Orhan Pamuk lived in Mayflower Hall on the University of Iowa campus during his time in Iowa City at the International Writing Program. University of Iowa professor Peter Nazareth recalls that Pamuk playing table tennis quite often at Mayflower, with other participants of the International Writing Program.

Orhan Pamuk was in the IWP in 1985. He was very focused on his writing. He used to sleep until noon and do his writing in the afternoon. At night, he used to go downtown with his best friend from the IWP, Harry from Ireland; apparently, this is how he got material for his writing (that is, from being downtown). He seemed to enjoy playing table tennis in the Mayflower, where all the writers lived. His wife joined him for a short period. He was friendly but reserved, though from another perspective, this indicates that he knew exactly what he wanted to do: write.