Gariwo
https://en.gariwo.net/righteous/armenian-genocide/elif-shafak-7560.html
Gariwo

Elif Shafak (1971)

writer against discriminations

Elif Shafak was born in Strasburg in 1971 and spent her youth in Spain before returning to her family in Turkey. Here she became an esteemed academic and a brilliant writer. Passionate, sensitive and non-conformist, she is married to a committed Turkish journalist. Their careers often force them to live apart as she teaches Middle Eastern History at the University of Tucson, in Arizona, while her husband works in Istanbul as the chief editor of the financial newspaper Referens.
Elif is a brave and optimistic woman, who has had to face a gruelling trial and a possible 3-year sentence for having "offended Turkishness", a charge shared by scores of other intellectuals, starting from Nobel prize winner Orhan Pamuk, all of whom have received death threats from nationalist extremists.
Elif’s “crime” is to have written The Bastard of Istanbul, which tells the moving story of two parallel families: on the one hand the grandchildren of survivors of the genocide of the Armenians at the hand of Turkish nationalists in the years leading up to the First World War, on the other the attempt to erase, even within the home, the slightest mention of that massacre, or even a simple doubt. In the relentless emotional pace of the book, the desire to know the truth, whatever it may be, comes to the fore.
A friend of Pamuk and of the Turkish-Armenian writer Hrant Dink, assassinated in Istanbul in January 2007, Elif is still in the front line in demanding the abolition of the infamous clause 301 of the Turkish penal code, which prevents freedom of expression in Turkey. Despite everything, her novel has been applauded by the press and by other Turkish mass media and has sold fifty thousand copies in just a few months.

Gardens that honour Elif Shafak

You can find a tree in the Virtual Garden Gariwo's Stories.

Don’t miss the story of the Righteous and the memory of Good

Once a month you will receive articles and events selected by Gariwo Editorial Board. Please fill out the field below and click on subscribe.




Grazie per aver dato la tua adesione!

Righteous Encyclopedia - Civil courage

Those committed to the defense of those persecuted and the innocent victims of the crimes against humanity, who safeguard dignity and human rights, and uphold the freedom of expression and the duty of truth.

Filter by:

Sorry, no Righteous matches the filters you have chosen.