Elif Şafak is a multiple award-winning writer and the most widely read literary author in Turkey. She is active as a political commentator and lecturer.

She writes in Turkish and English, and so far she has published fifteen books, including ten novels, among which the bestsellers Istanbul Bastard and Forty Rules of Love stand out. Her books have been translated into forty-seven languages.

Şafak is a TED speaker, a member of the Council for the Development of the Creative Industries Global Agenda of the World Economic Forum in Davos, and a founding member of the European Council on Foreign Relations, ECFR. In 2010, the French government awarded her the Order of Chevalier of Arts and Letters.

He writes for the world's leading daily newspapers and magazines, including the Financial Times , the Guardian , the New York Times , the Wall Street Journal , Der Spiegel and La Repubblica .

She has taught at numerous universities in Turkey, the United Kingdom, and the United States. She holds a BA in International Relations, an MA in Gender and Women's Studies, and a PhD in Political Science. She is known as an activist for women's, minority, and LGBT rights.

Her books have been nominated for the Orange Prize, the MAN Asian Prize, the Baileys Prize and the IMPAC Dublin Prize, and have been shortlisted for the Foreign Language Novel Award and the RSL Ondaatje Prize.

She was a member of the jury for the Independent Award for Best Foreign Language Novel (2013), the Sunday Times Best Short Story Award (2014, 2015), the 10th Women of the Future Award (2015), the FT/Oppenheimer Fund Award for New Authorial Voices (2015, 2016), the Baileys Women's Prize for Literary Fiction (2016) and the Man Booker International Prize for Literature (2017).

Şafak lives in London.

www.elifshafak.com

Twitter @Elif_Safak