Interview With Author Serkan Oral
Tell us about yourself and how many books you have written.
Serkan Oral is a Turkish journalist, author, and television personality born on August 15, 1972, in İzmit, Turkey. He graduated from Ankara University, Faculty of Communication, Department of Journalism. He is the recipient of the Hürriyet Newspaper Young Journalists Competition Award. Published 6 books.
What is the name of your latest book and what inspired it?
My latest book is **”Che Castro — Küba Değişimin Son Kalesi”**
*(Che Castro — Cuba: The Last Fortress of Change)*
Cuba has always fascinated me. It is a small island that has stood against the most powerful empire in the world for decades — and somehow, stubbornly, it is still standing. That alone is a story worth telling.
But what truly pulled me toward this book was not politics alone. It was the **human story** behind the revolution. Che Guevara and Fidel Castro were not just political figures — they were dreamers who believed the world could be different. Whether you agree with them or not, that kind of conviction is rare in history.
I traveled to Cuba. I walked the streets of Havana. I spoke with ordinary people. I saw the contradictions — the poverty, the pride, the music, the resilience. Cuba is a living paradox. A country frozen in time yet full of life and color.
As a journalist and writer who has spent years covering conflict zones — from Northern Iraq to Kashmir to Afghanistan — I have always been drawn to places where history is not finished yet. **Cuba is one of those places.** The revolution is not a textbook story there. It breathes in the streets.
> *”I did not write this book to defend or attack a revolution. I wrote it to understand it — and through it, to understand what it means for ordinary people to carry an extraordinary dream.”*
| # | Book | Year |
|—|——|——|
| 1 | Kargatulumba Refah | 1998 |
| 2 | Az Sonra Son Darbe | 2000 |
| 3 | Ojeli Aşk | 2005 |
| 4 | Zor Vatan – Keşmir Kıbrıs | 2007 |
| 5 | Kuzey Irak Kapanı | 2008 |
| 6 | **Che Castro — Küba Değişimin Son Kalesi** |
“Cuba taught me that history is never truly over. As long as people still dream, the story continues.”
Do you have any unusual writing habits?
I always begin by taking handwritten notes. I let a subject mature in my mind for a long time, take notes, and then pick up my pen. Writing for me is not just pouring out words — it is an inner reckoning, an intellectual journey. The computer speeds up the writing, but inspiration is always born on paper.
What authors, or books have influenced you?
Every writer feeds from certain sources. The same is true for me. Over the years I have drawn inspiration from many great writers:
My Ideal Writers:
* Yaşar Kemal — I know no other pen that describes Anatolia, the soil, and its people so powerfully. The greatest voice of Turkish literature.
* Dostoyevsky — Few writers have illuminated the dark corners of the human soul so courageously.
* Albert Camus — Continuing to live and create despite the absurdity of existence — this is a great source of inspiration for me.
* Ibn Khaldun — The true founder of the philosophy of history. His way of understanding societies and civilizations is still valid today.
* Ahmet Hamdi Tanpınar — No other Turkish writer has portrayed the soul of a society caught between East and West so delicately.
What are you working on now?
Throughout a journalism career, I listened to thousands of people — heads of state, CEOs, ordinary citizens. I learned to understand what a person is truly saying, and what they wish to say but cannot. That skill of listening and reading between the lines is priceless in crisis management and reputation building. When institutions enter a crisis, what they need is sometimes not a strategy — but first, a discerning eye that makes the correct diagnosis.
What is your best method or website when it comes to promoting your books?
Still not ready to say this.
BOOKS (COMPLETE LIST)
# Book Year
1 Kargatulumba Refah 1998
2 Az Sonra Son Darbe 2000
3 Ojeli Aşk 2005
4 Zor Vatan – Keşmir Kıbrıs 2007
5 Kuzey Irak Kapanı 2008
6 Che Castro — Küba Değişimin Son Kalesi ✅
🛒 PURCHASE LINKS
* 📚 Kitapyurdu: https://www.kitapyurdu.com/yazar/serkan-oral/1589.html
* 📚 İdefix: https://www.idefix.com/yazar/serkan-oral-217756
* 📚 Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/Serkan-Oral/e/B001JWN2R6
* 📚 Amazon — Az Sonra Son Darbe: https://www.amazon.com/Sonra-Son-Darbe-Serkan-Oral/dp/9753131836
Do you have any advice for new authors?
Even though writing is at the center of my life, I believe a person cannot consist only of writing. There are things that nourish my soul in my free time. Historical Research and Reading. Even when I am not writing, I am reading. Books are my most loyal companions. Nature Walks and Travel. I want to travel every corner of Anatolia. Every village, every ruin, every stone carries a story.
Deep Conversations. Having long, deep conversations with intellectual people is a great pleasure for me.
Museum and Archaeological Site Visits. Visiting historical places nourishes me deeply.
Keeping a Journal. Every day I note my thoughts, observations, and questions in a journal. Be yourself, give away knowledge and never stop.
What is the best advice you have ever heard?
Life passes quickly, no worries, live today.
What are you reading now?
sure ı prefer biography books nowadays. Life Taught Me” (Almatani Alhayah) by HH Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum … American biography, “Elon Musk” by acclaimed author Walter Isaacson and Douglas Smith’s , Rasputin on the list.
What’s next for you as a writer?
Writing for me is not a profession — it is a way of breathing. Just as the heart keeps beating, the pen cannot stop either. When it stops, something dies inside me.
I am not a person who writes — I am a person who exists to write. There is a deep difference between the two. Stopping writing would mean leaving myself behind.
The thousands of years of Anatolian history are still full of undiscovered stories. Whether my life is long enough or not, trying to write these stories is my greatest duty. My greatest dream as a writer is that what I have written lives on after me. Books are immortal — writers are not. But a good book also immortalizes its writer. When the pen stops, so does the writer. I do not yet want to stop.
If you were going to be stranded on a desert island and allowed to take 3 or 4 books with you what books would you bring?
My “Che – Castro – Cuba: The Last Fortress of Change” book. As Cuba is also an island.
I ll dream of vivid portrait of street life in Havana, Varadero, Santa Clara, and Pinar del Rio — including Cuba’s connection to Hemingway, the Mojito and Salsa culture, the cigar legend, and the iconic 1950s American cars still cruising the streets. 
Secondly, The Infinite Narrative
The Complete Stories by Jorge Luis Borges. If I’m going to be alone with my thoughts, I want literature that mirrors the infinite. Borges writes masterfully about labyrinthine libraries, infinite lotteries, and metaphysical mysteries. Every single short story is a dense, mind-bending puzzle that you can reread a hundred times and still find new meaning
Author Websites and Profiles
Author Interview Series
To discover a new author, check out our Featured Authors page. We have some of the best authors around. They are just waiting for you to discover them. If you enjoyed this writer’s interview feel free to share it using the buttons below. Sharing is caring!
If you are an author and want to be interviewed just fill out out Author Interview page. After submitting we will send it out in our newsletters and social media channels that are filled with readers looking to discover new books to read.
If you are looking for a new book to read check out our Featured Books Page.