Elif Shafak is a Turkish-British novelist, essayist, public speaker, political scientist and activist.
Anastasia M. Ashman is an American author, a digital strategist, and co-founder of global personal branding startup GlobalNiche.net.
Jennifer Eaton Gökmen is an American-Turkish writer and editor. She has contributed to several magazines and newspapers, including TimeOut Istanbul. Much of her work has focused on her status as an immigrant to Turkey. She was the co-host of the documentary series Bir Yar Gelir Bizlere, and she was co-editor of Tales from the Expat Harem, both about expatriation to Turkey. In 2006, she was awarded the Daughters of Atatürk "Woman of Distinction Award".
Numan Kurtulmuş is a Turkish politician and academic who is currently the speaker of the Grand National Assembly.
Elif Batuman is an American author, academic, and journalist. She is the author of three books: a memoir, The Possessed, and the novels The Idiot, which was a finalist for the 2018 Pulitzer Prize for Fiction, and Either/Or. Batuman is a staff writer for The New Yorker.
Mihrimah Sultan was an Ottoman princess, the daughter of Ottoman Sultan Süleyman the Magnificent and his wife, Hürrem Sultan. She was the most powerful imperial princess in Ottoman history according to historian Mustafa Selaniki who described her as the greatest and most respected princess and a prominent figure in the so-called Sultanate of Women. In Europe she was known as Sultana Cameria, while in Constantinople she was known as Büyük Sultan.
Zabel Yesayan was an Armenian writer and a prominent figure in the Armenian academic and political community during the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. Zabel Yesayan's books, articles, and speeches cover a range of topics such as the Adana massacre, Armenian genocide, and commentary on the status of Armenian women. Yesayan also worked as a translator in France as well as a professor during her later years as an academic. Her novels and articles contributed to understanding the persecution of Turkish Armenians, the after effect of World War I, and women's roles and rights in the Ottoman and Armenian communities.
Şafak Pavey is a Turkish diplomat, columnist and politician. She was a member of the Turkish Grand National Assembly from the main opposition Republican People's Party (CHP) representing Istanbul Province. She is the first disabled woman ever elected to the Turkish parliament, and is a member of the United Nations Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities. In 1996, before she turned 20, her left arm and left leg were amputated after a train accident in Switzerland.
Haluk Levent is a Turkish rock music singer who helped revive the long forgotten Anatolian rock genre in the 1990s.
Bosphorus Art Project is a non-profit organization established in Arizona, USA. It was founded in 2003 by a group of Turks and Turkish students living in Arizona, USA with the goal of introducing Turkish culture, history, arts and literature to Americans and help build connections between the two countries. After a year, they incorporated the organization in 2004. From their inception onwards, the organization received support from internationally recognized Turkish actress and director Seda Egridere who was among the founders of the organization and Turkish novelist Elif Şafak who has been an official contributor from the beginning.
Serra Yılmaz is a Turkish actress. She has appeared in more than forty films since 1983. On a number of films she collaborated with Ferzan Özpetek.
The Bastard of Istanbul is a 2006 novel by Elif Shafak, written originally in English and published by Viking Adult. It was translated by Aslı Biçen into her native language Turkish under the title Baba ve Piç in March 2006, and became a bestseller.
Hande Kader was a politically active Turkish transgender woman. Kader was familiar to millions of Turks as a figurehead for the LGBT community after being photographed at the forefront of the resistance against police forces suppressing the 2015 Gay Pride event in Istanbul. In August 2016, she was reported missing by her flatmate when she failed to return home the following week. Her body was found raped, mutilated, and burnt by the roadside in the Zekeriyaköy up-market on 12 August 2016. Despite being badly mutilated, Kader's body was identified by prosthetics at the city morgue by Dengiler.
Elif Sözen-Kohl a Turkish-born banker who resides in London and in Switzerland. She is married to Peter Kohl and was the daughter-in-law of former German Chancellor Helmut Kohl.
Güneşin Kızları is a Turkish television show starring Emre Kınay, Evrim Alasya, Tolga Sarıtaş, Burcu Özberk, Hande Erçel, Berk Atan and Miray Akay. The series aired on Kanal D from June 18, 2015 to March 19, 2016.
Hüda Kaya is a Turkish journalist, writer, activist and politician of the Peoples' Democratic Party (HDP). Since June 2015 she has been member of the Turkish parliament, representing her Istanbul constituency.
The Forty Rules of Love is a novel written by the Turkish author Elif Shafak, Her interest in writing this book was influenced by the degree she received in Gender and Women’s Studies. The book was published in March 2009. It is about Maulana Jalal-Ud-Din, known as Rumi and his companion Shams Tabrizi. This book explains how Shams transformed a scholar into a Sufi (mystic) through love. More than 750,000 copies of this book were sold in Turkey and France.
10 Minutes 38 Seconds in This Strange World is a 2019 novel by Turkish writer Elif Shafak and her eleventh overall. It is a one-woman story about a sex worker in Istanbul. It was released by Viking Press in 2019.
Aslı Biçen is a Turkish novelist and translator.
The Architect's Apprentice is a 2013 historical fiction novel by Elif Shafak, set in the 16th century Ottoman Empire. Shafak originally wrote the novel in English and assisted its translation into Turkish. It follows the fictional life of Jahan, an elephant keeper to Sultan Suleiman the Magnificent who later becomes an apprentice of Mimar Sinan.
