Leyl Erbil

The pioneering debut novel by one of Turkey's most radical authors, originally published in the 1970s, tells the story of an aspiring intellectual in a complex, modernising country. Erbil's groundbreaking coming-of-age novel, nominated for the Nobel upon original release, follows a young woman and aspiring poet in Turkey. Nermin frequents Istanbul's coffeehouses and underground readings, but is torn between the...

An experimental collection of "proems" from poet and author Leyl Erbil, the first Turkish woman to ever be nominated for the Nobel. In this remarkable novel-in-verse, a young woman named Lahzen comes of age grappling with a culture gripped by interethnic tension. Bearing witness to the mutilation of a Kurdish journalist, the political imprisonment of her lover, and the violence...