Alev Croutier

Alev Lytle Croutier, known in Turkey as "Alev Aksoy Croutier" (born 1945 in İzmir, Turkey), is a writer based in San Francisco, US. Her books have been translated into 22 languages. She is the author of the non-fiction books Harem: the World behind the Veil and Taking the Waters, and the novels The Palace of Tears, Seven Houses, and The Third Woman.

Career Croutier studied Comparative Literature at Robert College in Istanbul, and left Turkey at the age of 18 to study Art History at Oberlin College in the US. and worked as the executive editor for almost a decade.

Film Before becoming a writer, Croutier was a screenwriter and documentary filmmaker in Japan, Turkey, Europe, and the US, the American Turkish Council cultural award, and the Rotary Exceptional Achievement Award.

Books Croutier's first non-fiction book, Harem: The World Behind the Veil, was published by Abbeville Press in 1989. Croutier's own grandmother grew up in a Turkish harem in Macedonia. The New York Times said "this is a serious history, yet an immensely readable one," while the LA Times wrote: “This book is like a marvelous box of expensive chocolates, or rather, perfumed Turkish Delight.” And the Boston Globe: “A book of breathtaking beauty, written in an ingratiating prose.”

Her second non-fiction book, Taking the Waters: Spirit, Art, Sensuality, published in 1992 by Abbeville, was an exploration of mythological, therapeutic, social, and aesthetic aspects of water.

Seven Houses, her second novel, took seven years to write and was published in 2002 to comparisons with Gabriel García Márquez, Carlos Fuentes, and Isabel Allende. Allende praised Croutier for "braiding history and fiction in an intricate pattern", although the Washington Post noted an "occasional heavy-handedness with pop culture and historical figures." The San Francisco Chronicle said her "measured prose is artistic and sensuous."

Her novel for young readers, Leyla: The Black Tulip, was published in 2003 as part of the American Girl series along with a historical Turkish doll produced by Mattel.