Autumn Lecture Series 2025: Here I stand with Elif Shafak

(Monday 10th November 2025)

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Elif Shafak is a Turkish-British bestselling novelist, essayist, academic, and activist. She writes in both Turkish and English, and her work has been translated into over 50 languages. Shafak is best known for her novels, which often explore themes of identity, culture, history, and politics.  Drawing on Sufi mysticism and writing with a  great spiritual sensitivity and depth she emphasizes the importance of unlearning dogmas and embracing doubt as a healthy aspect of faith and understanding. Her work is inclusive, empathetic, and brilliantly creative- she challenges norms, and explores diverse voices.  Her unique narrative voice bridges cultures and highlights the unheard in captivating stories that defy easy categorization.

Some of her most acclaimed works include The Forty Rules of Love, Three Daughters of Eve, and 10 Minutes 38 Seconds in This Strange World. She is a passionate advocate for women’s rights, LGBTQ+ rights, and freedom of speech, and she often incorporates these themes into her writing. Shafak has been nominated for the Booker Prize several times and is a recipient of many literary awards. 

Please let us know what you thought of tonight’s lecture and submit any suggestions for future themes and speakers by following this link here.

We’d like to thank the very many members of tonight’s audience who have so generously donated trees to help us on our way to net zero for the series. Full details of the Festivals Forest carbon capture project can be found here:  https://festivalsforest.eu