Turkish Novelist Orhan Pamuk

Istanbul 1952 - present

Orhan PamukOrhan Pamuk is a world famous and Nobel prize winner Turkish novelist from modern times. He was born in Istanbul on 7th of June 1952. During his childhood in Nisantasi neighborhood, he dreamed to become a painter so he kept painting until he was 22 years old. He was graduated from the Robert College high school in Istanbul and then went to Istanbul Technical University to study architecture. But after 3 years of architecture studies, he changed his mind and quit the school then studied journalism at the Istanbul University, but he didn't become a journalist neither. So, at the age of 23 he decided to become a writer and left everything behind to dedicate himself in writing.

Orhan Pamuk became a writer in 1974. In 1979, his first novel "Karanlik ve Isik" (Darkness and Light from Turkish) won the first prize during the Milliyet Novel Competition. This novel was published as a book in 1982 under the name of "Cevdet Bey ve Ogullari" (Mister Cevdet and His Sons), and then he won another prize in 1983 with the same book at the Orhan Kemal Novel prizes. Many of his later books won also several international prizes all around the world, his novels are classified under the post-modern novels category.

Orhan Pamuk won the Nobel Prize in Literature in 2006, becoming the first Turkish citizen to win such a prize and one of the two youngest persons to get this prize in the history of Nobel. He gave a speech called "Babamin Bavulu" (My Father's Suitcase) when he received the Nobel Prize during the ceremony in Sweden. His books are translated into dozens of languages for over 100 countries around the world.

In 2005, the Prospect magazine named Orhan Pamuk among "world's 100 intellectuals". In 2006, the TIME magazine chose him as "one of the 100 most influential persons of the world". In October 2012 he's honored with the Legion d'honneur order of merit by France and received the Sonning Prize, Denmark's highest cultural award, for his contribution to European culture. In 2014 he received several awards from USA, FYR Macedonia, Estonia, and also the Helena Vaz da Silva European Award for Raising Public Awareness on Cultural Heritage. He holds honorary doctorates from various universities around the world and gives lectures on literature in Columbia University once a year.

Pamuk lived for 3 years in New York, but for the rest of his life he has been living in Istanbul. In April 2012 he opened his own museum in Istanbul: Museum of Innocence, named after his book. He has a daughter named Rüya (dream).

His books
  • Cevdet Bey ve Ogullari (Mister Cevdet and His Sons), 1982
  • Sessiz Ev (The House of Silence), 1983
  • Beyaz Kale (The White Castle), 1985
  • Kara Kitap (The Black Book), 1990
  • Gizli Yüz (Secret Face), 1992
  • Yeni Hayat (The New Life), 1994
  • Benim Adim Kirmizi (My Name is Red), 1998
  • Öteki Renkler (Other Colors), 1999
  • Kar (Snow), 2002
  • Istanbul: Hatiralar ve Sehir (Istanbul: Memories and the City), 2003
  • Masumiyet Müzesi (Museum of Innocence), 2008
  • Ben Bir Agacim (I'm a Tree), 2013
  • Kafamda Bir Tuhaflik (A Strangeness in My Mind), 2014
  • Kara Kitap 25 Yasinda (Black Book: 25th Anniversary), 2015
  • Resimli Istanbul (Illustrated Istanbul), 2015
  • Kirmizi Sacli Kadin (The Red-Haired Woman), 2016
  • Hatiralarin Masumiyeti (Innocence of Memories), 2016
  • Balkon (Balcony), 2019