Barış Müstecaplıoğlu
Barış Müstecaplıoğlu was born in Istanbul in 1977. After completing his university education at the Civil Engineering Department of the Bosphorus University, he worked as a Human Resources Specialist. His short stories for young people as well as his book reviews were published in literary magazines such as E Edebiyat, Varlık, Altyazı, and Kitap-lık. In 1995, he received the İstek Foundation Alumni Association’s İffet Esen Short Story Award.
The first book, of his four-book series with the title Legends of Perg, was Korkak ve Canavar ( The Coward and the Beast) published in 2002. The story takes place in the fantastic land of Perg, a place created by the author through a successful synthesis of Eastern and Western cultures. Its sequel Merderan'ın Sırrı ( Merderan’s Secret) was published in the same year and the third book, Bataklık Ülke ( Boggy Land) came out in 2004. The Perg series, published by Metis Edebiyat, also the publisher of The Lord of the Rings and the Earthsea series in Turkey, came to an end after the fourth book. The last book of the series, Tanrıların Alfabesi ( The Alphabet of the Gods) was published in February 2005. In 2010, the first book of Legends of Perg was released in Bulgaria. Other books of the series will reach to Bulgarian readers in coming years and publishing rights of them have been also sold to Albania.
Following Legends of Perg, the author has written two novels in different genres. His novel Şakird( The Disciple), which is about young missionaries of Islam, was published in October 2005. Kardeş Kanı ( Brothers Blood), a thriller about street children and organized crime was published in 2006. His books have been translated into Polish and Bulgarian. In 2009, he has published his last book, Bir Hayaldi Gerçekten Güzel ( Beautiful Dreams) which based on drawings of a shamanist painter named Mohammed of the Black Pen who lived in 14th century. Baris Mustecaplioglu has lately been working in cooperation with the illustrator Engin Deniz Erbaş from Bilgi University in order to visualize the Land of Perg. The author also writes reviews and essays for various magazines. He is currently working on a new fantasy novel which he plans to get published in the second half of 2011. In 2012, Legends of Perg is going to be published in China and Beautiful Dreams in Syria. www.barismustecaplioglu.com
News
Word Express writer Ognjen Spahić from Montenegro will be visiting London for events with his UK publisher, Istros Books, from the 15th - 18th of May. See the Istros Books website for more details.
This year's Prague Book Fair - Svet Knihy - is focusing on literature the Black Sea region. Word Express writers Ivan Hristov (Bulgaria), Zaza Koshkadze (Georgia) and Pelin Özer (Turkey) will talk about their Balkan literary journey and read their work at the gala evening. Go to the Literature Across Frontiers website for more details.
Word Express interviews Georgian poet Zaza Koshkadze, and talks to Owen Martell and Milan Dobricic about translating and publishing Owen's novel into Serbian after meeting on the Word Express journey. All on the Travel Blog.