Ayd?n Do?an Award presented to Orhan Pamuk

The 19th Ayd?n Do?an Award was presented to Turkey?s Nobel laureate writer Orhan Pamuk on April 16 at the Istanbul Hilton Hotel. 

The selection committee said Pamuk was rewarded for ?masterfully bringing together the eastern and western poles and being one of masters representing Turkish novels in the world.? 

The Ayd?n Do?an Foundation Executive Board Committee had decided to dedicate this year?s award to the field of novels, and Pamuk received his monetary award of 50,000 Turkish Liras and an award statuette.  

The foundation?s executive board president, Hanzade Do?an Boyner, said they had come together to award a ?great literary master.? 

?Frankly, it makes me excited but a bit frightened to speak about Orhan Pamuk. I am not competent enough to speak about such a great literary master. This is why I wanted to leave the speech to the head of jury, but as the president of the foundation, I could not escaped this mission. So I ask you to listen to what I say as the thoughts of a reader. I used to be an actor when I was a child because I had desire to be able to live different lives ... When I had a life away from this dream, I filled this gap with books. And Pamuk?s works have become my masterpieces. They got me into characters and stories, feeling different lives and different realities,? Do?an Boyner said. 

?None of his books are routinized. The past is connected to today, dead is connected to life ... He sometimes brings long-term political dissolutions into individuals and opens quite different doors to us, as in ?Snow.? He sometimes explains many graces of our social structure while showing how love turns into passion, as in ?The Museum of Innocence.? In ?My name is Red,? he made us smile and surprised us. He...