Orhan Pamuk, Turkey's best selling author and Noble laureate in literature, is in Sofia for the first time at the invitation of the Elizabeth Kostova foundation.

Sofia University Aula hall (15 Tsar Osvoboditel Blvd.) host Orhan Pamuk's conversation with Bulgarian writer Boiko Penchev on May 18, at 7pm.

On May 19, Sofia University will give Orhan Pamuk the title Doctor Honoris Causa. The official ceremony starts at 2pm, at the Aula hall. Entrance is free.

At 7pm, Bulgarian publishing house Ednorog will hold a meeting with readers at the Red House for Culture and Debate in Sofia (15 Lyuben Karavelov Str). Pamuk will talk about his book Other Colors. The admission fee is five to 10 leva. Interpreting in English will be provided.

Orhan Pamuk is one of the few Turkish public figures who openly recognises the Armenian genocide from the beginning of the 20th century. As a result of his statement about mass killings of Armenians and Kurds in the Ottoman Empire, in 2005 a criminal case was opened against him by ultra-nationalist lawyer Kemal Kerinçsiz and by the families of four killed soldiers. In March 2011, he was found guilty and had to pay compensation.

He was also one of the first people from a Muslim country to condemn the fatwa against Indian-British novelist Salman Rushdie.

Some of his most famous books are My Name is Red (2000), Snow (2004, English translation), Istanbul:Memories and the City (2005), The Black Book (2006), The Museum of Innocence (2009)