“If we only read the same type of authors all our lives, it’s like you only hear one thread, one voice.” Watch Elif Shafak, one of Turkey’s most influential writers, in this short video, where she talks about the importance of reading diverse literature. Shafak emphasizes the importance of what she describes as an eclectic reading list that goes beyond your own field, like when a neuroscientist reads poetry, and a poet reads neuroscience: “Those are the conversations, across disciplines, across cultures, that challenge us and inspire us more than only reading one particular genre all the time.” Elif Shafak (b.1971) is a Turkish-British novelist and the most widely read female author in Turkey. Among her many novels are ‘The Bastard of Istanbul’ (2006), ‘The Forty Rules of Love’ (2009), ‘Three Daughters of Eve’ (2016) and ’10 Minutes 38 Seconds in This Strange World’ (2019). Shafak is the recipient of several prestigious awards. In 2010 she was awarded the title of Chevalier dans L’Ordre des Arts et Lettres, and in 2017 she was chosen by Politico as one of the twelve people who would make the world better. She lives in London.