Elif Shafak Quotes

Elif Shafak was born in Strasbourg, France. She is a Turkish novelist, columnist, teacher, and political scientist. She was awarded the title of Chevalier de l'Ordre des Arts et des Lettres in 2010. Şafak's first novel, Pinhan was awarded the Rumi Prize in 1998. Her second novel, Şehrin Aynaları, tells the story of a family of Spanish conversos, brings together Jewish and Islamic mysticism against a historical setting in the 17th century Mediterranean. She greatly increased her readership with her novel Mahrem which earned her the "Best Novel – Turkish Writers' Union Prize in 2000. Her second novel in English, The Bastard of Istanbul, was the bestselling book of 2006 in Turkey and was longlisted for the Orange prize. In addition to writing fiction, Shafak is also a political scientist and assistant professor, having graduated from the program in International Relations at Middle East Technical University. She holds a Masters degree in Gender and Women’s Studies and a Ph.D. in Political Science.