Orhan Kemal Novel Prize

Orhan Kemal Roman Armağanı

Türkiye · Since 1972 · For books in Turkish

Awarded each May in Istanbul by the family of the writer Orhan Kemal to the best Turkish novel first published in the previous year. Only the winner is announced.

The family of the novelist Orhan Kemal founded the prize in 1972, and it has been given every year since, except in 1981. It is open to every novel first published in the previous calendar year that its author or publisher submits, and a jury of seven, chaired by a member of the family, meets in the second week of May to choose one winner from the several dozen books entered; no shortlist is published. The jury looks for a contemporary language and narrative power and a novel that takes up the problems of society and the individual, in keeping with Orhan Kemal's art and outlook. The winner receives a gold and silver plaque on 2 June, the anniversary of his death, at the Orhan Kemal Library in Beyazıt, Istanbul. In some years, among them 2000 and 2025, the jury honoured a writer's whole body of work instead of a single novel.

Winners in English

2 of 25

Years on this site

2001–2026