Orhan Pamuk wins Norman Mailer Lifetime achievement award

Turkish author and Nobel Prize Laureate Orhan Pamuk on Tuesday received the 2010 Norman Mailer Lifetime Achievement Award for challenging conventional views in his contributions to literature. Pamuk told reporters before the award ceremony that it was an honor for him to receive it. "Norman Mailer was a democratic writer who stood against the established American system for 60 years," he added, calling Mailer the US' own Victor Hugo. In a press release, the Norman Mailer Society said, "Pamuk is a writer whom Mailer admired, a writer who has opened up a window so all can better understand the culture and society in which he lives and has inspired literary students the world over to visit Turkey."