Last two years I have been working on English elegies, the psychology of mourning and melancholia, and politics of mourning in particular. My researches also include late 20th century Turkish novels coping with the traumatic experience of military coups and a series of pogroms targeted particularly towards the civil rights movements in Turkey. By the end of 2013 Summer, I am planning to begin writing my novella on the issue of collective mourning and left-melancholy in particular, which, I suppose and hope, will be pursued by my Phd thesis on the same issue. As fictional writing is my primary concern, my project proposal for quartier21 includes my novella in the first place, which will be a work-in-progress already at the beginning of October 2013. I hopefully think that two-months stay in Vienna will intensify and enhance my writing.

My Stay in MuseumsQuartier, Vienna
As an invitee of the “Artist-in-Residence program,” I spent almost two months in Vienna from 1st of December 2013 until 23rd of January 2014. During my stay I wrote a couple of short stories, made some proof readings for some other stories I wrote previously and most significantly, draw an outline of a novella for which I will be working upon this year and probably the next. Moreover, I have made a couple of readings on Red Vienna and the intellectual concerns of the interwar era, and I was really fond of seeing a couple of exhibitions particularly focusing on the artistic and social atmosphere of the period. All the museums and exhibitions that I visited during my stay and all the people I met at MuseumsQuartier/quartier21 were really influential for me. And most importantly, being able to stay at the very heart of the city for such a long time and at such a beautiful studio was an unforgetable opportunity. It was a very productive and intellectually dense period, which had already proved to be quite effective and influential in my academic studies as well as in my literary concerns.
And thank you for everything!