Georgia welcomes famous writer Orhan Pamuk

Internationally acclaimed Turkish writer and Nobel Prize winner Orhan Pamuk is in Georgia.

The award-winning author held a press-conference at the Free University after meeting with professors and students yesterday.

Pamuk said he was pleased with his first visit to Georgia and apologised for his lack of knowledge about Georgian literature.

A journalist told him about information gained by Agenda.ge that his work Museum of Innocence was the most popular book in the Rustavi women’s prison, to which he replied that this was the best compliment he had received.

"I am glad that my books are popular in Georgia” he said.

"I can say that in fact, I know almost nothing about Georgian literature. We are countries of the Black Sea region, so more books should be translated in Turkish and vice versa. My books are translated because they have gained international recognition. If you want your work to be translated, it should be famous,” he said.

He also stressed the hardships of being a writer, mostly due to the meager earnings.

"This happens especially in the beginning. You will be saved if really love writing. International recognition might come or it might not. It is difficult but if you really want to you can [achieve it].”

Pamuk named Anna Karenina as his favourite book and Dostoevsky, Thomas Mann, Tolstoy as his favourite authors.

Before becoming an acclaimed author, Pamuk said he thought he would become a painter and believed he had a talent for painting. He also noted that he owned a book about the eminent Georgian painter Niko Pirosmani.

"Pirosmani is a treasure of Georgian national culture. I have also seen a film about him and he made a big impression on me. He has wonderful, deep, naïve, demonic paintings.”

At the event Pamuk was awarded with an honorary doctorate of the Free University. The Turkish Ambassador in Georgia Zeki Levent Gumrukcu also attended the occasion.

The Turkish writer was invited to Georgia by Georgia’s Free and Agricultural Universities and local publishing house Bakur Sulakauri. He is due to leave Georgia tomorrow.