Pamuk, Orhan (1952– )

Turkish novelist, liberal campaigner for freedom of thought, and winner of the 2006 Nobel Prize for Literature. A well established author, his work has attracted international as well as domestic recognition.

His first book, Cevdet Bey and His Sons, was published in 1982. Over the rest of the decade he also wrote The Silent House, The White Castle, and – while a visiting scholar at Columbia University in New York in the USA – The Black Book, which brought him to wider international attention. The New Life, My Name is Red, Snow, and Istanbul, published respectively between 1994 and 2005, have since further enhanced his reputation and earned him several prestigious international literary awards.

Born in Istanbul into a wealthy family, he abandoned architectural studies and instead graduated in journalism before devoting himself to writing in the mid-1970s. Despite widespread acclaim, his criticism of authoritarian trends in Turkey and his outspoken references to the state's historical treatment of Armenians in the early 20th century angered the nationalist establishment. Accused of belittling his country, he went on trial in December 2005, but the criminal prosecution was dropped the following month.