Deutsche Presse-Agentur
June 22, 2005, Wednesday
16:21:52 Central European Time
Orhan Pamuk of Turkey wins Peace Prize in Germany
Frankfurt
Turkish novelist Orhan Pamuk, 53, has won this year’s German Book
Trade Peace Prize for his literary work in which “Europe and Islamic
Turkey find a place for one another”, the prize committee announced
in Frankfurt on Wednesday.
Pamuk, whose novels including “Snow”, “My Name is Red” and “The White
Castle” have been translated into 34 languages, lives in Istanbul.
The annual prize, handed over on the last day of the Frankfurt Book
Fair, is for writing that contributes to reconciliation. It is funded
by the Boersenverein, Germany’s association of publishers and
booksellers, and is worth 25,000 euros (30,250 dollars) this year.
The prize committee said Pamuk had pursued “the traces of the West in
the East, and of the East in the West” and was committed to a notion
of culture based on knowing and respecting other people.
Last year’s winner was Hungarian author Peter Esterhazy and the 2003
winner was Susan Sontag of the United States. This year’s award
ceremony will take place in Frankfurt on October 23.
The committee said Pamuk was a supporter of human rights and minority
rights and stood up to be counted on Turkish political issues,
despite encountering the hatred of Turkish nationalists.
This year there was controversy in Turkey after he spoke in sorrow of
the killing of a million Armenians in Turkey in 1915-1916. In
response several nationalist politicians demanded that Pamuk’s books
be burned.
The New York Times named his novel “Snow” one of the best non-U.S.
books of 2004. The author, whose books are mainly read by younger
Turks, comes from an affluent family and trained in architecture and
journalism.
Germany’s state minister of the arts, Christina Weiss, praised Pamuk
as an author who held up a mirror to the west by making the conflicts
within Turkish society more visible.
Faruk Sen, director of the Essen Centre for Turkish Studies in
Germany, said the choice was “excellent”, adding, “That may make
waves.” He said it was important that Turkey have critical authors,
but the prize was also a recognition of Turkey itself. dpa jbp sc sr