READING FROM "NURI'S DONKEY: UNTOLD STORIES & UNWRITTEN RULES OF A VILLAGE IN TURKEY"

Wednesday, November 5, 2008, 7 p.m. - 8:30 p.m.
The Howard Thurman Center, Boston University
775 Commonwealth Avenue, Boston

In October 1982, Emily Bunker went to the village with then-husband Fikri to meet her in-laws. She was the first American the villagers had ever seen. Curious onlookers continually dropped by to stare and ask questions; Emily's sisters-in-law, feeling obliged to protect her, would have to shoo them away. Four-year-old Yucel was fascinated and kept exclaiming, "your eyes are green, your hair is white!" One day, he found the courage to ask Fikri if he could keep her in exchange for one of his toy trucks.

Written by Emily Bunker
Consulting & Photography by Fikri Kuchuk
English Renderings by Fikri Kuchuk & Emily Bunker
Illustrations by Tim Joyce

"Nuri's Donkey is a delightful look at life in a Turkish village, from one of the few Americans who has actually lived it. Her stories are witty, poignant, evocative and always insightful. Together they enrich our understanding of how good people (and some bad ones) make their way through life in an era of rapid social change."

- Stephen Kinzer, author of Crescent & Star: Turkey Between Two Worlds

EMILY BUNKER

Emily Bunker (author/editor) is a former SAT tutor - once belonged to a Turkish village family - loves her mother's poetry - has a couple of cats. She graduated from Stanford University with a degree in anthropology, and has been editing since 1977. Eliza and Michelle Kuchuk are her beautiful and talented daughters. She lives in Brewster, Massachusetts.

 

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