A Cambridge taxi driver has seen his debut novel published in English, a decade after a serendipitous meeting with a passenger ignited the creative spark. Cenk Sözen, 60, was inspired to write 'I Met My Dead Grandpa' following an encounter with a German PhD student after Cambridge railway station was evacuated due to the discovery of a suspected Second World War bomb.
The incident in 2016, which later turned out to be a wartime bullet rather than a bomb, prompted Sözen to fictionalise the scenario. His novel imagines the German student conversing in a liminal space with his grandfather, who was a pilot responsible for dropping the bomb. Sözen explained that his intention was to reflect on how individual actions bear responsibility for future generations.
Although the book was initially published in Turkish last year, an English translation, aided by an editor, is now complete, with digital copies available online and a limited number of hard copies also ready for sale. Sözen undertook extensive research for his short novel, delving into history books and visiting museums to understand the historical context, particularly as he was initially unaware of Nazi bombings in Cambridge during WW2.
Despite his literary pursuits, the university-educated father-of-four, who has resided in Cambridge for nearly 25 years, has no intentions of giving up his taxi driving profession. He is known for keeping a plastic bag of books in his passenger footwell, utilising the time between fares to read and write passages of his novels on his phone. The German student who unknowingly provided the initial inspiration remains unaware of his role in Sözen's published work.
Sözen also revealed that he has several other novels in progress. These include a story set in the Arabian Desert, which he likens to 'Indiana Jones', and another exploring the Ottoman Empire's historical support for Ireland during the Great Famine in the 19th Century. For Sözen, the primary motivation behind his writing is personal fulfilment, stating that "the achievement is self-satisfaction."