Tochter einer leuchtenden Stadt

Literary door
Reading, talk, music and snacks

Moderation: Birsen Serinkoz
Musical accompaniment: Sinem and Nikos

"Daughter of a Shining City", Defne Suman's magical and mysterious novel, tells the story of a Levantine, a Greek, a Turkish and an Armenian family in the multi-ethnic Anatolian port city of Smyrna, now Izmir, Turkey. And it tells the story of a Greek girl who is "born three times before she is 18 years old" and learns a new truth about life at each turning point. A story marked by war, destruction and loss as well as love: the quiet Scheherazade and her fate, interwoven with the history of Smyrna/Izmir, the "Pearl of the Orient", from the 1900s to the 1970s. The whistling of boats on the Aegean, the distant rumble of war, shouts of joy, cries of fear and terror, the wailing of seagulls can also be heard in the present - and refugees attempt to cross the same waters a century later.
Defne Suman was born in Istanbul and grew up on Büyükada, the largest of the Princes' Islands off the coast of Istanbul. She worked as a teacher in Thailand and Laos, lived in Buddhist monasteries, studied in the USA and now lives in Athens. Snacks and drinks from Turkish and Greek cuisine will be served during the evening. The event will be accompanied by music from Sinem & Nikos - Freundschaftsmusik, who will present a varied repertoire of Aegean songs in Turkish and Greek.

A cooperation of: German-Turkish Forum, Kalimera e. V. - German-Greek Cultural Initiative and Literaturhaus Stuttgart