Orhan Pamuk: Balkon

In the winter of 2011 Nobel-Prize-winning Turkish novelist Orhan Pamuk took 8,500 color photographs from his balcony with its panoramic view of Istanbul, the entrance of the Bosphorus, the old town, the Asian and European sides of the city, the surrounding hills, and the distant islands and mountains. Sometimes he would leave his writing desk and follow the movements of the boats as they passed in front of his apartment and sailed far away.

As Pamuk obsessively created these images he felt his desire to do so was related to a strange particular mood he was experiencing. He photographed further and began to think about what was happening to himself: Why was he taking these photos? How are seeing and photography related? What is the affinity between writing and seeing? Why do we enjoy looking at landscapes and landscape photographs? Balkon presents almost 500 of these photos selected by Pamuk, who has also co-designed the book and written its introduction.

'There is genius in Pamuk’s madness.' -Umberto Eco

Orhan Pamuk, described as ‘one of the freshest, most original voices in contemporary fiction’ (Independent on Sunday), is the author of many books, including The White Castle, The Black Book and The New Life. In 2003 he won the International IMPAC Award for My Name is Red, and in 2004 Faber published the translation of his novel Snow, which The Times described as ‘a novel of profound relevance to the present moment’. His most recent book was Istanbul, described by Jan Morris as ‘irresistibly seductive’. He was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature in 2006. He lives in Istanbul.
Orhan Pamuk, described as ‘one of the freshest, most original voices in contemporary fiction’ (Independent on Sunday), is the author of many books, including The White Castle, The Black Book and The New Life. In 2003 he won the International IMPAC Award for My Name is Red, and in 2004 Faber published the translation of his novel Snow, which The Times described as ‘a novel of profound relevance to the present moment’. His most recent book was Istanbul, described by Jan Morris as ‘irresistibly seductive’. He was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature in 2006. He lives in Istanbul.



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