Moris Farhi

Musa Moris Farhi was a Turkish-born novelist, poet, and screenwriter best known for his novels Children of the Rainbow (1999) and Young Turk (2004). From 2001 until his death, he served as vice president of International PEN and was an outspoken advocate for freedom of expression.

Moris Farhi was born into a Sephardic Jewish family in Ankara, Turkey. His family spoke Ladino, and his early years were deeply affected by the tragic loss of his mother's relatives, who were deported from Salonica and murdered in Auschwitz.

In 1954, he graduated from the Robert Academy in Istanbul with a B.A. in Humanities. The same year, he moved to London, where he trained at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art (RADA) and graduated in 1956. At RADA, he developed fencing, weightlifting, and folk dancing skills, which later proved helpful in his brief acting career.

Farhi initially pursued acting but found himself limited to small roles. Between jobs, he washed dishes and drove minicabs. He reflected on his struggles and said, "I had to ask myself whether I wanted to keep waiting for the right role or create my own stories." This epiphany led him to scriptwriting for television, where he gained recognition in the 1960s.

He wrote for popular shows, including The Onedin Line (1972), and contributed scripts to the early stages of Doctor Who in 1963, although his drafts were never produced.

In 1972, Farhi published his first thriller, The Pleasure of Your Death, which received positive reviews. Encouraged by his second wife, Nina Sievers, he turned to literary fiction. His novel The Last of Days (1983) anticipated global terrorism, while Journey Through the Wilderness (1989) explored displacement and exile. His widely acclaimed Children of the Rainbow (1999) won the Amico Rom Prize (2002) and the Roma Academy Special Prize (2003).

Moris Farhi was heavily involved in human rights advocacy through International PEN, chairing its Writers in Prison Committee in the 1990s. In 2001, he was awarded an MBE for services to literature and became a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature.

Recent works include A Designated Man (2009) and a poetry collection in 2011. Farhi's lifelong commitment to defending writers and celebrating marginalised voices remained central to his legacy. He donated much of his 19,000-book library to Boğaziçi University.

Moris Farhi died in 2019.