Best Seller book signing
LEFKOŞA-born author author Olcay Akdeniz and his wife Carol met readers at Karakum’s Best Seller bookshop recently when he signed copies of his new book, Through the Third Eye: The Strange Adventures of Berengaria of Navarre and Salem, son of Sinbad.
Mr Akdeniz, 81, a retired electrical engineer, left the island as a teenager to spend his working life in the UK, where he spent over 20 years crafting memories of childhood stories told to him by his aunt into his first novel.
His tale of the adventures of Salem, son of Sinbad, and fictional encounters with Richard the Lionheart and his wife Berengaria of Navarre, is already a hit in England and Canada.
Carol Akdeniz, 77, said: “We spend our retirement travelling and with our four grandchildren. It was a thoroughly enjoyable day at Best Seller and our thanks to Deborah Burdess for hosting us and serving soft drinks and coffee.
“We met some interesting people including Rotary Club members and sold quite a few copies at the original and unaltered price of 70TL. Olcay did not write this book for the money and we donated the latest cheque received to the Tatlısu Çiftlikdüzü neolithic project headed by archaeologist Müge Şevketoğlu.”
She also thanked Jenny Vardy for “invaluable” organisational support and editing.
The Akdenizes split their time between the UK, Cyprus, Canada and “just travelling” and followed the booksigning with a short family holiday visiting the Alhambra in Spain.