An Ercan Akbay interview by a Turkish monthly magazine: CEO's April 2008

-In your book, ‘Tales of the Weird’, the incidences and the narration give the impression that the book is written in a short period of time. Is it because of the fast pace of your style or are you a fast writer? -Yes, I write down roughly and quickly. Then I re-read and arrange. But my fast pace and simple language should not be taken to mean that I produce fast consumed cheap works. I hope to tell a story fluently and full of emotion with clear language and a rhythm; the content and meaning of the book is meant to be complete. I think this rhythmic style of expression comes from my musical background.		‘I can’t be labeled; I’m a Weird Guy’ We had done a pretty nice talk on art and life, together with Ercan Akbay, an exceptional artist, writer and musician. Here is our chat with the ‘weird man’, the author of ‘Tales of the Weird’; we hope you enjoy it. -Which writers did you prefer mostly as a person who could not stop reading, from the first day of learning how to read? -Lately, I became a reader who’s bored of reading fiction with boring long descriptions of their writers’ inner worlds. Instead of these, I prefer to read non-fiction: History, Philosophy, Art, Science etc… If I want to read fiction I'll choose the works of marginal writers and poets… When I was a kid, Edgar Allan Poe, Daphne Du Maurier, William Burroughs, Jack Kerouac, Jerzy Kosinski, Trevanian and other masters of fiction were the writers who excited and influenced me. I’ve read every detective story that’s been published in the country then. As a young boy, I’ve read almost every work of Henry Miller, James Joyce, Saul Bellow, JD Salinger, Kurt Vonnegut Jr. along with plenty of other interesting authors.
-What kind of a life should an artist live? -Firstly, an artist should live their life to its fullest… The original stories are learned on the street and should be reflected with the vivid language of the street. As an artist, you should always be in contact with other interesting people, and be well aware that you are to take time to listen to anybody from any social class. That way, you collect data and ideas about other people’s lives and their characters. This is when the need to express begins… -You are a person who’s interested in performing three different branches of creative art. In your opinion, what in the world may end creativity? For a creative person, the negation of hard times means opportunity. There were times that financial and emotional conditions had various pressures on me, but all of those were material for my works. I may say that, in a way, they have motivated me. I think that nothing in the world can kill creativity.

-The truth is irritating when shown as it is. This is an opinion of yours. Could we have a comment on it? Do you write depending on realist philosophy? -I don’t write my books depending on any philosophy, political ideology or trend of art; I always try and keep away from restrictions like those. Years ago, I was highly influenced by anarchism; Proudhon, Godwin, Tolstoy and Bakunin are still my inspirations and their philosophy has always affected me deeply. I’ve frequently referenced to, either openly or vaguely, the anarchist ideology in various chapters and verses of my books. Indeed, I’m proud to be crudely honest, instead of telling lies for the sake of being polite. People avoid the truth when looking for answers to the questions of “Who am I” and “What’s happening around me” they used to ask themselves. It tends to have a destructive effect on people who act like somebody they’re not, when you point out the reality to them. I prefer to be annoyingly sincere and directly tell the truth that’s out there.		-How has your style developed? -I didn’t care to have a specific style. I always wrote, played, drew and painted whatever came to me. Through all the fields of art I try to produce in, my style has always been about expressing freely and sincerely without depending on any pattern. I always had words to speak and stories to tell. -You compose songs, participate in art exhibitions, write books, and people remark on your work to be unique... What gives you inspiration to produce in so many different fields? -I think people find my works unique because they find them strange, and can’t fit them into any category. I just try to do what I love and what I’m capable of doing. It would make no sense to assume them to be anything more than that. Quite a lot of people have told me that my works had a nice and ‘different’ taste, but comprehension of art is a relative and changeable matter. I write strange crime stories, and you can’t necessarily expect a housewife who tends to read romance novels or an intellectual who prefers to read poems, to enjoy my work. So there have been both praises and criticisms from people on each end of the spectrum. As for the inspiration to produce paintings, novels and songs, I can say that, in my opinion, they are all related to each other. Despite the difference in methods of expressing; music, art and literature are connected and ultimately lead to one another. -How do you define success? Are you successful in your own eyes? -If someone is able to make their own fate and walk their own way, then look back and see they’ve made a lot of progress and taken the right decisions, they’re successful. There may be a link between knowledge and success. However, contrary to popular opinion, I don’t think there’s a direct link between money and success. Success comes from satisfying people’s expectations and needs. The person I am today is the person I dreamed of being as a child, and for that reason, in a way, I find myself successful. Although if I were to think success meant having fame, glory and money, I couldn’t say that I do.
		Ercan Akbay is a writer, painter and musician, born 12th February 1959 in Istanbul. He studied finance at university and has worked in many different fields throughout his life. He managed a jazz club; he founded companies in various sectors. He has worked in the stock market, renovating old buildings, music and ballet production, old film and record restoration, concert and sound recording and film montage, book cover and poster designing, and other fields, and still continues to work in some of them today. He also regularly exhibits his paintings and has two music albums to his name. As an author, starting his career in 1996 with short stories and screenplays, he has written three novels and one collection of stories.