Jailed Turkish writer Ahmet Altan: My words cannot be imprisoned

Newly nominated for a Baillie Gifford literary prize, the political prisoner has written a novel from behind bars

“You can imprison me but you cannot keep me here,” writes Ahmet Altan at the end of his acclaimed book I Will Never See the World Again. “Because, like all writers, I have magic. I can pass through your walls with ease.”

The novelist’s series of essays, smuggled out of jail among notes to his lawyers, was lauded by critics as an instant classic when it was published in Britain in spring this year, and last week it was longlisted for the £50,000 Baillie Gifford nonfiction prize.

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