Elif Shafak has spent recent months addressing a tension many writers feel: whether stories retain value in turbulent times. The novelist, whose work has drawn an international readership for more than 20 years, has spoken publicly of a nomadic childhood, periods of depression and episodes in which she says she was targeted by the Turkish state. Despite these challenges, her most recent work was among the United Kingdom’s bestselling literary novels last year, and she was elected last December to lead the Royal Society of Literature.
Elif Shafak rose to prominence in part because her fiction spans geographies and eras: from ancient Mesopotamia to contemporary cities. Her titles include There Are Rivers in the Sky, which tracked a single raindrop across centuries, and The Island of Missing Trees, shortlisted for the Women’s Prize in 2022. 10 Minutes 38 Seconds in This Strange World was shortlisted for the Booker Prize in 2019. She has been described as one of Turkey‘s most widely read writers and has identified herself as an Istanbulite, a European by birth and choice, and a long-time London resident; a 2017 TED Talk of hers has been watched more than 6.4 million times.
The subject of writing under duress recurs in Shafak’s public interventions. She interrogates the role of literature when societies confront political pressure, environmental degradation and personal loss, and has explained that recovering from depression was part of her process of finishing recent work. Her novels often weave together politics, history, feminism and ecological themes, frequently employing elements of magic realism and mysticism to connect individual experience with broader historical currents. Readers and critics alike have noted how her stories travel across borders, both literal and emotional, reinforcing a cosmopolitan sensibility.
Shafak’s dual position—widely read novelist and recently appointed head of a prominent literary institution—places her at an intersection of cultural influence and personal reflection. Her continued success on bestseller lists and in major literary shortlists underscores a sustained readership for books that engage with difficult questions. As she navigates questions of creative purpose in unsettled times, her career offers a case study in how contemporary fiction can remain both widely read and deeply engaged with the world it portrays.
