It was just 5 years after the replacement of the Arabic script -- in use since the eighth century AD -- with the Latin alphabet by the Turkish Republic, which itself had been founded only a decade before, atop the ruins of the Ottoman Empire. The year was 1933 when the translator, essayist, and poet Yasar Nabi Nayir (1908-1981), whose parents had immigrated to the Turkish Republic from Skopje, Macedonia, launched Varlik (the monthly review of literature and art). At the time, 90 per cent of the 13.5 million citizens of the Republic were estimated to be "literally" illiterate.

This publication, which was to become a cornerstone of literary life in Turkey, a tradition in itself, has been in circulation ever since. Currently, this monthly review, published in Istanbul by the second generation of the Nayir family under the direction of the editor-in-chief, Enver Ercan, consists of 96 pages plus a 32-page book review supplement, featuring essays and discussions of the cover theme of the month as well as poetry, stories, and reviews.

Including library and individual subscriptions, net circulation fluctuates between 2500 and 3000 copies, representing the highest range among independent periodicals of its kind in Turkey.

Almost all of the prominent names of modern Turkish literati and intelligentsia, as well as many from world literature, have been introduced to Turkish readers for the first time in Varlik's pages, making a collection of the back issues a highly representative index to modern Turkish writing.

The Yasar Nabi Award, established in 1990 to encourage and promote young poets and story writers, has served as the launching pad for many who in the meantime have become well known names in the Turkish literary scene.

In 1946, Yasar Nabi started publishing fiction and non-fiction paperbacks. Today this collection includes more than 2000 titles, including many world classics as well as most of the significant Turkish authors.