International bestselling author Elif Shafak talked to Sophie Derkzen about her new novel There Are Rivers in the Sky. A conversation about how water remembers, and people forget. How we are connected to the past and what we can learn from those who have gone before us. Naaz, singer-songwriter and great admirer of Elif Shafak, paid tribute to her, acccompanied on piano by Willem 't Hart.

The conversation with Elif Shafak will be in English.

Elif Shafak is an award-winning Turkish-British bestselling author and important critical voice in world literature with a vast body of novels, essays and nonfiction. Her books, written in Turkish and English, have been published in 55 languages and nominated for major literary awards. Her oeuvre is praised for how she blends Eastern and Western narrative traditions into fiction that is at once local and global. In her books, she denounces religious fanaticism and xenophobia. She has a special interest in feminism, Sufism, Ottoman culture and the city of Istanbul. Well-read titles include The Bastard of Istanbul (2006), The Forty Rules of Love (2011), Black Milk: On Writing, Motherhood and the Harem Within (2012), The House of the Four Winds (2013) and The Three Daughters of Eva (2017). In 2024 she published her novel There Are Rivers in the Sky, set on the shores of the Tigris and the Thames.

Naaz is an artist, singer-songwriter, producer and director. In 2017, Naaz shot to fame with tracks like Words and Up to Something, both now accounting for millions of streams. She released her debut EP Bits of Naaz in 2018, followed by the EP The Beautiful Struggle in 2019. In 2023, her debut album Never Have I Ever, was met with rave reviews. The record highlights her versatility with layered songwriting. Naaz makes contemporary, minimalist pop in which she uses Arabic influences and natural ambient sounds to deliver a sound that is very much her own and authentic. Naaz is currently working on new music, with releases of new songs in the next few months, and a new album scheduled for release autumn 2025! She is one of the four permanent club members of VPRO's Club Lees.

Willem 't Hart is a keyboard player, pianist and producer from Rotterdam. He grew up in a musical family, studied at the Utrechts Conservatorium and completed his education cum laude at the conservatoire (Codarts) in Rotterdam. As a keyboard player, Willem played with well-known artists such as Gregory Porter, Iris Hond and Naaz. Besides music, Willem also has a successful career in the fashion world. There, he worked with designers from top brands such as Prada, Dior and Gucci. In 2020, he decided to focus entirely on his passion for music, which resulted in the release of several EPs with a fine mix of electronica, pop and jazz.

Sophie Derkzen is a journalist and presenter with a fascination for international politics and culture. On Dutch national broadcaster NPO Radio 1 she presents Bureau Buitenland for VPRO, awarded the prestigious Silver Reiss Microphone for best radio programme of the year in 2022. She made the podcasts Stad in Oorlog: Charkiv een jaar onder vuur (City at War: Kharkiv one year under fire; winner Silver Reiss Microphone 2023) and Generatie Merkel (4**** in de Volkskrant).She previously wrote for major Dutch publications and was a guest editor at the German newspaper Die Zeit.

Elif Shafak - There are rivers in the sky was curated for Writers Unlimited Festival 2025 by Ilonka Reintjens.