Zafer Hanım was the first

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novelist A novelist is an author or writer of novels, though often novelists also write in other genres of both fiction and non-fiction. Some novelists are professional novelists, thus make a living writing novels and other fiction, while others aspire to ...

, writing one novel. Her birth and death dates are unknown. According to contemporaneous writer Mehmet Zihni, she was a member of Fuat Pasha's family. Her husband was Kabuli Pasha, who died before Zafer Hanım wrote her novel. Zafer Hanım published her novel, named ''Aşk-ı Vatan'' (Love of Motherland), in 1877. It is about two slave girls ( tr, cariye) named Gülbeyaz and Refia, who were

Spaniard Spaniards, or Spanish people, are a Romance ethnic group native to Spain. Within Spain, there are a number of national and regional ethnic identities that reflect the country's complex history, including a number of different languages, both ind ...

s. According to Mehmet Zihni, the literary form of the novel was narration rather than fiction. Probably it was a narration of the true life story of two girls living in Laz Ahmet Pasha's house. Zafer Hanım's long forgotten novel was unearthed by Zehra Toska of

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, who published the novel in 1994 (''Oğlak Yayınları'' Publishing Co.). Until recently Fatma Aliye, who wrote her first novel 14 years later than Zafer Hanım, was considered to be the first Turkish woman novelist. Now the critics disagree on who should be considered the first woman novelist. Since Zafer Hanım wrote only one novel, some critics still give priority to Fatma Aliye.Milliyet newspaper blog
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References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Zafer Hanim Date of birth unknown Date of death unknown Turkish novelists 19th-century writers from the Ottoman Empire Year of birth unknown Writers from Istanbul Turkish women novelists 19th-century women writers from the Ottoman Empire