Orhan Pamuk (R) and Bulgarian Culture Minister, Vezhdi Rashidov (L). Photo by BGNES
Renown Turkish novelist and Nobel Prize-laureate Orhan Pamuk received the Golden Age Award, the Bulgarian Ministry of Culture's highest prize, on Wednesday.
He was awarded by the country's Culture Minister, Vezhdi Rashidov, for his contribution to the world's literature. Pamuk also met with Bulgarian writers, including Georgi Gospodinov, Vladimir Lechev and Anton Donchev.
"I am very happy to be in Bulgaria and it is a pity my first visit here comes so late. I should have come earlier," Pamuk said upon receiving the award.
On Thursday, Orhan Pamuk will be granted a doctor honoris causa title by Sofia University, the oldest and biggest university in the country. Starting 7 PM Thursday, the author will hold a discussion in the Red House in downtown Sofia about his new book "Other Colors", which hit the Bulgarian market two weeks ago.
In "Other Colors" the Nobel laureate confronts openly the readers by presenting in a series of essays and reflections his views on literature, the world around us, the political realities and the state of mind. In a world of crumbling value systems and the lack of new ones Orhan Pamuk seeks the truth in the works of the biggest names in world literature