities. Moreover, I can learn and build myself some expertise I may otherwise have never had. And this by no means excludes the possibilities and the necessity of having people with expertise supporting the makers and the audiences all along the way.

Image: Metahaven

Melody Gardot's Journey to Amsterdam

I'd been waiting to see Melody Gardot for two years. I missed her when she came to North Sea Festival twice. So waiting for Gardot one hour more standing in front of closed doors at the Melkweg because of technical issues that needed to be dealt with was not enough to discourage me. Yes it was a bit annoying to hear that even after the standing hour, Melody Gardot needed a bit more time to get ready "to give a good concert" as one of the organizers said, booed on the stage. But again, that wasn't enough to make me unhappy. I was too enthusiastic to let anything spoil the moment, and I have to say that my expectations were far more than met.

She was (and looked) wonderful tonight, la Gardot. She entered the music hall from the back, walked down the stairs, through the impatient audience and stepped on the stage, apologizing for her delay. In front of the huge white curtain, she knelt down and patiently spread sand on the stage floor. The ritual seemed surrealistic under the red spot light. Standing up she started singing a cappella, using her high heels as drums creating a little sand storm under her feet. Then she moved behind the curtain and, together with her amazing band, started an ombres chinoises show. It was the most original concert opening I had seen in a long time. After this enchanting introduction, I was even eager to discover more of Gardot's live music. I was mesmerized until the end, and I laughed a lot in-between songs, because she has some sense of humor la Gardot, and it feels so good! Just like her music, and as her interludes show, Melody Gardot is sincere. It was a delight spending the evening with her. And just a personal note for you Melody, if you ever read this post: we can go on my bicycle every day together, through my white little earphones you will sing to me and we'll take each other along on our different journeys.

Melody Gardot performed at the Melkweg in Amsterdam, 16 November 2009.
For more tour dates check: http://www.myspace.com/melody

Photo: A white photo of Melody Gardot by Shervin Lainez (Creative Commons Attribution 3.0)

Storybird: Create your Digital Stories

Thanks to the Free Technology for Teachers blog, I have discovered a great collaborative storytelling website called Storybird.

Storybird allows anyone to create picture book stories using existing templates. You can chose from a very wide variety of art works. This is of course a perfect tool to work with children but even for adults. I very much enjoyed writing my little story, Home (see below), and I intend to write some more. Mainly to exercise myself, as I'm seriously considering working with an illustrator/artist when I will have a clearer idea of what I'd like to write for this kind of medium. However, I am not ready yet for such an adventure so I will start with these "storybirds," because that will be one way of learning, but also sharing. So I would urge you to try it out, alone or with your kid, and if you don't have children -like me- get the one living inside of you. Enjoy!

Home on Storybird

Stranger Festival in Amsterdam

Some 50 young people and 25 teachers from the schools I am working with on the INDIE project are now here in Amsterdam and actively participating to the Stranger Festival organised by the European Cultural Foundation. I've been working on this partnership for months and I am really happy to see how productive, dynamic and hard working our young people are.
If you are interested in video have a look at the Stranger Festival website and don't miss the Stranger Award Show Live broadcast tomorrow at 20:30.

Elif Shafak's Journey Between Languages bis

Remember I had written about Elif Shafak's autobiographical novel Siyah Süt some time ago on this blog (see post An Ode to Women). The novel has now been translated into French at the Phebus Publishing House, the editor Daniel Arsand talks about Lait Noir on a Fnac Live video on You Tube. I wonder if it will be translated into English as well.

For the non French speakers among you, Shafak's novel Ask (which I didn't enjoy reading but was a huge success in Turkey) will be out in English under the title The Forty Rules of Love: A Novel of Rumi). The most interesting about this latest novel is the journey Shafak is doing between languages (see my previous post about her love of languages). Ask and The Forty Rules of Love show yet another crazy journey for the writer. Shafak has first written the novel in English, then it has been translated into Turkish by a translator. Shafak then took the translation and rewrote the novel. When the Turkish version was ready, she went back to the English version and rewrote it with a new spirit. She explains in an interview to Today's Zaman that she has "built two parallel books in the same span of time" She adds: "It is a bit insane, I have to admit. It is a crazy amount of work. I do this because language is my passion." And this is why, despite the fact that I don't always enjoy all her writings, I think Elif Shafak is an amazingly productive writer who can cross a lot of boundaries using languages.

Edinburgh Showcase 2009

I'm in Edinburgh the whole week and I will be blogging about performances and events I will attend from 24 to 29 August. Follow My Week at the Edinburgh Showcase blog if you are interested in performing arts!

Remember 17 August 1999

Ten years ago Turkey was living a tragedy. Official figures say 17,480 died, 23,781 were wounded and 285,211 residences were damaged (see the earthquake's wikipedia page in Turkish). Unofficial sources talk about 50,000 deaths and more than 100,000 wounded. Whichever are the right figures, the reality was that hundreds of thousands people lost way too much during the big Marmara Earthquake on 17 August 1999: their lives, their loved ones, their homes, parts of their body, their work, their trust...

Another big earthquake is expected in the same region, it can happen today, tomorrow or any time within the next decades. Yes, it is a natural disaster human beings cannot fight against. But we should be prepared. We should start by not building houses made of sand (shells were found in the building wreck at the time!!!). Government regulations on building need to be stronger and more importantly, it needs to be followed. Rescue teams should be ready at any time. Hospitals should be ready to host everyone. It is too easy to say that nature or God had its say and that there is nothing we can do about it. That's just too easy. We cannot stop an earthquake, but we can make sure that we don't lose hundreds of thousands of lives when one comes our way. And we must not forget the tragedy of ten years ago, not to cry our souls out and feel good about it, but to make sure every single citizen remembers when time comes to vote that they choose the ones that will care about their citizens' well being. And if you wonder what might happen next time, read Mine G. Kirikkanat's novel Bir gün, gece (translated into French as La malédiction de Constantin). Because reality can be scary doesn't mean we don't have to face it.

A Novel that Waxes Off Stereotypes

Three young women are meeting once a month to get their legs (and other parts of their body) waxed. They live in the Netherlands, they have a strong friendship and they talk freely about their choices in life: about their career, their lifestyle, their fears, their love stories and about sex. No, it's not the story of Carrie and her friends teleported to the land of the wooden shoes, and it's not an orientalist depiction of an escape from the Harem. De Harsclub, translating literally as "The Wax Club" is the story of Bahar -single girl living with her parents, Arzu -independent flight attendant living alone, and Yelda -married to the "perfect" husband. Stereotypes? No.

Senay Özdemir's novel goes far beyond its "Mediterranean Chick lit" label and its unoriginal cover. De Harsclub is a sincere novel and it is why it's such a pleasure to read. The author doesn't try to manipulate your thoughts about a certain community. In this novel, like in real life, Mediterranean/Turkish/Muslim women do care about and have a life full of fun, love, success and sex, and that is just ... natural. No stereotypical depiction of the "non Western" woman caught in the terrible-web-of-her-so-thought-doomed-culture. Being herself of Turkish descent, Senay Özdemir has a legitimate voice to tell the story of these three young women of Turkish origin living in the Netherlands. Because indeed, having Turkish roots does influence their thoughts and action, and it does shape their identity. But it does not ipso facto imply that they are trying to escape from an-OTHER world. These women are perfectly feeling in harmony with their identity, because it is composed by more than just nationality or tradition. Arzu, Bahar and Yelda are before everything else women, and Özdemir does not feel she needs to justify their needs, their passions, their stories, in any way. She doesn't have to and it feels so good. I recognized myself in these characters, I also recognized my mother, my aunt and my girlfriends, all with their own backgrounds, all with their own identities, all sharing stories of life as women, in their own way. I enjoyed their company and moreover, I enjoyed not having been put in a box again.

De Harsclub, by Senay Özdemir (Archipel Amsterdam - Antwerpen, 185 pages). In Dutch.
Senay Özdemir's blog: http://senayozdemir.blogspot.com/

The Power of Storytelling

For those of you who understand French, I would urge you to listen to Le Monde's "Ma première nuit en France" series. The title means "My first night in France" and on each recording, one person is telling his or her own first night in France. Whether they came to France to settle or just to visit, they all have something to say, and they are all worth listening to.

Abdellah tells about his "rêve de pauvre" (dream of the poor) to become a writer, a filmmaker, "all these activities which are not serious things when you are poor", he says, "they don't feed you". Jenny, a British teacher coming from Greece, arrives at 24 and finds herself sheltered on her first-almost-homeless-night by a colleague she just meets. Mikaël comes from the USA and explains how he voiced "Messieurs Dames je vous aime" in the middle of a café, the only sentence he could say in French at the time. His story gets funnier when he tells about how he and his friend released exotic birds from cages on his landlord's balcony at 4am. Angelika tells about her experience as a 16 year old tourist seeing Paris for the first time with her boyfriend -and whose parents have arranged them to stay in separate bedrooms at a small hotel in the romantic city. She has been drawing her vision of Paris from the literature of Simone de Beauvoir and Victor Hugo, and spent her first night wondering about the all night screaming cat she thought was a tortured baby. Margani arrives to France from Somalia to study. He tells how anxious he was to fail "because I didn't know any French". The street where he lived in Mogadishu was so full of life he thought Paris would be even livelier, but on his first night he saw the city empty and thought "Morgani, you are dead!", then he tells how he slept on top of the bed with his clothes on because he didn't realise he could get inside the bed and sleep comfortably wrapped in the blanket.

There is something so powerful in telling stories. Even the simplest, most anecdotal ones, when told with sincerity, can deeply touch. So far you can listen online to the stories of Abdellah, Jenny, Mikaël, Angelika and Margani. Each of them funny, poignant, passionate, they all, in their own way, tell the story of a discovery.

More stories will be told throughout the summer on Le Monde's "Ma première nuit en France" series.