“The time I spent in the RC library taught me 70% of what I know about literature.”

Prolific author Cem Akaş has a new novel out: Sözcüklerin Anlamı (The Meaning of Words, Can Yayınları). His latest work has garnered significant attention for its use of “interrupted realism,” a narrative technique that deliberately breaks the reader’s immersion in the story to highlight the distinction between objective truth and narrative constructs.

 Akaş explains the draw of this method for him: “Every moment we live is punctured by what we hear, watch, and read in the media feed, and this has become our new ontology—this is how we live now. How can this condition of interruption be translated into the structure of a novel? Sözcüklerin Anlamı offers one possible answer to that question.”

Akaş views this novel as a shift in scale compared to his previous work: : “To put it in musical terms: the Olgunluk Çağı Üçlemesi (Age of Maturity Trilogy, Can Yayınları) 19 (19, Can Yayınları), and Y (Y, Can Yayınları) were my symphonies; Ofelya (Ophelia, Kafka Yayınevi) was a ballet; Zamanın En Kısa Hali (The Shortest State of Time, Can Yayınları) and Sözcüklerin Anlamı are chamber music pieces, each a quartet. “

Akaş remembers his time at RC fondly: “I had excellent teachers like John Heaney who encouraged me to write creatively; English classes taught me how to read a text and find things in it, which, by inference, taught me how to put things into texts. I never studied literature formally, but the time I spent in the RC library taught me 70% of what I know about literature.”

Cem Akaş is also known for writing Bir Geleceğin Anatomisi and Tepedeki Okul, as well as curating the RC’s 160th anniversary exhibition, both of which further deepened Akaş’s connection to RC: “I was enthralled with the history of the school, and the month I spent in New York, researching the RC archive at Columbia University, remains one of my favorite months in life.”

“We are now facing another kind of pandemic: loneliness.”

Through her experience as a consultant and trainer in various sectors, Nil Madi realized that many of the challenges people face at work are rarely spoken about openly, creating tensions, unanswered questions and emotional loads. This realization led her to pen a book: İşin Psikolojisi (Psychology of Work, Hayat Yayınları): “Writing this book was my way of saying ‘you’re not alone and you can navigate work life with awareness, without losing yourself along the way.’”

Madi observes seismic changes in work-related psychology after the pandemic: “Well-being and psychological safety are no longer secondary topics; they have become central.”However, she notes that new pressures have emerged: “Work processes have accelerated dramatically. With constant change and the rapid integration of AI, everything feels faster, but as speed increases, patience decreases, both for employees and managers.”

Madi also identifies a new crisis: “We are now facing another kind of pandemic: loneliness. Despite being more connected digitally, people are feeling increasingly isolated in working life, and this sense of loneliness is becoming a silent but serious issue in organizations.”

Madi has recommendations to RC students on the cusp of entering the work force:
“Invest in getting to know yourselves. Self-awareness is the most critical foundation. Discover your values, your curiosities, your relationship with stress, and be clear about what you do not want. See every role you take on as a chapter and an experience rather than a destination. Focus on what you learn and how you learn it. Learn and really master how to stay calm. And throughout this journey, don’t forget that curiosity and self-compassion will take you much further than pressure ever will.”

Madi credits RC with shaping her analytical framework: “RC gave me the freedom and the confidence to look at the world from different perspectives and create my own synthesis. It helped me recognize not only what I want, but more importantly, what I do not want. All my teachers were deeply influential in their own ways. However, Gökçen Başkan holds a very special place in my heart. The perspective I gained from her class left a lasting mark on me and sparked my interest in art history. I feel deep gratitude and respect for her.”

“My RC foundation helped me develop further respect for my ancestors.”

Nigar Nigar Alemdar’s latest book Üç İstanbullu Osmanlı Ailesi (Three Ottoman Families of Istanbul, Timaş Yayınları) is a feat of social history, chronicling generations of a single family amidst the backdrop of a changing nation.

Alemdar grew up listening to the saga of her illustrious ancestors and inherited a rich array of family albums: “On my father’s side there was Poetess Nigâr Hanım, on my mother’s side there was the journalist, writer, publisher, entrepreneur Ahmet Mithat Efendi. On my paternal grandmother Nebire Nigâr’s side there was the affiliation with Yahya Efendi Dergâhı and the Sultan’s Palace bureurocrats.” 

Family relics fascinated Alemdar from a young age: “I inherited a rich archive from my grandmother and from Nigâr Hanım’s youngest son Keramet Nigâr. Then there was my father’s photo albums and files. Although I’ve always wanted to write about this personal background, due to my busy professional life, I never had the time until the 2019 Covid shutdown. That was when I had the opportunity to write and share my archive with social history buffs.”

Interestingly, though she has always loved writing, publishing books came later in Alemdar’s life: “I can’t really claim to have a writing career. What my alma mater gave me was a sound education in English and liberal arts. This foundation helped me develop further respect for my ancestors, their social environment, and family archive.” 

Indeed, many of Alemdar’s ancestors were themselves fixtures of the RC community: “My grandfather Feridun Nigâr and his younger brother Keramet Nigâr joined the RC faculty in 1908 and both taught there for several decades. My father Fıtrat Nigâr RC 37, my uncles Metin Nigâr RC 36 and Vecdi Füsun Nigâr ex-RC 39, my brother Amil Kunt RC 52 are all alumni. 

This deep-rooted affiliation has kept her close to the school throughout her life: “Teaching English there for five years (1969–1974), serving on the Board of Trustees for nine years (1978–1987), and acting as President of the Alumni Association (1982–1987) are all testaments to my enduring ties with my alma mater.”

“RC made me a good reader which in return made me a writer.”

Author Sedef Betil has followed her short story collections with an intergenerational novel: Leylekler Aşklar Söylentiler (Storks Loves Rumors, İletişim Yayınları). Revolving around a painter, the novel spans decades, while exploring filial dynamics. Indeed it was the importance of families that incited Betil to write in long form: “We get our first values, behavioral traits, tastes of all sorts through family members. Large families enlarge one’s views, especially if you live together, even partly. I grew up with lots of women around me. My latest book covers the very long life of a woman. It is more or less a debt gratitude to my large family who had nourished me with their love, knowledge and wit and who also challenged my curiosity.”

When comparing the two literary forms, Betil sees a clear difference in creative process: “I prefer to express myself, to narrate my stories in short texts, that is why I write short stories; it’s like taking a photograph of a feeling, a gesture, a cry, an unspeakable joy or desire. Writing a short story needs a lot of concentration, I generate my thoughts around the subject for a while, but then it comes out fast and clear. Novel writing needs a longer time, more planning and working.”

Betil returned to the RC campus on December 22, 2025 as a guest of the Turkish Language and Literature Department to engage with current RC students. She puts the contribution of RC to her literary career succinctly: “RC made me a good reader which in return made me a writer.”

And has a new novel out!

Award-winning author Hikmet Hükümenoğlu wrote his very first play, Fora, which premiered in IKSV Theater Festival in November 2025. Hükümenoğlu’s interest in theater harks back to his RC days. He wrote and directed his first play for the Turkish Drama Club in his senior year: “That’s when I really caught the bug,” he recalls, “or as we say in Turkish, sahne tozu.”

After writing fiction, what motivated him to turn to playwriting was his long-standing love for the medium: “I’ve always loved theatre and wanted to explore its unique ability to connect directly with an audience. As for the subject matter of Fora—dysfunctional families have more or less become my niche by now. It still feels endlessly rich and relevant to me.”

The play’s premiere at İKSV Theater Festival was attended by a large group of RC alumni, and Hükümenoğlu describes the event as one of the most exciting ones of his life: “It was a great honor. As a teenager, I used to wait in ticket queues for hours just to attend the festival, so being part of it now felt both surreal and deeply meaningful.”

2025 brought another excitement into Hükümenoğlu’s life: Hükümenoğlu’s first procedural crime novel, Sonra Gözler Görür, (Eyes See Later, İthaki Yayınları), had created quite a stir, and it was adapted into a series to be streamed on Netflix. Hükümenoğlu says the possibility of the novel turning into a series had crossed his mind, as he was writing it: “I certainly wasn’t expecting it to happen so quickly. My main focus was writing an engaging and compelling procedural novel. The series feels like the icing on the cake.”

A frequent guest of the RC Turkish Literature Department, Hükümenoğlu says he is always struck by RC students’ self-confidence, maturity, and intelligence: “Even the students nodding off in the back rows somehow look like they’re deeply engaged with what I’m saying—which I choose to take as a compliment.” With his latest novel, Bu Dünyada Yaşamak (Living in This World), released in January 2026 , there are plenty of reasons for the author to visit the campus once again.

Kazma continues to explore the meaning of human activity.

Curated by Öykü Özsoy Sağnak and Demet Yıldız Dinçer, Ali Kazma’s latest exhibition at the Istanbul Modern Photography Gallery featured six works by the lens-based artist and took place between June 14, 2025 and February 1, 2026.

In the exhibition, Kazma debuted his most recent work, Sumi, which documents one of the world’s oldest known methods of ink production. Alberto in Lisbon explores the transition of renowned writer Alberto Manguel’s library to Lisbon. Calligraphy and Tattoo, previously featured in the Turkish Pavilion at the 55th Venice Biennale, reflect Kazma’s ongoing fascination with craftsmanship. Finally, A House of Ink and Sentimental bring viewers closer to another RC alumnus, Orhan Pamuk RA 70.

In the exhibition text he penned, Pamuk shares how the collaboration began:

“In the summer of 2021, I approached the video artist Ali Kazma with a proposal: would he be interested in coming to my home and study in Cihangir and making a video in his particular style?”

Kazma and Pamuk spent significant time together during the process, and their easy camaraderie comes through in the resulting works. “We were always aware of our common high school and made no big deal of that—in the best RC tradition,” says Kazma.

For the launch of the exhibition, Alberto Manguel was in attendance, as well as many of Kazma’s RC classmates. (Watch a short video from the opening here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RB35VRj9j4Y 

Kazma is currently teaching a course titled Moving Image in Contemporary Art at the SciencesPo University in Paris.