There are usually more than 140,000 attendees joining the LA Times Festival of Books where the written word is celebrated. It started on Friday, April 25 for the 28th Annual Los Angeles Times Festival of Books and continued the whole weekend.

LA Times Columnist Steve Lopez, California First Lady Maria Shriver were also present for the book-signing.

Pacifica Institute hosted Asli Sancar at the stand for the book-signing of Ottoman Women. In her book, Author Asli Sancar gave the audience a general description of the Ottoman Women carefully separating the myth from reality. Sancar is a writer and lecturer on women’s issues. Born and raised in the US, she has lived in Istanbul for nearly a quarter of a century and has been studying the role of women in the Ottoman Empire for about 10 years. She is a frequent lecturer on the subject and has published two books and numerous articles about women and the family. By means of European travelers’ report and court records, Mrs. Sancar examines the orientalists myth of Harem.

At another stand Pacifica Institute hosted Turkish Calligrapher Aydin Cayir beautifully writing the names of the guests inside the ebru (water marbling) colored frames.