British-Turkish novelist and storyteller Elif Shafak wins Helena Vaz da Silva European Award 2026

Press release English – Portuguese

The acclaimed British-Turkish author Elif Shafak is the winner of the Helena Vaz da Silva European Award for Raising Public Awareness on Cultural Heritage 2026. This European recognition pays tribute to Elif Shafak’s exceptional ability to bring Europe’s rich and diverse cultural heritage to life through her captivating storytelling, while responding to the challenges of our time with a powerful call for defending democracy, promoting solidarity, embracing cosmopolitanism and celebrating cultural diversity.

 

The Helena Vaz da Silva European Award was established in 2013 by the Centro Nacional de Cultura (Portugal) in collaboration with Europa Nostra and the Portuguese Press Club, and has the support of the Ministry of Culture, Youth and Sports and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Portugal, the Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation and Tourism of Portugal.

The award ceremony will take place on 5 November at the Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation in Lisbon, Portugal.

Reacting to the announcement, Elif Shafak stated: “I am very touched and deeply honoured to learn that I have been awarded the Helena Vaz da Silva European Award. My deepest heartfelt thanks to the judges. This Award is truly special in its passionate commitment to raising public awareness on cultural and literary heritage, which has become all the more important and all the more needed in today’s fractured world.”

The Award Jury honours Elif Shafak for her exceptional contribution to the preservation and celebration of Europe’s shared cultural heritage, tangible and intangible, through the power of literature and storytelling. The Jury highlighted: “Eli Shafak’s writings bring to life the richness and complexity of our cultural memory and identity, connecting in a most imaginative way our past, present and future. By giving her unique voice to diverse histories, traditions and perspectives, Elif Shafak invites readers to discover, understand, value and care for the heritage we share. At a time of growing anxiety and polarisation, she reminds us that cultural diversity is a source of strength and beauty, and that storytelling can build bridges across many divides. She also invites each and everyone to engage in upholding the fundamental values of democracy and solidarity. The Jury is proud to honour Elif Shafak and her enduring belief in the power of storytelling to preserve memory, celebrate diversity, foster human rights and connect humanity across generations and cultures.”

About Elif Shafak

Elif Shafak is an award-winning British-Turkish novelist and storyteller. She has published 21 books, among them 13 novels, which have been translated into 58 languages.

 

“There are Rivers in the Sky” won the Prix Lorientales 2026, the Edward Stanford Award 2025 and the Prix Fragonard de Littérature Etrangère, and was a finalist for the Prix Fémina Étranger and The Orwell Prize for Political Fiction. “The Forty Rules of Love” was chosen by the BBC among the 100 Novels that Shaped Our World. “The Architect’s Apprentice” was chosen for The Queen’s Reading Room. “The Island of Missing Trees” was a finalist for the Costa Award, British Book Awards, RSL Ondaatje Prize and Women’s Prize for Fiction, and was a Reese Witherspoon Book Club Pick. “10 Minutes 38 Seconds in this Strange World” was shortlisted for the Booker Prize and RSL Ondaatje Prize, and was Blackwell’s Book of the Year. Her newest novel, “In One Brief Moment All Eternity”, will be published on 15 October 2026.

Shafak holds a PhD in political science and has taught at various universities in Türkiye, the US and the UK, including St Anne’s College and Oxford University, where she is an Honorary Fellow. She also holds an honorary Doctorate of Humane Letters from Bard College. Shafak is a Fellow and President of the Royal Society of Literature. She is a Public Humanities Fellow at the School of Advanced Studies (SAS) in recognition of her work to shape the future of Public Humanities, deepen its reach and expand its impact. An advocate for women’s rights, LGBTQ+ rights and freedom of expression, Shafak is an inspiring public speaker and two-time TED Global speaker. She has contributed to major publications around the world.

Elif Shafak has been chosen among BBC’s 100 most inspiring and influential women. In 2017, she was chosen by POLITICO as one of the twelve people “who will give you a much-needed lift of the heart”. She has judged numerous literary prizes, including The PEN Nabokov Prize, and has chaired the Wellcome Prize. Shafak is the recipient of the Halldór Laxness International Literature Prize for her contribution to “the renewal of the art of storytelling”. In 2024, she was awarded the British Academy President’s Medal for “her excellent body of work which demonstrates an incredible intercultural range”. In France, she has been elevated to the rank of Chevalier de l’Ordre des Arts et des Lettres.

 

More information

 

Award Jury

The Jury of the Helena Vaz da Silva European Award, chaired by Maria Calado, President of the Centro Nacional de Cultura, is made up of independent specialists in the fields of culture, heritage and communication from several European countries: Emílio Rui Vilar (Portugal), Senior Advisor of the Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation; Piet Jaspaert (Belgium), Vice-President of Europa Nostra; João David Nunes (Portugal), Vice-President of the Portuguese Press Club; Guilherme d’Oliveira Martins (Portugal), Consultant of the Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation; Irina Subotić (Serbia), member of Europa Nostra Serbia; and Marianne Ytterdal (Norway), Member of the Council of Europa Nostra.

Helena Vaz da Silva European Award

The Helena Vaz da Silva European Award for Raising Public Awareness on Cultural Heritage was established in 2013 by the Centro Nacional de Cultura (Portugal) in collaboration with Europa Nostra and the Portuguese Press Club.

The Award is named after the Portuguese journalist, writer, cultural and political activist Helena Vaz da Silva (1939-2002), in memory and recognition of her notable contribution to the dissemination of cultural heritage and European ideals. It is awarded annually to a European citizen whose career has been distinguished by activities of dissemination, defence and promotion of Europe’s cultural heritage, in particular through literary or musical works, reports, articles, chronicles, photographs, cartoons, documentaries, films and radio and/or television programmes.

The previous laureates of this Award were the Portuguese pianist Maria João Pires (2025); the German photographer Thomas Struth (2024); the Portuguese-Spanish-French Baritone Jorge Chaminé, President of the Centre Européen de Musique (2023); the Ukrainian conductor Oksana Lyniv (2022); the Belgian contemporary dance choreographer Anne Teresa De Keersmaeker (2021); the Portuguese poet and librarian of the Vatican Library José Tolentino Mendonça (2020); the Italian physicist Fabiola Gianotti (2019); the British historian and broadcaster Bettany Hughes (2018); the German filmmaker Wim Wenders (2017); the French editorial cartoonist Jean Plantureux, known as Plantu, and the Portuguese philosopher Eduardo Lourenço (ex aequo, 2016); the Spanish musician and conductor Jordi Savall (2015); the Turkish writer and Nobel Prize winner Orhan Pamuk (2014); and the Italian writer Claudio Magris (2013). Their speeches at the ceremonies for this Award can be watched here.