You may have also noticed the increase in international conferences and activities being held in Istanbul the past few years.

Many journalists, experts, academicians and people from other professions take these opportunities as a chance to travel to Istanbul. However, despite this delightful improvement, this city of cities is still an undervalued cultural and intellectual center. There is no reason why this city should not be turned into a cultural capital of the world. What’s more, perhaps it is not a mass investment or a wonderful infrastructure that we need, but rather the right person taking action at the right time. I saw how efficiently this principle worked at the international Hay Literature Festival in England last weekend.

Hay is a tiny, calm and secluded town located between England and Wales. How can such a town host Europe s, and probably the world s, most exciting literature festival? How can readers, critics and journalists around England and writers from all over the world flood to this deserted town? Imagine a remote village where the two-floored houses and small markets are nearly outnumbered by bookstores. People in this area are famous for not subscribing to the concept of "free time;" there is no such a thing as free time, they do not have the luxury of wasting their time, there are only books to read, and lots of them. In brief, this is a place where a bookstore meets you at every step, and has been a place where people have always valued books. But its only the sheer willpower of a few entrepreneurs some decades ago that is turning this love for books into not only a commercial success, but a development model for the people of the area and an alternative place for booklovers.

In fact, only one entrepreneur is enough for this. What if only one entrepreneur declares a small town a "literature festival center," gains access to the necessary sponsors, holds meetings with publishing houses, and gets the attention of the press? Writers visit unwillingly in the beginning, then wholeheartedly on following occasions. The result is an exceptional festival founded among thousands of tents in the midlands of a muddy county. The Woodstock of the literature world. London bibliophiles leave aside their fancy shoes and brand name clothes to put on their Wellington boots and a torn coat. Hay is a hippie literature festival. A festival where you lie on the grass, eat stale sandwiches and buy books with the rest of your money, rushing from one tent to another to listen to readings. Behind the scenes are cows and sheep grazing, village children playing with their kites while thousands of city residents frantically buy books and wait in line to get their books signed by the authors.

Can you imagine one of our businessmen or an entrepreneur taking a similar step? Only book centered and only for literature. Can you imagine the Odemis, Adapazari or Ihlara Valley, or somewhere bigger, like Kayseri or Van chosen as location for the country s biggest literature festival, and thousands of people crashing there every year? Unfortunately, our literary circles are mostly Istanbul centered. There is hardly literature outside of three cities. Even in Istanbul are the literary activities held in the same quarters, the same spots. Is it really a daydream to imagine an International Adapazari Literature Festival?

06.09.2006