The magical world of Çukurova on book pages: Çukurova Tales

Published by Kara Karga Yayınları, Çukurova Tales brings the oral tradition of Çukurova, one of Turkey's cultural treasures, into the present day.

Rewritten and given a literary form by Olcay Bağır, Çukurova Tales offers a unique reading experience for literature enthusiasts and fairy tale lovers. This collection, filled with tales and legends specific to Çukurova, serves as both a salute to the past and a cultural heritage left for the future. As part of the publisher's World Tales Series, the book presents forgotten tales and legends in a literary language.

In the tales within the book, which include legends such as Shahmaran, the Seven Sleepers, Anavarza Castle, and the Maiden's Castle (Kızkalesi), fantastic beings—from giants to witches, and from golden-scaled fish to the Simurgh—invite the reader into a magical world. Beyond being an ordinary fairy tale book, Çukurova Tales takes child and adult readers on a journey that sparks the imagination by connecting them with a cultural heritage.

The Simurgh carrying a man on its back to Mount Qaf, a group of young people sleeping in a cave for centuries, a giant as tall as a minaret catching a witch flying in her cauldron in mid-air, mice carrying out an exciting operation to retrieve a ring sought by a cat and a dog, and a bald farmer losing his hat to a willow tree are all ordinary events in this realm of tales that bears the traces of civilizations thousands of years old!

MAGICAL NARRATIVES PASSED DOWN FROM GENERATION TO GENERATION...

Çukurova is a carrier of a thousands-year-old culture, not only with its fertile lands but also with its tales and legends. The book in your hands brings these magical narratives, passed down from generation to generation in these lands, to the present day.

These tales, where giants, witches, dragons, the Simurgh, and many other fantastic beings roam, speak not only to children but especially to adults who need dreams. Stories await you where sometimes a fox goes to ask for a friend's hand in marriage, sometimes a golden-scaled fish changes destinies, and sometimes human weaknesses are told in the shadow of a secret that opens the door to immortality.

Aiming to revive the fading tradition of storytelling, Çukurova Tales is both a salute to the past and a cultural heritage left for the future.

Who is Olcay Bağır?

He was born in Adana. He graduated from Ankara University Faculty of Communication and Anadolu University's Department of Sociology. His articles have been published in many magazines. He wrote weekly cinema columns for Yurt Gazetesi. He served as the editor-in-chief of cinema magazines such as GodFather Dergi and Sine K Dergi, as well as the urban culture magazine Tanı. He published a cinema dictionary book titled Sinesözlük. He contributed to the 6th volume of the book series "Bize Yön Veren Metinler" (Texts That Guide Us) with an article describing the history of Turkish cinema.

News Source: 12punto