Fascism, Exile, and Redefining Home in the 21st Century, with Ece Temelkuran

Welcome to Intelligence Squared, where great minds meet. I'm producer Mia Serenti. What does it mean to belong when home itself feels fragile, contested, or out of reach? On today's episode, award-winning author and political thinker Edj Termelkurin joins us to discuss her new book, Nation of Strangers, a deeply personal and urgent exploration of exile, migration, and the search for belonging in an age of rising authoritarianism.

In conversation with Maithali Rao, Temilkurin reflects on fleeing her native Turkey, the global spread of fascism, and how solidarity, resistance and hope can be rebuilt among those who feel politically and emotionally displaced. Let's join our host, Maithali Rao, now with more. Welcome to Intelligence Squared, I'm Maithali Rao. Our guest today is Ecei Temelkurin. Ecei Temelkurin is an award-winning Turkish writer and political thinker whose work has been published worldwide.

Her novels, Women Who Blow Knots and The Time of Mute Swans, have been published in several languages and adapted to the stage. After she left Turkey in 2016, Temelkurin began writing in English. Her first book in English, How to Lose a Country, received international praise. Her second, Together, seeks to describe a way out from the political and moral insanity that's been ushered in by the global rise of fascism. Today I'm very happy to be speaking to Ece about her new book, Nation of Strangers, a powerful and personal reappraisal of the concept of exile and homecoming.

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