Elif Shafak

Elif Şafak (2012)

Elif Şafak , English Elif Shafak (born October 25, 1971 in Strasbourg , France ), born Elif Bilgin , is a Turkish writer who writes in Turkish and English. She is one of the most widely read female writers in Turkey and one of the Turkish writers with a high profile abroad.

The pseudonym Şafak (Turkish "Dawn") is the first name of her mother, with whom she lived as a child in Ankara, among other places, and whom she addressed as abla (big sister). “The connection with my father was very fragile. [...] I [...] was the dark spot in his life ", says the author.

Life

As the daughter of the diplomat Şafak Atayman and the sociology professor Nuri Bilgin (1948–2015), she grew up in Madrid and Amman, among others . She studied International Relations at the Technical University of the Middle East in Ankara , received a Master of Sciences in Gender and Women's Studies with a thesis on The Deconstruction of Femininity Along the Cyclical Understanding of Heterodox Dervishes in Islam and a doctorate at the same university in Political Science with An Analysis of Turkish Modernity Through Discourses of Masculinities . From 2006, she worked as a visiting professor at the Middle East Studies Department at the University of Arizona in Tucson . She is currently researching and teaching at Kingston University in London.

She made her literary debut with the story Kem Gözlere Anadolu , published in 1994 . Her first novel Pinhan was published in 1997 and the following year was awarded the Mevlana Prize , named after the Persian mystic Celaleddin Rumi , which is awarded for works in the field of Islamic mysticism. Her first breakthrough came with the novel Şehrin Aynaları (Mirror of the City) , for which she received the prize of the Turkish Writers ' Union in 2000.

The subjects of her novel The Bastard of Istanbul , published in English, aroused violent reactions in her homeland and the Turkish judiciary on the scene. In September 2006, however, the latter passed the judgment that the criticized passages in the novel were legal according to Article 301 (3) of the Turkish Penal Code; because - so it went on in the judgment - "Expressions of opinion that were made with the intention of criticism do not constitute a criminal offense." Basically, however, she remained skeptical of the authorities of the Turkish state: "It would be a lie to say all that would not have influenced me. Every journalist or author in Turkey knows that a single article (...) is enough to get locked up. In my novels, however, I am never careful. "

On the occasion of the protests in Turkey in the summer of 2013, Şafak said that Turkish citizens had lost confidence in the government . The Turkish government is making the mistake of not taking citizens' fears seriously.

From December 2009 to May 2013, Şafak wrote a column in the Turkish daily Habertürk . She is a founding member of the European Council on Foreign Relations .

In 2017 she was appointed as a jury member for the Man Booker International Prize . Two years later she arrived with her novel written in English 10 Minutes 38 Seconds In This Strange World (dt title. Unheard Voices ) on the shortlist of the British literary prize.

She is a member of the coordinating collective of DiEM25 .

Elif Şafak is married to the Turkish journalist Eyüp Can Sağlık and has a daughter (* 2006) and a son (* 2008) with him. The author and her family have not lived in Istanbul for years, but in the greater London area.

Awards

2010: Knight of the Ordre des Arts et des Lettres
2017: Honorary award from the Austrian book trade for tolerance in thought and action

Works (selection)

Turkish

Kem Gözlere Anadolu , Evrensel 1994, ISBN 975-7837-29-6 .

Pinhan , Metis 1997, ISBN 975-342-297-0 .
Şehrin Aynaları , Metis 1999, ISBN 975-342-298-9 .
- Spiegel der Stadt , Literaturca Verlag, Frankfurt 2004, ISBN 3-935535-06-6 .
Mahrem , Metis 2000, ISBN 975-342-285-7 .
Bit Palas , Metis 2002, ISBN 975-342-354-3 .
- The candy palace . Eichborn, Frankfurt 2008, ISBN 978-3-8218-5806-7 .
Beşpeşe , Metis 2004, ISBN 975-342-467-1 (with Murathan Mungan , Faruk Ulay, Celil Oker and Pınar Kür ).
Med-Cezir , Metis 2005, ISBN 975-342-533-3 .
Siyah Süt , Doğan 2007, ISBN 978-975-991-531-5 .
- Black Milk: On Writing, Motherhood, and the Harem Within , translation from Turkish by Hande Zapsu Watt 267 pp., Viking Books 2011, ISBN 0-670-02264-0 .
Kağıt Helva , Doğan 2010, ISBN 978-605-111-426-2 .
Firarperest , Doğan 2010, ISBN 978-605-111-902-1 (illustrated by MK Perker ).
Şemspare , Doğan 2012, ISBN 978-605-09-0799-5 (illustrated by MK Perker ).
Sakız Sardunya , 2014, Doğan, ISBN 978-605-09-2291-2 .

English

The Saint of Incipient Insanities , Farrar, Straus and Giroux 2004, ISBN 0-374-25357-9 .
- The saint of approaching madness . Eichborn 2005, ISBN 3-8218-5750-1 .
The Bastard of Istanbul , Viking Adult 2006, ISBN 978-0-670-03834-3 .
- The bastard of Istanbul . Translated from the English by Juliane Gräbener-Müller. Eichborn 2007, ISBN 978-3-8218-5799-2 .
- Baba ve piç . Turkish translation from English by Aslı Biçen. Metis 2006
- Foreword to: Istanbul by Andreas Herzau , Hatje Cantz, Ostfildern 2010 ISBN 978-3-7757-2615-3 .
The Forty Rules of Love: A Novel of Rumi , Viking Adult 2010, ISBN 978-0-670-02145-1 .
- Aşk , Turkish translation from English by Kadir Yiğit Us, Doğan 2009, ISBN 978-605-111-107-0 .
- The forty secrets of love . Translated from the English by Michaela Grabinger. No & But 2013, ISBN 978-3-0369-5666-4 .
Honor , 352 pp., Viking 2012, ISBN 0-670-92115-7 .
- İskender , Turkish translation from English, Doğan 2011, ISBN 978-605-09-0251-8 .
- Honor . Translation from English by Michaela Grabinger. No & But 2014, ISBN 978-3-0369-5676-3 .
The architect's apprentice. Viking, New York / London 2014.
- Ustam ve Ben , Turkish translation from English by Omca Korugan 2013, Doğan, ISBN 978-605-09-1803-8 .
- The sultan's architect. Translated from the English by Michaela Grabinger. No & But, Zurich / Berlin 2015, ISBN 978-3-0369-5715-9 .
Three Daughters of Eve . Viking, 2016
- Havva'nın Üç Kızı , Turkish translation from English by Omca Korugan 2016, Doğan, ISBN 978-605-09-3537-0 .
- The smell of paradise . No and no, Zurich 2016, ISBN 978-3-0369-5732-6 .
10 Minutes 38 Seconds in this Strange World , Viking 2019, ISBN 978-0-241-29386-7 .
- On Dakika Otuz Sekiz Saniye , Turkish translation from English by Omca Korugan, 2019, Dogan, ISBN 978-605-09-6309-0
- Unheard of voices , no & but, Zurich 2019, ISBN 978-3-0369-5790-6 .

literature

Brigitte Moser, Michael Weithmann: Country Studies Turkey. History, society and culture. Helmut Buske, Hamburg 2008, pp. 260-262

Web links

Commons : Elif Şafak - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Literature by and about Elif Shafak in the WorldCat bibliographic database

Literature by and about Elif Shafak in the catalog of the German National Library

Elif Shafak , at her agency Marly Rusoff & Associates, Inc. - biography, profile, interviews, book reviews, information about the process / judgment - collection of press articles

The author and her works at Metis Publishing Ltd., Istanbul (English page of the publisher)

Website of Elif Şafak (Turkish and English)

Lewis Gropp: Language as a weapon in the Kulturkampf , in: Neue Zürcher Zeitung , October 28, 2006

Freedom of expression in Turkey. Land of judges and thinkers. Spiegel-Online September 21, 2006

Elif Shafak: "As a mother, I'm not enough" - Between Ink, Breast Milk and Finger Women , Qantara.de, December 2010

Short biography of the International Literature Festival Berlin about Elif Shafak

Interview (September 2016)