The String Broke

The letters Livaneli wrote to his close friend Erdal Öz — writer and founder of the publishing house Can Yayınları — between 1973 and 1984, from his emigration to Sweden until his return to Turkey.

Through letters, memories, interviews and essays, the book traces a friendship born in 1970s Ankara and deepened by years of exile, while offering a panorama of the era in Turkey and Europe. Edited by Cem Akaş, who supplemented the surviving correspondence with an extended interview with Livaneli.

First published in Turkish as Sazın Teli Koptu (Can Yayınları, 2024).