Marmara Island Literature Festival brings art lovers together in its fifth year with the theme of 'hope'

The Marmara Island Literature Festival (MAEF) brought literature and art lovers together on the island for the fifth time this year. Held between August 6-9, 2026, the festival lasted four days, featuring talks, film screenings, author-reader meetings, and music and dance performances centered around the theme of "Hope."

Accompanied by the natural texture, historical venues, and centuries-old plane trees of Marmara Island, the program featured meetings with readers including Anastasia Laukkanen, Aslı Atasoy, Ayşe Kulin, Ayşe Övür, Ayşegül Devecioğlu, Christina Schray, Eylem Ata, Güzin Değişmez, Hakan Günday, Hikmet Hükümenoğlu, Murat Meriç, Murathan Mungan, Nazlı Ökten, Oya Baydar, Özgür Mumcu, Rafet Kemancı, Sevengül Sönmez, and Taner Sayacıoğlu. The festival was hosted by author and publisher Aslı Tunç.

FILMS, TALKS, AND PERFORMANCES

The festival began on Thursday, August 6, at the Çınarlı Culture and Arts Campus. The first day featured the screening and talk for the film "Bir Ada(m)" (An Island/Man), attended by Nazlı Ökten and Oya Baydar, as well as the screening of "Kitabın Rüyası" (The Dream of the Book), featuring Aslı Atasoy and Sevengül Sönmez. In the evening, at the Sabahattin Ali Evening held at the Avni-Jale Özken Marmara Islands Museum, MAEF coordinators Adil Çamur, Nevzat Ekmekçi, and Esengül Taran Fleckenstein delivered opening speeches. Sevengül Sönmez gave a talk titled "Sabahattin Ali's Literature," while Murat Meriç shared his presentation "Sabahattin Ali with Songs."

On August 7, Eylem Ata met with readers with her talk "The Ground of Hope," and Murathan Mungan with his talk titled "Hope, Persistence, and Continuity in Art and Literature." In addition to the MAEF coordinators, Marmara Islands Mayor Aydın Dinçer and Balıkesir Metropolitan Municipality Mayor Ahmet Akın attended the opening ceremony held at Kole Burnu-Recep Gülmüş Park. Following the ceremony, the group Menekşelendi Sular, consisting of Güzin Değişmez, Rafet Kemancı, and Taner Sayacıoğlu, gave a concert themed "From Literature to Music."

On Saturday, August 8, the program began at Çınarlı-Çınaraltı with a dance theater performance titled "Time Travel." On the same day, following author meetings, Ayşe Övür spoke in the talk "Why Does Man Tell Stories from Antiquity to Today?", Hikmet Hükümenoğlu in "The Magic of Fiction," and Ayşegül Devecioğlu in "Where Do Words Come From?". The day concluded with Hakan Günday's talk, "Thinking Through Writing."

The final day of the festival began at Gündoğdu Village Square with the dance theater performance "Hope" by Christina Schray and Anastasia Laukkanen. At the Avni-Jale Özken Marmara Islands Museum, Özgür Mumcu spoke on "Science Fiction for Hope," moderated by Aslı Tunç. The 5th MAEF concluded with the talk by Ayşe Kulin and Oya Baydar titled "An Authorship Adventure."

The festival aims to keep the bond Marmara Island has established with literature and art alive every August, bringing together the island's residents and visitors from different cities in a shared cultural experience.

News Source: 12punto