Born on the island of Rhodos, Hakan Günday is one of the most prominent writers in modern Turkish fiction. After completing his primary education in Brussels, he went to Tevfik Fikret High School in Ankara. He started his higher education at Hacettepe University in the Department of Translation and Interpreting. The following year, he continued his studies at the Universite Libre de Bruxelles Department of Political Science, before continuing the same track in Ankara University.
He is a significant representative of underground literature in Turkey, alongside other noteworthy names like Oğuz Atay and Küçük İskender. The foreign equivalent of his writing style can best be described as somewhere between Chuck Palahniuk and Charles Bukowski. His first book Kinyas and Kayra was published in 2000 and had a tremendous impact in literary circles. His books reflect a much darker side of humanity and earned his work the label of ‘underground literature’, although Günday himself has rejected the title in past interviews. In recent years, he wrote the screenplay of Şahsiyet and he adapted his book Daha into a film directed by Onur Saylak.
He is also a playwright, with his production Mandrel making its premiere at the 17th International İstanbul Theatre Festival in 2010.
His novel More received Le Prix Medicis Etranger 2015 and the award for Best Turkish Novel of 2011. His novel Ziyan was a finalist for the Prize Lorientales 2015 in France and was awarded the France-Turkey 2014 Author Award. His books have been translated into English, Spanish, and French.
“The illegals climbed into the truck, and, after a journey of two hundred miles, they boarded ships and were lost in the night.”
Gaza lives on the shores of the Aegean Sea. At the age of nine he becomes a human trafficker, like his father. Together with his father and local boat owners Gaza helps smuggle desperate “illegals,” by giving them shelter, food, and water before they attempt the crossing to Greece. One night everything changes and Gaza is suddenly faced with the challenge of how he himself is going to survive. This is a heartbreaking work that examines the lives of refugees struggling to flee their homeland and the human traffickers who help them reach Europe—for a price.
In this timely and important book, one of the first novels to document the refugee crisis in Europe, Asia, and the Middle East, we see firsthand how the realities of war, violence, and migration affect the daily lives of the people who live there. This is a powerful exploration of the unfolding crisis by one of Turkey’s most exciting and critically acclaimed young writers who writes unflinchingly about social issues.
The Few (2011)
“I am here. Where are you?” These desperate words link the two protagonists of Hakan Günday’s raw and fearless novel The Few. Derdâ is an eleven-year-old girl pulled out of boarding school by her mother who, without telling her, plans to sell her as a wife to a conservative tribesman. She goes with her new husband to London, where for five years he abuses and all but imprisons her. Even after escaping, Derdâ soon finds herself preyed upon by Londoners as well as other Turkish immigrants who have formed a criminal underworld.
In a parallel story set in Turkey, Derda, an eleven-year-old boy, buries his dead mother in secret to avoid being taken to the state orphanage. Alone, he becomes with an illegal book printing operation. He finds himself obsessed with a Turkish novelist, who Derda grows convinced died because he felt misunderstood and unappreciated. Increasingly unstable, Derda targets two contemporary writers, whom he accuses of stealing the writer’s fame.
The Few is an unflinching story of the vulnerability of the world’s youth when cultures, politics, and generations collide. In a time when countless refugees and children slip through the cracks, it is a powerful admonishment not to forget those who are helpless victims.
