Orhan Pamuk
Orhan Pamuk
Ferit Orhan Pamukis a Turkish novelist, screenwriter, academic and recipient of the 2006 Nobel Prize in Literature. One of Turkey's most prominent novelists, his work has sold over thirteen million books in sixty-three languages, making him the country's best-selling writer...
ProfessionNovelist
Date of Birth7 June 1952
CityIstanbul, Turkey
who-i-am color people
Try to discover who I am from my choice of words and colors, as attentive people like yourselves might examine footprints to catch a thief.
hands imperfection style
What was venerated as style was nothing more than an imperfection or flaw that revealed the guilty hand.
book devil firsts
Let me first state forthright that contrary to what we've often read in books and heard from preachers, when you are a woman, you don't feel like the Devil.
country turkeys europe
I see Turkey's future as being in Europe, as one of many prosperous, tolerant, democratic countries.
writing consolation surprising
[N]othing is as surprising as life. Except for writing. Except for writing. Yes, of course, except for writing, the only consolation.
children color voice
Over time, I have come to see the work of literature less as narrating the world than "seeing the world with words." From the moment he begins to use words like colors in a painting, a writer can begin to see how wondrous and surprising the world is, and he breaks the bones of language to find his own voice. For this he needs paper, a pen, and the optimism of a child looking at the world for the first time.
stupid poor distinction
We're not stupid! We're just poor! And we have a right to insist on this distinction
strings incidents wells
Ka knew very well that life was a meaningless string of random incidents
real games political
The real question is how much suffering we've caused our womenfolk by turning headscarves into symbols - and using women as pawns in a political game.
country heart people
It's such a shame that we know so little about our own country, that we can't find it in our hearts to love our own kind. Instead we admire those who show our country disrespect and betray its people.
expectations together
The thing that binds us together is that we have both lowered our expectations of life
Now everyone is prouder and poorer
drinking trying body
As always after drinking too much, I felt like my own ghost trying to take it's first solo walk outside the body.
fall light years
When you love a city and have explored it frequently on foot, your body, not to mention your soul, gets to know the streets so well after a number of years that in a fit of melancholy, perhaps stirred by a light snow falling ever so sorrowfully, you'll discover your legs carrying you of their own accord toward one of your favourite promontories