English born Frances Kazan is a writer, lecturer, producer and arts supporter.
Education
Homerton College Cambridge Teaching Diploma
New York University, Gallatin School, BA English Literature.
New York University, Graduate School of the Arts and Sciences, MA Turkish Studies.
Lectures
1996- 2002 Frances Kazan lectured on the life and work of Halide Edib Adivar, writer, scholar, feminist and a member of the nationalist army during the War of Independence. Edib was the first Turkish graduate of the American Girls College in Istanbul, an early associate of Mustapha Kemal (Ataturk) with whom she later disagreed. After many years in exile Edib and her husband Adnan Adivar returned to Turkey where she taught English literature at Istanbul University.
Venues included The Cosmopolitan Club, The Explorers Club, and the Turkish Consulates in London, Ottowa, and New York, and the East Harlem School. Later lectures used power point application.
Publications
The Dervish (Subtext Press, New York, scheduled for publication 2010)
Mary Di Benedetti, an American war widow, joins her family in Constantinople in 1919, during the Allied occupation. Befriended by Halide Edib Adivar, Mary becomes involved with followers of Mustafa Kemal (later Ataturk). Based on first hand accounts of the Turkish nationalist resistance, “The Dervish” is an adventure story that details the extraordinary events that culminated in 1923 with the creation of the Republic of Turkey.
Halide’s Gift (Random House New York 2001)
Set in late Ottoman Constantinople Frances Kazan’s second novel is loosely based on the early life of Halide Edib and tells the story of two sisters “bound by an extraordinary friendship, and torn apart by their love of radically different men.” “Halide’s Gift” was translated into seven languages.
Halide Edib ve Amerika (Istanbul Baglam Press 1993)
An academic study of the origins of Turkish nationalist/writer/ feminist Halide Edib Adivar’s unique relationship to America. Adapted from Frances Kazan’s Masters thesis, using original research from the archives at Williams College.
Goodnight Little Sister ( New York Stein and Day 1986)
Drawing on her experience as the wife of a rock manager, Frances Kazan’s debut novel tells the story of Alex Hughes, an Oxford educated English woman who marries rock star Stevie Barnes. “A sharply observed ” picture of the rock n’roll world of the sixties.
Articles
1999-2004 Frances Kazan wrote “Letter from New York” for Cornucopia an English language magazine based in Istanbul.
Frances Kazan was an original contributor to Self magazine; and one of her short stories was published in the Gallatin Review.(Vol.8 no.2 Spring 1989)
Productions
2004-5. Co-produced a retrospective of the movies of Elia Kazan, with the Tribeca Institute and Tribeca Film Festival. Guest speakers included Arthur Penn, Martin Scorsese, Barry Levinson and Robert De Niro.
2007-Present. Co-producing a play, in conjunction with Target Margin Theater, about the unique collaboration between Tennessee Williams and Elia Kazan on the Camino Real. Based on an original idea by Frances Kazan, the play draws on unpublished material from the archives of Tennessee Williams and Elia Kazan.
Affiliations
1998-2003. The Kitchen, not for profit arts institution based in Chelsea, specializing in performance and video art. Member Board of Directors, Board President 2001-2.
2004-2006. St Ann’s Warehouse not for profit Arts Institution based in Dumbo,Brooklyn. Member of Board of Directors.
1998-Present. Present and past supporter of numerous not for profit organizations and artists including Brooklyn Academy of Music, MATA, Target Margin Theater, The Julliard School, Performa 2007&9, Meredith Monk, Noemie France, Molissa Fenley and others.
Member of Society of Women Geographers, American Turkish Society.
Personal
Frances Kazan has two adult children, and has lived in New York City for more than thirty years. Every week she volunteers at a Bronx shelter run by Sanctuary for Families – a private non profit organization that helps abused women and children.
Her interests include performance art, dance, hiking, reading, opera and contemporary classical music. Her travels have taken her to India, Bhutan, Tibet, Russia, Peru, Brazil and many countries in Europe.