'Türkiye' book launch - October 12
The book arrives with a London launch, plus other UK dates and deals
A couple of weeks before Turkish Republic Day marks on October 29th the first centenary of the Turkish Republic, the book, Türkiye, which I set out to write last year, cycling across the country, is published on October 12.
In many ways this moment - when you’ve put in all the effort but are yet to have any of the rewards of reader feedback (good or bad), or of seeing your book out in the world - is the least-enjoyable in the process of a book being published. Nonetheless the early responses from reviewers has been good, and I am looking forward to more of you getting chance to read Türkiye. Having had none but the most editorial input into it, it is very pleasing to be able to praise the book’s cover and appearance unreservedly. I hope the contents lives up to it.
While the process of editing, publishing and promoting are certainly different to riding and first writing, I’d say the blog post I wrote at the end of the 2500 mile ride last year still covers most of the emotion and endurance of the ride and early thoughts on writing.
Promotional events
As with recent books, Stanfords in London sees the official launch, on October 12, in Covent Garden. As with so many trips, and although I spent most of the last couple of years since the pandemic in Istanbul, the book began with a trip to Stanfords to buy a road map of Türkiye. It seems fitting then to also set the book out into the world from there.
Other events for the book will take place at Mr B's Emporium in Bath, Rossiter Books in Ross-on-Wye, Stanfords Travel in Bristol and Eastgate Books in Totnes. I am also in conversation with Maureen Freely, perhaps best-known as the translator of Orhan Pamuk, at Cheltenham Literature Festival. Events are also happening in Leicester in early November, and at Topping & Co in Edinburgh on November 20 (excuse the lack of link for these, so far).
If you can make one of those events then do buy a ticket and do come along. In most cases the price of the ticket covers a glass of wine and is redeemable against the price of the book itself. If you can't make an event but would like a copy of the book then as always please do support your local bookshop.
Many people often ask what benefits me most in terms of sales, and quite apart from valuing the world of independent bookshops being kept alive by your custom, it does help me to have shops ordering Türkiye and knowing that it's in-demand. If, as is sadly sometimes the case, you can't make it to a bookshop or your locals have all been put out of business by large corporations who need not be named, then Bookshop.UK is a great website that ploughs profits back into UK bookshops, and I get a commission if you buy the book (or any of my books) through this link here.
If you'd like a signed copy but can't make an event then - for a limited period after launch - do get in touch.
I am very grateful to those paid subscribers of Köprü who make this blog possible. It remains my intention to increase my output here, although over the last year the process of writing Türkiye, and working on new material, meant that was not always easy. In appreciation of that support, Founding Members of Köprü who are based in the UK are entitled to a free copy of Türkiye, while those who are Annual Members receive a discount, so please do get in touch.
As always I extend a great deal of thanks to everyone for their support, and once the book is out and being read I’d love to hear people’s thoughts, whether in the comments of Köprü or elsewhere. If you feel so inclined to leave reviews or ratings of the book then please do, it all helps, and I’ll look forward to perhaps meeting some of you at an event soon, returning to more regular writing here, and giving news of future projects in the coming months.
Once again, thank you all. I hope you enjoy reading.