Celebrating the release of Issue 4, “War Words One”, an evening at Looking Glass Books happenned to be a wonderful chance to hear a reading from acclaimed Turkish author Elif Shafak and to meet other literature enthusiasts in the city.

A relaxed, polyglot crowd jammed into Looking Glass Books in Edinburgh for Istanbul Review Night, celebrating the fourth issue of the Edinburgh-based literary magazine with an appearance by one of Turkey’s bestselling novelists, Elif Shafak. Standing on a table in order to be seen, Shafak read from The Forty Rules of Love. Closing the book, she invited the guests to ask anything at all, be it about her work, about culture, gender, or – with a laugh to acknowledge current events – about Turkey.