Writer Elif Shafak: ”Sometimes There’s a Nagging Voice Inside that Judges What We Do.”

Why It Matters

If societies fail to shield youthful creative confidence, a generation of muted voices may diminish cultural innovation and literary diversity.

Key Takeaways

• Children worldwide share bold confidence in self‑identifying as artists.
• Teenagers, especially girls, become timid due to societal judgment pressures.
• External criticism silences creative voices, killing inner artistic garden.
• Shafak urges writers to recognize and discard the internalized nagging voice.
• Early encouragement can preserve lifelong creative confidence and artistic identity.

Summary

Writer Elif Shafak reflects on her experiences touring schools across Turkey and the Middle East, noting a striking contrast between the unbridled confidence of young children and the growing self‑doubt of teenagers. She observes that six‑ and seven‑year‑olds, regardless of nationality, readily claim the titles of poet, writer, or artist, while older students, particularly girls, retreat from public self‑expression.

The shift, she argues, stems from societal conditioning that teaches girls to monitor their appearance, tone, and behavior, fearing judgment. This external scrutiny becomes an internal “nagging voice” that suppresses creativity and erodes the inner garden of imagination. Shafak highlights how this gradual silencing is evident in classrooms where few hands rise to claim artistic identities.

A memorable anecdote features a seven‑year‑old boy, Patrick, who proudly announced he was working on his third novel during a book signing. Shafak uses his confidence to illustrate the danger of losing that childlike self‑belief. She advises emerging writers to recognize the foreign origin of self‑critical voices and to actively protect their innate chutzpah.

The broader implication is a call to educators, parents, and cultural institutions to nurture and sustain creative confidence beyond early childhood. Preserving this confidence can prevent a loss of future literary talent and ensure diverse voices continue to enrich the global cultural landscape.

Original Description

” Sometimes there’s a nagging voice inside that judges what we do.” Turkish writer Elif Shafak urges aspiring writers to protect their creativity and keep their childhood confidence alive.

Drawing on travels across the Middle East and beyond, Elif Shafak has met many readers. Including children who also identified as writers and artists, which made Shafak question why so many lose confidence in their creative processes: “We kill our own inner garden and our own creativity,” she says.

The self-criticism many face, Shafak states, is “not our voice. It’s a voice that came from outside, and we internalised it,” she says. “Be aware of that nagging voice, let us take it out and keep the inner garden alive,” she continues: “Remember the creativity, the chutzpah, the confidence that we had when we were young children.”

Elif Shafak (b. 1971, Strasbourg, France) is an award-winning British Turkish novelist, whose work has been translated into fifty-eight languages. She is a bestselling author of twenty books, thirteen of which are novels, in many countries worldwide. Shafak’s novel, 10 Minutes 38 Seconds in this Strange World, was shortlisted for the Booker Prize and the RSL Ondaatje Prize. The Island of Missing Trees was a Sunday Times bestseller and was shortlisted for the Costa Novel Award and the Women’s Prize for Fiction. There are Rivers in the Sky, which won an Edward Stanford Award for Fiction, is her latest novel. Shafak holds a PhD in political science and is a Fellow and a Vice President of the Royal Society of Literature. She was awarded the Chevalier de l’Ordre des Arts et des Lettres medal and, in 2024, was awarded the British Academy President’s Medal for ‘her excellent body of work which demonstrates an incredible intercultural range’.

Elif Shafak was interviewed by Roxanne Bagheshirin Lærkesen in London, England, June 2025.

Camera: Rasmus Quistgaard

Produced and edited by Roxanne Bagheshirin Lærkesen

Copyright: Louisiana Channel, Louisiana Museum of Modern Art, 2026

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