Balanuye is a lecturer at the Philosophy Department of Akdeniz University. He completed his BA at the Middle East Technical University, in the field of Psychological Counselling. Balanuye holds two Master's degrees, the first of which he received at METU, in the sociology of education, and the second at the University of London, in the philosophy of education. He received his PhD from the Department of Philosophy at METU. Balanuye, who has published several academic and popular works on a minor tradition developed by Spinoza-Nietzsche-Deleuze within the framework of the thought of “immanence” in philosophy, is also the author of Spinoza: Bir Hakikat İfadesi [Spinoza: An Expression of Truth]. His previous book, Spinoza'nın Sevinci Nereden Geliyor?: Reddedilemeyecek Bir Felsefi Teklif [Where Does Spinoza’s Joy Come From?: An Irrefutable Philosophical Proposal] appeared in 2017, become one of the most popular books in its field, and is still a bestseller.  The first book of his “Naturans” trilogy, which questions the possibilities of a new ontology, was published in 2020 as Naturans I: Towards a New Ontology, and the second book, Naturans II: The New Ethics and Politics, was published in 2022. His latest book that he wrote in English, Orange Fragments: To Read and Contemplate in a Sunny Day, will be published by TP London very soon.

Kerem Işık was born in 1976 in Izmir, Turkey. He earned a bachelor’s degree in Chemical Engineering and later completed a master’s degree in Physics at the University of Akron, Ohio. His short stories have been published in various literary journals and magazines in Turkey, including Kitap-lık, Varlık, Notos Öykü, Eşik Cini, and Özgür Edebiyat. His debut short story collection, Aslında Cennet de Yok, was published in 2010 by Yapı Kredi Publications (YKY). His second collection, Toplum Böceği, also published by YKY, won the Haldun Taner Short Story Award in 2012.

In 2015, he released his third short story collection, Iskalı Karnaval, followed by his first novel, Dünyanın Güçlü Tarafı, in 2020. His fourth short story collection, Sınır (Border), was published in February.

Işık has translated works by Aharon Appelfeld, Nadine Gordimer, Salman Rushdie, André Aciman, and Rollo May, among others, into Turkish. He is currently the editor-in-chief at Livera Publications.

Marian Brehmer, born in 1991, studied Iranian Studies and Persian Literature in Berlin, Tehran and Istanbul and has been working as a freelance writer on Islamic culture and mysticism for fifteen years. His articles have appeared in major publications such as The Guardian, Süddeutsche Zeitung and Parabola Magazine. He loves immersing himself in the wisdom cultures of different geographies and has drawn on Indian, Christian and Sufi spiritual traditions. He is the author of three books, a musician and a cross-cultural traveller. He has been living in Turkey since 2015. His first book Der Schatz unter den Ruinen: Meine Reisen mit Rumi zu den Quellen der Weisheit was published by Herder Verlag in 2022, and his second book Sich den Durst aneignen was published by Corso Verlag in 2023.

REVIEWS

Quantara (German)

Quantara (English)

Maxime Rovere is a French philosopher and novelist, whose books are published in France by Flammarion. A specialist of Spinoza, he works on the philosophies of the 17th century and the Roman schools of the 1st century, while developing an "interactional ethics" at the crossroads of several contemporary currents (complexity, cybernetics and paraconsistency). 

He has devoted several books to Spinoza and his circle of friends (including a non-fiction novel, Le Clan Spinoza, 2017). He is also developing a personal way of thinking under the name of interactional ethics, which has given rise to two books, one devoted to conflictual interactions (Que faire des cons? pour ne pas en rester soi-même), the other to knowledge-producing physical interactions (L'école de la vie, Flammarion, 2020). He taught for several years at the University of Rio de Janeiro (Brazil), and was a researcher at the Netherlands Institute for Advanced Studies (Amsterdam). 

Mete Aygün was born in Ankara in 1961. He graduated from Hacettepe University, Department of Philosophy. In 1991, he published his first poetry book titled Dünya İşleri (World Affairs). Afterwards, he started his career as a copywriter in the advertising industry. Aygün lived in Paris for 3 years, where he wrote the first lines of Rumi as a radio play. After returning to Istanbul, he started working at McCann advertising agency. In 2006, after leaving McCann, he founded his own agency and after 10 years, Aygün, who turned his back on world affairs and devoted himself completely to writing, published his first novel after having worked on it for15 years.

Born in 1976 Ömer B. Albayrak graduated from Bosphorus University in 2002 and completed his Phd in Galatasaray University in 2013. His main area of research is German Idealism and Romanticism. His two books and numerous published papers focus on the themes of historicity and transcendence. Albayrak has translated books from authors such as Rousseau, Heine, Barthes and Lévi-Strauss. He is currently teaching at Istanbul 29 Mayis Univ his Phd in Galatasaray University in 2013. His main area of research is German Idealism and Romanticism. His two books and numerous published papers focus on the themes of historicity and transcendence. Albayrak has translated books from authors such as Rousseau, Heine, Barthes and Lévi-Strauss. He is currently teaching at Istanbul 29 Mayis University.

Pınar Akıskalıoğlu is a business activist who uses business as a tool to create a positive impact. She was educated at the University of Oxford and Harvard Business School, and started her professional career at the global youth organisation, AIESEC, and worked for the vision of peace and fulfilment of humankind’s potential. She was working as Global Director of Strategy before leaving the organization. Later, she joined a leading global consumer goods & technology company, Henkel. During her corporate career, she took various local and regional roles. Lately, she served as Head of Marketing. She then founded TAKK, an anti-brand personal care company that promises to sell people only what they need.

Pınar Öğünç graduated from Istanbul University, Faculty of Political Sciences, Department of International Relations. At the age of twenty-two, she went to a job interview at a news magazine with stories she had written. She worked as a journalist, editor and columnist for various magazines, newspapers and online media. She stood closer to journalism that intersects with literature. Known for her incisive writing and empathetic portrayal of individuals from diverse social backgrounds, Öğünç has made significant contributions to Turkish literature and journalism. Her previous works, including collections of essays, short stories, children’s title and interviews, have garnered widespread praise for their candid exploration of personal and collective struggles. Şu anda Burada mıyız? is her first novel and marks another pivotal moment in her literary journey, bringing her sharp journalistic eye and deep compassion into the realm of fiction.

Semih Uçar, as a musician, has given lectures and concerts all over the world, including in Germany, Austria, Denmark, Japan, China etc. In addition to music, he is also a professional writer and literary translator with 18 years of experience. As a polyglot speaking 12 languages, he has taught foreign languages to more than 5,000 people.

Instagram: semihucardilkocu

Youtube: dilkocusemihucar6168

Sona Ertekin was born in Erzincan in 1977 and grew up in Ankara. Deep into writing ever since she learned to read, Sona Ertekin followed a career based on words and began to write for printed media in her college years where she studied American Culture and Literature at Hacettepe University and then completed the M.A. program in Cinema-TV at Istanbul Bilgi University. 

She took her first copywriting position at Link-McCann Erickson in 2001. After many years as a writer for both mainstream and underground media and as a radio producer for Turkey’s most renowned indie radio station Açık Radyo, she edited a high-volume corporate history book for radio and in 2008 took the noble path of freelancing.

She travelled the tropical and mountainous regions of Southeast Asia for several years while working as a freelance translator and wrote travel articles for Aktüel magazine under the title "Letters from Sona". As an avid scuba, freediving, yoga and modern dance enthusiast, she performed as a Psychedelic Trance DJ for 10 years until she retired from raves.

Apart from her localization work, she translated books like Waiting for the Barbarians (Müge Gürsoy Sökmen, Başak Ertür – with Doğan Şahiner, 2010), Sociology Through the Projector (Bülent Diken & Carsten Bagge Laustsen, 2010), Even Cowgirls Get The Blues (Tom Robbins, 2012), How to Shoplift Books (David Horvitz, 2020) and The Art of Living (Thich Nhat Hanh, 2024).

Sona Ertekin’s first novel, Journey to the Center of the Fault (Can Yayınları/Mundi) debuted in 2019 and her second novel Everything is Dancing (Everest Yayınları) was published in 2024.

She is married and lives in the south coast of Turkey as the second mother of a wonderful young boy called Rüzgâr. Besides translating, she writes cultural and literary articles for K24 and various other cultural platforms. Freediving whenever she gets the chance, she’s into creating healthy & delicious recipes and also moonlights as a pole dancing instructor.

NEWS, REVIEWS, INTERVIEWS

ABOUT Journey to the Center of the Fault

·  Yekta Kopan – Hepsi TV

·  Deniz Koloğlu - Bant Mag

·  İlksen Mavituna – Açık Radyo

·  Gökçe Uygun – Gazete Kadıköy

“Sona Ertekin's book, Journey to the Center of the Fault, felt like it was written for me. Aside from the quality of her fiction and the explorers/seekers of the end times, her language is a treasure.”

Sevin Okyay - critic, translator, journalist

“Subtitled erotic feminism, sustainable hedonism and fantastic realism, Journey to the Center of the Fault is a modern-day novel that maintains its pace until the last page.”

Efnan Atmaca – Hürriyet Kitap

“Sona Ertekin's fluent style and witty sentences, which meet her readers for the first time with Journey to the Center of the Fault, are the most important factors that bind the reader to the book. It is possible to say that the attitude of the author, who skillfully uses everyday language without vulgarizing it, blending honesty and humor, gives readers a special pleasure.”

Ece Çavuşoğlu Yarar - Kitapeki.com

“Sona Ertekin's Journey to the Center of the Fault weaves its way through Sufism, modern literature, and many other subjects, stories, characters, and places. Journey to the Center of the Fault offers an enjoyable, rich and different journey for readers who do not resist the temptation of adventure.”

Meryem Gültabak - Posta Kitap

From Readers

“You will read the adventure of a Book Detective and a Bounty Hunter against those who are trying to destroy empathy in the world with a different and very pleasant narrative and fiction.”

Kitapyurdu

“A breathless, entertaining, thought-provoking, romantic, cheerful, instructive travel-adventure-love-philosophy novel written by Sona Ertekin. It has a tasteful and humorous language, the flow is very good, once you start it, you can't put it down. The places the characters travel to are both interesting in and of themselves, and for those of us who have travelled a little, it has a recent nostalgia for those days. I recommend it to those who want to read a well-written novel.”

Ekşi Sözlük

“Sona Ertekin's novel has a very fluent, humorous and brave language. I think those who want to stop and think, be surprised, laugh and listen to beautiful songs while running from adventure to adventure should not miss it.”

Ekşi Sözlük

ABOUT Everything is Dancing

Deniz Koloğlu - K24

Nazlı Berivan Ak - The Art Newspaper Türkiye

İlksen Mavituna – Açık Radyo

K24

Yazarın Odası (Meltem Dağcı with Sona Ertekin's husband Yenay Gökdemir)

"Writer and translator Sona Ertekin writes as she lives, combining her academic knowledge of literature and cinema-television with life itself. In her first book, Arızanın Merkezine Seyahat, she took the reader on a breathless world tour, and in her new novel, Her Şey Dans Ediyor, she joyfully traces the trail of love, immortality, self-realization and transformation. Not only in her novels, but also in her book reviews, articles, and translated works, there is a common thread, cognate codes, a similar approach: innovation, experimentation and courage."

Nazlı Berivan Ak - Editor, literary journalist

From readers

“It's a riot. In the streets of 2015 Kadıköy, a time traveller is searching for the love he lost in the 1970s. This time traveller's joyful, mysterious and gripping journey from Kadıköy hipsterism to witchcraft, from music to free diving, from time travel to Ankara pavilions. It will especially appeal to pole dancing enthusiasts, those interested in the occult, and those who want to revel in the power of women and sisterhood. A special recommendation for those who have reading difficulties, for those who want to be distracted and don't want to read something empty.”

Goodreads

“Characters that urban Gen Xers, especially women, can easily relate to, discover how to dance/live 'better' in familiar times and places in a wonderful fiction. Thank you Sona Ertekin for this rich and enjoyable reading adventure!”

Goodreads

Utku Özmakas received his PhD in Philosophy from Hacettepe University in 2016 and became an associate professor in 2021. His research interests include political philosophy, biopolitics, Michel Foucault, Jacques Derrida and philosophy of language. He has translated nearly thirty books by thinkers such as Simon Critchley, Thomas Lemke, Terry Eagleton, Jacques Ranciere, İkbal Ahmet, Stuart Hall and Nancy Fraser. He is a teacher at the university and also works as an editor. His books are Millennium Generation in Our Poetry (Pan, 2008), Parallax for Poetry (160. Kilometre, 2013), Biopolitics: Power and Resistance (İletişim, 2018), and The Cartesian Prince (ZoomBook, 2022).