Organized by the Istanbul branch of the Turkish Authors Association (TYB) and the Istanbul Metropolitan Municipality's (İBB) Department of Culture, the 8th Istanbul Literature Festival will be held between Nov. 21 and Nov. 26. The main theme will be "Literature and Coups."

The head of the Istanbul branch of the TYB Mahmut Bıyıklı said this year's festival will be glowing.

Bıyıklı also said they determined the main theme of the festival from the effects of the July 15 coup attempt. "We decided to mention coups in this festival in order not to be unresponsive to this issue as authors who have conscience and witnessed the history," he added.

Emphasizing that coups have influence on literature, Bıyıklı said they will work on reflection of coups on literature with poems, authors and academics. "There hasn't been such a comprehensive study on coups in Turkey so far. The coup attempt by FETÖ has seriously harmed our lands. However, every cloud has a silver lining and it helped us to build up and revive together. It will be this country's authors who will protect the future of these lands," he said.

Bıyıklı also said they, as the Istanbul branch of the TYB, published a "Witness Testimony" a short time after July 15 to show that they are with the Turkish people against the coup plotters.

"We studied the coup in Sept. 12, 1980, in which both conservatives and leftists were harmed, but the literature on it was mostly created by the left while conservatives were not very successful at this point. Similarly, the Feb. 28 coup was against Muslims and we couldn't mention it in literature enough. Now our caring people will mention it in a more qualified and in-depth way after July 15. We can see this in poems or special editions of literature magazines, which have been recently published," he said.

Bıyıklı also added that the literature by the left during the July 15 process was unsuccessful and said they applaud the coup and see the state of emergency as a limitation of freedoms. Bıyıklı said the 8th Istanbul Literature Festival will be a milestone for this issue.

Hosting nearly 100 pets, authors and academics as speakers in Kızlarağası Madrasah, the festival also includes talks, music recitals, documentary screenings, poetry nights, and autograph sessions, reading workshops, exhibitions and movie screenings. In addition, special awards will be presented to award-winners during the last day of the festival.

Üstün İnanç will be the guest of honor at the festival at which prominent authors such as İskender Pala, Beşir Ayvazoğlu, Yusuf Kaplan, Hüseyin Su, Selçuk Küpçük, Nurettin Durman, Ahmet Yenilmez, Turan Koç, Mustafa Özçelik, Ali Ural, Mehmet Doğan, Ali Haydar Haksal, İsmail Kılıçarslan, Musa Kazım Arıcan, Ali Şükrü Çoruk, Abdulkadir Emeksiz, Gazi Sabri Ünal, Hayati Develi, Fatih Andı, Turgay Güler, Leyla İpekçi, Bedri Gencer, Bedir Acar, İhsan Kabil, Cihan Aktaş, Sibel Eraslan, Turgay Güler, Mehmet Çelik, Celal Fedai, Ali Emre and Abdullah Harmancı will be in attendance.