pxl

Ten Issues in — come celebrate with us! * We give gifts * Tote bags, pins, stickers, bookmarks

A letter from

Ece Temelkuran

published in

Global displacement has reached its highest level in recorded history. « But it is not only that. The world loses home altogether, » says Ece Temelkuran. Her new book, Nation of Strangers, explores moral, political, and spiritual homelessness in today’s world. Temelkuran claims that we are building a new nation whose citizens are strangers in various ways. The book, composed of letters to strangers everywhere, will be published in several languages in and beyond Europe this spring. We asked Temelkuran for one extra letter. It is a letter to you, dear reader. Do you feel at home? For how much longer? If the letter speaks to you and you feel like writing in return, we would be delighted to receive your response. Please send it to info@europeanreviewofbooks.com.

Dear stranger,

24th October, 2025 Kraków

I’m writing to you from, of all places, Kraków, Poland. It is a rainy morning. Still too early for tourists to studiously stroll around with their makeshift nylon rain covers. The supplier vans are making their rounds to cafes and restaurants, preparing the old town to look postcard-perfect for the rest of the day. The historic square will soon begin to offer that smooth time tunnel atmosphere, as if the past were a more harmless place. The streets are about to be ready with their exquisite beauty to comfort the tourists who have come to see Auschwitz. How many Polish dumplings, the famous comfort food, can soothe the lead-heavy darkness of those who have just visited the old wounds of fascism?

Ironically, my trip is also about fascism — the renewed version of it. I spoke about it yesterday in Kraków, and tomorrow I’ll be speaking again in another Polish city, Łódź. And once more, I will tell all those who seek hope that it will be our faith in humanity and our innate urge to create beauty that will sustain us against the dark cloud of radical evil. The political action will and can only come from our faith in our inherent beauty as humans. You see, I am in search of words to heal the human soul tarnished by contemporary fascism. And that is why I am writing to you. Do you still have words to heal humanity?