The Glebe at Daleville hosts author Judy Light Ayyildiz during a free lecture and book signing on Thursday, December 6 at 7:00 p.m. Ayyildiz’s new novel, Forty Thorns, recounts the memoir of her mother-in-law, eyewitness to the birth of the Turkish Republic in the early 1900s.

Internationally published, Judy Light Ayyildiz has taught creative writing to all education levels and presented literary workshops and international conferences on poetry, writing and women’s studies. A Blue Ridge Writers Conference founder, Ms. Ayyildiz was also editor of Artemis for 13 years. Her books include Mud River (poetry), Easy Ideas for Busy Teachers and The Writers’ Express (writing texts), and Nothing But Time (cross-cultural and triumph over trauma memoir) as well as an illustrated children’s book, Some of My Ancestors are Ottomans and Turks. Among her many awards and honors, she received the Nazim Hikmet Prize, College Bookstores Best Book Finalist and Woman of Achievement in Education in 2010.

Forty Thorns is an epic tale about the rise of modern Turkey. Based on the intimate oral memoir of Adalet, a strong, passionate woman who lived from the crumbling Ottomans into the present era, this narrative blends past and present within a war-torn love story. Forty Thorns parallels the newly emerging nation – its dramatic upheavals, cultural transformations, and heroes and heroines who built the republic. From the author’s website.

This event is free and open to the public.

Submitted by Susan Mason, Senior Coordinator of Campus Programs, The Glebe Retirement Community