--Langston Hughes (1902-1967)

Dear Friends,

I am writing this open letter to introduce the Library Walk to the people who live in New York but who don't know about it yet and to propose similar project applications to the authorities and those concerned in Istanbul, Ankara, and Izmir.

My inspiration for this letter is Sir Arthur C. Clarke. You will find the explanation below.


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Some books about Stanley Kubrick's legendary film "2001: Space Odyssey" mention that "2001"s legendary author and scientist Sir Arthur C. Clarke worked on a scenario of this film in 1964 in New York. They also specifically mention that he stayed in Chelsa Hotel in 23^rd Street every time he came to New York City.
 

In October 2000, I read about his visit to New York City in his wheelchair for a health check-up in New York Times newspaper. Later, I learned that photography was one of the visual arts he liked the most.

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Every time I've walked through 41^st Street from Park Avenue to the 5^th Avenue, I thought that Sir Arthur C. Clarke would like to see this street and he probably did not see it yet as the Library Walk was built in 1998.

As a result of this, I photographed some of the copper relieves and the quotations on these relieves at the 41^st Street, a few general view of the street, and NY Public Library. I posted these photographs and November-December edition of dPaper (Istanbul) Magazine, in which my article about Sir Arthur Clarke was printed, to Sir Arthur Clarke on April 24.

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*Today, I received a thank-you e-mail from him (dated May 3rd). In his e-mail, he thanked me by saying that photographs were beautiful and he missed NY City even more after seeing these photographs but he never wishes to leave Sri Lanka anymore. He also said that he had to sleep 14 hours a day because of his post-polio syndrome but he feels fine and he preferred to read the article in English although the photographs of the article was clear and beautiful (I e-mailed the existing translation of that article to him immediately.)

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On both side of the 41^st street; there are bronze relives between the Park and the 5^th Ave. Each of these relieves display interesting quotations and visual interpretation of these quotations from famous international authors (mostly American,) poets, and artists (including Picasso and Braque.) They all direct you to the spectacular New York Public Library.

When you read the quoted statements on every relief, you want to change your whole schedule and go to the library right away.

I would like to share with you about my proposal for applying Library Walk project in Istanbul, Ankara, and Izmir even if this will not be possible for all cities in Turkey. I also would like to inform you that Sir Arthur, who was the inspiration to this project, is fine.