The Verb - Turkish Literature - Orhan Pamuk

As part of Radio 3's focus on Turkey, Ian McMillan presents a special edition of Radio 3's cabaret of the word, focussing on Turkish literature, and featuring an interview with Orhan Pamuk and an exploration of the Turkey's influential poetic avant-garde in the 1950s, the Ikinci Yeni. McMillan talks to Pamuk, who is as controversial figure in his own country as he is feted abroad, about the political stance he has taken on issues such as the history of Turkey's relationship with its Armenian population, and the personal cost to him of that stance. Pamuk also discusses his new novel, The Museum of Innocence, and its portrayal of a Turkish elite stranded between the traditions of their own country and the shallow distractions of Western consumerism. Ian will also be exploring the lasting influence of the poets who made up the Ikinci Yeni, or Second New, Turkey's avant garde poetry scene in the 1950s. The work of Ece Ayhan, Ilhan Berk and their colleagues remains little-known outside Turkey, and yet their influence is discernible in the work of many contemporary Turkish writers, Orhan Pamuk among them. The programme will also feature the best new Turkish writing and profile the English writers who have chosen to make Istanbul (one of this year's European Capitals of Culture) their home.