LONDON.- The first Caravan Award, presented by Caravan Arts, an international East-West peacebuilding arts NGO, was awarded to Elif Shafak, the award-winning novelist and most widely read female writer in Turkey, on 14 August 2017 at the historic St. Martin-in-the-Fields on London’s Trafalgar Square in front of an audience of 500 people.

The Caravan Award goes to an individual of artistic, literary, academic or religious distinction who has used the arts in exceptional ways for peacebuilding purposes. Behind the award is the belief that the arts can serve as one of the most effective mediums to enhance understanding, bring about respect, enable sharing and deepen friendship between those of different faiths and cultures. In the profound words of Elif Shafak, “In art, there is no them. The other is me.”

The Caravan award was presented to Elif Shafak because her storytelling has profoundly transcended Eastern and Western boundaries of faith and culture.

This award was a work of original art sculpted and painted by the acclaimed Egyptian artist Dr. Reda Abdel Rahman. The Caravan Award was a sculpture of a small donkey as the donkey symbolizes peace and compassion in both the Christian and Islamic traditions (i.e. the stories of Jesus & Omar Ibn El Khatab, the second Caliph, entering Jerusalem on a donkey). As Caravan highlighted in their award presentation, Elif Shafak has demonstrated that the only way forward is “in peace and with compassion”.

In addition to being an award-winning novelist, Elif Shafak is also a cultural commentator, a political scientist and one of today’s most influential public intellectuals.

An activist on women’s rights, minority rights and freedom of speech, Elif has a multidisciplinary academic background with a degree in International Relations, a Master’s degree in Gender and Women’s Studies, and a PhD in Political Science.

She writes extensively about a range of issues including global and cultural politics, the future of Europe, Turkey and the Middle East, secularism and faith. She regularly contributes to global publications such as The Financial Times, The New York Times, The New Yorker, The Guardian, and numerous others. A TED Global speaker, she is a founding member of European Council on Foreign Relations.

She writes in both Turkish and English, and has published 15 books, 10 of which are novels, including the bestselling The Bastard of Istanbul and The Forty Rules of Love. Her books have been translated into 47 languages and she has been awarded the prestigious Chevalier des Arts et des Lettres. Her latest novel Three Daughters of Eve was published in February 2017.

On 14 August, just prior to receiving the CARAVAN Award, Elif Shafak delivered a presentation titled “East, West and Global Souls.” The Caravan Award presentation and the evening with Elif Shafak was held in association with CARAVAN’s I AM exhibition, a peacebuilding exhibition that showcases the insights and experiences of Middle Eastern women as they confront issues of culture, religion and social reality in a rapidly changing world, both in the Middle East and West.

Designed to address misconceptions and challenge often-held stereotypes, the I AM exhibition, featuring 31 acclaimed contemporary women artists of Middle Eastern origin from 12 countries, is a visual celebration of the crucial role that Middle Eastern women play as guardians of peace, celebrating their strengths, and rich and diverse contributions in the enduring global quest for a more harmonious future.

I AM premiered in May 2017 at the National Gallery of Fine Arts in Amman, Jordan, under the Patronage of Her Majesty Queen Rania Al Abdullah, and was then showcased at London’s Martin-in-the-Fields in July and August 2017. It will next tour the United States through the end of 2018, premiering in early September in Washington, DC at the American University Museum.