Elif Şafak visits Sofia for award ceremony

SOFIA - Anatolia News Agency

Writer Elif Şafak’s novels are translated into various languages. She attends the gala release of the Bulgarian translation of her novel ‘İskender’ during her visit.

Turkey’s renowned writer Elif Şafak attended the award ceremony of a Bulgarian telecommunications company in the field of technological innovations over the weekend.

Addressing the country’s leading writers, politicians and journalists at the M-Tel Media Masters Award Ceremony, Şafak evaluated the power and culture of literature in the age of telecommunications.

She said she did not see a contradiction between books and new technology. “Recently, people can download a limitless number of books through their cell phones or computers. But how strong is these people’s demand and excitement for reading?”

Şafak said writing a novel meant loneliness. She also said, “The university of life never gives a diploma. Life is an institute that does not give a diploma, because it teaches you new things every day. What is important is to take lessons from each other in this learning process.” 

Following her novels “Aşk” (The Forty Rules of Love) and “Baba ve Piç” (The Bastard of Istanbul), which have been translated into Bulgarian and drew great interest from Bulgarian readers, Şafak’s English novel “İskender” has also been translated into Bulgarian. She also attended the gala for her book in the country.
 
At a ceremony held at the Sofia Archaeology Museum, Şafak met her readers and autographed their books, sharing her views on literature, culture and politics. 

She said that love and politics spoke different languages. “People may be different but love is the uniting factor. We are all different, but there many things in common among us.” 

Şafak also attended a reception held by the Turkish ambassador to Bulgaria, İsmail Aramaz, in her honor.