Şebnem İşigüzel: Talented, Fearless

İşigüzel made her debut at twenty with a collection of short stories Hanene Ay Doğacak [The Future Looks Bright], which launched an investigation into the authorship because many refused to believe that the controversial book was not written by an established author. Part of the print run was confiscated, and the book could be later sold only to persons over 18 years of age. “In my first book, I write, for example, about incest, which society considers hideous. But I’m describing the reality that’s happening to women and children in secret, for which nobody is held responsible,” says the author of prose and essays, born in 1973 in Yalova, a city near the coast of the Sea of Marmara. İşigüzel continues: “Boldness is at least as important as writing itself. I’m not afraid to criticize society and its bad habits. If we were a group of cowards, there would be no other than sacred texts.” Except for the troubles with authorities, the collection has gained her a prestigious award, the Yunus Nadi Short Story Prize. Other works followed: short stories, essays, books for kids and also seven novels, e.g., Çöplük [The Garbage Dump], Kirpiklerimin Gölgesinde [In the Shadow of My Eyelashes] and Gözyaşı Konağı: Ada 1876 [Mansion of Tear: Island 1876].