Latest news with #ElifShafak
The National
28-05-2025
- General
- The National
Zadie Smith and Hanif Kureishi among 380 writers calling for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza
Zadie Smith, Elif Shafak and Hanif Kureishi are among the 380 writers and organisations from the UK and Ireland that have signed an open letter denouncing Israel's war in Gaza as genocidal and urging an immediate ceasefire. The letter begins with A Star Said Yesterday, a poem by the late Palestinian poet Hiba Abu Nada, who was killed in an Israeli airstrike in October 2023. The poem, imagining a cosmic sanctuary, is a poignant yearning for refuge and safety amidst devastation. 'The government of Israel has renewed its assault on Gaza with unrestrained brutality,' the letter reads. 'The use of the words 'genocide' or 'acts of genocide' to describe what is happening in Gaza is no longer debated by international legal experts or human rights organizations. " Amnesty International, Medecins Sans Frontieres, Human Rights Watch, the International Federation for Human Rights, the United Nations Human Rights Council and many other specialists and historians have clearly identified genocide or acts of genocide in Gaza, enacted by the Israel Defence Force and directed by the government of Israel.' Besides an immediate ceasefire, the letter calls for the unrestricted distribution of humanitarian aid in Gaza, the release of all Israeli hostages and the liberation of Palestinian prisoners held in Israeli jails. It also urges the imposition of sanctions on Israel should these demands not be met. 'Palestinians are not the abstract victims of an abstract war,' reads the letter, which was also signed by Ian McEwan, Brian Eno, Ben Okri, Kate Mosse and Irvine Welsh. 'Too often, words have been used to justify the unjustifiable, deny the undeniable, defend the indefensible. Too often, too, the right words – the ones that mattered – have been eradicated, along with those who might have written them.' 'The term 'genocide' is not a slogan. It carries legal, political and moral responsibilities.' Israel's war on Gaza has killed at least 54,084 Palestinians and injured 123,308 since October 7, 2023, the enclave's Health Ministry said on Wednesday. Israel resumed military operations in the territory on March 18 ending a two-month ceasefire. Since then, 3,924 people have been killed.
Al Arabiya
28-05-2025
- General
- Al Arabiya
Some 380 writers from UK, Ireland denounce Israel's ‘genocide' in Gaza
Nearly 380 writers from the UK and Ireland, including Zadie Smith and Ian McEwan, penned an open letter Wednesday denouncing Israel's 'genocide' in Gaza and urging a ceasefire. The letter called on 'our nations and the peoples of the world to join us in ending our collective silence and inaction in the face of horror,' they wrote in a letter published on the Medium website. 'The use of the words 'genocide' or 'acts of genocide' to describe what is happening in Gaza is no longer debated by international legal experts or human rights organizations,' the letter continued. Israel has repeatedly denied all accusations of genocide in its war on Gaza. The letter comes a day after 300 French-language writers, including Nobel Literature prize winners Annie Ernaux and Jean-Marie Gustave Le Clezio, signed a similar statement condemning 'genocide.' 'Palestinians are not the abstract victims of an abstract war. Too often, words have been used to justify the unjustifiable, deny the undeniable, defend the indefensible,' the British and Irish writers said. The writers, including novelist Elif Shafak and playwright Hanif Kureishi as well as the Scottish and Welsh writers PEN clubs, called for a ceasefire, the 'immediate distribution of food and medical aid' in Gaza and sanctions on Israel. International condemnation has grown over Israel's humanitarian aid blockade and relentless strikes after it ended a ceasefire in March and intensified military operations this month. The health ministry in Gaza said 53,977, mostly women and children, have been killed in Israel's offensive since October 2023. 'This is not only about our common humanity and all human rights; this is about our moral fitness as the writers of our time,' the writers said. On Monday over 800 UK-based legal experts, including former Supreme Court justices, wrote to Prime Minister Keir Starmer saying: 'Genocide is being perpetrated in Gaza or, at a minimum, there is a serious risk of genocide occurring. 'Serious violations of international law are being committed and are further threatened by Israel,' the lawyers said, adding the UK is 'legally obliged to take all reasonable steps within their power to prevent and punish genocide.'
The Guardian
27-05-2025
- Entertainment
- The Guardian
If Ted Talks are getting shorter, what does that say about our attention spans?
Name: Ted Talks Age: Ted started in 1984. And has Ted been talking ever since? Ted – short for Technology, Entertainment, Design – is an American-Canadian non-profit media organisation that has an annual conference … I know, and they do the inspirational online talks. Correct, under the slogan 'Ideas change everything'. Anyway, what about them? They're shorter. The talks? Than what? Than before. How much shorter? Six minutes. Says who? Says Elif Shafak. The Turkish-British novelist? Novelist, essayist, public speaker, activist. She was talking at the Hay festival, in Wales. What did she say? That when she first did a Ted Talk she was given a limit of 19 minutes, but a decade later she was told to keep it to a trim 13. Why? That's what she asked Ted. And Ted said? According to Shafak, TED said: 'Well, the world's average attention span has shrunk.' How did that make her feel? 'Really sad. We are incapable of listening to a talk for more than a few minutes.' She went on to say that it was because we are living 'in an age of hyper-information'. Too much to take in? Exactly. 'We cannot process this much information,' she continued. 'And in the long run it makes us tired, demoralised, then numb because we stop caring.' My god, sounds terminal. Is it true, that our attention spans have shrunk? A lack of long-term studies means we don't know for sure, but the public seems to think it has. Tell me more. But get on with it. A study by King's College London in 2022 found that 49% of people believe their attention spans have become shorter, 50% say they can't stop checking their phones … Young people probably. Nope. Also a struggle for the middle-aged. And 50% of people also believed – wrongly – that the average attention span for adults today is just eight seconds. Sorry, what were we talking about again? Short attention spans. Oh yes. I knew that. What about books though, are they getting shorter too? Well, interestingly, a 2015 study suggested the opposite, that they were 25% longer than they were 15 years earlier. I'm sensing there's a but coming. But the longlist for this year's International Booker includes eight books that are less than 200 pages. What about films, they're definitely getting longer, right? The short answer: no. Slightly longer answer: again, we just think they are, probably because of marketing. Studios want to incentivise people to spend money on a ticket, which they do by telling you it's big, epic and special. Hang on, so we think attention is going down but it might not be, and films are getting longer, but they're not? Very perceptive. Someone should do a Ted Talk about it. Do say: 'Can you even change everything in 13 minutes?' Don't say: 'Hurry up, you're losing the room.'
BBC News
25-05-2025
- Entertainment
- BBC News
Hay Festival: Gavin & Stacey's Ruth Jones gets award
Actress and writer Ruth Jones has been awarded this year's Hay Festival medal for drama. The Gavin and Stacey co-creator was honoured in Hay-on-Wye, Powys, where she was speaking about her new novel. War Horse author Michael Morpurgo won the fiction medal, while British-Turkish novelist Elif Shafak won the medal for prose."We are honoured to celebrate three exceptional storytellers," said Hay Festival chief executive Julie Finch, who said the three winners had "each done much to push the boundaries of contemporary writing and spread the joy of stories here and around the world". Jones, from Bridgend, writes about finding joy in unlikely connections in her new book, By Your is one of UK's best-known children's authors, writing more than150 books and serving as Children's Laureate. Shafak's most recent novel, There Are Rivers in the Sky, is the story of three lives – in Victorian London, 2014 Turkey and 2018 London – connected by a single drop of water.
Daily Mirror
09-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Daily Mirror
Jacqueline Wilson novel shortlisted for best summer title in Indie Book Awards
This Indie Book Awards has announced their shortlists across four categories, bringing together the best in book publishing for summer 2025, including a national treasure and Booker shortlisted author Awards season isn't over yet, as the book industry continues to kick into gear to celebrate the best books of the year. On May 9, The Booksellers Association announced the shortlists for this year's Indie Book Awards. This is a unique award, as it is for both authors and illustrators, and judged by independent bookshops across the United Kingdom. The category winners will be announced during Books Are My Bag's annual Independent Bookshop Week (Saturday 14th – Saturday 21st June 2025). The Indie Book Awards is a part of the year-round campaign activity of Books Are My Bag promotes the crucial role that independent bookshops play in adding economic, cultural and community value at both a local and national level. The Indie Book Awards aims to champion the best paperbacks of the summer by celebrating the best books across four categories: Fiction, Non-Fiction, Children's Fiction and Picture Book. The bumper list of shortlisted authors for 2025 includes national treasure Jacqueline Wilson and international bestselling author shortlisted for the Booker Prize, The Costa Book Award and The Woman's Prize For Fiction Elif Shafak. Ahead of the shortlist announcement, Emma Bradshaw, Head of Campaigns at the Booksellers Association, said: 'We are privileged to regularly witness the alchemy of authors and independent booksellers working in tandem to place the perfect books into the hands of exactly the right reader; it is a magical pairing of brilliant writers and expert curators.' The Adult categories judging panel consists of Charlotte Vaughan (Kenilworth Books), Tom Owen (Gay on Wye), Amber Harrison (FOLDE), Jacqui Delbaere (The Little Green Bookshop) and Tomás Kenny (Kenny's Bookshop & Art Gallery) The Children's categories judging panel consists of Amy Moorhouse (The Thoughtful Spot Children's Bookshop), Molly Murray (Seahorse Bookstore), Heather Slater (Forum Books), Trish Hennessy (Halfway Up the Stairs) and Sarah Skelton (The Book Nook Stewarton). A judging panel of independent booksellers will decide on the four category winners which will be announced on Thursday 19 June. The full Indie Book Awards 2025 shortlist Children's Finding Bear by Hannah Gold (HarperCollins Children's Books) Ghostlines by Katya Balen (Bloomsbury Children's Books) Murder for Two by Niyla Farook (Piccadilly Press) The Falling Boy by David Almond (Hodder Children's Books) Brielle and Bear: Once Upon a Time by Salomey Doku (Harper Fire) Reek by Alastair Chisholm (Barrington Stoke) Picture Book Bear by Natalia Shaloshvili (Frances Lincoln Children's Books) The Dinosaur Next Door by David Litchfield (Magic Cat Publishing) Farah Loves Mangoes by Sarthak Sinha (Flying Eye Books) The Golden Hare by Paddy Donnlley (The O'Brien Press) Invisible Dogs by Ruby Wright (Rocket Bird Books) Runaway Cone by Morag Hood (Two Hoots) Fiction James by Percival Everett (Picador) There Are Rivers in the Sky by Elif Shafak (Viking) The Heart in Winter by Kevin Barry (Canongate Books) Caledonian Road by Andrew O'Hagan (Faber) The Glassmaker by Tracy Chevalier (The Borough Press) Think Again by Jacqueline Wilson (Bantam) Non-Fiction A Bookshop of One's Own by Jane Cholmeley (Mudlark) Ingrained by Callum Robinson (Transworld) Dispersals by Jessica J. Lee (Hamish Hamilton) Reading Lessons by Carol Atherton (Fig Tree) The Garden Against Time by Olivia Laing (Picador)
