For his six books so far, including the novels My Name is Red and The White Castle, Pamuk is so highly regarded as to have won the 2006 Nobel Prize in Literature. He is considered the greatest Turkish novelist, some might say because he is the only one well known in the West. Regardless of that, Pamuk does bridge East and West, Christian and Muslim, and he has, for example, introduced Sufism to the West as a “literary treasure”. Should Turkey ever join the EU, Pamuk will have played a positive part in that long and important process.

This is an anthology of essays and occasional pieces. Some have appeared in such titles as The New Yorker and The Paris Review. Others are new. Some, such as Giving up Smoking, are short. Others are long, and a few are illustrated by Pamuk's own simple drawings. Some touch on seminal things about Turkey, such as its genocide of Kurds and Armenians. Others, such as Nine Notes on Book Covers, are mere whimsy, jottings from his notebooks.

What this range has in common is self-belief. Pamuk obviously believes that everything he thinks is interesting, and worth writing down and publishing, even in an often clunky translation. If you have enjoyed his fiction, this prolix, eclectic collection will broaden your understanding of Pamuk and your appreciation of his work. If you have not read his fiction, you will do well to begin there before you do, or do not, come here.

Other Colours: Writings on Life, Art, Books and Cities by Orhan Pamuk, translated by Maureen Freely
Faber, £9.99 Buy the book here

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