Turkey's Nobel laureate Pamuk to release new novel

Pamuk started to write his novel in 2001 soon after the release of Kar (Snow). After a one year break to finish his other novel "Istanbul" in 2003, Pamuk worked five years on the "Museum of Innocence", which he said was a flamboyant romance.

Pamuk's publisher said on the internet site created for promotion of the book that Museum of Innocence centers on love, just as Kar focused on politics or "Benim Adim Kirmizi" (My Name is Red) blended painting, mystery and romance.

In an earlier interview, Pamuk said "Museum of Innocence" was "a flamboyant novel" set in Pamuk's hometown, Istanbul. The focus of the story is an obsessive love affair, Pamuk said, adding that the novel explores into the big question of what love really is.

But as he did almost in every novel he wrote, Pamuk still deals with delicacies and details of daily life such as friendship, newspapers, television, loneliness, happiness, family and painting.

Over the past seven years since he started writing the Masumiyet Muzesi, Pamuk won several prizes including, "2002 Prix du Meilleur Livre Etranger (France) for his novel My Name Is Red, 2002 Premio Grinzane Cavour (Italy) for his novel My Name Is Red, 2003 International IMPAC Dublin Literary Award (Ireland) for his novel My Name Is Red, 2005 Peace
Prize of the German Book Trade (Germany), 2005 Prix Medicis Etranger (France) for his novel Snow, 2006 Nobel Prize in Literature (Sweden), 2006 Prix Mediterranée (France), 2006 Puterbaugh Award (USA) and 2008 Ovid Award (Romania)".

"Masumiyet Muzesi" is not only a novel, but also the name of the unopened museum Pamuk has been trying to establish in Cukurcuma district of Istanbul. This museum is also a part of the novel. Pamuk visited lots of museums around the world to see how personal belongings were showcased at these museums. The museum will exhibits several objects which are delineated in the novel.

"Masumiyet Muzesi" will be translated into more than 30 languages. First translation will be published in Germany two weeks after the release in Turkey.