A Room of One’s Own bookstore will be hosting Dr. Özge Samanci for a reading and conversation on her new graphic novel Evil Eyes Sea. Attendees will have a chance to learn more about this feminist political mystery inspired by Özge’s own life.
About the Book
A feminist political mystery set in Istanbul during the 1995 elections tells the story of two broke students who witnessed an unusual death on a scuba diving expedition. As the case deepens, they become increasingly entangled with political corruption, religious pressure, and possibly murder.
The two students try to return to their every day, but their lives are increasingly entangled with the political corruption, religious pressure, and economic instability that results from their experience.
Samanci says, “The autobiographically-inspired story I tell in Evil Eyes Sea emerged from my college years in Istanbul, my quirky friends, and my struggles with being a young woman in Turkey’s male-centric culture. In this book, I share a window into a country where narrow political views limit personal power — a place that can be beautiful, but also cruel.”
About the Author
Özge Samanci, media artist and graphic novelist, is an associate professor in Northwestern University’s School of Communication. Her interactive installations have been exhibited internationally, including Museu do Amanhã, Siggraph Art Gallery, FILE festival, Currents New Media, The Tech Museum of Innovation, WRO Media Art Biennial, Athens International Festival of Digital Arts and New Media, Piksel Electronic Arts Festival, ISEA among others. Her autobiographical graphic novel Dare to Disappoint (Farrar Straus Giroux, 2015) received international press attention and was positively reviewed in The New York Times, The Guardian, Slate along with many other media outlets. Her drawings appeared in The New Yorker, The Wall Street Journal, Slate Magazine, The Huffington Post, Airmail, Guernica, The Rumpus.
Special thanks to the Institute for Regional and International Studies-National Resource Center (IRIS-NRC), Kemal H Karpat Center for Turkish Studies, Middle Eastern and Mediterranean Language Institute (MEDLI), Middle East Studies Program (MESP) at UW Madison for making this event possible.
