When I was eight or nine years old, my mother found a chest full of old cloths in the ruined mansion next to our house in Kadikoy, an ancient neighborhood of Istanbul, once called Chalcedon. She sewed the dresses for me and my sister. These were caftans made with golden filaments, silk dresses, red fesses... Continue Reading →
A 29-story building, a strange elevator in the building, and two children in the elevator... Delal Arya tells the mysterious story of Fûl, whose eyes resemble the depths of a forest, and Kâmuran, whose face is covered in brown freckles. An enchanting adventure that leads from neighborhoods resembling wormholes to captivating forests.
The Land of the Blind - Körler Ülkesi The renowned Venetian explorer Marco Polo once said: ‘I have not told half of what I saw’. This is the story of Ran and Lusin Eltanin, the twins who found the diary in which he told the other half of what he saw. Ran and Lusin Eltanin,... Continue Reading →
Gladys Gatsby is only eleven years old but she has already cooked 142 dishes from twelve different cookbooks. She loves cooking Vietnamese dishes, homemade hummus, tiramisus, curries, cakes with cardamom, Chinese sweets with green tea, soft cassoulets, and more. Despite her passion for cooking, Gladys leads a rather grey life in the suburbs of New... Continue Reading →
Life is simple and peaceful in the town of St Polonius, set on a fjord between the impressive Fortinbras Mountains and the vast North Sea. The town's inhabitants surround their homes with thick walls against the north winds and live in single-story, single-chimney houses. None of them dream of big houses. None of them ever dream of leaving town and moving to bigger cities. They have no expectations other than life except to do their own work and take tourists who come around once in a while. Nevertheless, there is a sneaky game in the middle.
The story is written in diary-style using audio recordings. This is the journal of thirteen-year-old Kos, who lives at a hotel with his father and three sisters. He loves to play soccer and is enamored with a girl in his class named Isabel. His mother passed away from cancer three years ago. Kos has his own problems with each of his siblings – he uses the phrase ‘gone off the deep end’ to refer to them. The eldest sister, Libbie, is nineteen and trying to take on a motherly role to her siblings as she falls in love with a melancholic poet who stays at the hotel. Breek is fifteen and a goth; she wears only black, paints her face like a canvas, and adapts fairytales to rock music. Pel, the youngest, is nine years old. She wears her mother's clothing as pajamas, sings the songs her mother used to sing, and keeps an assortment... Continue Reading →
With its vivid storytelling that unfolds layer by layer, the main characters of this fantastic fiction, Çay and her cousins, Simya, Sinan and Arat, take us on an adventure that never loses its enigmatic allure as they search of a lost watchtower, an ancient relic of Constantinople where fairytale creatures roam in the labyrinthine streets. ... Continue Reading →
When I think of literature, I imagine a mansion with a hundred rooms. As for fairy tales, it's a secret garden inside that mansion. With its roses, yellow lilies, vines, and clusters of willow trees, knowledge pools, fountains of love, and quiet ponds... In that deserted village by the lake where grass floats on... Continue Reading →
Wrap yourself in Leo Tolstoy, brew a Bronte Sisters, add two Jack Londons to the fireplace, and put Andersen on the record player. Winter has arrived, and let your provisions be books. Hidden corners have always given me pleasure since my childhood. Pantries lined with rows of jam jars, attic spaces illuminated by flashlights, mothball-scented... Continue Reading →
I don't remember whose idea it was to jump in. Everything started with a challenge. It was icy cold in April and we were 15 years old. Jean dove into the sea like an otter and didn't come out for a long time. I stood at the end of the pier with an old The... Continue Reading →
Delal Arya 