Acclaimed British Turkish novelist Elif Shafak has been named the winner of the 2026 Helena Vaz da Silva European Award for Raising Public Awareness on Cultural Heritage, recognising her contribution to celebrating Europe’s cultural heritage through literature and storytelling.
The annual award, established in 2013 by Portugal’s Centro Nacional de Cultura in partnership with Europa Nostra and the Portuguese Press Club, honours individuals whose work has helped disseminate, defend and promote European cultural heritage.
Announcing Shafak as this year’s recipient, the award jury praised her “exceptional contribution to the preservation and celebration of Europe’s shared cultural heritage, tangible and intangible, through the power of literature”.
It said Shafak’s writing brings to life “the richness and complexity of our cultural memory and identity”, while connecting past and present and giving voice to diverse histories, traditions and perspectives. The jury also highlighted her belief in storytelling as a means of bridging divisions and fostering human rights, democracy and solidarity.
Responding to the news on Instagram, Shafak said the “beautiful surprise” had come from Portugal, which she described as “the motherland of beloved poets/authors Fernando Pessoa and Jose Saramago”.
She added: “I am very touched and honoured to learn that I have been awarded the Helena Vaz da Silva Award. This prize 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.”
One of the world’s best-known contemporary writers, Shafak has published 21 books, including 13 novels, which have been translated into 58 languages. Her works include The Forty Rules of Love, The Island of Missing Trees, 10 Minutes 38 Seconds in This Strange World and There Are Rivers in the Sky.
Shafak follows a distinguished list of previous recipients of the Helena Vaz da Silva Award, among them British historian and broadcaster Bettany Hughes, filmmaker Wim Wenders and Portuguese pianist Maria João Pires. Fellow Turkish novelist and Nobel laureate Orhan Pamuk received the award in 2014.
Shafak will formally receive the award at a ceremony at the Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation in Lisbon on 5 November 2026.
