Elif Safak
Elif Safak
Elif Şafakis a Turkish author, columnist, speaker and academic...
NationalityTurkish
ProfessionAuthor
CountryTurkey
grief people empathy
After the Ankara bombings on October 10, people were asked to hold a minute of silence, but many refused. Our society can't even unite in grief to honor the victims. We've lost our empathy. That's maybe the worst.
bridges cities appreciate
Yeah, we should all line up along the Bosphorus Bridge and puff as hard as we can to shove this city in the direction of the West. If that doesn't work, we'll try the other way, see if we can veer to the East. It's no good to be in between. International politics does not appreciate ambiguity.
husband glasses iron
The Iron Rule of prudence for an Istanbulite Woman: If you are as fragile as a tea glass, either find a way to never encounter burning water and hope to marry an ideal husband or get yourself laid and broken as soon as possible. Alternatively, stop being a tea-glass woman!
space mouths infinite
The words that come out of our mouths do not vanish but are perpetually stored in infinite space, and they will come back to us in due time.
children father ocean
Father, I am from a different egg than your other children. Think of me as a duckling raised by hens. I am not a domestic bird destined to spend his life in a chicken coop. the water that scares you rejuvenates me. For unlike you I can swim, and swim I shall. The ocean is my homeland. If you are with me, come to the ocean. If not, stop interfering with me and go back to the chicken coop.
land people literature
Isn't connecting people to distant lands and culture one of the strengths of good literature?
cities childhood forget
But let us not forget that cities are like human beings. They are born, they go through childhood and adolescence, they grow old, and eventually they die
humanity saint
A saint belongs to all humanity.
identity-politics water fiction
Identity politics divides us; fiction connects. One is interested in sweeping generalizations, the other in nuances. One draws boundaries, the other recognizes no frontiers. Identity politics is made of solid bricks; fiction is flowing water.
running sea wave
Stop running after the waves. Let the sea come to you.
mind like-her speak
perhaps it took a stranger to make a woman like her speak her mind.
art practice becoming
Article Five: If you have no reason or ability to accomplish anything, then just practice the art of becoming.
giving ignorant bears
Either grant me the bliss of the ignorant or give me the strength to bear the knowledge.
mirrors believer
Believers are each other's mirrors.