Elif Şafak
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Elif Şafak (sometimes spelled Elif Shafak), (born 1971, Strasbourg, France) is a writer of Turkish descent. She has published novels written in English as well as Turkish and French. Born in France, Şafak remained with her mother, when her parents divorced. She spent her teenage years in Madrid, Spain and Amman, Jordan before returning to Turkey. She graduated in International Relations at Middle East Technical University in Ankara, Turkey. She holds a Master of Science degree in Gender and Women's Studies, with a thesis on The Deconstruction of Femininity Along the Cyclical Understanding of Heterodox Dervishes in Islam. She earned her Ph.D. from the Department of Political Science at the same university. Her Ph.D. thesis was entitled An Analysis of Turkish Modernity Through Discourses of Masculinities.
During the academic year 2003-2004, Şafak was a visiting scholar at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor, Michigan, United States. Currently, the social scientist is an Assistant Professor in the Near Eastern Studies Department at the University of Arizona in Tucson, Arizona.
Şafak debuted in literature with her story Kem Gözlere Anadolu, published in 1994. Her first novel, Pinhan (The Sufi) was awarded the "Mevlana Prize" in 1998, which is given to the best work in mystical literature in Turkey. She found broad access to readership with her novel Şehrin Aynaları (Mirrors of the City), which brought her "Union of Turkish Writers' Prize" in 2000. Şafak won every notable literary prize in Turkey before age 30[citation needed].
Şafak has written two novels in the English language. For references to the Armenian Genocide in the second of these novels, The Bastard of Istanbul, (The Turkish title means "The Father and The Bastard") Şafak was charged in Turkey with "insulting Turkishness" under Article 301 of the Turkish Criminal Code (The Economist, July 27, 2006, "More Turkish writers face prosecution"). The case was thrown out in June 2006. However, prosecutors reopened the case in July 2006. On 21 September 2006, the renewed case against Şafak was also dismissed for lack of evidence.
Currently living half of the year in the United States, Elif Şafak also writes for newspapers and magazines in Europe and the United States. In 2005 she married Turkish journalist Eyüp Can during a book promotion trip in Berlin, Germany. [1] On September 15, 2006, their daughter Şehrazad Zelda was born.
[edit] Bibliography
- Turkish
- Kem Gözlere Anadolu, 96pp, 1994, Evrensel, ISBN 975-785-729-6 [2]
- Pinhan, 224pp, 1997, Metis, ISBN 975-342-297-0 [3]
- Şehrin Aynaları, 280pp, 1999, Metis, ISBN 975-342-298-9 [4]
- Mahrem, 216pp, 2000, Metis, ISBN 975-342-285-7 [5]
- Bit Palas, 361pp, 2002, Metis, ISBN 975-342-354-3 [6]
- Araf (translation of The Saint of Incipient Insanities), 352pp, 2004, Metis, ISBN 975-342-465-5 [7]
- Beşpeşe, 680pp, 2004, Metis, ISBN 467-1 (with Murathan Mungan, Faruk Ulay, Celil Oker and Pınar Kür) [8]
- Med-Cezir, 254pp, 2005, Metis, ISBN 975-342-533-3 [9]
- Baba ve Piç (translation of The Bastard of Istanbul), 384 pp, 2006, Metis, ISBN 975-342-553-8 [10]
- English
- The Saint of Incipient Insanities, 368pp, 2004, Farrar, Straus and Giroux, ISBN 037-425-357-9 [11]
- The Flea Palace (translation of Bit Palas), 260pp, 2005, Marion Boyars, ISBN 071-453-101-4 [12] (with Muge Gocek)
- The Gaze (translation of Mahrem), 252pp, 2006, Marion Boyars, ISBN 0-7145-3121-9 [13]
- The Bastard of Istanbul, 368pp, 2006, Viking Adult, ISBN 067-003-834-2 [14]
- German
- Spiegel der Stadt, Literaturca Verlag, ISBN 393-553-506-6
- Die Heilige des nahenden Irrsinns, 2005, Eichborn Verlag, ISBN 382-185-750-1 [15]
