Guests Are Oylum Yılmaz and Melisa Kesmez

TWO NEW EPISODES OF THE PODCAST SERIES “ELIM KALEM DE TUTAR KADEH DE” ARE ON AIR: GUESTS ARE OYLUM YILMAZ and MELISA KESMEZ!

Two new episodes of the podcast series, by Deniz Yuce Basarir, the experienced broadcaster, "Elim Kalem de Tutar Kadeh de", which includes lively conversations where joy is intertwined with rebellion and sadness with laughter, are on air! Oylum Yilmaz, the award-winning novelist, who is the guest of the eighth episode of the series that hosts the young female authors of our literature, describes the writing process by saying "It is like creating a schizophrenic world. Firstly, some images and thoughts come and draw me in. Then, I start to write.". Melisa Kesmez, the award-winning storyteller and the guest of the ninth episode of the series, says: "I always get out of depression by writing. Happiness and joy never work for me. Writing stops it. I always produce solution-oriented stories since I get out of depression by writing.". The episodes of the series "Elim Kalem de Tutar Kadeh de", which has been prepared with the support of Mey|Diageo, are available on all channels, through which podcasts can be listened, especially Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts and CastBox !

Deniz Yuce Basarir, an experienced name in the publishing world, intends to better introduce our productive and important authors, who bring the voice of the 21st century to their pages, through the podcast series "Elim Kalem de Tutar Kadeh de". While listening to the series, in which Basarir hosts our "80s generation" female authors at her table for a sweet literary conversation, the sounds of laughter, heels and  wineglasses of the women in Türkiye are being heard as well as the sound of their pens.

“Men's disengagement from the fiction is making the world a very messy place.”

In the eighth episode of "Elim Kalem de Tutar Kadeh de", Deniz Yüce Basarir hosts Oylum Yilmaz, whose close relationship with literature started as a journalist, and who then published her novels, Cadi, in 2012 and Gercek Hayat - which caused to her the Duygu Asena Novel Award - in 2017. The stories of Oylum Yilmaz, who alternates between the reality and imagination in her works, and who intends to center the nature, and who searches the female language that she defines as spiral, prompt the audience to think a lot about being a woman and an author in Türkiye. Encountering the names of the female authors from past to present in the chapter that Basarir has selected and read from Gercek Hayat deepens these thoughts.

Oylum Yilmaz, who says that she is very interested in the relationship between the reality and imagination, says that she tries to walk a line between the reality and unreality in her search for literature, and she adds: "And while I am trying to walk this line, I am checking to see if I can attract someone with me." In respect of being a female author, Yilmaz makes an interpretation "There is everything in the environment to prevent a woman from writing. There are very few things, which you can write, and which can make your life easier. It is always a struggle for existence. We continue to struggle for existence both as a woman and as a woman who writes.", and she continues "I want men to read me the most.", by adding: "When we look at literature readers, a very high percentage of them are female readers. Experts say that, after the age of 35, men lose their connection with fictional works. And I think this loss makes the world very miserable."

“It is very difficult for me to live in a world in which there is no Turkish language.”

The guest of the ninth episode of "Elim Kalem de Tutar Kadeh de" is Melisa Kesmez, the popular storyteller. In the episode, in which Kesmez's calm narration, main female characters, and stories focusing on the conflicts of city life are discussed, as attracted by the attention of a wide readership since her first book, Atlari Baglayin Geceyi Burada Gecirecegiz, that was published in 2013, an emotional chapter from her latest book, Kucuk Yuvarlak Taslar, is also shared. In this last episode of the series, an interview, which should not be missed, awaits the literature lovers in order to get to better know Melisa Kesmez who was deemed worthy of the 65th Sait Faik Story Gift with her book, Nohut Oda.

Explaining that she usually pursues an emotion while writing stories, Melisa Kesmez makes an interpretation about the world that she creates in her stories: "I think I am someone who lives very much in the present. Creating a fictional world beyond today does not appeal to me either. “For example, I do not feel like writing anything that goes beyond the places in which I live.". Stating that she has mastered the culture of the women's side, Kesmez says "I had the opportunity to observe and listen to a lot of things from that world. Maybe they were tiny details for me in those years, but now that I think about it, if I have a universe in my head, then that universe is really fed from there so much.". The successful storyteller describes her relationship with our language as "What can we do without Turkish language?! It is very difficult for me to live in a world in which there is no Turkish language.". 

The cover image of the series "Elim Kalem de Tutar Kadeh de", which has been drawn up by Deniz Yuce Basarir with the contributions of Mey|Diageo, a great supporter of culture and arts, bears the signature of Huban Korman, the award-winning illustrator. All episodes of the series are available on all channels, through which podcasts can be listened, especially Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts and CastBox .

ABOUT DENIZ YUCE BASARIR

She studied psychology. After working as a voice actor, translator, television programmer and presenter, she started the publishing as an editor at Dogan Kitap in 2003. She left the publishing house in 2016 while she was the publishing director, and in the same year, she took part as chief director in the founding team of the Hep Kitap. Basarir, who left this position in March 2019, currently meets her audience as the voice of many books on Storytel and through her podcast called "Ben Okurum". The book "Perde Kapanmasa Gorecektiniz, Kâmran Yuce’nin Arsivinden Kent Oyunculari’nin Kurulus Hikâyesi (1959-1986), which was written by Basarir based on the archive of Kâmran Yuce, the master theater man, who is her father and one of the founders of Kent Oyunculari, met the readers in October 2021.