Elif Shafak, novelist

Elif Shafak is a best-selling writer who is as happy telling a story from the point of view of a fig tree or a water droplet as a fellow human being.

She began writing in her native Turkish and now writes in English, and her 13 novels have been translated into dozens of languages. Her books cross continents and centuries. Her novel There Are Rivers in the Sky moves from ancient Mesopotamia to 21st-century London, and she loves uncovering forgotten histories and giving voices to the silenced.

In her most recent book, In One Brief Moment All Eternity, she tells the story of the great French writer Gustave Flaubert, author of Madame Bovary, from the perspective of the women, both real and imagined, who influenced him.

Elif is also a passionate campaigner for books and freedom of expression, and is the President of the Royal Society of Literature.

Her musical passions include Rachmaninov, Chopin and Hildegard of Bingen.

Presenter Michael Berkeley
Producer Clare Walker