Çiler İlhan is a Turkish-Dutch writer. She writes novels, essays, reviews and translations for various newspapers and magazines. She studied international relations and political science in Istanbul and hotel management in Switzerland. In 2006, she debuted with the short-story collection Rüya Tacirleri Odası (Chamber of Dream Merchants). Sürgün (Exile, 2010) won the EU Literature Prize and was published in 24 countries. Its short stories — some of which are only a page or two in length — form a novel in which ordinary Turkish citizens speak about feeling alienated from their homeland, their families, and the community to which they belonged. Injustice plays a big role, and Ilhan often gives a voice to both the victim and the perpetrator. In 2021, she published Nişan Evi (Engagement House), a novella about lives lost under the weight of power factors in eastern Turkey. Ilhan is a member of the Turkish and Dutch chapters of PEN, the international writers' association that champions oppressed writers, journalists and freedom of expression.