On a February afternoon in a theatre hall in Bursa, a writer steps up and starts reading a short story while the audience puts their phones away. That is roughly what World Short Story Day looks like in Turkey: modest, unhurried, built around words rather than spectacle. And it falls on 14 February, not on 21 June as many people assume. At takvim.in we pulled together where the day came from, how it is observed in Turkey, and how it differs from the other short story days scattered across the calendar.
Key takeaways
- Turkey's World Short Story Day (Dünya Öykü Günü) is held every year on 14 February; the writer Özcan Karabulut proposed it at a short story forum in Ankara in 2002.
- The date was inspired by a line from the Turkish writer Sait Faik, "Her şey bir insanı sevmekle başlar" ("Everything begins with loving a person"), which is why it shares a date with Valentine's Day.
- The idea was approved at the 69th International PEN Congress in Mexico City in 2003 and came up again at the 71st congress in Bled, Slovenia, in 2005.
- Comma Press's International Short Story Day (20 June 2012), Short Story Day Africa (21 June) and the UK's National Short Story Day (21 December) are separate initiatives with different origins.
- The Turkish short story has a clear spine, running from Ömer Seyfettin through Sait Faik, Aziz Nesin, Oktay Akbal and Yaşar Kemal, and the day is an invitation to read them.
What is World Short Story Day in Turkey?
The short story is shorter than a novel and closer to a spoken anecdote than a poem: in a few pages it can put a person, a moment or a whole neighbourhood in front of you. World Short Story Day, in its Turkish form, is a day set aside for that form. Its stated aim is to promote and popularise short story writing and reading, in every language. The way people mark it is simple: readings, talks, workshops, story competitions and short programmes in bookshops and libraries.
A caveat is needed straight away. Search for "World Short Story Day" in English and you will find events in June and in December. None of them grows from the Turkish 14 February observance. The Turkish day began as a local initiative that then won the backing of an international writers' organisation. The differences are laid out below.
Where does World Short Story Day come from?
The story starts in Ankara in 2002. At a short story forum there, the writer Özcan Karabulut proposed an annual day to promote the genre. Karabulut was then involved with the Edebiyatçılar Derneği (the Writers' Association), and some sources also credit the poet Adnan Özer as a co-initiator. Around this effort, the Uluslararası Ankara Öykü Günleri Derneği (International Ankara Short Story Days Association) was formally founded on 18 September 2013. The Ankara Short Story Days themselves had already been running for years: the 14th edition was announced for May 2014.
The idea did not stay in Turkey. According to the sources we could check, the proposal was approved in 2003 at the 69th International PEN Congress in Mexico City, via PEN's Translation and Linguistic Rights Committee. PEN is an international association of writers that defends freedom of expression; Turkey has its own PEN centre. A year later, PEN reportedly encouraged its national centres to celebrate the day. On 15 June 2005, at the 71st congress in Bled, the committee took up the 14 February project again, and one source reports that delegates approved including it in UNESCO's calendar of culture. We found that last detail in a single source and could not confirm the day's formal status in UNESCO's calendar independently, so treat it with care.
Why 14 February?
The date was chosen on purpose. According to Karabulut, it is tied to one of Sait Faik's best-known lines: "Her şey bir insanı sevmekle başlar", roughly "everything begins with loving a person". The organisers felt that the short story begins in exactly that place, with attention paid to a single human being, and so they set the day on Valentine's Day. In that reading, 14 February links the story not to romance but to the courage of looking at people. It suits Sait Faik's own fiction, where fishermen, coffeehouse regulars, island tradesmen and people considered "useless" take the lead roles.
How is it observed in Turkey?
There is no single national ceremony. Associations, libraries, universities, cultural centres and independent bookshops each mark the day in their own way. The most common form is a reading by writers or actors. In some years, talks, workshops and magazine special issues are timed to the date.
One concrete example comes from 2024, when the Türkiye Yazarlar Sendikası (Writers' Union of Turkey) was celebrating its 50th year with monthly "literature matinees". A matinee is a daytime performance; one session of the series took place in the theatre hall of the Barış Manço Cultural Centre in Yıldırım, Bursa, and was devoted to World Short Story Day. Writers read stories by Yaşar Kemal, Aziz Nesin and Oktay Akbal, alongside pieces by contemporary short story writers. The union was founded on 4 February 1974, with Yaşar Kemal as its first chair, and Aziz Nesin was among the people behind its creation. So two of the three authors on the programme were tied to the very institution hosting the readings, and the reading list was as much an act of memory as of programming.
How does it differ from other short story days?
Several initiatives share a similar name, and they are easy to confuse. As far as we could verify:
| Initiative | Date | Who / where | What it is |
|---|---|---|---|
| World Short Story Day (Turkey) | 14 February | Özcan Karabulut, Ankara, 2002; approved at PEN in 2003 | Date based on a Sait Faik line; discussed at PEN congresses |
| International Short Story Day | 20 June (2012) | Comma Press, a Manchester-based British publisher | A day on which writing groups, bookshops and literary organisations held events |
| Short Story Day Africa | 21 June | A community of African writers and readers | Focuses on African writing; tied to the shortest day of the year in the southern hemisphere |
| National Short Story Day (UK) | 21 December | UK-based initiative | Marks the shortest day of the year in the northern hemisphere |
The common thread in the June and December days is a wry idea: celebrate the short story on the shortest day. The Turkish day has no such logic. It rests on a literary sentence and on the idea of loving people, not on the sun. A second difference is ownership: the Comma Press day was a publisher's initiative, while the Turkish one went through the decision-making of a writers' organisation. The goals, though, are similar: to keep the short story from living in the novel's shadow.
Who are the writers behind the Turkish short story?
To celebrate the form, you need to know the form. In Turkish it has a shorter history than one might expect, and it took shape around a handful of names.
Ömer Seyfettin (1884-1920). Born in Gönen and dead at 35 in Istanbul, he is regarded as one of the founders of the modern Turkish short story, and is said to have written around 125 stories. "Primo Türk Çocuğu", "Kaşağı", "Bomba" and "Ashab-ı Kehfimiz" are among the best known. His unsigned essay "Yeni Lisan" ("New Language"), published on 11 April 1911 in the Salonica journal Genç Kalemler, is considered a founding text of the plain-Turkish movement. His stories are short, driving, and plain in language.
Sait Faik Abasıyanık (1906-1954). Born in Adapazarı and died in Istanbul, he published his first story, "Uçurtmalar" ("Kites"), in the newspaper Milliyet on 9 December 1929, and his first book, Semaver, in 1936. Lüzumsuz Adam (1948) and Alemdağ'da Var Bir Yılan (1954, the year he died) are among his main books. A mansion his father bought on Burgazada, one of the Princes' Islands, in 1938 is now a museum. The Sait Faik Story Prize was set up through his mother's bequest in 1954 and first awarded in 1955; since 1964 the Darüşşafaka Society has run it. Winners include Oktay Akbal, Tomris Uyar, Füruzan and Nazlı Eray.
Aziz Nesin (1915-1995). Born Mehmet Nusret in Heybeliada, he died in Alaçatı. Best known as a satirist, he also wrote stories with a hard look at social injustice. He reportedly used around 200 pen names, launched the satirical paper Markopaşa in 1946, founded the Nesin Foundation in 1972 and gave his book royalties to it. He was buried without ceremony on the foundation's land in Çatalca.
Oktay Akbal (1923-2015). Born in Istanbul and died in Muğla, he worked as a journalist and columnist for Cumhuriyet, Hürriyet and Milliyet. His first story collection, Önce Ekmekler Bozuldu, came out in 1946, and he won the Sait Faik Story Prize in 1959.
Yaşar Kemal (1923-2015). Born in Hemite (in today's Osmaniye province), he is best known for novels, above all the İnce Memed series, whose first volume appeared in 1955. He came to literature through collections of folk laments and stories, and his first story collection, Sarı Sıcak, appeared in 1952. He was the first chair of the Türkiye Yazarlar Sendikası.
Plenty of names are missing from this list, from Sabahattin Ali to Sevim Burak and Haldun Taner. We stuck to what we could verify.
How can you take part?
Do not expect a big festival; the day works because it is small. A few concrete ways in:
- Read one story. A Sait Faik story takes about fifteen minutes, and Ömer Seyfettin's "Kaşağı" may take less. Reading aloud changes the story.
- Go to a local reading. Libraries, cultural centres, associations and writers' unions often programme readings in February. Schedules change every year, so check current announcements.
- Pick up a prize-winning book. A collection that has won the Sait Faik Story Prize is a good place to start.
- Write one. A page, one person, one moment. Sait Faik's sentence is a fair prompt.
FAQ
Is World Short Story Day 21 June or 14 February?
In Turkey it is 14 February. The June dates belong to separate initiatives: Comma Press's International Short Story Day (20 June in 2012) and Short Story Day Africa (21 June). The UK's National Short Story Day is on 21 December.
Who proposed World Short Story Day?
The writer Özcan Karabulut proposed it at a short story forum in Ankara in 2002. Some sources also credit the poet Adnan Özer.
Why does it fall on Valentine's Day?
According to Karabulut, the date was inspired by Sait Faik's line "Her şey bir insanı sevmekle başlar". The idea is that the short story begins with attention and love for people.
Where do events take place?
There is no single centre. Libraries, cultural centres, unions and associations organise readings and talks. In 2024, one reading by the Writers' Union of Turkey was held at the Barış Manço Cultural Centre in Bursa.
Conclusion
A short story day does not need a big stage, just fifteen minutes of someone reading aloud. To see which readings, talks or workshops are happening in your city in February, have a look at takvim.in and find literary events near you on takvim.in.
