Orhan Pamuk

Novelist

Birthday June 7, 1952

Birth Sign Gemini

Birthplace Istanbul, Turkey

Age 72 years old

#154,451 Most Popular

About

One of Turkey's most acclaimed writers, he was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature in 2006 and the Prix du Meilleur Livre Etranger in 2002. His best-known works include The White Castle, The Museum of Innocence, and My Name is Red.

Before Fame

He wrote his first novel in 1979, three years after graduating from the University of Istanbul.

Trivia

His novel, The Black Book, and his memoir, Istanbul, both reference his childhood in a once-wealthy but increasingly less affluent family.

Family Life

He divorced Aylin Turegun in 2011. A year earlier, he had started a relationship with Kiran Desai.

Associated With

He became a Nobel laureate in Literature a year after Harold Pinter received the same honor.