Fuat Sevimay was born in 1972.
His books are awarded with several
important national prizes. He
is also translator of James Joyce,
namely of Finnegan’s Wake,
which is considered one of the most
difficult works in world literature.
Sevimay’s novels Grand Bazaar
of İstanbul and Anarchique are
translated to various languages,
including Italian, Serbian,
Georgian, Arabic, Urdu, English,
Croatian, Albanian, etc.
- Arts in general and specifically literature is a base for understanding the relation between society and individual. Thus, cultural surrounding is directly effective in my creativity. I never understand the isolated artists. Any writer should ever be in touch with the society and observe people. This is what I believe and try to do during my creation.
- It totally depends on the subject or core problem that I handle for my novel or short story. It may be the personal surrounding if I am deeply interested at physiological background of the protagonist. It may be the town if it is something more about the relation of individual and society. And of course, the country or geography in general if I write something about modern era, states or whatsoever. Nevertheless, we should never forget that the setting which we choose would much affect the personality of the character and the plot.
- I was in Tetovo and it was so nice to be in touch with different cultures of Balkans. That small city really seemed like a laboratory to observe interrelations. I was also lucky to visit Albania, Kosovo and some other cities within Macedonia like Skopje or Ohri which were nearby. People’s eagerness to live together is admirable. However, some others’ hatred stories were tiring. Balkan people in general could either be a wonderful instance for such variety or could cause next conflict due to their choice. When it comes to literature, this environment would always be so fruitful for stories.
- I write in order to try to understand the world and then to realize that it is almost impossible. However, it is important to be in search and go on to try.
