For me, writing stories is one way of feeling connected to the universe and God. Elif Safak Read Quote
Writing is a tribute to solitude. It is choosing introversion over extroversion, lonely hours/days/weeks/years over fun and sociability. Elif Safak Read Quote
For me, coming from the women’s movement, politics is not just about parties and parliament. There is politics in our private space and in gender relations as well. Wherever there’s power, there’s politics. Elif Safak Read Quote
Turkey is a complex country. Most readers are women, of all generations, and they are passionate about books. However, the written culture is mostly patriarchal. In general, men write; women read. I would like to see this pattern changing. More women should write novels, poems, plays, and hopefully, more men will read fiction. Elif Safak Read Quote
I realized over the years if I’m writing about humor, irony, satire, I much prefer to do that in English. And if there is sorrow, melancholy, longing, I much prefer to do that in Turkish. Each language has its own strength to me, and I feel connected and attached to both Turkish and English. I dream in more than one language. Elif Safak Read Quote
Part of me always felt like the other, the outsider, the observer. My father had two sons with his second wife, who I didn’t meet until my late 20s. I was always on the periphery. In Madrid, I was the only Turk in a very international school, so I had to start thinking about identity. All these things affected me. Elif Safak Read Quote
I find families intriguing, perhaps because I did not grow up in one. I was raised by a feminist, independent, single mother, a divorcee. Elif Safak Read Quote
Books change us. Books save us. I know this because it happened to me. Books saved me. So, I do believe through stories we can learn to change, we can learn to empathize and be more connected with the universe and with humanity. Elif Safak Read Quote
I write as if I were drunk. It is a process of intuition rather than placing myself above my story like a puppeteer pulling strings. For me, it’s a scary, chaotic process over which I have little control. Words demand other words, characters resist me. Elif Safak Read Quote
I like to question cultural biases wherever I go, and I question Islamophobia as much as I question anti-western sentiment because I think all extremist ideologies are very similar. Elif Safak Read Quote
