Shafak is married to the Turkish journalist Eyüp Can Sağlık, a former editor of the newspaper Radikal, with whom she has a daughter and a son. In 2017, Shafak came out as bisexual. Following the birth of her daughter in 2006, Shafak suffered from postnatal depression, a period she addressed in her memoir Black Milk. Awards and recognition Book awards Pinhan, The Great Rumi Award, Turkey 1998. The Gaze, Union of Turkish Writers' Best Novel Prize, 2000; and The Flea Palace, shortlisted for Independent Foreign Fiction Prize, United Kingdom 2005; Soufi, mon amour (Phébus, 2011), Prix ALEF – Mention Spéciale Littérature Etrangère; The Forty Rules of Love, nominated for 2012 International IMPAC Dublin Literary Award; Crime d'honneur (Phébus, 2013), 2013 Prix Relay des voyageurs; Honour, second place for the Prix Escapade, France 2014; The Architect's Apprentice, shortlisted for RSL Ondaatje Prize, 2015; 10 Minutes 38 Seconds in This Strange World, shortlisted for the Booker Prize, 2019; 10 Minutes 38 Seconds in This Strange World, shortlisted for Ondaatje Prize, 2020; The Island of Missing Trees, shortlisted for the Costa Book Award, 2021; Halldór Laxness International Literature Prize, 2021; The Island of Missing Trees, shortlisted for the Women's Prize for Fiction, 2022; Other recognition Maria Grazia Cutuli Award – International Journalism Prize, Italy 2006. Turkish Journalists and Writers Foundation "The Art of Coexistence Award, 2009"; Marka Conference 2010 Award; Women To Watch Award, Mediacat & Advertising Age, March 2014; Asian Women of Achievement Awards 2015: Global Empowerment Award; 2016 GTF Awards for Excellence in Promoting Gender Equality; BBC's 100 most inspiring and influential women, 2021. Bibliography NOTE: Marion Boyars Publishers Ltd was bought out by Viking in 2011. Notes References Further reading Kalpaklı, Fatma. Amitav Ghosh ile Elif Şafak’ın Romanlarında Öteki/leştirme/Us and Them Attitude in the Works of Amitav Ghosh and Elif Şafak . Konya: Çizgi Kitabevi, 2016. External links – official site – official site Elif Shafak at Curtis Brown Literary and Talent Agency Elif Shafak's Istanbul, CNN International Elif Shafak 'Read My Country', BBC Radio World Service The Strand Urdu Translations of Elif Shafak's books, Jumhoori Publications Elif Shafak: 'In Turkey, men write and women read. I want to see this change' 1971 births Living people 21st-century essayists Academics of the University of Oxford Bisexual women Bisexual novelists Exophonic writers Free speech activists Freedom of expression in Turkey French people of Turkish descent LGBT academics Turkish LGBT novelists Turkish bisexual