Orhan Pamuk

Orhan Pamuk is a Turkish novelist born in Istanbul on June 7, 1952, widely regarded as one of Turkey's most prominent literary figures and the first Turkish recipient of the Nobel Prize in Literature in 2006. Raised in a wealthy but declining upper-class Istanbul family, he studied architecture at Istanbul Technical University before leaving to pursue writing full-time, later graduating from the University of Istanbul's Institute of Journalism. He has sold over thirteen million books in sixty-three languages and holds the position of Robert Yik-Fong Tam Professor in the Humanities at Columbia University. His notable novels include My Name Is Red (1998), Snow (2002), The Museum of Innocence (2008), A Strangeness in My Mind (2014), and Nights of Plague (2021), alongside the memoir Istanbul: Memories and the City (2003). These works often blend historical settings with contemporary themes, earning him awards including the Prix Médicis étranger and the Peace Prize of the German Book Trade. Pamuk's writing is characterised by postmodern techniques, complex narrative structures, and a profound exploration of identity arising from clashes between Eastern and Western values.