Nédim Gürsel is an award-winning Turkish and French author who was in 2009 acquitted of charges against him of insulting Islam with the publication of The Daughters of Allah (2008). The links between France and Turkey, East and West and Islam and Secularism are explored in his work. He teaches contemporary Turkish Literature at the Sorbonne and works as the research director on Turkish Literature at the International French Science Research Centre (CNRS).