Talk: The Temple Inside Me – Sema Kaygusuz

Wednesday, July 10th 2019, 19:00

As part of “Shared Sacred Sites” exhibition program, Sema Kaygusuz will give a talk. In the text “Dilenci ve Allah ” from her very recent book titled Aramızdaki Ağaç , the writer was refering to her personal history and telling about how religious beliefs could pluralize through narratives passed on and by means of individual imagination.
In her talk Kaygusuz will open up a discussion around a number questions which she raises in relation to the exhibition: Where can we build the inner temple of a person? Is the sacred a habitat boundaries of which can be easily traced, an object that we can touch or a mithic narrative that disciplines original desires? Which temple can represent the link between spirituality and the private?

The talk will be in Turkish.

Sema Kaygusuz published her debut novel, Yere Düşen Dualar in 2006. Her 2009 novel Yüzünde Bir Yer, was inspired by her own grandmother, and deals with the shame and guilt experienced by someone who survives a massacre. In 2010, selected by DAAD, one of the most distinguished institutions in Germany, Kaygusuz spent one year in Berlin. In 2013 she wrote Sultan ve Şair, her first theatre play. In 2016, she received Yunus Nadi Novel Prize, the oldest literature award in Turkey, for Barbarın Kahkahası. Her work is translated into different European languages. Kaygusuz is a recipient of Balkanika Award, France-Turquie Award, ‘English PEN Translates’ Award and Coburg-Rückert Award in memory of the 19th century German poet, translator and linguist Friedrich Rückert.