Leyla and Adem’s mother, a storyteller, transmits the tales she gathers from the minutiae of life—sometimes from insects, sometimes from birds, and occasionally from children. Mırmır, the family cat, ever the silent observer, witnesses these narratives unfold.

No story is granted passage into a book without the collective assent of Leyla, Adem, and Mırmır. Among the myriad imaginative games devised by this family, their favorite is the one in which they assume the perspectives of animals.

They also experience a profound affinity with migratory birds, for, like them, they are migrants individuals born on distant shores who have traversed to this hemisphere.

I, too, embarked upon a migratory path from the village of my birth to the vast metropolis of Istanbul. My family seemed to carry our village and its cultural mores in a suitcase, transplanting a microcosm of our homeland into the urban landscape. For many years, we inhabited this enclave, a small village adrift within the sprawling city. In my youth, I worked in a private bank, dedicating myself to my profession with diligence and pride.

Yet, when I recognized that this path did not resonate with my innermost self, I undertook a decisive relocation to another country. Thirty-five years ago, I arrived in London, where the brisk air encourages contemplation and reflection.

Confronted with the dual burdens of racism and gendered expectations, I began to interrogate my own potential and the contributions I might render. Every experience and observation I encountered was transmuted into my writing. Through the transformative power of language, I seek to heal, provoke thought, and cultivate awareness.

Immersed in the Turkish diaspora, I have cultivated an ethnographically informed authorial identity. Women, children, migration, human rights, and the natural world have emerged as the structural and thematic scaffolding of my literary oeuvre. Indeed, life itself assumes the role of a central character within my narratives.

As one who finds verbal expression limiting, I elect to communicate through the written word, wherein nuance, reflection, and subtlety attain their fullest articulation.