Novelist (b. 1952,
İstanbul). He was brought up in Nişantaşı. He attended Robert
College (1970) in İstanbul and then İstanbul Technical University, Faculty of
Architecture for some time. He graduated from İstanbul University, Institute of
Journalism (1977). He did his postgraduate studies at the institute he
graduated from. At twenty two, he gave up everything and took up writing as his
sole occupation.
He embarked on
his career in literature with his poems published in the review Yeditepe (1970). Later, he focused on
writing short stories and novels.
He came third at
a competition held at the Antalya Film Festival. He ranked first with Mehmet
Eroğlu at the Milliyet Novel Award in 1979 with his novel Karanlık ve Işık (Darkness and Light) and thus became well known.
He collected the Orhan Kemal Award in 1983 and the Madaralı Award in 1984 with
his novel Cevdet Bey ve Oğulları
(Cevdet Bey and His Sons). He
received the Prix de la Découverte Européenne in 1991 with
the French translation of his Sessiz
Ev (Silent House). He gained international
fame with Beyaz Kale
(The White Castle), which was published in 1985 and translated into many
languages in 1990. He attended Columbia University in New York as a visiting
scholar between 1985-1988. He collected the Prix France Culture award in 1990
with the French translation of his novel Kara
Kitap (The Black Book). The only screenplay he wrote was filmed in 1991.
His novel Benim Adım Kırmızı (My Name
is Red, 1998) received many awards, including La Prix Du Meilleur Livre
Etranger in France, the Grinzane Cavour in Italy in 2002 and the International
Impac in Dublin in 2003. The latter award was accompanied by a award of €100,000
from the city of Dublin. His works have been translated into thirty-two
languages. His statements on the Kurdish and Armenian problems have been
matters of debate and criticism.
WORKS:
NOVEL: Karanlık ve Işık (Darkness
and Light, 1980), Cevdet Bey ve Oğulları (Cevdet
Bey and His Sons, 1982), Sessiz Ev (Silent
House, 1983), Beyaz Kale (The White
Castle, 1985), Kara Kitap (The Black
Book, 1990), Yeni Hayat (New Life,
1994), Benim Adım Kırmızı (My Name is
Red, 1998), Kar (Snow, 2002).
SCREENPLAY: Gizli Yüz (Hidden
Face, 1992).
MEMOIR-ESSAY: Öteki Renkler (Other
Colors, 1999), İstanbul (İstanbul,
2003).
