Turkish writer Orhan Pamuk to release a new book after six-year break


Turkish writer Orhan Pamuk, who won Turkey's first Nobel Prize in 2006, has revealed that his new book will be published on December 9.

Istanbul native Pamuk's latest work 'A Strangeness In My Mind' ("Kafamda Bir Tuhaflık Var" in Turkish) will be published in Turkish after a six-year break since his last novel, it was revealed on Monday.

Yapi Kredi Publishing also released a video in which Pamuk tells the story of his 480-page book.

"'Kafamda Bir Tuhaflık' is both an epic and a modern love story. I spent six years with the protagonist, Mevlüt, in my mind," Pamuk says.

"He sells boza - a popular fermented beverage in Turkey - on Istanbul's streets between 1969 and 2012."

"The novel tells the story of the city's development, newcomers ... and the daily life of Istanbul," the 62-year-old novelist says.Pamuk says in the video that he interviewed street vendors and rewrote their stories in accordance with strangeness of "Mevlüt's mind."He said that his protagonist was both similar and dissimilar to him: "We are not close to each other where our life styles are concerned but I share many things with Mevlüt such as thoughts in our minds and the ability and the desire to philosophize life in a shady street through finding hints from small details."Pamuk' books 'My Name Is Red' and 'Snow' are the most translated and read Turkish works in history.When Pamuk won the Nobel Prize in Literature in 2006, the Swedish Academy said: "In the quest for the melancholic soul of his native city, he has discovered new symbols for the clash and interlacing of cultures."