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The Latest Breaking News from Elif Shafak

How our list of the 100 best novels became a page turner

The Guardian’s landmark poll of the greatest novels published in English required collaboration and innovation across multiple desks. This is the story of how it came together

The Guardian - UK

"It's a myth to believe that people who listen to this kind of music are aggressive." Why this respected author listens to death metal to calm herself while writing

Critically acclaimed novelist Elif Shafak gives a perfect breakdown of why metal is one of the most interesting and exciting genres around

Metal Hammer

‘Andy Burnham’s life was changed by the poet Tony Harrison’: writers discuss literature, politics and the 100 best novels

What would Trump think of Gilgamesh? And why are 19th-century classics so popular among young people? Writers on why we need the novel more than ever

The Guardian - UK

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A polycrisis has shattered our world this year. But with care, we can put it back together

The challenges and strains have been almost too much to take. But in 2025, words of depth and courage have been an antidote to numbness, says novelist and political scientist, Elif Shafak

The Guardian - UK

Richard Osman’s The Impossible Fortune tops 2025 UK bestsellers list

Fantasy, mystery and psychological thriller series dominate book sales, as adult colouring also makes a comeback

The Guardian - UK

‘This extraordinary story never goes out of fashion’: 30 authors on the books they give to everyone

Colm Tóibín, Robert Macfarlane, Elif Shafak, Michael Rosen and more share the novels, poetry and memoirs that make the perfect gift

The Guardian - UK

Elif Shafak named new president of the Royal Society of Literature

The British-Turkish writer was elected after a vote among the society’s fellows, with outgoing president Bernardine Evaristo describing her selection as ‘terrifically inspired’

The Guardian - UK

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‘Literature can be a form of resistance’: Lea Ypi talks to Elif Shafak about writing in the age of demagogues

The Albanian author of Free and the Turkish novelist discuss the rise of populism, censorship – and how today’s conflicts all come from the unresolved trauma of the past

The Guardian - UK

Influential women urge Labour to include asylum seekers in plan to tackle violence

Exclusive: Letter warns of ‘two-tier’ system if asylum seekers are excluded from promise to halve violence against women and girls

The Guardian - UK

‘It led me to some risky places’: The book that made me who I am today, by Tessa Hadley, Kate Mosse and more

HAY FESTIVAL 2025: Eight enigmatic authors speak to Annabel Nugent about the singular book to define them as writers and people

The Independent UK

If Ted Talks are getting shorter, what does that say about our attention spans?

According to novelist Elif Shafak, the platform suggested she make her talk shorter because viewers can’t focus for 19 minutes. Now ... where was I?

The Guardian - UK

Given up on reading? Elif Shafak on why we still need novels

Recent studies suggest we’ve fallen out of love with reading – but the more chaotic our times, the deeper is our need to slow down and read fiction

The Guardian - UK

Elif Shafak: ‘As a novelist in Turkey, you can find yourself put on trial, prosecuted... almost digitally lynched’

THE SATURDAY INTERVIEW: Nearly two decades after being put on trial for ‘insulting Turkishness’, Shafak has become one of the UK’s most popular authors. Ahead of her appearance at the Hay Festival, she speaks with Annabel Nugent about her latest novel and Turkey’s fraught politics

The Independent UK

If you only read one book this year … make it this one!

From dystopian Australian cli-fi to essential essays about Black Britain and Jack Reacher’s thrilling debut – authors, critics and booksellers all have a single recommendation

The Guardian - UK

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The Guardian - UK

Who is better, Dickens or Shakespeare? We asked nine prominent writers

Elif Shafak, Sarah Perry, Jeffrey Boakye and others tell us which of the two totemic literary figures they favour

The Guardian - UK

Strasbourg, Ankara, Madrid: none felt like home, but in books I discovered my people

As a child I moved from France to Turkey to Spain – then I finally found roots and belonging in stories, writes novelist Elif Shafak

Evening Standard

Travelling off-season in Turkey — Listen to the Standard podcast

This week in our sustainable travel podcast series, we shine a light on Türkiye and discover why hospitality can be extra-special in the off-season

The Walrus

How Not to Ask Your Dad about Family Secrets

I tried to get answers about my grandmother’s mysterious past. Turns out, I still had a lot to learn about myself

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The Guardian - UK

There Are Rivers in the Sky by Elif Shafak review – story of a raindrop

This ambitious, multi-perspective novel about the politics and preciousness of water ranges from ancient Mesopotamia to contemporary London

The Guardian - UK

There Are Rivers in the Sky by Elif Shafak review – water, water everywhere

The links between a 19th-century Londoner who escapes poverty and a Yazidi girl born 200 years later are gradually revealed in an absorbing novel that reflects on global inequality

The Guardian - UK

Elif Shafak: ‘As a writer in Turkey, you can be attacked, put on trial, imprisoned’

As she confronts the ecological crisis and the persecution of the Yazidi people in her latest novel, the author talks about the difficulty of being a writer – and a woman – in Turkey

The Guardian - UK

Women have found their voice in Turkey, and given hope to others fighting for democracy across the globe

Big opposition wins in last week’s elections reasserted the country’s liberal, secular values, says novelist Elif Shafak

The Guardian - UK

Gary Lineker, Theresa May and David Nicholls join the Hay festival 2024 lineup

This year’s festival promises to be a ‘civic platform’, with a new series of daily news analysis, a debate about the Israel-Gaza war and an appeal to the younger generation

The Guardian - UK

‘I want some light in my life’: eight writers make their new year reading resolutions

Finding fun, getting lost in an epic and taking a first peek at science fiction ... Sathnam Sanghera, Elif Shafak, Sarah Waters and more make their reading resolutions for 2024

The Guardian - UK

In the battle to save the world’s forests, women are leading the resistance

From the Akbelen forest in Turkey to northern India to Brazil, rural women are standing up against the corporate chainsaw, says novelist Elif Shafak

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