Books and Reading in Türkiye in 2026: Fairs Meet Their Readers and Libraries Become Part of City Life

[TURKIYE]

Books and Reading in Türkiye in 2026: Fairs Meet Their Readers and Libraries Become Part of City Life

April brought together the Ankara Book Fair, İZKİTAP in İzmir and library activities, while August brought international recognition for Rami Library. These different occasions place reading beyond the moment of buying a book, giving authors, translators and libraries a place in the cultural picture.

A book fair may look like a collection of stands and titles, but events in 2026 reveal other layers around it: meeting an author, encountering literature from a guest country, discovering a specialist historical institution’s publications, joining a programme in a public park, or receiving a book while studying in a local library. Each connects text and reader in a different way.

That connection cannot be measured solely by the number of copies bought. Some people go to listen, some look for a translation, some discover an unfamiliar publisher, and others regularly use a library without attending a fair. This article therefore brings together book fairs and library events from the same year, while recognising the particular role of each.

Salt Galata Library on Bankalar Street, Beyoğlu, Istanbul. Archive photograph for illustration.

Ankara: The 23rd Book Fair Opens on 3 April

The 23rd Ankara Book Fair opened on 3 April 2026, with its run scheduled for 3–12 April at ATO Congresium. Kyrgyzstan was the guest country, Ayla Kutlu the author of honour, and Sultan Raev the international guest of honour. Together, these names brought Turkish literature into contact with the fair’s connections to other Turkic-speaking cultures.

Opening coverage described Raev signing works translated into Turkish at the Eurasian Writers’ Union stand. Here, the translator emerges as a partner in bringing a book to a new reader, even when the photograph of a signing focuses on its author. The journey between languages comes before that meeting and allows a text to enter another cultural setting.

The designation “guest country” does not mean that the other exhibitors represent that country, or that every activity across the ten days revolves around it. It provides a focus within a broader fair, introducing a particular literature and culture alongside the programmes of other publishers and institutions. Distinguishing the edition’s guest from its entire programme helps readers understand the participants’ different roles.

For a reader, meeting an author offers something different from reading the text alone. It may provide an opportunity to hear the writer discuss a book or to ask a question, without supplying a final interpretation binding on every reader. The text remains open to different readings after the signing ends, and the reader’s relationship with it extends beyond a few minutes at a stand.

A Historical Institution Broadens the Range of Books

The Atatürk Research Centre took its publications to the Ankara fair, announcing its presence at stand A-706 during the same dates. Its participation illustrates the range of material available: the fair extends beyond fiction and leisure reading to include publications from specialist institutions.

Approaching a research publication differs from choosing a novel for enjoyment. A researcher may begin with a subject, period or type of document, while a literary reader may be drawn by a style, character or narrative experience. Bringing these forms together does not make them competitors for a single purpose; it gives the fair several points of entry.

It is also useful to distinguish between an institution, an author and a publisher. A particular person may write a book, an institution may publish it, and another body may organise the event. When these roles are clear, it becomes easier to understand how one visit can combine a literary conversation, a history book and an introduction to a cultural institution’s work.

İzmir: The Seventh İZKİTAP at Kültürpark

The seventh İZKİTAP was scheduled for 17–26 April at Kültürpark in İzmir. Municipal coverage published on 19 April reported visitor interest during the opening days, with families, students and readers attending the stands and events.

The programme brought together publishers, writers, second-hand booksellers and civil society, media and cultural organisations, with talks and book signings.

Holding the fair in a cultural park gives it a different setting from Ankara’s exhibition hall. This difference can be understood through the nature of the locations, without assuming that either format suits everyone better. A hall and a park offer different experiences; comfort, access and the choice of events depend on each programme’s organisation and each visitor’s circumstances.

Second-hand books add another route to finding titles. Readers may be interested in an older edition or a book no longer featured among new releases. The fair therefore offers more than a window onto recent publications: it may also create room to rediscover earlier works, without guaranteeing that every visitor will find every title they want.

A Fair Is a Public Encounter; Reading Takes Longer

A fair concentrates people, books and discussion into a defined period. Reading generally requires another kind of time, chosen by the individual after returning home. One encounter may spark an interest, but its continuation cannot be measured from a photograph of a crowded stand or a long list of signings.

In Ankara, dialogue between languages appears through the guest country and translated books. In İzmir, attention falls on the variety of encounters in a public space and the involvement of several kinds of organisation. These are two aspects of the same wider picture: one highlights a text’s passage between cultures, while the other shows how books find a place among a city’s residents and visitors.

An author’s presence before a reader also differs from that of a translator, editor or librarian. Each can explain part of a book’s journey, from writing and preparation to making it available and helping someone find it. Their roles reveal reading as a relationship between people, works and institutions, extending beyond a product placed on a table.

The library of the Ottoman Bank Archives and Research Centre in Istanbul. Archive photograph for illustration.

Diyarbakır: A Fair That Closed on 4 October

Autumn added an occasion in Diyarbakır, where the tenth book fair opened on 26 September 2026 at the Mesopotamia International Fair and Congress Centre and closed on 4 October. The final day included visits to stands and meetings between publishers and readers.

The municipality’s stand featured publications on the city’s history, heritage, food culture and literature. Its participation offers another example of a city representing itself within a fair, alongside publishing houses’ books. A book can introduce readers to the place hosting the event, connecting its memory with visitors from both within and beyond the city.

This occasion does not reduce Diyarbakır to the titles on one stand. The stand formed part of a wider fair organised by TÜYAP in cooperation with the Turkish Publishers Association. Knowing the organiser, edition and dates helps distinguish it from earlier fairs with similar names, especially while reports from different years remain available to read.

Ümraniye: A Book within an Everyday Service

In a report published on 2 April 2026, Ümraniye Municipality documented an activity distributing books to 553 university students during Library Week. It was aimed at young people studying in the district library and using the municipality’s evening meal service. The distribution formed part of the local activities accompanying Library Week.

This offers a different route from a fair. The student is already in the building through everyday library use, and the book reaches them within that setting. It shows how a cultural activity can become part of an existing service, without waiting for everyone to travel to a large festival in the city centre.

The distinction between receiving a book and completing it matters. Giving someone a book creates an opportunity to read; it does not prove that every recipient read it or changed their habits. The figure of 553 describes the beneficiaries identified in the activity report. It does not become a reading rate or a judgement about every student in the district.

A local library helps explain the continuing activity less visible during fair seasons. Someone may come for quiet work, study or research, and then discover a cultural activity in the same place. This overlap broadens the library’s roles without making users’ needs identical: one person may want silence, while another seeks a meeting or space to interact.

Rami Library: Three Days Discussing What Libraries Do

The third International Library and Technology Festival took place at Rami Library in Istanbul on 2–4 April 2026. Its theme, The Healing Library, concerned libraries’ contribution to well-being. Sessions explored their relationship with community participation, the city, culture, the environment and digital services, alongside professional practice.

The gathering places librarians within cultural coverage that often concentrates on authors and titles. A librarian’s work extends beyond arranging shelves: it concerns how people find material, how it is made available, and how users’ needs are understood. Discussing services raises a question beyond the number of books alone: how can people use the resources already there?

The festival’s theme does not constitute a promise of medical treatment. It provides a framework for discussing place, service, learning and social relationships, encouraging consideration of the library as part of public life. From this perspective, the environment and technology connect with readers’ experiences, rather than becoming separate subjects unrelated to books.

A professional library festival differs from a publishers’ fair, even though both concern reading. The former discusses service, expertise and working practices, while the latter offers encounters with books and those who create and publish them. Their aims may overlap, but sharing experience among professionals is a different activity from signing books for readers.

August: Recognition for Rami Library in a Specific Category

On 12 August 2026, the International Federation of Library Associations and Institutions announced the results of its Green Library Award. Rami Library took first place in the Green Library/Grand Scale Project category, with the results announced in Busan, South Korea.

Its project concerned the conversion of a historic nineteenth-century barracks into a shared urban space designed for climate resilience. The recognition thus relates to a building’s reuse and public function, rather than to one book or author. It brings the library’s architecture and surroundings into the story of reading and cultural services.

The category needs to be stated explicitly because it defines what the award means. A competition may include several categories and projects; Rami’s success in its category does not mean it topped every library award worldwide. Nor is recognition for a project a national measure of reading habits, or proof that all libraries provide the same services.

The news gains another connection this year because the same library also hosted a professional gathering in April. The two events are independent in date and purpose: a festival discussing services, and an award assessing a project within a particular category. Considering them together reveals a library as an institution with activities, a programme and a physical setting, while keeping the reasons for each occasion distinct.

A Brief Map of the Fairs and Library Events

Occasion	Date in 2026	Type of event
Book activity in Ümraniye	During Library Week; activity report published on 2 April	Books distributed to university students using the library
Library and Technology Festival at Rami	2–4 April	A gathering about library services and participation
23rd Ankara Book Fair	3–12 April	Opened with literary and institutional participation
Seventh İZKİTAP in İzmir	17–26 April	Welcomed readers to Kültürpark
Tenth Diyarbakır Book Fair	26 September–4 October	Closed on 4 October
Rami Library’s award	12 August	An announced result in the Green Library/Grand Scale Project category

İzmir’s September Programme: Another Edition Announced

İzmir also announced the eighth İZKİTAP for 19–27 September and its tenth International Literature Festival for 24–27 September. The announcement named Alberto Manguel and Zülfü Livaneli as the literature festival’s guests of honour, with talks and other events devoted to literature.

Following these occasions reveals several public lives for books in 2026: meeting readers at a fair, crossing languages through translation, reaching library users through a local activity, and depending on an institution whose staff work on services and access. Placing these experiences alongside one another shows why libraries deserve space in cultural news together with festivals and signings.

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