Elif Shafak- Favourite Things

Ever wondered what your favourite comedian’s favoured cheese is? Or, where your local MP goes to find peace of mind? Each week Reaction Weekend will bring you Favourite Things; interviews with interesting people about the skills, hobbies, pleasures and past times that make up who they are. 

Elif Shafak is an award-winning British-Turkish novelist, and the most widely read female author in Turkey. An advocate for women’s rights, LGBT rights and freedom of speech, Shafak is an inspiring public speaker and twice TED Global speaker.

These are a few of Elif Shafak’s favourite things…

Bookshops

No place fuels the mind and heals the soul like bookstores. When I first moved to London, more than a decade ago, it was bookshops that first made me feel at home. This is how I built my first connection not only with the city but also my adopted country. London is full of amazing bookstores, first and second hand; Daunt Bookstore in Marylebone, John Sandoe, Brick Lane Bookshop and Libreria on Hanbury Street to name a few.

When I walk into a bookshop, I prefer not to know what I am looking for, I like that sense of discovery and curiosity. I believe writers need to be two things all throughout their lives: good readers and good listeners. But novels are for everyone and they are about everything. During this lockdown, there were times when I wished we could have locked our ruling politicians in a local bookstore and not allowed them out until they had read all the novels on the shelves. It might have helped their empathy levels.

Long walks listening to podcasts

I love walking. I never learnt how to drive, and the few times that I tried ended with either me or the driving instructors in tears. I will never forget the disappointment on the face of one driving instructor as he watched me try to reverse the car into a tight parking spot on a steep cobblestoned street in Istanbul.

When I walk, I usually listen to a podcast; I have so many favourites by now, but I also like discovering random podcasts on unrelated subjects. I love walking in the parks, London is amazing in that regard. But I also like wandering around not quite knowing where I am going, just discovering the streets. I love graffiti, I collect it on my walks, taking pictures of the art and writing about it in my notebooks.

Heavy Metal

When I was a university student, I was a big heavy metal listener. As time went by everyone around me assumed this habit would fade. But it didn’t. Years later, I still am a big heavy metal listener; my all-time favourites include System of a Dawn and Metallica. I am especially fond of gothic/Viking/folk metal, symphonic metal, industrial metal and metalcore.

I always listen to this kind of music when I write my novels. It helps me to focus better, to disconnect myself from my surroundings. My children sometimes ask me to “turn that bloody music down.” But you can’t listen to heavy metal quietly, it is made to be played loudly.

Street Food Markets

Street food markets are a city’s life and soul. They boost the local economy, help producers and farmers, connect people of all backgrounds, and quietly teach us how to respect each other. I love the endless bustle, the colours, the smells, the sounds and handmade merchandise; I could spend an entire day at a market.  Buying local products, chatting with the vendors, having a bite here, a drink there; it is not about shopping or eating, it is the experience as a whole. My favourite is Borough market in London. Segregated cities are suffocating, unhappy places and cities that manage to bring people of all backgrounds together to enjoy the seemingly small things in life are much better at building and maintaining democracy.

Stationery

This one is a bit of an addiction. I adore notebooks, writing pads, scratch pads, self-stick notes…mostly from recycled paper. My desk is full of them, and I have piles of notebooks everywhere full of scribbled ideas for books. Whether it is handcrafted artisan notebooks or writing pads, for me notebooks are among the top five inventions in human history, somewhere next to the printing machine and electric light.