Author Ali İpek meets students in Mardin

Attila İlhan Novel Award winner Ali İpek participated in the “Conversations with Authors” program at Şehit İlhan Varank Primary and Middle School in Mardin, Artuklu. The event was organized by students participating in creative writing exercises under the coordination of Turkish teacher Metin Aydın.

During the session, İpek shared his literary journey and the stories behind his books with aspiring young writers. He credited his middle school teacher for sparking his interest in writing and offered advice to the students, stating that the secret to writing is the ability to delete. He noted, “I became a writer not by writing, but by deleting,” mentioning that he has discarded several completed but unpublished manuscripts.

İpek also discussed the importance of empathy in literature, explaining that he writes to foster understanding between people.