Der Literarische Salon mit Orhan Pamuk

Veranstaltungsort: Schauspiel Köln, Depot 1, Schanzenstraße 6–20

Whenever Orhan Pamuk receives an award, whether the Peace Prize of the German Book Trade or the Nobel Prize for Literature, he is always praised as a bridge builder between cultures. And what does he say himself? "The bridge is projected onto me just because I'm Turkish. And Turkey is of course the first thing everyone thinks of because it lies between East and West ... I don't have that kind of political or representative role. I am essentially a literary person who writes stories." Yes, that's what he is, a storyteller - and what wondrous, sad, sprawling stories! Pamuk actually wanted to be a painter, so when he was world-famous, he opened the Museum of Innocence in his home city of Istanbul, which was promptly voted European Museum of the Year. In Pamuk's new book Memories of Distant Mountains, both talents come together: It is a diary of literary sketches and drawn narratives. And because the book accompanying his major exhibition The Consolation of Things at the Gemäldegalerie Dresden is being published at almost the same time, it is intended to cover the entire cosmos of Pamuk's work. Politics too? You never know for sure with him - but if he does, then he knows no diplomacy: "You know, there are people who love their fatherland by torturing it. I love my country by criticizing my state."