Elif Shafak

b. 1971

Elif Shafak was elected as a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature in 2019.

Elif Shafak is a British-Turkish writer, author of seventeen books, eleven of which are novels, including The Bastard of Istanbul, The Forty Rules of Love, Three Daughters of Eve and 10 Minutes 38 Seconds in this Strange World, which was shortlisted for the Booker Prize and RSL Ondaatje Prize; and chosen Blackwell’s Book of the Year. Her work has been translated into 50 languages.

She is also a political scientist, and has taught at various universities in Turkey, the UK and the US, including St Anne’s College, Oxford, where she is an Honorary Fellow.

She is a member of Weforum Global Agenda Council on Creative Economy and a founding member of ECFR (European Council on Foreign Relations). An advocate for women’s rights, LGBT rights and freedom of speech, Shafak is an inspiring public speaker and twice TED Global speaker. Shafak 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 twelve people “who will give you a much needed lift of the heart”. Shafak has judged numerous literary prizes, and chaired the Wellcome Prize and is presently judging the Orwell Prize.

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Image credit: Zeynel Abidin