Writer Nedim Gürsel receives prestigious French award

PARIS – Anatolia News Agency

Nedim Gürsel is the third Turkish writer to win the award after Orhan Pamuk and Yaşar Kemal. Hürriyet photo

Turkish writer Nedim Gürsel has received a prestigious French award, the “Prix Méditérranée,” for his book “The devil, the angel and the communist” (Şeytan, Melek ve Komünist). 

Gürsel’s book was published last year in France under the title “L’ange rouge.” 
 
The prestigious yearly award is given to a work of a writer from the Mediterranean basin. Gürsel, who has lived in Paris for many years, is the third Turkish writer to win the award after Orhan Pamuk for his masterpiece “Snow” in 2006 and Yaşar Kemal for “The voice of blood/Little Nobody III” in 1996.  

Gürsel also joins writers of the caliber of Umberto Eco, Amos Oz, Amin Maalouf, Juan Goytisolo and Arturo Perez-Reverte who have also won the prize in previous years. 
 
The award committee hailed Gürsel’s synthesis of contemporary politics and fictions. The official award ceremony will be held in Paris on Sept. 28.