Elif Shafak: ‘The words of my fictional characters were used as evidence against me in court’

‘I was left-handed at birth, and at school in Turkey, when I first started primary school, I was converted to using my right hand. That was the first time I heard the word “exile”,’ Elif Shafak says. ‘The teacher was very adamant that I kept my left hand under the desk all the time, and sent it to exile.’ Soon, it would not just be her left hand that was exiled; as an adult Elif would be leaving her home country for fear of retribution for her writing.

The Turkish-British author has published 21 books including The Forty Rules of Love, There are Rivers in the Sky and 10 Minutes 38 Seconds in This Strange World, but it was her 2006 novel The Bastard of Istanbul that got her in trouble with the Turkish authorities.

‘It was a shock, I didn’t expect it at all,’ she says of her prosecution for the crime of ‘insulting Turkishness’, according to Article 301 of the Turkish Penal Code. The novel discusses the Armenian genocide, which the Turkish government denies. ‘Suddenly I was put on trial in a very unexpected way,’ Elif recalls. ‘There is an article in the Turkish Constitution that protects Turkishness against insults, but nobody knows what that means, to be honest. This had been used against journalists and historians, but never ever before against a fiction writer.

‘The words of fictional characters were taken out and used as evidence in the court room. The prosecutor asked for three years in prison for writing a work of fiction. I was acquitted eventually, but it was a very unsettling period, after which I decided to move out of Turkey.’

Elif came to the UK, which ‘became her home’. Two further works, The Gaze and 10 Minutes 38 Seconds in This Strange World were investigated by the Prosecutors Office for ‘the crime of obscenity’, as Elif explored themes of gendered violence, sexual violence and child brides, ‘which in my opinion means child abuse’. ‘Whatever you write about, from history to sexuality, you can easily offend the authorities and you can get into trouble. As a novelist, that's very very difficult,’ she says.

Despite real threats of retribution, Elif continues to write. Lately she has been working on her new novel, In One Brief Moment All Eternity, which will be released on October 15. ‘I am only now emerging from that intense work, and these days I’m doing lots of literary festivals… I am an introvert by nature, but I love doing book events,’ she says. She will be speaking twice at Cheltenham Literature Festival this month.

Writing itself, however, is still a challenge. ‘It doesn’t matter whether it’s your first book, fifth book or 10th book, you always go through valleys of self-doubt and anxiety. The only thing I’ve learnt is that all of that is part of the writing process.’

Your aesthetic hero

I love James Baldwin. The way he carried himself, the way he spoke, his tone, his whole aura, that is very important to me. In terms of colours and hues, I’m very interested in Francisco Goya, the Spanish painter. In his work, the range is mind blowing, from dark, sometimes gloomy drawings to very colourful, bright, vivid hues. He has such complexity in his body of work. So, I would say James Baldwin and Francisco Goya.

An exhibition that has really impressed you

The Royal Academy of Arts Summer Exhibition. I had the honour of being one of the three judges in 2025. That was very memorable for me because so many artworks were submitted and displayed, not only paintings but also sculptures, video installations and even tapestries, so it is quite interdisciplinary. Some of the people whose work was being displayed were less well known, some were just members of the public, although there were also very famous painters within the exhibition. That juxtaposition, in the fact that they were all displayed in a very egalitarian way together, is something that really stayed with me.

The last thing of note that you bought for yourself

I mean, I spend a lot of time buying stationery. I just can't stop. If I see a shop full of notebooks I just have to go in there.

The possession you would never sell

I have some first edition books that have been gifted to me. For example, there’s a lovely edition of Madame Bovary on my shelf. I don’t think I would ever sell that, and Madame Bovary also plays a role in my upcoming novel, In One Brief Moment All Eternity. But I’d always choose things that have emotional value rather than financial value.

The music that you work to

I have always loved heavy metal since my youth. Now that I am a middle-aged woman people don’t expect me to listen to it, but I still love it. I think many metalheads actually are gentle souls, and I also think that heavy metal is a large vast kingdom. The only thing that’s happened [with age] is that I have moved to subgenres of heavy metal, so now I listen to more industrial metal, metalcore, melodic death metal, sometimes symphonic heavy metal, Viking and Scandinavian bands.

I listen to this kind of music all the time when I’m writing, but I listen to one song on repeat so it becomes like a loop. Seventy, 90 times I can listen to the same song. That’s how I write. It transports me to a different place and I love its high energy. It is very raw. It helps me to write, hopefully, more calmly.

The last podcast you listened to

I listen to podcasts all the time. I was listening to Stephen Fry speak about the Tudors today, although it was an audiobook, so not strictly a podcast. I listened to that as I walked my dog. There’s also a lovely podcast called Hardcore Literature, and I listen to The News Agents and In Our Time, of course. Those are the ones that immediately come to mind.

A book you’ve found inspiring

I have found so many books inspiring for different reasons. Sometimes we are drawn to the story, sometimes to the style, the rhythm. Sometimes it’s the craftsmanship, how the structure has been built. I also like re-reading the books that I love because it’s a very different experience. So honestly, I don’t know how to choose just one book.

Maybe I would say Don Quixote. That has really been life changing for me. I was very young when I first read a children's edition, and I didn't know novels could do that. It just blew me away. This crazy night roaming La Mancha, the Iberian Peninsula — that stayed very vividly with me.

Who would play you in a film of your life

I don’t know how to answer that, honestly. I have a lot of respect for films, but I don’t feel like I have enough say in that kind of matter.

What you’d take with you to a desert island

My family and my library.

The thing that gets you up in the morning

Every morning is different and we can't expect to be cheerful, smiling, hopeful every day. Sometimes it is difficult to get out of bed. We never talk about these things, but I think we must. At the same time, though, there is so much love, gratitude, humanity, empathy, connectivity. I think the worst thing that we can do to ourselves is to fall into apathy, numbness. So love, you know, gets me out of bed. Gratitude gets me out of bed. Empathy, stories, family, friends, nature, and also humanity. These are the things that I try to focus on.

The items you collect

I don't collect anything. When you live such a nomadic life — and I had to live a very nomadic life for a long time — you cannot keep things. You know, how many things can you put in a suitcase? How much of your home can you carry with you if you are going to another country? I left Istanbul and I haven’t been back for over 11 years now. I always think: Had I known that I would not go back, what would I have taken with me? I would have loved to take a sapling, maybe of a fig tree. So, when you live a peripatetic life, it's difficult to become a collector.

A hotel you could go back and back to

I adore family run hotels, in Spain, Italy, France. Usually the ones that have a loving warm energy, and that are not too corporate and commercial. Places where everything is prepared lovingly, and the breakfast is prepared by, maybe, the mother who is in the kitchen, for example. I like such environments a lot.

Your favourite painting

That’s tricky. I don’t know what my favourite painting is. It’s very difficult to choose just one. I’ve started writing on Substack, and for each essay I write I choose a painting and build a literary essay around it. Paintings have been very important to me, always, ever since I was a child in Madrid. I can never forget the time I visited The Prado Museum, it was just mind-blowing.

I like Goya a lot and Velázquez. There is a painting by Velázquez called Las Meninas, in which the painter is inside the painting. I like things that have, of course, stories. Almost all paintings do, but I like it when there’s a layer within a layer within a layer. I wouldn’t call it my favourite painting, because maybe there isn’t just one painting that I can choose in that sense, but it is one of my favourite paintings by Velázquez.

The most memorable meal you’ve ever eaten

Any meal that you share where you break bread with family and friends. It’s not only the food but it’s the feelings, the sharing. Food has always been very important in my writing. I was raised by a grandmother, for whom food was a language. Grandmother, when she didn't know about how to talk about difficult subjects, would instead feed you. Food was how she expressed her love.

In many of my books, there are menus. So, for instance, I dreamed of an imaginary tavern in The Island of Missing Trees called The Happy Fig, and many people told me that they so wanted to be in The Happy Fig, and taste that. So food is really very important in my writing because I think it is a language, it is culture, it is history. Much more than mixing up a few ingredients.

The best present you’ve ever received

We got our little dog — Romeo Cappuccino is his name — when he was just a newborn puppy. That was a big gift, but also every day is a gift, every sunrise, every book we receive and pass on. Any blessing, any beauty, any act of love is a gift.

Elif Shafak will be speaking at Cheltenham Literature Festival this month. In conversation with Simon Armitage and about her new novel, ‘In One Brief Moment All Eternity’. Tickets are still available. ‘In One Brief Moment All Eternity’ will be published on October 15.