A note

My work has always been inspired by fieldwork as much as the classroom. A brief but formative photojournalism stint in Colombia redirected my path from theoretical research to investigative storytelling, anchoring a lifelong fascination with how people adapt, endure, and create meaning. Since then, I’ve written across five continents and disciplines, guided by a belief that the most revealing stories are those that bridge the personal and the political.

 

Humanism sits a the heart of my work.

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I paint people with words. 

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The guiding impulse to understand the human condition (and the systems that we scaffold around it) eventually led me to Boğaziçi University in Istanbul. There,  I pursued postgraduate studies in international relations with a regional focus on Europe, Turkey, and the Middle East. The analytical rigor of studying foreign policy, paired with lived experience across multiple continents, shaped a global writing practice. From Forbes to The World Financial Review to Modern Diplomacy, my work has sought to translate multidimensional dilemmas into narratives that inform, challenge, and invite a deeper layer of inquiry.

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Between 2015 and 2025, I built a lean but resilient editorial studio that collaborated with authors, academics, professionals and institutions to develop meaningful, high-impact manuscripts, analyses, and publications worldwide. That decade of deep work evolved into the creation of an entirely new imprint specialising in literary fiction, memoir, and narrative journalism in both translation and English-language originals: Zeytin Press.

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Founded on the belief in literary risk-taking, Zeytin is dedicated to providing a home for writing that is stylistically daring, emotionally resonant, and rooted in the complexity of the human condition.​

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While much of my time is now dedicated towards leading the press, I continue to write independently, publishing features that examine the intersection of politics, identity that straddles research and relevance.  Journalism remains the through-line of my career: a way to keep observing, questioning, and documenting how power and people shape one another.

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At Zeytin, my aim is to create the kind of publishing environment I once searched for as a writer, one that champions ideas with depth and imagination, and voices willing to take intellectual and emotional risks. I've always believed that good writing begins with curiosity and ends with connection.

 

My work, both on the page and through Zeytin Press, remains committed to stories that ask more of us by resisting simplification and expanding how we see one another.

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If this mission speaks to you as a reader, writer, or collaborator, I'd love to hear from you.

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Get in touch via info@jmjakus.com .

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