Orhan Pamuk - My Father's Suitcase

• October 12, 2006 - Orhan Pamuk is awarded the 2006 Nobel Prize in literature.
• December 7th 2006 - Pamuk gives his nobel lecture called Babamın vavulu ( in Turkish ) meaning My Father's Suitcase.
• Books by Orhan Pamuk - 'My Name is Red', 'Snow', 'The White Castle', 'The Black Book', 'The New Life' and 'Istanbul: Memories and the City'. Click here for the full list of Orhan Pamuk's books.

Following is an excerpt from the english translation of My Father's Suitcase by Maureen Freely.

"As you know, the question we writers are asked most often, the favourite question, is; why do you write? I write because I have an innate need to write! I write because I can’t do normal work like other people. I write because I want to read books like the ones I write. I write because I am angry at all of you, angry at everyone. I write because I love sitting in a room all day writing. I write because I can only partake in real life by changing it. I write because I want others, all of us, the whole world, to know what sort of life we lived, and continue to live, in Istanbul, in Turkey. I write because I love the smell of paper, pen, and ink. I write because I believe in literature, in the art of the novel, more than I believe in anything else. I write because it is a habit, a passion. I write because I am afraid of being forgotten. I write because I like the glory and interest that writing brings. I write to be alone. Perhaps I write because I hope to understand why I am so very, very angry at all of you, so very, very angry at everyone. I write because I like to be read. I write because once I have begun a novel, an essay, a page, I want to finish it. I write because everyone expects me to write. I write because I have a childish belief in the immortality of libraries, and in the way my books sit on the shelf. I write because it is exciting to turn all of life’s beauties and riches into words. I write not to tell a story, but to compose a story. I write because I wish to escape from the foreboding that there is a place I must go but – just as in a dream – I can’t quite get there. I write because I have never managed to be happy. I write to be happy." - Hurriyet, Turkey ( Emphasis mine )

Why did I make bold that one line from a speech full of great lines from a great writer? Because Orhan Pamuk deserves another Nobel just for that one line. I'll write it again, just to seperate it from all the others. "I write not to tell a story, but to compose a story."

What does it mean? He does not write with the intention of having a finished book in his hands. He writes to enjoy and cherish the minutes and hours that he spends writing the book. That's like going out onto the water just for the joy of fishing, and not for the fish. This is why Orhan Pamuk won the Nobel. He loves writing, every minute and every second of it.