“I wrote 'My Name is Red' just to remember painting, where the hand does it before the intellect. When I'm captive to it, I'm a happier person. Kierkegaard tells us that a happy person is someone who lives in the present; the unhappy person, someone who lives either in the past or the future.”

Turkish novelist, screenwriter, and academic

Orhan Pamuk is a Turkish novelist, screenwriter, and academic. He is one of Turkey’s most prominent novelists and received the 2006 Nobel Prize in Literature. His books have sold more than 13 million copies and have been published in 63 languages, which has made him Turkey’s best-selling writer. His work has reached a wide international readership and established him as a major literary figure.