Press

8 Questions for Nazlı Gürkaş(娜丝丽•顾卡思)
SD Original, November 30. 1999
Dear Miss Gürkas, what have you been busy with lately?
I am just back from London Book Fair which is one of the world's most important publishing market meeting points. I had a very busy and efficient fair. Got back to the office very happy and satisfied.
What made a previous photographer and journalist turn into a literary agent?
I have always been interested in literature, all my life. I can say that I am a good reader since my childhood. The day I read one of the interviews of Kalem Agency's founder Nermin Mollaoglu in a Turkish newspaper, I felt the urge of doing something concrete for literature to travel. Then I somehow made my dreams come true and I have been working as a literary agent for almost 3 years now
What is the latest book that you have brought to Turkish market? How is the market reaction?
One of the important books we sold from Chinese to Turkish through our lovely business partner Gray Tan from Grayhwak Agency is Decoded by Mai Jia. It is a good example of Chinese bestseller. As Gray Tan sold its rights to USA and other major countries, it was much easier for this title to travel into other languages. Other titles as examples would be The Man with the Compound Eyes by Wu Ming Yi and This Love Could Not Be Delivered by Lu Min. Market reaction is much better than we expected. In Turkey, more and more interest is raising towards "unknown and far away" lieratures and it is a happy thing for literary agents and publishers.
According to your experience, what makes a book “travel” to Turkey? What makes a book “travel” abroad?
Of course relevant themes always make books travel. If the book talks about the common problems between two countries, it creates a bond. It makes the book more attractive to be translated.
Also, the power of the language and way of descriptions, namely the power of the author makes the book strong and the book creates deep feelings everywhere it travels.
How is Turkish publishing market doing right now? any trends and developments that you can share with us?
Turkish publishing market is one of the fast growing markets in the world. The colouring books was the trend of 2016, just like the other countries of the world. It was unexpected and became very big in a very little time.
How many authors does Kalem represent, can you tell us some more about its business model?
Kalem represents more than 120 authors. Kalem started in 2006 with the big dream of introducing Turkish literature to the world. It was a big dream at the beginning but dreams came true in a short 10 years of time with the great efforts of the founder of Kalem Agency, Nermin Mollaoglu. Then the team she created started to sell foreign titles into Turkish and again in a short time of 5 years, more than 2000 contracts have been made, which is a great success. Kalem Agency gives importance to the "good matches". The book and its publishing house must be relevant, namely a good match.
You have participated the “Books at Berlinale” program organised by Frankfurt Book Fair in February this year. How was it?
It was great. I was there to represent the novel called Soraya by Meltem Yilmaz. The novel takes place in Hummus Syria at the opening pages. A twenty year old girl Soraya has to escape from the war with her parents, leaving everything behind. They find themselves in a refugee camp in Turkey and their dark story starts with ups and downs.
It was an interesting experience to represent a novel about both Syria and Turkey's common problems. Actually it is not only these countries' problems, it is the whole world's open soar. In this kind of international scenes, you feel the importance of "traveling literature" more and more.
Does your agency works with Chinese authors and publishers? How do you see the cooperation between Turkey and China?
We work with Chinese publishers through Grayhawk Agency and we are very happy about this cooperation. The relationships between two countries are getting better and more and more interaction is taking place.
Is this your first trip to China? What do you expect from your participation at the StoryDrive conference and your stay in China?
Yes, it will be my first trip to China. I expect to find out more about Chinese publishing market and learn more about the participants' own markets. I'm sure my China trip will borad my horizon.
Nazlı Gürkaş(娜丝丽•顾卡思) will be speaking at the StoryDrive Conference in Beijing (29 -30 May 2016).