The collaborative project “had singing birds on me” between Mehmet Yashin, Panayiotis Michael and Evagoras Vanezis, celebrating Yashin’s 40th anniversary of the publication of his first poetry book, travels from Sic. Contemporary Culture in Nicosia to  Kiraathane: Istanbul Literature House in Istanbul, between December 23rd - January 06. The exhibition follows the methodology of presenting ten works-gestures, highlighting aspects of Yiashin’s work that reflect the complexity of his identity as both poet and global citizen. The display includes personal objects, a series of photographs from his home in Neapolis, and visual reinterpretations of his poetry. It reflects a life shaped by loss, yet transformed into a tapestry of multiple literary identities. With a profound understanding of various cultures, particularly those of the Levant, his poetry captures what once was and what could have been.

Mehmet Yiashin is one of the most internationally acclaimed poets of Cyprus. Yashin has been at the vanguard of multilingual literature since his landmark critical study of Cypriot, Greek, and Turkish literature, “Step-Mothertongue” (Middlesex University Press, 2000). His writing draws on the Levantine tradition he remembers from his grandmother, who mingled Turkish and Greek alphabets, languages, and cultures in everyday life. He has published 11 books of poetry, 4 novels, 6 essays, collections of interviews, anthologies, and literary studies having received numerous awards in both Turkey and the UK. His poetry and novels have been translated into more than twenty languages- the first selection of his poetry, “Don’t Go Back to Kyrenia”, was chosen for translation by the British Centre for Literary Translation.