New book explores Turkey’s shrinking Jewish community in ‘Looking for Elsewhere’

(Oct. 13, 2026 / Collective Ink Books)

Publisher Christian Alternative Books, an imprint of Collective Ink, announces the release of Looking for Elsewhere: The Jews of Turkey Then and Now (Paperback ISBN: 978-1-917991-06-3; US $21.95 and UK £15.99) by historian and King’s College London lecturer Simon Waldman.

Nominated for honors including the Baillie Gifford Prize for Non-Fiction, the Canadian Jewish Literary Prize and the Wingate Literary Prize, Looking for Elsewhere examines the global consequences of religious intolerance and national prejudice.

Turkey was once home to a Jewish population numbering hundreds of thousands. Today, only a fraction remains. Combining historical analysis with personal narrative, Waldman examines what drove many Jews to leave their ancestral home and explores the lives of those who stay, living with the persistent reality of searching for an elusive place called home. Through first-hand accounts and cultural analysis, the book explores themes of memory, language, secularism and identity, placing Turkish-Jewish history within broader global contexts.

“Waldman has pulled back the curtain on a community about which far too little is known,” says Steven A. Cook, senior fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations. “The combination of meticulous research, eye for detail and personal experiences has produced a volume that academic specialists, the policy community and the general reader will value.”

Waldman holds an M.A. and Ph.D. in Middle Eastern studies from King’s College London and an MSt in creative writing from the University of Oxford. He is a frequent commentator for international press outlets and was recently featured on the World XP podcast.

Publication details and availability

• Publication date: UK: July 2026; US: August 2026.
• Formats: Paperback ($21.95 and £15.99, 264 pp.); eBook ($10.99 and £7.99).
• Distribution: National Book Network (US) and Wiley & Sons (UK).

Link to purchase: https://www.collectiveinkbooks.com/christian-alternative-books/our-books/looking-for-elsewhere