About the Author
Sanem Ozdural was born in Ankara, Turkey, and spent her childhood from age seven in England. In 1989 she came to the U.S. to study economics at Princeton University then moved to New Orleans after graduating from Boston University law school. In New Orleans she practiced as a prosecutor and civil litigator, and spent “seven wonderful years living in the French Quarter.” In 2004 she migrated from New Orleans to New York, where she practiced law, and from thence to Istanbul, Turkey in 2013 to teach international business law at Koc University. Recently, she returned to New Orleans and “is delighted to be back after a 12-year absence. Sanem’s new is novel The Dark Shall do What Light Cannot, the second novel in her LiGa series. Like LiGa, it is an urban fantasy set in the mythical land of Pera, partly inspired by two cities she calls home: New Orleans and Istanbul. Ms. Osdural was a presenter at Words & Music several years ago when LiGa was released. Her new novel, The Dark Shall Do What Light Cannot, fits perfectly with the Faulkner Society’s theme for Words & Music, 2016.
Currently, Sanem is working on a book of fiction for young people: Pera: A Year of Song, a collection of nine related short stories (approximately 25,000 words total) which tells the story of the fantasy world Pera (inspired loosely by New Orleans and Istanbul). The stories which take place over the course of one year – except for the first story, which is a creation myth – tell the daily lives of three families, seen through the eyes of the children and animals (cat, dog, birds). All the stories are written as though they are excerpts from a broad collection known as the Book of Shadow, which utlimately willbe a collection of stories/songs/sayings that tell the story of Pera.