The style of the current novelists can be traced back to the "Young Pens" (Genç Kalemler) journal in the Ottoman period. Young Pens was published in Selanik under Ömer Seyfettin, Ziya Gökalp and Ali Canip Yöntem. They covered the social and political concepts of their time with the nationalistic perspective. They were the core of a movement which became known as the "national literature."

With the declaration of the Turkish Republic in 1923, Turkish literature became interested in folkloric styles. This was also the first time since the 19th century that Turkish literature was escaping from Western influence and began to mix Western forms with other forms. During the 1930s, Yakup Kadri Karaosmanoğlu and Vedat Nedim Tor published Kadro, which was revolutionary in its view of life.

Orhan Pamuk is a leading Turkish novelist of post-modern literature. His works have been translated into more than twenty languages. He is the recipient of major Turkish and international literary awards, such as the 2006 Nobel Prize in Literature.