However, it is for his political travails that Pamuk's name is becoming best known outside his home country. He was also widely believed to have been a serious contender for the 2005 Nobel prize for literature, which went to Harold Pinter. International recognition of his work came more recently, with the Irish Impac award in 2003, followed by the German book trade Peace prize and the French Prix Médicis étranger. He is unusual in achieving both mass market success and critical acclaim for his complex, post-modern novels which tackle big themes - cultural change, identity crises, east v west, tradition v modernity - head-on.

Critical verdictĪlthough Pamuk started writing full-time in the mid 1970s, he did not achieve popular success until the 1990s - and then he swiftly became the fastest-selling author in Turkish history. He said that if he accepted it he could not 'look in the face of people I care about'. In 1998 Pamuk refused to accept the prestigious title of 'state artist' from the Turkish government. He also spent three years as a visiting scholar in Iowa. Other jobsĪlthough Pamuk's family did not approve of his decision to abandon his architectural studies in order to become a full-time writer, his father did support him with 'pocket money' until he was 32. He then enrolled on a journalism course at Istanbul University in order to put off his military service. From an American school in Istanbul Pamuk went on to study architecture at Istanbul Technical University for three years.

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