After the birth of her first child in 2006, the internationally bestselling Turkish author remembers how, ‘for the first time in my adult life... words wouldn't speak to me’.
As her despair finally eased, Shafak sought to resuscitate her writing life by chronicling her own experiences. In her beautiful and intimate memoir, she reveals how she struggled to overcome her depression and how literature provided the salvation she so desperately needed.
Elif Shafak is an award-winning British-Turkish novelist and storyteller. She has published 21 books, 13 of which are novels and her books have been translated into almost 60 languages.
Shafak holds a PhD in political science, and she has taught at various universities in Turkey, the US and the UK, including St Anne's College, Oxford University, where she is an honorary fellow. She also holds an honorary Doctorate of Humane Letters from Bard College. Shafak is a Fellow and a Vice President of the Royal Society of Literature and has been chosen among BBC’s 100 most inspiring and influential women. An advocate for women's rights, LGBTQ+ rights and freedom of expression, Shafak is an inspiring public speaker and twice TED Global speaker. She contributes to major publications around the world, and she was awarded the medal of Chevalier de l’Ordre des Arts et des Lettres. She has judged numerous literary prizes, including The PEN Nabokov Prize and has chaired the Wellcome Prize. Shafak is the recipient of the Halldór Laxness International Literature Prize for her contribution to 'the renewal of the art of storytelling. In 2024, Shafak was awarded the British Academy President's Medal for 'her excellent body of work which demonstrates an incredible intercultural range
