Elif Shafak | The Books That Made Me
Sun 26 Apr 2026 | 6:00pm - 7:00pm
Go All In to the books that have inspired the life and works of Festival Honorary Patron Elif Shafak and find out which books have influenced and engaged one of our greatest international writers. A British-Turkish novelist and storyteller, Elif is also an advocate for women’s rights, LGBTQ+ rights, and freedom of expression. Her latest novel There Are Rivers in the Sky spans centuries and continents, and was shortlisted for the 2025 Orwell Prize for Political Fiction.
Chaired by broadcaster, editor and radio host Georgina Godwin.
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PLEASE NOTE: We have now sold out of tickets for this event, but there are still tickets available to buy from the Arts Theatre Cambridge, who we’re pleased to be working with for the event.
Venue: Arts Theatre Cambridge
Duration: 1 hour
Proudly supporting the National Year of Reading
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Author Biography
Elif Shafak is an award-winning British-Turkish novelist and storyteller. She has published 21 books, 13 of which are novels and her books have been translated into almost 60 languages. The Island of Missing Trees was a finalist for the Costa Award, British Book Awards, RSL Ondaatje Prize and Women’s Prize for Fiction and was a Reese Witherspoon Book Club Pick. 10 Minutes 38 Seconds in this Strange World was shortlisted for the Booker Prize and RSL Ondaatje Prize; and was Blackwell’s Book of the Year. The Forty Rules of Love was chosen by BBC among the 100 Novels that Shaped Our World. The Architect’s Apprentice was chosen for The Queen’s Reading Room. There are Rivers in the Sky won the Edward Stanford Travel Writing Award 2025 and was a finalist for the Prix Fémina Étranger and The Orwell Prize for Political Fiction.
Chair Biography
Georgina Godwin is a freelance broadcaster, Books Editor for Monocle Radio and host of flagship literary show Meet the Writers, and the geopolitics current affairs programme The Globalist. She is the also the host of Visionary, a series for Hear East, the innovation and technology campus in East London, spotlighting the people shaping the world to come. She chairs book events worldwide and is a regular on stage at Hay, Cheltenham, Adelaide, Jaipur, Georgetown University and Charleston, South Carolina. She is on the board of English PEN and an Honorary Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature. She has judged the Bailie Gifford Prize for Non-Fiction, The Caine Prize for African Writing, the Ockham New Zealand Book Prize and the British Book Awards. She lives in London.
