Elif Shafak’s Diary: Solidarity with Iranian women, Instagram anxiety, and a turn at the Booker Prize ceremony
An unexpected link to a schoolgirl killed in Afghanistan is a reminder that we are all citizens of the world.
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Elif Shafak
Elif Shafak is a writer, public speaker, political scientist and activist. Her work includes the novels Three Daughters of Eve (2016) and 10 Minutes 38 Seconds in This Strange World (2019).
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Elif Shafak’s Diary: Publishing heroes, Afghanistan’s forsaken women, and the lessons of Turkey’s autocratic turn
Feminists from Turkey are especially alert to what is happening in Afghanistan. For us, the rise of fundamentalism is an…
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How Brexit changed us: The saga broke a creaking socio-political system
The calmness that characterised a good deal of public debate in this country is gone.
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Notes on a crisis: As the numbers rise, how do we counteract the risk of numbness and apathy?
Paradoxically, amid so much suffering and hurt, grief has become less visible than ever.
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Elif Shafak’s Diary: Cutting my own hair, what bonsai trees tell us about the world, and the dark side of digital
As much as I have missed live festivals, there are things about holding digital events during the Covid crisis…
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The world to come: The old world is gone
Covid-19 has changed everything. If we choose the wrong path not only will we suffer the consequences, but so too…
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Erasing histories: why Turkey’s Hagia Sophia should remain a museum
President Erdogan’s decision to reconvert the building into a mosque is a further move against religious pluralism.
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Leïla Slimani’s Sex and Lies: a brave and honest look at the lives of Moroccan women
The French-Moroccan novelist Leïla Slimani’s first work of non-fiction is composed of a series of interviews with Moroccan women…
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What we want: to prioritise tackling inequality
After a recent panel on “politics and literature”, a young man in the audience stood up and said, “Can…
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