Novelist Elif Shafak on James Baldwin’s Compassion | 'Notes on a Native Son' | Podcast

“Notes on a Native Son” is an audio series about how and why the writer James Baldwin continues to matter. We hear from people who turn to his words again and again for ideas and inspiration.

In this episode, our guest is Turkish-British writer Elif Shafak. She has published 21 books, 13 of them novels — including “The Forty Rules of Love” and her latest, “There are Rivers in the Sky” — and her work has been translated into 58 languages. Shafak is among those contemporary writers who are both lauded with awards, and deeply beloved by her readers.

Born in Strasbourg, France, to Turkish parents, Shafak’s early life was peripatetic, living in both Ankara and Istanbul for long periods of time before moving to London. She tells host Razia Iqbal that her love for Istanbul connects her to James Baldwin, who also lived there on and off during the 1960s and early 1970s.

Hosted by journalist Razia Iqbal, each episode explores a Baldwin passage chosen and beloved by her guests. Their conversations underline Baldwin's lasting power and remind us of his prescience and acuity on issues such as race, class, sexuality, power, belonging and love.

New episodes of "Notes on a Native Son" are available on-demand every Saturday in the Notes from America podcast feed: https://bit.ly/3C4TLEx

This project was made possible through partnership between Princeton University’s School of Public and International Affairs, Sea Salt & Mango Productions and WNYC Studios.

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Notes from America with Kai Wright is a live public radio show and podcast from WNYC about the unfinished business of our history and how we break its grip on our future. It airs every Sunday at 6 p.m. ET on WNYC, on-air across the country, online at wnyc.org, and available wherever you get your podcasts.

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