Orhan Pamuk in Conversation, Southbank Centre

Turkish author and Nobel Prize-winner Orhan Pamuk will be delivering an immersive, multi-media talk at the Royal Festival Hall on 15 September. He will be in conversation with the writer and critic Boyd Tonkin, chair of the Man Booker International Prize 2016.

As the best-selling author in Turkey, Pamuk's work is impressive in statistics alone, yet to focus on purely this would undermine the true importance of his work. Pamuk has faced pressure from the Turkish government for speaking out against the regime, and even had the threat of a potential prison sentence for 'insulting' Istanbul. This pressure to silence dissent and debate which Pamuk has fought against is all the more relevant now, in the violent political crisis which the country has found itself in the throes of over the last decade.

Due to his position as a liberal writing in a world where almost all other Turkish liberals have been silenced by the regime, Pamuk has faced hate campaigns, public book burnings, and a multitude of threats for speaking out about the treatment of Kurdish and Armenian people in Turkey. His popularity in spite of these obstacles is remarkable, and his role as an influential figure both outside and inside of Turkey is crucial for highlighting the issues which the country faces.

No stranger to creative and exciting events, Pamuk's upcoming talk at the Southbank Centre will combine imagery with extracts from his work. He will be discussing his latest novel, The Red-Haired Woman, with his audience. His latest release tells the story of an investigation into a murder thirty years ago in Istanbul, and connects this with a fictional inquiry into the myths of the West and the East.

In discussing this, Pamuk will consider why the city of Istanbul continues to be his major source of inspiration, where today's conflicts were rooted, and how Istanbul's people cope with such a politically volatile environment.

He will also use the event to discuss the relationship between reading and seeing, tensions between the state and individual freedom, and collisions of civilisations within the city which has defined his life. As well as his latest release, he will be using images from The Museum of Innocence and his newly published visual edition of his memoir, Istanbul, to reflect on these ideas. The innovative display of his work is more than just a point of interest; it is a statement about the power which arts and culture have to combat radicalism.

Tickets are £15 - £20 and are available to book now.