This series of events includes programming for children as well as for interested consumers and publishing professionals, a newly created Turkish-German cooperation.

By Porter Anderson, Editor-in-Chief | @Porter_Anderson

Rights and Readings

A program on children’s books will originate from Turkey and Germany, November 16 to 22, and will include a one-on-one meeting event between rights managers produced in cooperation with Frankfurter Buchmesse and the German Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

Today’s announcement (November 5) from Turkey says that events are open free of charge, and the Istanbul-based Kovan Agency focused on illustration and run by Beste Bal and Gamze Erentürk. Publishing Perspectives readers will recall our article on this relatively new company here.

In some cases, the content is appropriate for children to join in on, and you’ll find several points at which the context of the coronavirus COVID-19 pandemic is influencing the planning. In addition, the international translation rights marketplace is a key concern here, and issues of rights and licensing are included in some of the events.

Among other highlights:

• Carlsen Verlag rights manager Sylvia Schuster will hold a master class on translation rights management. She’ll talk about her experience and make recommendations for improving book sales and approaching foreign markets in a creative and perceptive way
• Children’s content writer and director Anja von Kampen will offer a guided reading activity
• Gözde Eyce, an illustrator represented by the Kovan Agency, will offer a drawing activity with author Sima Özkan
• Tuğçe Ebesek Büyükuğurlu, who writes philosophical children’s books is to meet with children thinkers in the “Thought Experiments” workshop.
• Alp Gökalp, the author of the book Children Questioning the Media, will hold a media literacy workshop with children
• In a session on translation, Olcay Mağden Ünal and Manuela Volz will discuss Turkish and German children’s literature in terms of opportunities and limitations in this language pair
• The Gunışığı Publishing House will make a presentation on experiences in producing its long-running children’s literature festival in Turkey

Simultaneous interpretation between Turkish and German is to be provided.

Open to Professionals and Consumers

The LiteraTür Online Children’s Literature Festival is a project of the Goethe-Institut Türkei, which has a page of information about it here.

Not limited to industry professionals, the program is open to those who simply read and enjoy literature for young people, though many of the topics are tailored for writers, illustrators, publishers, translators, librarians, and schoolteachers. Parents are particularly encouraged to consider participating.

Kids may enjoy film producer Anja von Kampen’s reading from the popular Knietzsche series of books. These include Knietzshe and Death, in which the eponymous tyke invites children and adults to “look death in the eye with him” and learn “how to get through life bravely, even though death is currently messing everything up.”

Indeed, a theme runs through some of these sessions, signaled by the second event on the list, in which the focus is on talking with children about difficult topics.

We’ll provide a simple listing of the events here. Each has its own descriptive writeup and a Zoom link for users on its page.

• Publishers Meeting, November 16
• Literature as a Tool To Talk to Children About Difficult Topics, November 16
• Online Workshop: International Rights Sales, November 17
• Combine Mint and Reading Aloud, November 17
• The White Ravens Catalogue, November 18
• Interview with Mine Soysal, November 18
• Playful Reading Animation With ‘Brush Fish,’ November 19
• From Keeping the Text Rhythm to Hidden ‘Messes,’ November 20
• Sima Özkan and Gözde Eyce: The Journey of a Seed, November 21
• Anja von Kampen Reads for Children, November 21
• Philosophical Thought Experiments With Tuğçe Ebesek Büyükuğurlu, November 22
• Media Literacy for Children with Alp Gökalp, November 22

At this writing, the 3:24 a.m. ET update (0834 GMT) of the Johns Hopkins Coronavirus Resource Center reports Turkey’s caseload at 384,509 COVID-19 infections and 10,639 deaths. These figures stand in a population of 82 million.

At the Guardian, Bethan McKernan is reporting that the Erdoğan government is resisting calls for tougher measures than are in place so far in order to combat what many see as the likelihood of a second wave of the pathogen’s assault. Measures announced Tuesday–and considered too mild by critics–include a 10 p.m. curfew on restaurants, bars, hair salons, cinemas, and other venues and businesses.

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More from Publishing Perspectives on the Turkish market is here, more from us on children’s books is here, more on illustration is here, and more from us on the coronavirus COVID-19 pandemic and its impact on international book publishing is here.