Pamuk is one of the youngest writers to have won the prize

Pamuk, 54, has gained a reputation for tackling controversial issues through his novels and has faced legal action in his homeland.

Awarded by the Swedish Academy, the Literature Prize comes with a cheque for 10m kronor (£740,000).

The Academy said: "In the quest for the melancholic soul of his native city, (Pamuk) has discovered new symbols for the clash and interlacing of cultures."

It added: "Pamuk has said that growing up, he experienced a shift from a traditional Ottoman family environment to a more Western-oriented lifestyle.

"He wrote about this in his first published novel, a family chronicle... which in the spirit of Thomas Mann follows the development of a family over three generations."

ORHAN PAMUK Born in Istanbul in 1952 Initially trained to be an architect Books translated into over 40 languages Novels My Name is Red, Snow and The White Castle hailed as dealing with East/West culture clashes Prosecuted for "insulting Turkishness" in 2005 Profile: Orhan Pamuk

He has published six books in English, the first of these being The White Castle, primarily a historical novel set in 17th-century Istanbul, but also about how stories and fictions build self-perception.

He has faced prosecution for talking about the murder of hundreds of thousands of Armenians in Turkey during World War I and thousands of Kurds in subsequent years.

Under a 2005 law it is illegal for anyone to insult Turks, the republic or Turkish Grand National Assembly.

The charges have since been dropped.

Last year's winner was British playwright Harold Pinter, a vociferous critic of US foreign policy. That award triggered accusations that the Swedish Academy was anti-American, left-leaning and politically motivated.

The prize is awarded to "the person who shall have produced in the field of literature the most outstanding work of an idealistic tendency".

It is given to recognise a body of work, rather than an individual book.