Elif Shafak on postnatal depression and writing as ’animal instinct’

Elif Shafak is - among other things - an activist, public speaker and academic with a PhD in political science who teaches at universities in Turkey, the US and the UK. She is also the author of an incredible 12 novels which have been translated into 55 languages. Her most recent  novel, The Island of Missing Trees, is a sweeping story of intergenerational trauma set in Cyprus and London. I loved talking to her about it - and in particular in the role of nature as a plot device - as well as about her fascinating life: she was born in Strasbourg, before moving to Turkey, where she was later put on trial for "insulting Turkishness" in her acclaimed book The Bastard of Istanbul. She is now based in London. We discussed all this and more - including her struggle with postnatal depression, writing in a second language, and the power of being an outsider.  I hope you enjoy it as much as I did. 

Buy the book: https://www.penguin.co.uk/books/316/316722/the-island-of-missing-trees/9780241434994.html

Twitter / Instagram: @aliceazania 

Edited by Chelsey Moore