Elif Shafak is reflecting on the lonely life of a novelist.
"It's a very solitary task," says the awardwinning Turkish-British author. "You are in a tiny room for hours, days, weeks, months, so to go out into this public space to meet readers, talk to them and learn that the story written in your solitude has maybe touched their hearts that's incredibly inspiring for us." She smiles, adding: "And then you go back into your cocoon."
Elif has swapped her cocoon today for the expansive grounds of Hampton Court Palace, where she will join a host of celebrated authors among them Sir Ian Rankin, Lee Child and Kate Mosse - as well as actresses Miriam Margolyes, Helena Bonham Carter and Dame Harriet Walter for the Queen's Reading Room Festival next month.
It follows the success of last year's inaugural festival, which attracted more than 8,000 visitors from around the globe.
"The Queen genuinely loves literature and the art of storytelling," says Elif, 52, whose novel The Architect's Apprentice was one of the first books chosen by the then Duchess of Cornwall for the online book club she established in 2021.
"She loves supporting poets and writers
and honours the work, the craftsmanship and the art of storytelling." Described as Turkey's most famous female writer, Elif has made London her home for the past 14 years, living with her Turkish-born husband, who works in film and TV, and their two teenage children.
She has met the Queen on several occasions - most recently at Windsor Castle in January, when she was among a group of writers to create a tiny book for the library in Queen Mary's Dolls' House.
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