Orhan Pamuk in rare book signing event for new novel

Turkey's Nobel laureate writer Orhan Pamuk attended a book-signing event, his first in 15 years, in Istanbul on Dec. 13, for the release of his latest novel, "Kafamda Bir Tuhaflık" (A Strangeness in my Mind).

"One of the questions constantly asked is ‘Who you are writing for?' This is actually a trap question. We are writing for our readers, but the concept of the reader is abstract. Among the rush of taking pictures and asking for their [the reader's] names to sign their books, you take a rare moment to just look into their eyes and see that you have contributed to their imagination or what they want to be in the future. It is the most obvious pleasure that I feel at these kinds of gatherings," Pamuk said at the event, speaking to the media.

The 62-year-old novelist said he did not know precisely when the new novel, his first in six years, would be published in English, but said it would probably be next autumn.

His publisher, Yapı Kredi Publishing, has revealed that it has already distributed 150,000 copies of the book and printed an extra 50,000 copies.

Continuing for more than three hours, the event saw hundreds of Pamuk's fans forming long queues in front of the publishing house in Istanbul's busy İstiklal Street.

Pamuk described the story of his 480-page book as "both an epic and a modern love story."

"I spent six years with the protagonist, Mevlüt, in my mind. 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 daily life of Istanbul," he said.