Elif Shafak on doubt, depression and writing through crisis

The novelist Elif Shafak has spoken to The Guardian about a period of depression and creative doubt that preceded the writing of her latest novel, describing a central question that troubled her: whether there is any value in writing fiction during a time of chaos.

According to the Guardian interview, Shafak discussed her nomadic childhood, her experience of being targeted by the Turkish government, and how she worked through depression to complete her new book. The piece notes that Shafak, once described as Turkey's "most widely read female author," is now widely considered its most beloved, even as compatriot Orhan Pamuk holds the Nobel prize that has eluded her.

The Guardian recalls the arc of her recent work: There Are Rivers in the Sky, which traces a single raindrop from ancient Nineveh to the Tigris in 2018, was among the UK's bestselling literary novels last year; The Island of Missing Trees, set between Cyprus and London, was shortlisted for the Women's Prize in 2022; and 10 Minutes 38 Seconds in This Strange World, narrated by a murdered sex worker in Istanbul, was shortlisted for the Booker Prize in 2019. Last December she was elected president of the Royal Society of Literature.

Shafak has described herself, in a widely viewed 2017 TED talk, as "a global soul, a world citizen, a nomad and an itinerant storyteller," the Guardian notes, a self-portrait that frames the career-spanning interview.