Madam Ataturk

Mustafa Kemal Ataturk is hailed as one of the most charismatic political leaders of the twentieth century, but little is known today about his one and only wife, Latife Hanym. A multilingual intellectual educated at the Sorbonne, Latife's marriage to Ataturk in 1923 set her apart from her contemporaries, raising her to the pinnacle of political power. She played a central role in the creation of a modern and secular Turkey and campaigned tirelessly for women's right to vote. Throughout her marriage, Latife stood beside her husband and acted as his interpreter, promoter and diplomatic aide. She even twice risked her own life to save his. However, after only two years of marriage, Ataturk divorced Latife and she soon disappeared from public life. She was shunned, blamed for the failure of the marriage and portrayed as a sharp-tongued, quarrelsome woman who had strained Ataturk's nerves. Latife spent the rest of her life in seclusion. In the first biography to be written on Latife Hanym, Ypek Calyplar recounts the life of an exceptional and courageous woman, well ahead of her time, who lived through a remarkable period in Turkish history.

Born in Istanbul in 1947, Ypek Calyplar is an accomplished journalist and writer. She has worked at the prestigious daily Cumhuriyet for twelve years, first as news editor, and then, as the Sunday supplement editor. Calyplar was tried but then acquitted in Turkey for 'insulting the memory of Kemal Ataturk' in this biography. She lives in Istanbul. Feyza Howell's other translations include Fiasco by Copkun Buktel, The Book of Madness by Levent Penyurek and The Concubine by Gul Yrepoolu. She lives in London.