logo
episode-header-image
Aug 2022
29m 25s

The Island of Missing Trees | Elif Shafa...

TED
About this episode
"From populist demagogues, we will learn the indispensability of democracy," says novelist Elif Shafak. "From isolationists, we will learn the need for global solidarity. And from tribalists, we will learn the beauty of cosmopolitanism." A native of Turkey, she has experienced firsthand the devastation that a loss of diversity can bring -- and she knows the revolutionary power of plurality in response to authoritarianism. In this passionate, personal talk, she reminds us that there are no binaries, in politics, emotions and our identities. After the talk, stick around to hear a conversation between Elise and Elif about her new novel, "The Island of Missing Trees," an intergenerational story about forbidden love. Elise and Elif discuss how fiction creates empathy and how to avoid "falling into the trap of tribalism," even when the world might push us that way. This episode is part of the TED Talks Daily summer book club, a series featuring talks and interviews to inspire your next great read.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Up next
Today
How AI could generate new life-forms | Eric Nguyen
If DNA is just a string of letters, could AI learn to read it … or even write it? Bioengineering researcher Eric Nguyen reveals how AI has upended the rules of biology, potentially creating a future where disease is cured with personalized medicine, extinct species are resurrecte ... Show More
13m 5s
Yesterday
TED Talks Daily Book Club: Intentional Ambition: Redefining Your Work for Greater Joy, Freedom, and Fulfillment | Rha Goddess
Rha Goddess is an entrepreneurial soul coach and author of the new book "Intentional Ambition: Redefining Your Work for Greater Joy, Freedom, and Fulfillment." In this TED Talks Daily Book Club interview with host Elise Hu, Goddess talks about moving forward after the 2020 pandem ... Show More
53m 52s
Aug 23
Why having fun is the secret to a healthier life | Catherine Price (re-release)
Have you had your daily dose of fun? It's not just enjoyable, it's also essential for your health and happiness, says science journalist Catherine Price. She proposes a new definition of fun -- what she calls "true fun" -- and shares easy, evidence-backed ways to weave playfulnes ... Show More
13m 26s
Recommended Episodes
Aug 2022
Dr. BAYO AKOMOLAFE on Coming Alive to Other Senses /300
“The fugitive is the figure of the Anthropocene, a political invitation to unlearn ‘mastery,’ to fall to the Earth, to learn how to commune with soil… In a sense, the fugitive answers the question that is hidden within the words of my Elders, when they say: ‘in order to find your ... Show More
1h 10m
Mar 2022
Margaret Atwood on Stories, Deception and the Bible
A good rule of thumb is that whatever Margaret Atwood is worried about now is likely what the rest of us will be worried about a decade from now. The rise of authoritarianism. A backlash against women’s social progress. The seductions and dangers of genetic engineering. Climate c ... Show More
1h 8m
Aug 2022
ALEXIS SHOTWELL on Resisting Purity Culture /298
This week we are joined by guest Alexis Shotwell to discuss how we might turn from the purity politics that govern many of our lives and this hurting world toward collective struggles for transformation and liberatory futurisms. Rather than forfeiting our complicity and implicati ... Show More
1h 1m
Apr 2023
The ‘Quiet Catastrophe’ Brewing in Our Social Lives
It’s impossible to deny that the U.S. has a serious loneliness problem. One 2018 report by the Kaiser Family Foundation found that 22 percent of all adults — almost 60 million Americans — said they often or always felt lonely or socially isolated. That was a full two years before ... Show More
1h 14m
Apr 2013
Elif Shafak - The Forty Rules of Love
Turkey's leading female novelist Elif Shafak discusses her novel The Forty Rules of Love. The novel is about finding love and is written in two strands. One is the friendship between a whirling dervish and the Sufi poet Rumi in 13th century Anatolia; the other is about a mother i ... Show More
27m 19s
Feb 2024
ERIC CALDERWOOD | Rethinking Al-Andalus | The afikra عفكرة podcast
We reflect on why it's difficult to put an exact date on when al-Andalus actually "ended", the brotherhood it has created between Spain and Morocco and the importance of these interconnected histories.Finally, Eric shares how music and dance led him to study al-Andalus and why he ... Show More
1h 14m
Sep 2021
VALARIE KAUR on the Ancient Call to Love /253
“What might happen if we saw a migrant child at the border as our own daughter? Or George Floyd gasping for breath as our own brother? Or Brianna as sister? Or the Asian American women slaughtered in Atlanta as our own aunties? What might happen? What would we risk? What movement ... Show More
1h 2m
Dec 2021
Timeless Wisdom for Leading a Life of Love, Friendship and Learning
“Today, we are supercompetent when it comes to efficiency, utility, speed, convenience, and getting ahead in the world; but we are at a loss concerning what it’s all for,” Leon Kass writes in his 2017 book “Leading a Worthy Life.” “This lack of cultural and moral confidence about ... Show More
1h 5m
Jan 2023
AMAL GHANDOUR | Collective Failure to Improve Our Region | Book Club
Amal Ghandour talked about her book 'This Arab Life,' where she explores common cultural and societal issues that most generations in the Arab world face.Amal Ghandour is a Lebanese-Jordanian author and blogger (Thinking Fits), with a career that spans more than three decades in ... Show More
59m 31s
Mar 2022
The stories we tell, with Elif Shafak
This week we bring you one of the most popular episodes from our archive: a conversation with Elif Shafak, the most widely read woman novelist in Turkey. She and Lilah discuss national identity, the generational pain of conflict, and writing in countries that don't have freedom o ... Show More
29m 46s