I teach pharmaceutical sciences at a university; it’s how I make a living, so that I can spend whatever spare time I have doing what I love most: reading endlessly, and writing whenever something takes hold of my mind.

 At the moment, I’m juggling a few projects, both scientific and literary. I’ve just submitted a research paper to the Royal Society of Chemistry’s Pharmaceutics journal on encapsulating levodopa in sporopollenin microcapsules to control its release. The study includes some mathematical modelling of the drug’s sustained release in plasma. I’m also wrapping up another paper on the use of responsive, smart, biocompatible polymers as potential wound-dressing materials. My current research focuses on encapsulating different therapeutic drugs in natural biopolymers for controlled release.

 On the literary side, I’m close to finishing my second novel, Erukhan’s Lost Manuscript. It delves into the turbulent history of Anatolia during the Ottoman era, especially the systematic elimination of Armenians and later Kurds. I don’t intend to go easy on any group, including the Kurds, even though I was born one myself. My goal is to recount those events with honesty and precision.

 After that, I plan to begin the second book in the series, set a century after the Armenian genocide, in 2015, when the Kurds of Amad (Diyarbakir) face the oppressive power of a regime whose roots were planted in 1915.