Elif Shafak Books Change Lives event announced to celebrate International Women’s Day
Date Published: 8 March 2022
Book Aid International is pleased to announce that its next Books Change Lives event will be a live interview with British-Turkish novelist Elif Shafak.
Elif, who is among BBC’s 100 most inspiring and influential women in the world, will look back at a selection of the books she has written including The Architect’s Apprentice, 10 Minutes 38 Seconds in this Strange World, The Forty Rules of Love; and her latest novel The Island of Missing Trees.
The latter, described by Reese Witherspoon as ‘powerful and poignant’ and by Lemn Sissay as ‘an outstanding work of breathtaking beauty’, follows teenagers Kostas, who is Greek and Christian, and Defne, who is Turkish and Muslim, on a journey of love, trauma and renewal.
Elif Shafak will discuss her approach to writing, her own relationship with reading, and the books that have inspired her throughout her life.
The event will take place on 30 March from 6pm to 7pm, and tickets can be booked on Eventbrite: https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/live-interview-and-qa-with-elif-shafak-tickets-292245081907.
Tickets are available on a donation basis and all funds raised will support Book Aid International’s work. The charity is aiming to raise a total of £20,000 through their Books Change Lives events – enough to send 10,000 brand new books to people across the world who face the greatest barriers to reading and learning.
The charity’s Head of Communications Emma Taylor thanked Elif for taking part saying:
“We’re absolutely delighted to announce this event today, on International Women’s Day, and we extend a very warm thank you to Elif enough for her support. We’ll be sharing stories of how books can help women change their lives for the better throughout Women’s History Month, and we can’t think of a better way to end the month with this event on the 30th. I’d also like to thank players of People’s Postcode Lottery for supporting our Books Change Lives events series.’
Ends
NOTES TO EDITORS
About Book Aid International
Book Aid International is the UK’s leading international book donation and library development charity. Every year, the charity provides around one million brand new books to thousands of communities where people have very few opportunities to access books and read.
Book Aid International works with an extensive network of libraries, schools, hospitals, NGOs and other partners to ensure that the books it sends are accessible to all. The charity estimates that the books it provides are available to 24 million people every year.
In addition, Book Aid International runs projects which build the capacity of librarians and teachers to support people and communities as they access books and read. To find out more, visit bookaid.org.
About Elif Shafak
Elif Shafak is an award-winning British-Turkish novelist whose work has been translated into 55 languages. The author of 19 books, 12 of which are novels, she is a bestselling author in many countries around the world. Shafak’s novel 10 Minutes 38 Seconds in this Strange World was shortlisted for the Booker Prize and RSL Ondaatje Prize; longlisted for the Dublin Literary Award; and chosen as Blackwell’s Book of the Year. Her previous novel, The Forty Rules of Love was chosen by the BBC as one of 100 Novels That Shaped Our World. In 2021, Shafak’s The Architect’s Apprentice was chosen for the Duchess of Cornwall’s inaugural book club, The Reading Room.
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Photo (c) Oliver Hess