Literature as a European mother tongue: In our series “One is a CROWD”, we introduce you to authors from all over Europe who will be involved in the CROWD omnibus reading tour, taking place from May to July 2016, featuring 100 authors who will be travelling through 15 European countries. We asked them three questions about text production, reception and mediation. In case you were wondering what a literary activist in Nicosia looks like, meet Gür Genç!

Do you see yourself as an author? Are you the originator and main authority of your text? If not, who is, if anyone at all?

Before being an author, I’m a actually a poet (or in other words, a full-time poet and a part-time writer). And although there is the editor, who forces me to rethink things sometimes, yes, I am the originator and I have sole authority over my text.

Reading is writing is reading is writing …  –  why, and if so, how?

I believe that I become a poet and author because I read all those books. My work is a result of what I read and what I live,  and since 1992 I’ve been trying to pay off my debt to the poets and writers from whom I have learned.

What is your favorite literary spot in Nicosia? (literary venue, bar, meeting spot etc.)

I have many favourite literary spots in Nicosia or elsewhere in Cyprus but the best one for me would have to be the Büyük Han (Great Khan)  – that’s me in front of it in the photo.