Writing is a tribute to solitude. It is choosing introversion over extroversion, lonely hours/days/weeks/years over fun and sociability. — Elif Safak Copy Share Image
If you are a writer from Turkey, Pakistan, Nigeria, Egypt, you don't have the luxury of being apolitical. You can't say, 'That's… — Elif Safak Copy Share Image
Writing in another language gives me an additional freedom, an additional way of thinking. It's a challenge, but I like the challenge. — Elif Safak Copy Share Image
Words are heavy in Turkey, and every writer, every poet and every journalist knows that, because of a word, because of a… — Elif Safak Copy Share Image
I write my novels in English first; then they are translated into Turkish by professional translators. Then I take their translation and… — Elif Safak Copy Share Image
When I am writing political op-eds, I do think carefully about the impact of my words. When I am writing fiction, it's… — Elif Safak Copy Share Image
The only way to learn writing is by writing. Talent, as charming as it sounds, amounts to no more than 12 per… — Elif Safak Copy Share Image
Turkey is a complex country. Most readers are women, of all generations, and they are passionate about books. However, the written culture… — Elif Safak Copy Share Image
There are two different ways of writing a novel. The first I call the traditional father way, when the novelist slightly situates… — Elif Safak Copy Share Image
God is the biggest storyteller, and when we create stories, we connect with him and with each other across cultural, religious and… — Elif Safak Copy Share Image
Bad writing is like a bad relationship. Don't be addicted to it just because you are familiar with its ways. Let go. — Elif Safak Copy Share Image
For me, writing stories is one way of feeling connected to the universe and God. — Elif Safak Copy Share Image
I write as if I were drunk. It is a process of intuition rather than placing myself above my story like a… — Elif Safak Copy Share Image
It is tiring to be Turkish. The country is badly polarised, bitterly politicized. Every writer, journalist, poet knows that because of an… — Elif Safak Copy Share Image
Turkey is a complex country. Most readers are women, of all generations, and they are passionate about books. However, the written culture is mostly… — Elif Safak Copy Share Image
With 'The Forty Rules of Love,' I wanted to write a love story. But I wanted a love story with a spiritual dimension. For… — Elif Safak Copy Share Image
Writing is a tribute to solitude. It is choosing introversion over extroversion, lonely hours/days/weeks/years over fun and sociability. — Elif Safak Copy Share Image
Submission does not mean being weak or passive. It leads to neither fatalism nor capitulation. Just the opposite. True power resides in submission. A… — Elif Safak Copy Share Image
The lack of trust in supranational entities and cosmopolitan elite creates a fertile ground for tribalist belongings and reactionary politics. — Elif Safak Copy Share Image
In a normal democracy, you protect the individual from the excessive power of the state. In Turkey, power elites try to protect the state… — Elif Safak Copy Share Image
Obviously, Turkey is not a typical authoritarian regime, and obviously it's very important that there are free elections. But it's also obvious that this… — Elif Safak Copy Share Image
Feminists are now being vilified in politics, erdogan used to speak more embracingly, saying he was the leader of everyone, whether they voted for… — Elif Safak Copy Share Image
We're born into a certain family, nation, class. But if we have no connection whatsoever with the worlds beyond the one we take for… — Elif Safak Copy Share Image
I write my novels in English first; then they are translated into Turkish by professional translators. Then I take their translation and rewrite. So… — Elif Safak Copy Share Image
For me, coming from the women's movement, politics is not just about parties and parliament. There is politics in our private space and in… — Elif Safak Copy Share Image
