SATW 2024 Annual Convention

Istanbul, Türkiye, November 12-16, 2024

Türkiye is a vast and diverse country. For those of you who want to read up in advance, we recommend a selection of both nonfiction and fiction books for your reading pleasure. Next time, look for our movie and TV show recommendations.

For guidebooks, Amazon has a good list:

https://www.amazon.com/Best-Sellers-Turkey-Travel-Guides/zgbs/books/16845

We recommend Rick Steve’s, Fodor’s and Lonely Planet.

Books: Nonfiction



1. Atatürk: A biography of Mustafa Kemal, father of modern Türkiye, Lord Kinross
2. Mesnevi, Mevlana Celaleddin Rumi 
3. The Ottoman Empire, Halil İnalcık
4. Spies for the Sultan, Emrah Safa Gürkan
5. Atatürk: The Biography of the Founder of Modern Türkiye (Andrew Mango, 1999). This is the most comprehensive biography of Atatürk since Lord Kinross's 1967 Atatürk: A Biography of Mustafa Kemal.
6. Crescent & Star (Stephen Kinzer, 2001). Kinzer sheds light on Türkiye's culture and reports on its fraught political landscape.
7. Eat Smart in Türkiye (Joan Peterson, 2004). Peterson describes the fascinating history and culture of Turkish cuisine and includes delicious recipes.
8. The Drop That Became the Sea (Yunus Emre, 1999). A compilation of Sufi poetry introduces readers to the spirit of Islamic mysticism.
9. Istanbul: The Imperial City (John Freely, 1996). Freely's book serves as both a brief history and a travel guide.
10. Istanbul: Memories and the City (Orhan Pamuk, 2005). Pamuk's portrait of Istanbul is also a portrait of his own life within the city.
11. Memoirs of an Exile (Aziz Nesin, 1957). The famous Turkish satirist tells of his forced banishment to Bursa.
12. The Pleasantries of the Incredible Mullah Nasrudin (Idries Shah, 1968). Shah gives the mysterious 13th-century Sufi Mullah Nasrudin a voice by collecting stories told by other mystics.
13. Sailing from Byzantium (Colin Wells, 2006). The story of Byzantium is full of high drama and exciting adventure.
14. A Short History of Byzantium (John Julius Norwich, 1997). Norwich's history is a good way to learn about the rise and fall of Constantinople.
15. Suleiman the Magnificent (André Clot, 1992). This history chronicles the life of the most celebrated of Ottoman sultans.
16. Tales from the Expat Harem (Anastasia M. Ashman and Jennifer Eaton Gökmen, 2006). This anthology compiles 29 personal stories from foreign women living in Türkiye.
17. Turkish Reflections (Mary Lee Settle, 1991). Mary Lee Settle recounts two visits to Türkiye, 15 years apart.
18. Turkish Odyssey (Serif Yenen, 1998). This handy guide to Turkish society and culture is comprehensive and beautifully illustrated.
19. The Turks Today (Andrew Mango, 2004). This sequel to Atatürk showcases a portrait of Turkey's recent development.
20. Osman's Dream: The History of the Ottoman Empire (Caroline Finkel, 2005). Finkel traces the empire from medieval times to modernity.

Books: Fiction

1. Ahmet Ümit - A memento for İstanbul
2. The Bastard of Istanbul (Elif Shafak, 2006). A young Armenian girl living in Arizona secretly travels to Istanbul to find out more about her identity and cultural heritage.
3. Birds Without Wings (Louis de Bernières, 2004). Bernières depicts a village tragedy amid the fall of the Ottoman Empire.
4. The Black Book (Orhan Pamuk, 1990). After an Istanbul lawyer's wife disappears, he begins assuming the identity of her ex-husband.
5. Bliss (O. Z. Livaneli, 2002). After intense trauma, a young Turkish girl begins a journey of transformation in Istanbul.
6. Human Landscapes from My Country (Nazim Hikmet, 1966). This novel, written in verse, describes Hikmet's time in a Turkish prison during World War II.
7. Memed, My Hawk (Yashar Kemal, 1955). This is a dramatic tale of a bandit hero seeking justice in the Turkish countryside.
8. My Name Is Red (Orhan Pamuk, 1998). A group of artists in 16th-century Istanbul are commissioned with a dangerous task resulting in a frightening mystery.
9. One for Sorrow (Mary Reed and Eric Mayer, 1999). The first of six mysteries set in a vividly Byzantine Constantinople follows the Lord Chamberlain of Emperor Justinian.
10. Portrait of a Turkish Family (Irfan Orga, 1950). A wealthy Ottoman family disintegrates at the end of the Ottoman Empire.
11. Snow (Orhan Pamuk, 2002). An exiled poet returns to Türkiye and faces suspicion after making a controversial report.
12. The Museum of Innocence (Orhan Pamuk, 2008). The exquisite love story by Türkiye's Nobel Prize laureate about a wealthy businessman, Kemal, and his relationship with a distant relative.

Registration Opens This Summer

Stay tuned for updates on our Annual Convention in Türkiye!

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