Writer Orhan Pamuk: “Writing a novel requires different moods."

”There are moments when I am possessed, just like a poet”. Turkish Nobel Laureate Orhan Pamuk invites viewers into his imaginative world, discussing the visual and emotional process behind his fiction. Pamuk reveals how his novels are first conceived as vivid mental images; when writing, it is as if he is “shooting a movie in my mind," he says. Pamuk explains the deeply visual nature of his writing, aligning himself with authors such as Tolstoy and Proust, and distancing himself from more abstract or non-visual stylists. “A novel is a series of pictures,” he says, “then I write about these pictures in such a way that you would also love to read that and evoke the pictures I have in my mind in your mind.” The author also delves into the balance between lyricism and discipline, noting that his creative process depends on shifting moods: “There are moments in my writing when I'm very rational… and there are moments when I feel very lyrical, that I'm writing almost poetry.” He compares writing to engineering, emphasizing structure, timing, and the deliberate modulation of emotion. Pamuk speaks candidly about the conditions under which he writes—from romantic landscapes that spark his imagination to crowded public spaces where the sheer act of writing becomes an act of discipline: “I can write in any place. I'm a slow writer... Once your imagination begins to work like a child's imagination and I write.” Throughout the interview, Pamuk’s reflections reveal the lifelong craft behind the novel form: “Being a novelist is learning about your moods and what kind of mood this page, this chapter demands from you.” Orhan Pamuk (born 1952, Istanbul) is one of Turkey’s most acclaimed novelists and the recipient of the 2006 Nobel Prize in Literature. His work, which explores themes of memory, identity, and cultural history, includes ‘My Name Is Red,’ ‘Snow’, and ‘The Museum of Innocence’. He has taught at Columbia University and delivered the Charles Eliot Norton Lectures at Harvard, later published as ‘The Naive and the Sentimental Novelist’. Pamuk’s books have been translated into more than 60 languages. Orhan Pamuk was interviewed by Christian Lund in Istanbul in September 2024. Camera: Rasmus Quistgaard Edited by Roxanne Bagheshirin Lærkesen Produced by Christian Lund Copyright: Louisiana Channel, Louisiana Museum of Modern Art, 2025 Louisiana Channel is supported by Den A.P. Møllerske Støttefond, Ny Carlsbergfondet and C.L. Davids Fond og Samling. Subscribe to our channel for more videos on literature:    / thelouisianachannel   FOLLOW US HERE: Website: http://channel.louisiana.dk Instagram:   / louisianachannel   Facebook:   / louisianachannel