Elif Shafak

Elif Shafak is a Turkish-British author, academic, and women’s rights activist. She lives in the United Kingdom, writes in both Turkish and English, and has published successful novels and essays translated into over 50 languages. She is a courageous advocate for women’s rights, minority rights, and freedom of expression. “Where democracy declines, we see a rise in censorship and intolerance,” she wrote. “Today, literature must, more than ever, be about not only stories but also silences and those who have been silenced. It must become a sanctuary for the powerless and marginalised across the globe.”

Shafak’s acceptance speech at Difference Day 2020 focused on the importance of literature as a refuge for the marginalised and silenced, particularly in the face of declining democracy and rising censorship. She emphasised the crucial role of empathy, wisdom, diversity, and pluralism in fostering a democratic society and described literary festivals as essential democratic spaces. She argued that literature bears the responsibility of serving as a sanctuary for those marginalised and silenced, especially amidst censorship and intolerance.

Shafak explained that democracy is not a given but rather a fragile ecosystem requiring constant care and protection, particularly in the face of authoritarian tendencies. “The importance of listening to and learning from people with different viewpoints—even those considered unpleasant—sharpens your own perspective and fosters a more inclusive society.” She stressed the necessity for writers not to fear tackling complex issues and to create space for diverse interpretations, even when faced with challenges and potential repercussions. Her speech echoed the core values of Difference Day, a day celebrating freedom of thought and expression. Shafak’s call to action encourages people to actively defend these values and recognise the crucial role of literature and open dialogue in a healthy democracy.

In her latest novel, The Bastard of Istanbul, Shafak addressed the Armenian genocide. A fictional character refers to the mass killings of Armenians during World War I as genocide, for which Shafak was accused of “insulting Turkey.” She has previously clashed with the Turkish state by tackling taboos in her novels. During the Booker Prize ceremony in 2022, she spoke powerfully about how literary imagination remains one of our last democratic spaces. “Literature is a gentle antidote to our deeply divided and fractured world. For fiction writers, there is no ‘us versus them.’ There is no ‘Other.’ Through the eyes of a novelist or poet, the Other is in fact my brother, my sister, I am the Other.” In a world shaped by short attention spans, rapid consumption, and hyper-materialism, the long form of the novel, she argues, helps us slow down and focus on knowledge rather than fragments of information and disinformation. “It is no coincidence that wherever democracy is under threat, writers and poets are among the first to be censored, persecuted, exiled, or imprisoned.”

Currently, libraries in the US are under enormous pressure, with book bans and removals increasing at an alarming rate. “In the past, many experts assumed that human rights, women’s rights, and freedom of expression were primarily a concern in certain countries, but less so in the stable democracies of the West. Today, we must realise that no democracy is immune.” According to Shafak, literary spaces must be protected, libraries and literary festivals supported, and pressure must be applied on those in power to meaningfully invest in culture and the arts.

Sources: elifsafak.com.tr, VUB Today, Acceptance Speech, thebookerprizes.com, The Guardian