Taking literature directly from sterile panel halls, enclosed museum walls, and restricted event venues into the middle of the street, the “Edebiyat Sokakta” (Literature in the Street) project eliminates the distance between the literary world and everyday life. Spearheaded by Esra Alkan, Board Member of the Writers Syndicate of Turkey (TYS), the project creates an organic public space where poets and writers connect directly with their neighbors and local shopkeepers on their own streets in the neighborhoods where they live.
The project’s inaugural meeting took place on Duatepe Street in Yeldeğirmeni—a neighborhood known for Kadıköy’s historical fabric—where poet and TYS member Hatice Nayır gathered with her neighbors on the very street where she resides. Originating in Istanbul and aimed at expanding across all of Turkey, starting with Adana, this street movement carries a meaning far beyond a standard book signing. Poems echoing on sidewalks, books signed on doorsteps, and conversations extending from the neighborhood grocer to the local tailor liberate literature from the elitist boundaries of indoor spaces, integrating it into the natural rhythm of the street.
The “Edebiyat Sokakta” ethos aims to revitalize the neighborhood culture and the figure of the “neighborhood writer”—a concept threatened by urbanization and digitalization. This direct bond that authors build with neighbors on their own streets aims to establish a lasting intellectual memory and literary tradition within neighborhoods over time. In this way, the transformative power of literature strips away the formal protocol of convention halls, blending into the sound, breeze, and dynamism of the street.
Project Note from NO-26 Editor
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Project: Edebiyat Sokakta (Literature in the Street)
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Pioneer / Institution: Esra Alkan (Board Member of TYS) / Writers Syndicate of Turkey (Türkiye Yazarlar Sendikası)
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Focus: Street gatherings originating on Duatepe Street in Yeldeğirmeni (Hatice Nayır gathering) and expanding across Adana and all of Turkey
