An Apology

Dear Readers,

For the past few months now I have from time to time been translating and posting portions of Tuba Çandar’s biography of Hrant Dink. I did so without her permission and am writing now to apologize for that. I never expected anyone but my family and friends to be reading it, so it never crossed my mind that I was invading someone’s right to their creation, but I was. Also, in my introduction to the first translation I said this, ‘Tuba Candar does not so much as write the book, as shape what already exists. The writers are the hundreds of friends, relatives and coworkers that loved and admired Hrant. They tell his story from birth to death—giving a kaleidoscopic variety of views that flesh the man out in a way no single author could.’ I never meant to imply, of course, the Mrs. Çandar did not ‘write’ the book in the traditional sense of writing labor, nor that she did not put in an inordinate amount of incredible, backbreaking and impressive work into it’s genesis, and any understanding otherwise is regretfully mistaken. I had nothing but admiration for the mammoth job of creating that book.

Thank you,

Jeff Gibbs