Author Dr. Hâle Sert Explained the Writing and Thinking Process at İZÜ

Dr. Hâle Sert, recipient of the Türkiye Yazarlar Birliği (TYB) 2025 Story Award and the Edebiyat Sanat ve Kültür Araştırmaları Derneği (ESKADER) 2025 Culture and Arts Award, met with İZÜ students.

The program, held in the Historical Building, Seminar Hall-2 in cooperation with the Department of Turkish Language and Literature and the Turkish Language and Literature Club, was attended by academics and students, including our Vice Rector Prof. Dr. Erhan İçener. In his opening speech, Prof. Dr. Erhan İçener drew attention to the contribution of the Department of Turkish Language and Literature to university life and used the following expressions: “The Department of Turkish Language and Literature and its Club host very valuable events at our university. We are pleased to host Dr. Hale Sert, whom we have known for many years and who crowned her work with important awards this year, at our university. We attach great importance to the academic production of the department. The publication of a journal titled ‘Füsun’ this year also made us particularly happy. We believe that these efforts will continue.”

SERT: “LITERATURE HAS BEEN THE RESULT OF A QUEST FOR ME”
In her speech, Dr. Hâle Sert, who described her academic and personal journey, said that her relationship with literature took shape over time. Stating that her choice of English Language and Literature was formed more by circumstances than by a conscious orientation, Sert explained her process of turning to different fields during her university years as follows: “In the first years, I asked myself ‘am I in the right place?’ very often. Literature initially felt very abstract to me. With the desire to turn to more concrete fields, I took political science courses and became interested in this field. However, over time, I realized that this also did not fully correspond to me.”

“TO WRITE IS TO REINTERPRET LIFE”
Touching on what the writing process means in her own life, Author Sert stated that literary production is the result of an effort to understand people and society. Sert said: “When I started writing stories, I was not aware of this. When I look back, I see that all my academic background and life experiences are reflected in my texts. I am actually constantly trying to understand life; I try to read people, society, politics, and psychology together.”