ÇEVRE HIGHLIGHTS - 22.SAYI

39 OCAK 2023 “Çevre”m Kitap InterviewWith Sunay Akın, Guest Of Honor Of The 20th Book Festival Interviewed By: Nehir ÖZKAN, Mina ÇOLAKOĞLU You produce works in different genres of literature, but where do you position yourself in the world of literature? I guess I’m trying to make something of my own. If we put a framework into what I have done, it can be called an essay, but the usual setup of the essay that we know does not exist in my prose. I keep my poems separate, my poems are poetry. I believe that I have opened a different path for my own in poetry as well as in our literature. I can’t even put a name to my prose, I’m just saying that they were the things I wanted to write. So yes, there is a story in it, but it is not a story, an essay, yes, but not a trial. I think these are the prose texts that only a poet would write. Time will tell where it is placed. Which poets were you most influenced by and which poets or writers do you follow in our world of literature right now? I could easily have answered this question 15-20 years ago. But I can’t anymore. Because when I read the poets that I once read, which seemed distant to me, years later, I loved them very much. I can say that every poet and writer who raises our Turkish, our flag of sound, in literature and carries it to new horizons is my master and I am influenced by all of them. I am still impressed. When I go back and reconsider the works that I read very early in my readings, I get a different pleasure. For example, when I read Yaşar Kemal’s work called Teneke, I am now a different Sunay Akın and I get very different flavors from this work. When I re-read Cemal Süreya, I can now see that the richness of his imagery world is in a very different place in this age period. My point is, I have a library after all. Have a library too and put the books of poets and authors there, sometimes some books will come close to you, some will come far away. But the day will come when those who that are far away will be your favorite books. You will not be able to separate those poets and writers from each other. I am in such a thought right now, I am in this emotionality. I cannot separate them. Art and culture are of great importance for the development of a society and the establishment of a bright future. So, what can we as young people do? Whatever will be done, you young people will do. Middle-aged and old people have nothing to do. We and the next generation failed to do this. You guys will do a lot. Let science and art be your two wings. Know that if you flap these two wings in the wind of knowledge, you can build a better future not only for our country but also for our world. Do not allow these two wings to be broken or blunted.