About

With more than 20 million copies of his books in print and translation rights sold in 40 languages, Livaneli is among the most widely read Turkish authors in the world.

“Livaneli is an essential force in Turkey’s cultural scene.”

— Orhan Pamuk

O. Z. Livaneli — composer, writer and film director — has spent more than half a century at the crossroads of music, literature and cinema, with peace and freedom always at the centre of his work. Born in 1946, he is a best-selling Turkish author widely considered one of the most significant and influential authors and intellectuals of his time. Although his books are regarded as highly literary, he remains among the best-selling contemporary authors in Turkey, with millions of copies sold and numerous literary awards won at home and abroad.

He first became known for his music. The score he composed for the film Yol shared the Palme d’Or at Cannes in 1982, and his long friendship and collaboration with the Greek composer Mikis Theodorakis — with whom he later founded the Turkish–Greek Friendship Association — became a lasting symbol of reconciliation between the two peoples. His songs have been performed and recorded across the world.

Livaneli is known above all for novels that interweave diverse social and historical backgrounds, figures and events — among them Bliss, which won the Barnes & Noble ‘Discover Great New Writers’ Award in 2006, and the critically acclaimed Serenade for Nadia, Leyla’s House and My Brother’s Story. His work has been translated into thirty-seven languages and adapted for film, stage and opera. In 2026, his 1996 novel The Eunuch of Constantinople was included in Der Spiegel’s list of the 100 best novels of the past century.

His life has also been marked by exile. Held under military detention after the coup of 1971, he was forced to leave Turkey in 1972. He lived in Stockholm, Paris, Athens and New York, where he met and collaborated with artists and intellectuals such as Elia Kazan, Arthur Miller, James Baldwin and Peter Ustinov, before returning home in 1984.

Throughout his career Livaneli has been an untiring advocate for peace and human rights. He was among the founders of the Issyk-Kul Forum, launched on the initiative of Mikhail Gorbachev and the writer Chinghiz Aitmatov. In recognition of his cultural and political activities and his contributions to world peace, UNESCO appointed him a Goodwill Ambassador in 1996 — a post he resigned in 2016 in protest at the organisation’s silence over the destruction of historical sites in Turkey. He also served a term in the Turkish Parliament and in the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe.

In 2014 he received the Légion d’Honneur, the highest French order of merit. In 2025 he was honoured with the Federico García Lorca Prize in Granada, Spain, and in 2026 he received the 20th Contemporary Life Republic Award for his lifelong defence of the values of the Republic.

He is as accomplished a writer as he is a composer and a cultural and political activist. Though first celebrated for his music, he turned his focus to writing once he came to feel that literature was closest to his heart. Several cultural centres and parks bear his name, and his statues stand in various parts of Turkey. He now lives in Istanbul with his wife, Ülker Livaneli.