Welcome back to the home of the oxymoron. Evil genius. He asked the newspaper to print his obituary early so he'd enjoy it. That's like hiding at your own funeral. Yeah, it's a big, great gig. I'm Russell Kane. Join me to weigh in on whether the biggest players in history are more evil or genius. Becoming that rich, I'd say that at some level of genius. It also helps

that it's a long time ago, right? It's like the podcast version of telling your kids the ice cream

van plays music when it's out of ice cream. Listen to evil genius on BBC Sounds.

Last time free thinking spoke to my next guest in 2011, her country's economy was booming,

and headlines about it were rather overshadowed by its crisis-stricken neighbour, Greece.

That feels different now that Taxim Square protests in 2013 highlighted the gulf in politics, culture and attitudes of a fascinating

country that spans Europe and Asia. Turkey has seen massive consolidation of the power of one

man, its Prime Minister turned president, Rejeptai Erdogan, and challenges to the balance of

secularism and Islam, dictates and freedom.

What better time then to be joined by Turkey's best-selling female writer Elif Shafak

to discuss the role of storytelling and imagination in national and international quests

for understanding of our past and present.

Elif's work has been published in more than 40 countries. Her books, including

the 40 Rules of Love, and Black Milk, her memoir of motherhood and depression, reflect an interest

in building connections between Western and Eastern traditions. Elif was born in France, brought

up in Spain, but returned to Turkey in her 20s, publishing the bastard of

Istanbul in her mid-20s, a book for which she was tried in court and acquitted of insulting

Turkishness through characters in the novel, which referred to millions of Armenians, massacred

by Turks. Her latest book, The Architects Apprentice, is a story set in 16th century Istanbul,

where a stowaway arrives in the city bearing an extraordinary gift for the Sultan. The novel

covers plagues, forbidden romance, the architecture of mosques, magic, superstition and spirituality.

And it reimagines Istanbul when it was at the teeming heart of the Ottoman Empire.

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