Turkish - Author | October 25, 1971 -
Writing is a tribute to solitude. It is choosing introversion over extroversion, lonely hours/days/weeks/years over fun and sociability.
Elif Safak
FunSolitudeWritingLonelyOver
If there is no love between the author and the story, there is no love between the reader and the story.
LoveStoryNo LoveBetweenReader
When societies go backwards and slide into authoritarianism, nationalism, and tribalism, machismo and sexism are also emboldened.
NationalismGoBackwardsSexismAlso
I love commuting between languages just like I love commuting between cultures and cities.
LoveCulturesJustLikeCommuting
The only way to learn writing is by writing. Talent, as charming as it sounds, amounts to no more than 12 per cent of the process. Work is 80 per cent. The remaining 8 per cent is 'luck' or 'zeitgeist' - in short, things that are not in our hands.
WorkTalentLuckWritingLearnWay
Politicians and leaders who see the media as 'the enemy within' divide society into two clashing cultural camps. Populist demagogues benefit from binary oppositions.
SocietyMediaEnemyTwoSeeWithin
I realized over the years if I'm writing about humor, irony, satire, I much prefer to do that in English. And if there is sorrow, melancholy, longing, I much prefer to do that in Turkish. Each language has its own strength to me, and I feel connected and attached to both Turkish and English. I dream in more than one language.
StrengthHumorMeWritingLanguage
Books change us. Books save us. I know this because it happened to me. Books saved me. So, I do believe through stories we can learn to change, we can learn to empathize and be more connected with the universe and with humanity.
ChangeMeBelieveUniverseLearn
I spent my entire childhood observing people. I still do.
ChildhoodPeopleStillObserving
When I looked at people like Goya and Pina Bausch, the message I got was just do what you're passionate about. Don't think about what other people are going to say or how they're going to receive your work. Just be your work.
WorkPeopleThinkYouSayGoing
It is tiring to be Turkish. The country is badly polarised, bitterly politicized. Every writer, journalist, poet knows that because of an article, a novel, an interview, a poem or a tweet you can be sued, put on trial, even arrested. Self-censorship is widespread.
YouCountryInterviewPoetPoem
Art and literature should help us to get out of our mental cocoons.
ArtLiteratureHelpOutMentalUs
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