Elif Şafak, who writes in both Turkish and English, has enjoyed huge popular success globally for her novels. She was the winner of the Union of Turkish Writers prize for The Gaze, and she is a frequent presence on the Turkish best-seller list. She has appeared on NPR and written for the New York Times, The Guardian, and The Wall Street Journal, among other publications. In May, Şafak shared a stage with Jonathan Franzen and Salman Rushdie as a PEN presenter. In short, she's a big deal (and in Turkey, a huge deal).