TE16 Turkish Delight

About the Authors

TE 16-1

BURHAN SONMEZ Labyrinth (novel excerpt)

Burhan Sönmez was born in Turkey and grew up speaking Turkish and Kurdish. He worked as a lawyer in Istanbul and co-founded the social-activist culture organization TAKSAV (Foundation for Social Research, Culture and Art). He has written for various newspapers and magazines on literature, culture and politics. He was seriously injured following an assault by police in Turkey and had to move to Britain to receive treatment with the support of Freedom from Torture in London. His novels have been published in thirty-five languages. His awards include the Sedat Simavi Literature Prize; the Izmir St. Joseph Best Novel Award; the BUYAZ Story Honor Prize; “Disturbing the Peace” award of the Vaclav Havel Library Foundation, and the EBRD Literature Prize (2018). He is member of Turkish PEN and English PEN, and a board member of PEN-International. He currently resides in Cambridge, UK and in Istanbul.

Click here for a discussion with Burhan Sönmez about Labyrinth (25-minute audio)

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