Writer Elif Shafak: Advice to the Young

Why It Matters

Cultivating children’s innate artistic confidence prevents the loss of future creative talent, directly influencing cultural and economic vitality in the literary sector.

Key Takeaways

• Children worldwide share confidence and artistic self‑identification from early ages
• Teenage girls lose confidence due to societal expectations and gender policing
• Encouraging young writers means silencing the external nagging critic
• Maintain childhood chutzpah by protecting the inner creative garden
• Role models like Elif Shafak inspire confidence through personal storytelling

Summary

Elif Shafak reflects on her experiences speaking to children across Turkey and the Middle East, noting a striking uniformity in confidence and self‑identification as artists among six‑ and seven‑year‑olds, regardless of cultural background. She contrasts this with the stark drop in self‑esteem she observes in teenagers, especially girls, who become hesitant to claim artistic identities.

The author attributes the teenage shift to societal conditioning: girls are taught to monitor their appearance, tone, and behavior, internalizing a judgmental voice that stifles creativity. Shafak emphasizes that this external nagging becomes an internal barrier, eroding the innate chutzpah children naturally possess.

A memorable anecdote features a seven‑year‑old boy, Patrick, at a UK festival who proudly announced he was working on his third novel, embodying the fearless self‑identification Shafak champions. She urges young writers to recognize and silence that critical inner voice, preserving the “inner garden” of imagination.

The broader implication is clear: educators, parents, and cultural institutions must nurture and protect youthful confidence, allowing it to mature rather than diminish. By doing so, they safeguard the next generation of writers and artists, ensuring diverse, vibrant contributions to global literature.

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

Louisiana Channel is supported by Den A.P. Møllerske Støttefond

Subscribe to our channel for more videos on literature: https://www.youtube.com/thelouisianachannel

FOLLOW US HERE:

Website: http://channel.louisiana.dk

Instagram: http://www.instagram.com/louisianachannel

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/LouisianaChannel