Elif Shafak: A Life in the Imagination

When her twelfth novel, The Island of Missing Trees, was published recently, Elif Shafak turned her luminous imagination to life in Cyprus – both for its people and for a fig tree living there. That novel reflects Shafak’s enduring interest in roots, belonging, and identity even in troubled environments. As the Book Festival celebrates its 40th anniversary, Shafak discusses her latest book and looks back over key events in her life as a writer.

In conversation with Sam Baker.

Categories: Fiction, Words/Reading, Writing/Publishing

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What Makes a Writer

To mark the Book Festival’s 40th year, we have invited five leading writers to join us in a series that explores that most creative and consuming of vocations: the writing life. In this series, Jackie Kay, Val McDermid, Elif Shafak, Bernardine Evaristo, and Ali Smith cast their minds back over their careers and reflect on some of the key moments and influences that have defined them as writers. What compels them to keep going despite the inherent difficulties of the task?…