Burhan Sönmez
- 1965
Burhan Sönmez is a Turkish writer of Kurdish origin born in the Haymana region of central Anatolia. A lawyer by education, he worked as a human rights lawyer in Istanbul. After multiple imprisonments and torture, he was forced to leave Turkey and took refuge in the United Kingdom, where he lived and worked for several years before returning to Turkey to continue writing. Known for his bold writing, Sönmez has received the Sedat Simavi Literary Prize, Václav Havel Foundation Prize, Orhan Kemal Prize, and the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development Literature Prize. Since 2021, he has been the president of PEN International.
