The full recording of Allan Little's Big Interview with Elif Shafak at the Edinburgh International Book Festival is now available on YouTube. Proudly supported by the University of Edinburgh in association with IASH, the sold-out event took place on 22nd August.
Elif Shafak is a multi-award-winning British-Turkish author once put on trial for “insulting Turkishness.” Although acquitted by judges, she still faces hostility, whether through messages on Turkish social media or through police officers taking her books for investigation. Her most recent novel, 10 Minutes 38 Seconds in This Strange World, has received critical acclaim and was part of the Booker Prize 2019 Longlist. The novel takes an unflinching look at the realities of women living in a patriarchal system and follows the life (and death) of Leila, a sex worker in Istanbul attempting to remember her murderer as she is left to die.
Allan Little is a member of IASH's Advisory Board, and is a well-known journalist and broadcaster.