Footsteps Library Book Gathering Onlar Savaşırken, Bekir Eliçin

The book gatherings of the Footsteps Library, established for the Istanbul Biennial in arthereistanbul, are starting. Every Wednesday every two weeks, we will talk, contemplate, and read for an afternoon dedicated to a selected book from the library. The selected book for the gathering on Wednesday, October the 5th is Bekir Eliçin's 1978 novel, Onlar Savaşırken (While They Were Fighting), in which he tells about those who made profiteering by taking advantage of the apocalyptic environment created by the war during the First World War days. The novel based on Eliçin’s own experiences not only tells the universal story of those who seek the way to become rich by turning the destruction of the war in their favor, but also presents a view of the life that went on behind the frontline during the war.

The writer's granddaughter, journalist Işın Eliçin, will be the guide for the day dedicated to Onlar Savaşırken. Besides the book, we will discuss about doing journalism at the war times, and on the edge of war. We will discuss the current state of peace journalism and its relationship with the principle of public interest. The speech will be accompanied by books from the shelves of the Footsteps Library.

The solidarity space, art center arthereistanbul, established by immigrant artists in the Yeldeğirmeni district of Istanbul, will host the Footsteps Library during the Biennial. This library consists of approximately 600 Turkish and Arabic books that tell stories from the margins of wars, from Homer's Iliad to the present. arthereistanbul will be the hub for a series of meetings during the 17th Istanbul Biennial between September 17 and November 20. The topic will be approached in many ways with sound, visuals, music, photos, installation, book readings and phone calls.