One of the most unique novelists in today's world literature, Elif Shafak's writing blends East and West, feminism and memory, the local and the global, bringing the periphery to the centre, giving voice to the voiceless and the disempowered.
Why you should listen
Elif Shafak is an award-winning British-Turkish novelist and storyteller. She has published 21 books, 13 of which are novels, and her books have been translated into 58 languages.
The Island of Missing Trees was a finalist for the Costa Award, British Book Awards, RSL Ondaatje Prize, Women’s Prize for Fiction and was a Reese Witherspoon Book Club Pick.
10 Minutes 38 Seconds in this Strange World was shortlisted for the Booker Prize and RSL Ondaatje Prize and was Blackwell’s Book of the Year.
The Forty Rules of Love was chosen by BBC among the "100 Novels that Shaped Our World."
The Architect’s Apprentice was chosen for The Queen’s Reading Room.
Shafak holds a PhD in political science and has taught at various universities in Turkey, the US and the UK, including St Anne's College, Oxford University, where she is an honorary fellow. She holds an honorary Doctorate of Humane Letters from Bard College. She is a Fellow and a Vice President of the Royal Society of Literature and has been chosen among BBC’s "100 Most Inspiring and Influential Women." An advocate for women's rights, LGBTQ+ rights and freedom of expression, she is an inspiring public speaker and twice TED Global speaker. She contributes to major publications around the world, and she was awarded the medal of Chevalier de l’Ordre des Arts et des Lettres. In 2017, she was chosen by Politico as one of the 12 people "who will give you a much-needed lift of the heart." She has judged numerous literary prizes, including The PEN Nabokov Prize, and she has chaired the Wellcome Prize. She is the recipient of the Halldór Laxness International Literature Prize for her contribution to "the renewal of the art of storytelling." In 2024, Shafak was awarded the British Academy President's Medal for "her excellent body of work which demonstrates an incredible intercultural range."
