Individual residencies / Olot
SALIHA NILÜFER
From Tuesday, 21 January 2025 to Monday, 27 January 2025

Bio
Saliha Nilüfer, born in İstanbul. Her first poems were published in various literary magazines. Known with her translations from English, Spanish and Catalan, she translated the works of authors like Manguel, Borges, Llosa, Javier Marías, Bolaño, Vila Matas, Cercas and Labatut, eighty books until today. After her first novel Bir Endülüs Hikâyesi (2006) and her poetry book Yokoluş Serüveni (2016) she has published four novels for young readers. In recent years her writing is mostly focused around themes like saving nature, the future of the planet, upcycling and a lifestyle with zero waste.
Project
She’s working on her new children’s novel about a luthier who is trying to make a unique instrument for a competition. His generosity becomes an obstacle since he always prioritizes the demands of his regular visitors; he is always short of materials while some other instrument makers are ahead of him using technology, namely AI. The text mostly aims to look deeper to AI, to raise questions about the last decades of human relations and the importance of bonding with nature during artistic creation.
For me it has been a really intense period during which I had the opportunity to exchange experiences with colleagues from different countries, enjoy the hospitality of Catalan people and take inspiration from the marvellous nature of Olot city for my writing. Also hearing and using Catalan, gaining deeper knowledge about the Catalan literature and culture was very valuable for my future projects. The residence period left unforgettable memories and I’m really grateful to all colleagues at Faberllull for their sincerity and kindness.