About this Event
Renowned Turkish novelist and Nobel Prize-winner Orhan Pamuk joins celebrated museum and cultural planning leader, Gail Lord, for an extraordinary conversation about one of the most singular acts of imagination in contemporary literature and museology: the creation of Istanbul's Museum of Innocence.
Conceived in tandem with his acclaimed novel of the same name, Pamuk's museum houses the fictional world of his characters Kemal and Füsun in a real, physical space — a small house in Istanbul filled with everyday objects, each one tied to a moment in the novel. The result is a haunting blur between fiction and reality, where a love story lives on not only on the page, but in glass display cases, drawers, and rooms visitors can walk through.
How does one curate a museum for people who never existed? What does it mean to give physical form to memory, longing, and melancholy — the very textures of a novel? And what challenges arise when an author becomes a museum-maker, translating narrative into space, object, and atmosphere?
Orhan Pamuk sits down with Gail Lord, co-founder of Lord Cultural Resources and one of the world's leading museum planners, to discuss the twin creation of the novel and the museum, the ethereal act of turning fiction into physical experience, and what he hoped visitors would feel wandering through the rooms of a story. The conversation will also turn to Pamuk's evolving philosophy of museums — the ideas first laid out in his "Modest Manifesto for Museums" — exploring his belief in small, intimate institutions that honor individual and everyday stories over the grand, monumental narratives so often privileged by national museums.
The discussion will also look ahead to Pamuk's second museum project, currently in development, in which he continues to explore the relationship between storytelling, memory, and collected objects. Building on the foundations laid by the Museum of Innocence, this new endeavor promises to further test the boundaries between literature and lived space, offering fresh insight into how narrative can be translated into an immersive, tangible experience.
Q&A and book signing to follow. Books available for purchase.
About this event’s guests:
Orhan Pamuk
Gail Lord
Read more:
The Museum of Innocence
The Innocence of Objects
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PLAN YOUR VISIT:
Location: Bram and Bluma Appel Salon, Toronto Reference Library (789 Yonge Street), 2nd floor
Time: Doors open 6:00pm, Event starts 7:00pm.
Tickets: Free registration required.
Ticket policy: We oversell these events to ensure that the greatest number of people have an opportunity to attend. Tickets guaranteed until 6:45pm or until capacity is reached. Seating first come, first served.
Accessibility: TPL is committed to accessibility. If you are Deaf or have a disability and would like to request accommodation for this event, please contact [email protected] or 416-393-7099 at least three weeks prior to the event.
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This event is part of our signature Salon Series, where we host local and international authors, artists and thinkers in conversation about their new books and big ideas.
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Information Collection Notice: The personal information on this form is collected by the Toronto Public Library under the Public Libraries Act, sections 20(a), 20(c), and 20(d). The information will only be used for event and program registration, delivery and evaluation. Registrants may be contacted to fill out a brief survey following the program. Questions about how the library handles your information can be directed to Answerline staff at [email protected], 416-397-5981, 789 Yonge Street, Toronto ON M4W 2G8.
Agenda
🕑: 06:00 PM
Doors Open
🕑: 07:00 PM - 08:00 PM
Main Event: Orhan Pamuk in conversation with Gail Lord
🕑: 08:00 PM
Book Signing: Orhan Pamuk
Event venue & nearby stays
Bram & Bluma Appel Salon, Toronto Reference Library, Toronto, Canada
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