Elif Shafak Performs at The Moth: PEN World Voices
Elif Shafak tells a story on the them “What Went Wrong?” at The Moth at PEN World Voices, part of the 2011 PEN World Voices Festival.
&nbs...More >>
May 10, 2011
by Rafia Zakaria
Motherhood is often imagined as a natural state for women, a return to some authentic self that is believed to lie at the core of every woman. In patriarchal ...More >>
GuestBook
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Starmurray (26.05.2007)
I am from the North West, I just started to read your book, The Bastard of Istanbul. I can tell that it is relatable for any woman. Specifically relatable to motherhood and all the complexities that arise with this change. I am eager to read, The Saint of Incipent Insanties, particularly about Algre. Thanks.
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breen (1.05.2007)
"Thanks for interesting site. Keep up a great work."
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Sandro (30.04.2007)
Dear Elif,
I am following your articles and inerviews for some time now, and I have come o regard you as one of the Turkey´s foremost intellectuals. I felt with you when you were subjected to brutal campaign of insult by ultra-nationalists, and I sighed with relief, when charges against you were dropped. I hope that I will be able to read your Bastard of Istanbul pretty soon.
I am most intrigued by your unorthodox view of Islam, and especially the place of women in Islam. After all the Islamophobic ranting you endure almost daily in much of the Western media, it is really extremely refreshing and enlightening to read an alternative perspective on this complex issue. I also very much appreciate your tolerant attitude towards much maligned women in headscarves.
Now, I have a question. Would you yourself ever consider to wear an Islamic headscarf? I think that would be a very interesting and powerful message: a progressive headscarf wearing woman that is tolerant, for example, of homosexuality. That alone would demolish a lot of stereotypes about Islam in the Western world.
I would be very interested in your perspective on this.
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Peter (7.03.2007)
Earlier today, I finished reading "The Bastard of Istanbul". I found this to be an exceptional story: humorous, yet deeply moving. I ran across the novel quite by accident, seeing it displayed at the Brown University bookstore.
My ethnic background is 50% Armenian and 50% French-Canadian and I have lived my entire life in the USA. Despite my ethnic makeup, my upbringing was not flavored by much in the way traditional cultural or religious content. On rare occasion, my father would bring home an Armenian dish from a distant relative or acquaintance.
Only while studying in Boston did I come into contact with more traditional Armenian Americans.
I d like to share two brief stories from my past that come to my memory more clearly as a result of reading your wonderful novel. I worked at a hospital in the Boston area in the early 80 s while training to become a pharmacist. There was an older woman that was the head nurse of a surgical ward. She was 100% proud Armenian. She spoke with me about my background. An angry young man at the time, I figured given her background she would like to hear me profess venomous sentiment about Turkish people. When I tried to impress her with such talk, she looked at me in disapproval and said that things will never get better if we talk about people in such a way... that people need to learn to live together and discuss things peacefully. She was such a good person.
Secondly, my father did share a story about the plight of his uncle in Armenia. His uncle was separated from his family during the relocations and saw family members brutalized and killed in Harput. Being 12 years old at the time, he was lost and taken in by a kind Turkish woman who hid and fed him until the soldiers had left the area. From there he somehow made his way through Asia to Japan and was re-united with his family in California years later.
Now in my 40 s, I consider myself an advocate for world peace and human rights. Like the wonderful women in your book, and those who have touched my life, you are a beacon of truth and hope in a world where much injustice needs to be confronted and healed.
Modern Turkey was always a mystery to me and although I would love to travel the world (if I could find the time and resources!), this is a place I had never dreamed of exploring. Reading your novel has changed that. It s nice to know there are progressives and eclectics in Istanbul, just as there are in Cambridge, Massachusetts.
I look forward to reading more of your works.
Sincerely,
Peter T.
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Hovig (27.02.2007)
Dear Elif,
I am a Lebanese Armenian who just finished reading your beautiful book, The Bastard of Istanbul. Thank you so much for your understanding. I remembered my Grandmother’s tears (who recently passed away) with your Shushan’s story which really made me cry. I really hope and pray that there will come a time when our two people will leave peacefully and respectfully with each other again. People like you extinguish the fire that is in every Armenians heart, the fire of hatred and injustice.
Thank you,
Hovig
Elif Shafak Performs at The Moth: PEN World Voices
Elif Shafak tells a story on the them “What Went Wrong?” at The Moth at PEN World Voices, part of the 2011 PEN World Voices Festival.
&nbs...
May 10, 2011
by Rafia Zakaria
Motherhood is often imagined as a natural state for women, a return to some authentic self that is believed to lie at the core of every woman. In patriarchal ...
