talks^ 12-18 Aug 2017^ guide^38
Elif Shafak London
In 2006, Elif Shafak, one of
Turkey’s best-known novelists,
was sued in her home country for
“insulting Turkishness”, after a
character in her book The Bastard
of Istanbul referenced the
Armenian genocide. The charges
were dropped, but nowadays she
might not have been so lucky.
Now based in London, the writer
spends as much time musing on
the democratic crisis in Turkey,
standing up for female and LGBT
Turks’ rights and decrying theThe novelist seems to spend as much time decrying
Turkish democracy as she does plotting her storiesIn the past, the cameras
have told Judy Murray’s
story for her – now the
narrative is in her handsexcesses of Erdoğan as she does
plotting her stories. Living here
hasn’t imbued Shafak with the
stereotypical British reserve that
sees people shy away from terms
like “cultural commentator” or
“public intellectual”: the author
embraces those epithets. She’ll
expand on her views, and the
motto of “building bridges,
not walls”, in a combination of
lecture and interview chaired by
Rev Dr Sam Wells. Jack Seale
St Martin-in-the-Fields, WC2,
MonJudy Murray Glasgow, Edinburgh,
St Andrews
Often, the cameras tell Judy
Murray’s story for her. Seemingly
every time Andy, the most
famous of her tennis-champ
progeny, strikes the ball, there’s
footage of her grimacing in
agitation, or pumping her fist.
Predictably, we’ve been served
a stereotype: Judy Murray The
Pushy Parent, who terrorises her
sons by being uber-competitive.
Thankfully, the narrative is now
in her hands: she’s produced
an autobiography, which forms
the basis for these appearances.
It recounts how she hatched
racket whizzes Jamie and Andy,
did a stint as Scottish National
Coach and is now overhauling
grassroots playing. Hopefully,
she’ll also revisit a titbit her ghost
writer Alexandra Heminsley
shared: the WhatsApp group in
which she and her fellow Strictly
alumni analyse the show’s fresh
conscripts. Gwendolyn Smith
Glasgow, Mon; Edinburgh, Wed;
St Andrews, FriPaul Auster at 70 Edinburgh
Paul Auster monologuing
(in his coveted raspy voice,
naturally) about his life and
work at Edinburgh international
book festival might be seen by
haters as proof of his, to pinch
the words of one reviewer,
“fascination with his own
biography”. But the Brooklyn-
based author, who’s been a cult
favourite of the international
literary scene ever since hisNew York Trilogy of novels
attracted much fawning in the
80s, has proved he’s not entirely
inward-looking. He’s never
shied away from weighing in
on global issues, having in the
past opposed the Iraq war and
denounced censorship in China,
in 2014 petitioning the Chinese
president to release Uighur
intellectual Ilham Tohti. Don’t
expect his political zeal to have
mellowed now he’s turned 70.His horror at Trump’s presidency
prompted him vouch to “speak
out as often as I can”; he revealed
in January that he’s pursuing
the leadership of free-speech
group PEN America. No doubt
his latest book 4321 will also
get a look in. It’s a veritable
tome, clocking in at 866 pages.
Considered “magisterial” by
the Man Booker judges (it’s
on the longlist for this year’s
prize), it sees one hero, Archie
Ferguson, lead four different
but simultaneous lives, starting
from his birth in Newark,
New Jersey, in 1947. GS
King’s Theatre, Montalks
Auster’s new novel, dubbed ‘magisterial’ by the
Booker judges, sees one hero live four diff erent livesMURDO MACLEOD