TRNC’s 1st fantasy author
NORTH Cyprus’s first fantasy novelist Kemal Behçet Caymaz will sign copies of his debut book in İstanbul today, and is looking forward to its being released in English to help spread the word about his homeland.
The author and illustrator is promoting his Sapphire series at the fifth International CNR İstanbul Book Fair in Yeşilköy.
The first book, Heralded Time, is a story about a fallen kingdom in St Hilarion Castle and its Prince Sapphire, who travels on an adventure to Paris’s Notre Dame Cathedral.
Published in İstanbul in September 2016 by Dante Publications, it will be translated into English, Greek, Russian and Spanish.
Mr Caymaz told Cyprus Today the English version, which is being translated by the author’s Netherlands-based friend Bekir Okalper, is planned for release next year.
Sole Love — the second in the series — is being prepared for publication in the summer, before a launch at Bellapais Abbey in September.
Kingdom of Shepherd Star and The Tale of Azazel, which tell the story of the origins of Prince Sapphire, make up the rest of the series. Both are written, but yet to be published.
“I have read a lot of fantasy novels and we have so many mediaeval castles like St Hilarion, I always wanted to write stories about them to share with the outside world,” he said.
“Sapphire is not just my novel; it is the story of the Cyprus community. Grappling with embargoes, facing injustice, it is the story of my beautiful country. We should do everything in our power to break down the embargoes. We should protect our story; market it globally and promote our country,” added the 30year-old, who was named 2014’s Young Artist of the Year by the TRNC Ministry of Culture.
Born in 1989 in Girne, he went to Girne American Primary School and college, before finishing studies at Lefkoşa’s Fine Arts High School in 2007. In 2011, he graduated from Near East University’s (NEU) department of plastic arts, painting and elective ceramics. In the same year, he opened his first personal illustration exhibition Once Upon A Time, which was also shown in the UN buffer zone. In 2014, he represented the TRNC at the 17th Türksoy Painters Meeting in Azerbaijan, before obtaining his Master of Arts at İstanbul’s Mimar Sinan Fine Art University in 2017. Currently a board member of the European Mediterranean Art Association (Emaa) and Cyprus Paper Artists Association, he is a lecturer at the NEU’s Faculty of Communication.
The first volume in the Sapphire (Safir) series is available at Deniz Plaza and the Işık book store, as well as online from Amazon.