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Turkey

Ahmet Altan

Ahmet Altan

Ahmet Altan, one of today’s most important Turkish writers and journalists, was arrested in September 2016 and is serving a life sentence on false charges. An advocate for Kurdish and Armenian minorities and a strong voice of dissent in his country, his arrest and conviction received widespread international criticism (51 Nobel laureates signed an open letter to Turkey’s president calling for Altan’s release). Altan is the author of ten novels—all bestsellers in Turkey—and seven books of essays. In 2009 he received the Freedom and Future of the Media Prize from the Media Foundation of Sparkasse Leipzig, and in 2011 he was awarded the International Hrant Dink Award. The international bestseller Endgame was his English-language debut, and was named one of the fifty notable works of fiction of 2017 by The Washington Post. Like a Sword Wound is the winner of the prestigious Yunus Nadi Novel Prize in Turkey.

All Ahmet Altan's books

Upcoming events

February 16
A Turkish court has sentenced author and journalist Ahmet Altan to life in prison, at the conclusion of a months-long trial that has garnered the attention of press freedom advocates the world over.

Latest reviews

  • Love in the Days of Rebellion is atmospheric, hypnotic, inevitable, and sad, or perhaps triste, as Hikmet Bey would undoubtedly have put it.”
    — The Asian Review of Books, Mar 3 2021
  • “A lush swirl of intrigue and speculation.”
    — The New York Times, Feb 3 2021
  • “This book is just as piercing as the first in the series and readers would be well served by reading that one first. An ambitious and intelligent thriller about love and war.”
    — Kirkus Reviews, Sep 16 2020
  • "A remarkable story about a fascinating part of Turkish history.”
    — The Historical Novel Society, Feb 11 2019
  • “Altan uses a Tolstoyan combination of the epic and the intimate to explore questions of national identity and historical narrative.”
    — The Guardian, Dec 19 2018
  • “... a luscious tapestry of intrigue and corruption...”
    — Midwest Book Review, Nov 26 2018
  • “...a story of imperial and social decay, of the fin-de-siècle Empire mired in the past and unready for the future.”
    — The Asian Review of Books, Nov 18 2018
  • “Readers can expect more than just a straightforward historical political novel.”
    — Qantara, Oct 29 2018
  • “The period details are abundant and accurate; [...] and turn-of-the-century Istanbul, both beautiful and corrupt, comes vividly to life.”
    — Publishers Weekly, Sep 5 2018
  • “[A] bold metaphysical thriller, critical not only of ruthless politicians, but also, arguably, of God himself.”
    — Rain Taxi, Nov 28 2017
  • “. . . Altan deftly pushes the tropes of detective fiction into existentialist territory.”
    — The New Yorker, May 29 2017
  • “Alexander Dawe's English translation of ‘Endgame’ brings a major international writer to an American audience for the first time.”
    — The Washington Post, Apr 28 2017
  • “Stylish, inventive, and deliciously dark, Altan's U.S. debut is both an absorbing thriller and an intensive novel of ideas; no wonder he's an award-winning and best-selling author in his native Turkey.”
    — Library Journal (Starred Review), Apr 1 2017
  • “Altan's story is pointed, enigmatic, and difficult to forget.”
    — Publishers Weekly, Feb 20 2017
  • “A gripping existential thriller in the vein of Vikram Chandra’s ‘Sacred Games’ (2006).”
    — Kirkus Reviews, Feb 6 2017

Turkey

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