Elif Shafak is one of Turkey’s most acclaimed and outspoken novelists. She was born in 1971 and is the
author of six novels, including The Forty Rules of Love, The Bastard of Istanbul, The Gaze, The Saint of
Incipient Insanities and The Flea Palace, and one work of non-fiction. She teaches at the University of
Arizona and divides her time between the US and Istanbul.