ONK AGENCY FOREIGN RIGHTS CATALOGUE

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2024

FOREIGN RIGHTS

CATALOGUE

Translations of some of the texts in this catalogue

from Turkish to English were done by Simge Başmak.

reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form or

by any means, including photocopying, recording, or

other electronic or mechanical methods, without the

prior written permission of ONK Agency Inc., except in

the case of brief quotations embodied in critical reviews

and certain other noncommercial uses permitted by

Established in 1959, ONK Agency is Turkey’s first and largest copyright agency, boasting over six decades

of expertise in managing publishing, stage, film, and television rights. The Agency proudly represents a

diverse range of Turkish authors and translators, overseeing their publishing rights both domestically and

internationally.

As Turkey’s sole copyright agency specializing in performing arts, ONK Agency maintains collaborations

with hundreds of foreign agencies and individual playwrights, effectively managing their rights activities.

The Agency’s contributions to the film and television industry encompass a wide spectrum of services,

including adapting renowned literary works for the screen, connecting authors’ scripts with the right

producers, and providing on-demand screenwriting services through an extensive network of skilled

screenplay writers.

ONK Agency keeps close track of her authors’ works, being published in different platforms such as audio-

books and acts as the authorized representative of a number of musical works composed for stage.

Our Agency

Osman N. Karaca

(1923-2013)

Founder of

ONK Agency

FOREIGN RIGHTS CATALOGUE - ONK AGENCY

Fikret

ADİL

Fikret Adil, writer, journalist. His last name

was Kamertan. He was the son of Mahmut

Adil and Safiye Hanım. In his senior year

at Galatasaray High School he drafted

voluntarily to take part in Turkish War of

Independence. He returned to Istanbul

close to the proclamation of the republic

(September 1923). He worked for several

state corporations and then joined Türkiye

İş Bankası as an editorial consultant. He

worked there between the years 1937 and

1966. He started his writing career in various

Turkish magazines as well as newspapers

such as Tanin, Cumhuriyet, Vakit, Aşkam,

Yeni Istanbul and Havadis. He was known

for his art pieces, stories and interviews. He

prepared painting and cinema chronicles.

His articles were usually about criticism

of poetry, music, painting, theatre and

sculpture. He died in Switzerland where he

travelled for Parkinson treatment in 1973.

“All the adventure seeking,

deported and world-travelling

foreigners and all the artists

working at bars live on Asmalı-

mescit. “

Asmalımescit 74

The novel recounts the night life and entertainment world of

early 20th century in Istanbul. The main protagonists consist

of a group of writers, journalists and artists including the

author himself. One day as the writer sits at Petrograd Bar, he

sees a woman entering number 74 on Asmalmescit Street in

Pera. After awhile, another woman enters the house, and this

makes the narrator curious. He settles in a shop opposite the

house and starts to keep the building under close observation.

Strangers keep on entering and leaving the house. It seems

foreign men and women use the space for their enjoyment.

Most of these pleasure seekers are writers, poets and artists

of the era. The writer sees women standing in the doorway

and kissing. These are Lilli and Georgette, two women in love.

Even if Lilli tries to find a man to have a normal life, Georgette

doesn’t give up on her as she is in love with her. They meet

writers, poets and artists of the era everyday in this house, and

drink and get high until the next morning. The author himself is

within these group of pleasure seekers, and the novel remains

in the framework of the writer’s memories recalling the revelry

he enjoyed at Asmalmescit Street number 74.

Asmalımescit 74

“Fikret Adil’s novel describes the lives of adventurers

who have left their countries in search of excitement

or some others like foreigners in enforced exile: White

Russians and foreign artists, all habitués of a street,

during the final era of Ottoman Empire.”

Ali Rıza Kardüz

Asmalımescit 74

1933

210 mm x 135 mm

135 pages

Film & TV Rights are optioned to one of the

major production companies in Turkey

FOREIGN RIGHTS CATALOGUE - ONK AGENCY

“I turned off all the lights.

Undressed quickly. I prepared

the bed in the corner. Went

under the covers bare-naked;

I laid down to die.”

Lying Down To Die

FOREIGN RIGHTS CATALOGUE - ONK AGENCY

Adalet

AĞAOĞLU

Adalet Ağaoğlu was an award-winning

author,

playwright,

and

human

rights

activist. She was considered one of the most

important authors in Turkey and a revered

intellectual. Her tightly constructed prose

strikes a balance between the realistic milieu

of Turkey which she knew firsthand and the

broader economic and social forces. Her

work received the Presidential Cultural and

Arts Grand Award in 1995. Ağaoğlu received

a Ph.D. of Humane Letters from Ohio State

University in 1988 and an Honorary Ph.D.

from Eskişehir Anadolu University in 1998.

Ağaoğlu passed away on July 14, 2020, at

the age of 90. She was a prolific writer and

activist who left a lasting legacy on Turkish

literature and culture.

Bayram is a Turkish “guest worker” in Germany and sets out for

home in a remote Anatolian village with a brand new honey-

colored Mercedes Benz; his greatest pride in life. Because of

his car, he aims to shift his standing in society to a higher class

and elevate his status to “Mr. Bayram.” He does not want to be

Bayram the skinny anymore. He does not want to be Bayram

the poor anymore.

Most of the story takes place on the road from the border all

the way to his village while showing off with his car. However,

throughout the journey surprising and unpleasant small

accidents incidents keep happening. With each incident the

car is damaged more, so does his dream of a higher status..

Bayram, already demoralised by the time he reaches his

village, bitterly realises that he will always be the same person.

The Delicate Rose of My Thoughts

“Adalet Ağaoğlu in her novel The Delicate Rose of

My Thoughts writes about the negative affects of

capitalism, where humans are driven into such a state

of hopelessness that they are alienated from their

natural integrity. She condemns the entire system, as

whatever the circumstances, it breeds dishonour”

Selim İleri

International Sales :

German (Ararat Verlag, Germany, 1979)

German (Verlag Auf Dem Ruffel, Germany, 2016)

The Delicate Rose of My Thoughts

adapted into a feature film in 1987;

directed by Tunç Okan

Fikrimin İnce Gülü

1976

195 mm x 135 mm

312 pages

Full English manuscript available

FOREIGN RIGHTS CATALOGUE - ONK AGENCY

Narrated by an author on vacation among the classical ruins of

the ancient city of Side on the Mediterranean coast of Turkey,

Summer’s End provides an intricate picture of a large cross-

section of modern Turkish society. The novel offers a complex

multi-dimensional and multi-leveled view of cultural values,

politics, sexuality, and personal dilemmas. It is one of the most

celebrated works by Adalet Ağaoğlu, widely considered to be

one of the principal novelists of our time.

“Summer’s End is an elegiac novel of attempted

reconciliation and consolation set in a lush and

delectable setting that intensifies the heartbreaking

contrast between life and death and society’s

fragmentation against nature’s organic unity.”

Prof. Sibel Erol

International Sales :

English (Talisman, USA, 2008)

Arabic (Sphinx Publications, Egypt, 2011)

Urdu (Jumhoori, Pakistan, 2013)

Bulgarian (Aviana EOOD, Bulgaria, 2019)

Yazsonu

1980

195 mm x 135 mm

270 pages

FOREIGN RIGHTS CATALOGUE - ONK AGENCY

Summer’s End

The story of this novel begins at 7:22 pm and ends at 8:49

pm. Aysel, an associate professor at a university, is lying

down to die in a luxurious hotel room in Ankara, conducts an

inner dialogue with herself, asking what use so much reading

and writing had been in her life. In the process, she recalls

her whole life from childhood on, in the framework of the

political turmoils in Turkey between 1938 until 1968. From this

perspective, the book is both a psychological and a political

novel at the same time. At the end, Aysel, after about an hour

and a half long discussion with herself, decides not to die and

leaves the hotel room on a misty April morning.

Lying Down To Die

International Sales :

German (Unionsverlag, Switzerland, 2008)

French (Edition Turquoise, France, 2013)

Croatian (Hena, Croatia, 2015)

Macedonian (Ikona, Macedonia, 2016)

Italian (L’asino d’oro edizioni, Italy, 2017)

Dutch (Uitgeverij Jurgen Maas, Netherlands, 2019)

Ölmeye Yatmak

1973

195 mm x 135 mm

400 pages

Full English manuscript available

“Lying Down to Die is a sound, complete novel which

skilfully shows the reflections of cultural duality over

the individual consciousness under historical and

social conditions. ”

Hilmi Yavuz

FOREIGN RIGHTS CATALOGUE - ONK AGENCY

Cem

AKAŞ

Cem Akaş was born in Mannheim in 1968. He

lived there until 1974, then moved to Izmit,

Turkey with his family. Akaş studied chemical

engineering at Bosphorus University. He

holds two MA degrees in political science,

one from Bosphours University and the

other from Columbia University. His Ph.D.

dissertation was on “collective political

action in the Turkish press, 1950-1980”. Akaş

worked at Yapı Kredi Publications between

1992-2004, serving as editor, editor-in-

chief, and publishing consultant. He was

the executive director of Koc University

Press from 2014 to 2018. He is currently the

editor-in-chief of Can Publishing. Cem Akaş

has published eleven novels, five collections

of short stories, two volumes of essays, two

books for children, and a monogram on

Robert College, Akaş’s high school, one of

the oldest schools in Istanbul. His work is

marked by a strong sense of structure and

intrigue, humor, and command of dialogue;

in fact, he has been dubbed “the play-setter

of Turkish literature.” Akaş’s shorter works

have been published in Canada, Germany,

Austria, Argentine, Greece, Spain, Albania,

Australia, Hungary, and the United States.

“I don’t like picking fights with

Hamlet. But I can’t help it. We

were lovers before coming

to Wittenberg, seeking each

other out in the castle, using

every opportunity to be alone

together. My favorite smell

was the smell of his neck;

how excited he would get just

holding my hand. So much has

changed since we have come

here; my heart emptied itself

out and no one staid it.”

Ophelia

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