Participants 20.23

Associate ProfessorDr. Akif Pamuk is a lecturer at Marmara University and the founder of Yeni İnsan Publishing House and the editor of Alternative Education Journal. In his 20 years of publishing experience, he has published fiction and non-fiction books in Turkish from different languages. Akif Pamuk believes in the healing power of literature and believes that creative thinking is built through interaction with different cultures.

He is the writer of Identity and History; Constitutional Monarchy in its Centenary Year; Children of War and Migration: Arnavutköy in the Voice of the Past and Environment and Human Rights Field Research Guide.

Akif Pamuk has been also working as a consultant for Introtema Copyright Agency since February 2023 and has been pursuing quality books.

Can Yiğit Tuncman was born on February 21, 1985 in Istanbul. After graduating from the Department of German Teaching at Marmara University, he studied English Language and Literature at Istanbul Kültür University, and received a master’s degree in the same department at Istanbul Aydın University. He has made a big noise in Turkey with his novel Yazcan Yazıoğlu, published in 2021 and telling the mysterious story of a writer with the ability to manage letters and numbers. The book has been translated into English, German, Swedish, Arabic and Malay languages. Can Yiğit Tunçman, whose many poems and stories are featured in leading national and international magazines, continues his writing studies in Istanbul and at the same time he is working as the coordinator of the Istanbul Publishing Fellowship Program and working as editor-in-chief for Literaturca Publishing House

Nazlı Berivan Ak was born in Ankara, Turkey. She graduated from the Faculty of Languages, History and Geography at Ankara University and completed her master’s degree in Latin and Ancient Greek at the same department. Since 2009 she has been working as an editor, publisher, writer, journalist and translator. She has translated texts from ancient Greek, Latin and English, and she writes textual analyses for a number of newspapers and magazines, writes sectoral news and makes interviews mostly with the members of literature world and publishing sector. In addition, she frequently appears as a speaker at literary events, international festivals and book fairs. She has been and still is a part of cultural projects funded by the EU, such as the OKUYAY Project, which aims to spread the culture of reading in Turkey, and the YATEDAM Project, which aims to support the publishing sector and publishers’ ecosystem in Turkey. One of the recent reports Ak has written is a study about independent bookstores in Turkey and the problems they are facing today. She has been invited to book fairs in Frankfurt, London, Georgia, Doha, Sharjah and Jerusalem and she still attends various fairs and festivals all around the work every year as a publisher, writer, consultant and literary journalist. She is the secretariat-general of Turkish Publishers Association and youngest member of board ever selected of the same association. She is one of the main representatives of publishing sector in the Chamber of Commerce of İstanbul and she is in the committees of foreign trade and culture, art and sport. She completed her first documentary, the Bookseller, which is supported by the Ministry of Culture of Turkey in 2023 and the film is featured in various festivals around the world.

Urpu Strellman (b. 1979) has worked in publishing for almost 20 years, longest as an editor and a publishing manager. In the beginning of 2017, she started to lead Helsinki Literary Agency, a joint venture of four Finnish publishing houses. For years she has also been teaching editing, writing and popularization of science, mostly at the University of Helsinki. In addition to some articles, she has co-authored “The Nonfiction Writer’s Book” and a guide for writing with influence, and translated some books from English and Swedish to Finnish.

Alireza Nourizadeh Ph.D. from Iran. Executive manger to Iran Book Grant, a program which supports all International publishers interested in translation, publication and distribution of Iranian books into their own language. We support at most 1000 Euros for children’s books and 3000 yours for young adults.

Majid Jafari has a long past in international publishing and book affairs management. Participating in more than 50 international book fairs and other cultural events and managing the translation and publication of hundreds of Iranian books in different countries and the translation and publication of hundreds of books in foreign languages into Persian through copyright media are among Majid’s activities.

Majid Jafari Aghdam has a long and successful history in the field of cultural and translation management and was selected as the top director of translation affairs by the country’s association of translators in 2018.

Jafari Aghdam currently lives with his family in Tehran and Istanbul, Turkey; moreover, he is the CEO of the Pol Yainci Company in Turkey.

He is a talented Iranian translator, writer, and poet of taste, educated in English literature and linguistics at the University of Tehran in Iran. So far, he has published 24 books including translation, authorship, and poetry, as well as hundreds of articles on cultural and literary topics. His first translation, Independent India, was published in 2003 and was well received. His other translation works include books such as Promise of Miracle, White Marriage, Memories of a Cat, etc., published in the 2010s. Some of his most important authored works are books such as World Writing Systems, World Alphabets, and Scripts of the World.

Sherif Bakr:

• General Manager and Owner of Al Arabi Publishing and Distributing.
• Studied in the English school in Heliopolis Cairo
• 1997: Graduated from Faculty of Economics and Political Science at Cairo University, majoring in Economics and minoring in Computer Science.
• 1997: He took over the family business at Al Arabi Publishing and Distributing.
• He worked since he was young in the summer vacation in the publishing house, then he worked full-time since he graduated. He worked in all fields of publishing from warehouse, to accounting, and from sales and marketing to editorial and foreign rights.
• He spotted the chance of bridging the Arab civilization and the Arab World (over 400 million inhabitants) with the rest of the world, his aim is to build those bridges based on books and culture.
• : He was the General Secretary of the Egyptian Publishing Association and head of the Development and e-publishing committee for four years.
• : Member at the Book and Publishing committee at the higher supreme council for culture for Four years.
• : Member of the higher culture committee of the Cairo International Book Fair for seven years.
• : Elected as member of the Freedom to Publish committee in the International Publishing Association
• : Member of the Book and Publication Committee of the Supreme Council of Culture in Cairo, and part of the Egyptian Export Council for Printing, Packaging, Paper, Literary and Artistic Works.
• : He was selected in the IVLP, which has been in place for eighty years now, in publishing by the US Embassy in Cairo for a period of three weeks in America.
• : He was selected as the first training program of its kind for remote deployment via virtual reality.
• 2020: He coordinated with EUNIC the project Arab Voices which aims at promoting Arab/Egyptian authors abroad by building a catalogue to help them get translated.

• Sherif Bakr has been invited to many book fairs as follows:

• 2008: Frankfurt Book Fair as part of the invitation program for international publishers.
• 2009: Frankfurt Book Fair as part of the fellowship program with 15 other fellows from another 14 countries.
• (2010 – 2016): Turin International Book Fair (IBF)
• (2011 – 2016): Prague International Book Fair as a speaker.
• 2012: ITEF Professional Meetings Fellowship Program of Turkey.
• (2013 – 2016): MICA|Mercado de Industrias Culturales Argentinas.
• 2013: Amsterdam fellowship.
• (2013 – 2016): Sharjah International Book Fair
• 2019: The First Egyptian Arab in 33 years to be invited by the Guadalajara International Book Fair.
• 2019: He has been invited as well to many other book fairs and publishing events to represent Egypt and the Arab World, such as Serbia Book Fair and Casablanca Book Fair.
• 2022: He was the first among a team to ever attend a metaverse publishing course with the state department of the USA using VR method.
• 2022: Speaker in the panel at the first International Congress of Arabic Publishing and Creative Industries in Abu Dhabi.

Fatimah Abbas is an accomplished international publishing and literary consultant, as well as a literary translator. Her passion for the book industry was ignited in 2014, when she attended the Cairo International Book Fair and was responsible for the section on English and French learning books, thanks to her fluency in both languages. From there, she became increasingly involved in every aspect of the profession, ultimately assuming the role of Head of External Relations and Translation Department for one of the most reputable publishing and distribution houses in Cairo, Egypt. In addition to her translation work, which has included ten literary works translated from English into Arabic and vice versa, Fatimah now operates her literary agency – FALA – and works as an international publishing and literary consultant. Her expertise enables her to assist authors and publishing professionals in all global markets with a wide range of services, including publishing, distribution, marketing, market research, consulting, and printing. She also holds the position of MENA Regional Director for an AI Company. Fatimah’s remarkable achievements have earned her recognition in the industry, as well as coverage in several international magazines such as Publishers Weekly (Sharjah edition), Book Brunch, A World of Words, and All About Book Publishing, as well as local newspapers in Cairo, Egypt. She has also been featured in interviews with Gulf News and CBS News as an industry leader and innovator in the MENA region. Her exceptional contributions to the industry were further acknowledged when she was shortlisted for the London Book Fair Excellence Award in 2021. In addition to her professional accomplishments, Fatimah has shared her expertise as a speaker and panelist in various events, including the series “Sharjah Reads” held by the Sharjah Book Authority, Signals of Hope series held by Frankfurt Book Fair, as well as the National Festival of Literature in Malta and the Bologna Children’s Bookfair 2023.

Joanna Dabrowska graduated from the English Philology Department. She has worked at Wydawnictwo Literackie publishers as an acquiring editor of foreign fiction and non-fiction as well as selling translation rights of Polish authors, among others Olga Tokarczuk, Szczepan Twardoch, Anna Janko, Ignacy Karpowicz, Julia Fiedorczuk, Dorota Terakowska. She participated in major book fairs in Frankfurt, London, Bologna and Paris.

Ayser Ali is an experienced Publishing Specialist with a demonstrated history of working in the media and publishing industry. Experience working in Streaming and TV Operations, Content Distribution and Asset Management. Strong business development professional with a Master of Business Administration focused in Management and Organization from Marmara University, Istanbul.

Dejan Tajkoski  – Founder and director of the international literature festival “PRO-ZA Balkan” / Owner and
editor at the Publishing house Prozart media / Writer / Translator

2012 – Founder and director International Literature Festival PRO-ZA Balkan

*PRO-ZA Balkan is the biggest and most important prose festival in North
Macedonia.
*“Prozart” award is being awarded to a prominent author for it’s contribution
towards the development of the literature on the Balkans
*Skopje Fellowship Program is being organized since 2013. The program is
dedicated to foreign publishers, festival directors and program managers,
literary agents and scouts. N. Macedonia was among the first countries in the
region to establish this kind of invitation program.

2015 – Owner and editor Publishing house Prozart media

* Publishing house Prozart media is dedicated towards publishing quality books
from all over the world. We publish around 25 titles per year, mainly fiction,
children books and YA.
* Prozart media is organizer of the International Literature Festival PRO-ZA
Balkan
* Prozart media serves also as literature agency, promoting several best writers
from N. Macedonia.

2011 – Writer

*Author of fiction book “Truth, Love: Rashomon effect” published in 2012. The
book was short-listed for prestigious literature award “Utrinski vesnik”. It was
the only book from first time author to be short-listed in 2013.
*In December 2014 my second fiction novel “Infidelity” was published.
*In January 2015 won the award “Macedonian literature avant-garde” given for
new avant-garde literature work for writers up to 40 years.
*“Infidelity” was shortlisted for the most prestigious year award for prose book
“Stale Popov” given by Macedonian writers association (among first two titles).
*“Infidelity” was short-listed for the award “Novel of the year” given by
“Utrinski vesnik” daily.
*“Infidelity” is translated and published in Serbian language by Agora publishing,
in Armenian language by “Antares”, in Albanian language by “Fan Noli”, in
Bulgarian language by “Paradox”, in Arabic by Egyptian pub house “Al Arabi”, in
German by “Schenk Verlag”.
*”Infidelity” is one of only several books from Macedonian contemporary
writers published in English language in USA by the publisher “Dalkey Archive
press”.
2022 – Author of the poetry book “Film poems”.

2007 – Translator Publishing house Prozart media

Translated the books “MIleva Ajnstajn” by Slavenka Drakulic, “macka covjek pas”
by Miljenko Jergovic, “Sta je muskarac bez brkova” by Ante Tomic, “Na gralovom
tragu’ by Svetislav Basara, “Vitraz u secanju” by Vladimir Pistalo…

2005–2015 – Earlier Experience: Journalist and film critic, member of FIPRESCI

*Writing articles from field of culture
*Planning culture pages in newspaper Vecer
*Covering film and literature festivals in Macedonia and abroad

EDUCATION: Professor of philosophy “St. Cyril and Methodius” University, Faculty of Philosophy

Born in Berlin, Katharina Loix van Hooff studied history and comparative literature in Berlin, Brussels, Washington D.C. and Paris. After extended periods as a journalist in the USA, Ukraine and Russia, she worked as an author and editor in Germany, then, after studying Publishing Policy at the University of Villetaneuse, as a literary agent. In her role as head of the foreign literature department at Editions Gallimard, she worked with leading writers such as Orhan Pamuk, Amos Oz, Ludmilla Ulitskaya and Peter Handke. In 2021 she founded independent French publishing house Les Argonautes Editeur specializing in translated European adult fiction.