It is tiring to be Turkish. The country is badly polarised, bitterly politicized. Every writer, journalist, poet knows that because of an article, a novel, an interview, a poem or a tweet you can be sued, put on trial, even arrested. Self-censorship is widespread. Elif Safak Read Quote
I write with humour about sadness, to introduce an element of sweet to the sour, a bit like Turkish food. Elif Safak Read Quote
God is the biggest storyteller, and when we create stories, we connect with him and with each other across cultural, religious and gender boundaries. Elif Safak Read Quote
Politicians and leaders who see the media as ‘the enemy within’ divide society into two clashing cultural camps. Populist demagogues benefit from binary oppositions. Elif Safak Read Quote
I was in Madrid as a young girl and a teenager. I’ll never forget when I went to the Prado Museum for the first time and saw the paintings of Goya. They had such a big impact on me. Elif Safak Read Quote
Bad writing is like a bad relationship. Don’t be addicted to it just because you are familiar with its ways. Let go. Elif Safak Read Quote
If there is no love between the author and the story, there is no love between the reader and the story. Elif Safak Read Quote
My readers are surprisingly mixed. I have conservative readers – for instance, women with headscarves – but also many liberal, leftist, feminist, nihilist, environmentalist, and secularist readers. Next to those are mystics, agnostics, Kurds, Turks, Alevis, Sunnis, gays, housewives, and businesswomen. Elif Safak Read Quote
