One of the most acclaimed writers of our time, Elif Shafak, introduces her new novel, ‘There are Rivers in the Sky’—an intriguing set of stories that span centuries, continents, and cultures, all connected by a single drop of water.

Elif Shafak returns to Jewish Book Week as her latest global bestseller is published in paperback. Winner of the British Academy’s President’s Medal, Shafak’s work has been translated into 56 languages.

Following the Booker Prize-shortlisted 10 Minutes 38 Seconds in This Strange World and the Sunday Times bestseller The Island of Missing Trees, her new novel, There Are Rivers in the Sky, weaves together an ancient Mesopotamian king, a Victorian mudlark, and contemporary riverside dwellers on the Thames and Tigris—connected by the journey of a single drop of water.

This event will last approximately 1 hour, without an interval. 

About the speakers:

Elif Shafak is an award-winning British Turkish novelist whose work has been translated into fifty-five languages. The author of nineteen books, twelve of which are novels, she is a bestselling author in many countries around the world. Shafak’s latest novel, The Island of Missing Trees, was a top ten Sunday Times bestseller, a Reese Witherspoon Book Club pick and was shortlisted for the Costa Novel Award and the Women’s Prize. Her previous novel 10 Minutes 38 Seconds in this Strange World was shortlisted for the Booker Prize and the RSL Ondaatje Prize; longlisted for the Dublin Literary Award; and chosen as Blackwell’s Book of the Year. She is a Vice-President of the Royal Society of Literature. Shafak was awarded the Halldór Laxness International Literature Prize for her contribution to ‘the renewal of the art of storytelling.’

Erica Wagner’s latest book is Mary and Mr Eliot: A Sort Of Love Story. She was the literary editor of the London Times for seventeen years and is a contributing writer for the New Statesman, consulting literary editor for Harper’s Bazaar and Editor-at-Large for Boundless. She is a host of the CHANEL podcast, Les Rencontres and co-host of the Boundless podcast. She is the author of Chief Engineer: Washington Roebling, The Man Who Built the Brooklyn Bridge, winner of the Eccles Centre and Hay Festival Writer’s Award; her other books are Ariel’s Gift, Seizure, Gravity and she is the editor of First Light, a celebration of the work of Alan Garner. She was made a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature in 2023.