Ayşe Adem from Western Thrace participated in the 14th International Istanbul Poetry and Literature Festival
'International Istanbul Poetry and Literature Festival', organised by the Poetry Association for the 14th time this year, took place between 21-25 November. The festival was attended by poet and writer Ayşe Adem from Western Thrace and 20 poets from 8 countries.
Presidency for Turks Abroad and Related Communities (YTB), Istanbul Medeniyet University, Artizan Art and Hungarian Cultural Centre contributed to the festival, which was supported by the Ministry of Culture and Tourism and hosted by Beykoz Municipality.
20 poets from 8 countries participated in the festival
İbrahim Kamberoğlu, Çiğdem Sezer, Erol Tufan, Tuba Kaplan, Raşit Ulaş, Ebru Özden, Zeynep Arkan, Ayşe Şafak Kanca, Halime Yıldız, Nihat Özdal, Zeynep N. Tiryaki, Sevgi Vural and Ercan Yılmaz, Jordi Virallonga from Spain, Hristo Petreski from North Macedonia, Petra Szöcs from Hungary, Aziz Nazmi Şakir from Bulgaria, Ayşe Adem from Greece/Western Thrace, Ahmed Murad from Iraq and Ferit Hüseyin from Azerbaijan.
In his opening speech at the opening ceremony held at Rami Library, Adnan Özer, President of the Poetry Association and the Festival, underlined that this year they added a different dimension to the festival. Özer said, "We will include the modern poetry of the Turkish world. We are setting up a separate table on this area."
Ayşe Adem, who participated in the festival from Western Thrace, took part as a speaker (panelist) in the panel titled "Modern Poetry Studies in the Turkish World" held at Istanbul Medeniyet University. After the period of silence in Western Thrace in 1923, Ayşe Adem talked about the Turkish Literature that has been shaped around various magazines and newspapers since the 1960s, and contributed to the panel by talking about the journey of poetry that has developed and grown around the axis of literary and cultural magazines until today. She added that she is hopeful about the developing Turkish Literature in Western Thrace. Poet and writer Ayşe Adem's poem 'Staying Behind', which she performed at Medeniyet University, was highly appreciated.
In the continuation of the festival, Ayşe Adem, who participated in the programme titled Poet Women Poetry Evening held in Beyoğlu Artizan Sanat, stated that she performed her poem titled 'World Wet' in her book titled 'The Bird-Like Game' for Palestine and Gaza and said "we will not remain silent to the genocide and massacre there, our prayers and hearts are in Palestine". In the same programme, Ayşe Adem also performed her poem 'The Game of Looking Like a Bird', which was the title of her first poetry book. The poems attracted great attention.
As Millet Newspaper, we share with you Ayşe Adem's poem 'The World is Wet', which she wrote years ago for the innocents caught in the middle of the war and the peoples who were forced to become refugees and performed for Gaza and Palestine at the International Istanbul Poetry Festival.
Who is Ayşe ADEM?
Ayşe Adem was born on 10 December 1991 in Kurcalı village of Komotini. She graduated from Thrace Democritus University Faculty of Medicine. Her poems and writings were published in literary magazines such as Dergâh, Yedi İklim, Fiyaka and on the website 'edebifikir.com'. He also took part in the last issue of Buzdokuz magazine with a poetry translation. Published by Dergâh Publications, one of the most established publishing houses in Turkey, 'The Game of Looking Like a Bird' is Ayşe Adem's first book of poetry. Ayşe Adem continues to work as an assistant doctor in the Department of Ophthalmology and Surgery at Alexandroupoli University Hospital.
