Freie Universität Berlin honors Orhan Pamuk with an honorary doctorate

In a ceremonial act the Turkish writer and Nobel laureate in literature in 2006, Orhan Pamuk, received an honorary doctorate from Freie Universität Berlin. With this distinction the Department of Philosophy and Humanities honored the 54-year-old as an exceptional figure in world literature.

In a ceremony that was open to the public, governing mayor of Berlin, Klaus Wowereit, gave a welcoming speech. Pamuk and the actor Ulrich Noethen read from Pamuk’s memoir Istanbul: Memories and the City.

Orhan Pamuk grew up in Istanbul. He studied architecture and journalism, before turning to writing. He received international recognition for the novels The White Castle, The Black Book, and New Life. For the artist novel/murder mystery My Name is Red, Pamuk won the lucrative International IMPAC Dublin Literary Award as well as many other international awards. Pamuk’s novel Snow was named the best foreign book of 2004 by The New York Times. In 2005 he received the Peace Prize of the German Book Trade. His most recent book Istanbul: Memories and the City appeared in English in 2005 and in German in 2006.