Elif Shafak

Manifesto reminds us of the importance of not losing hope.

For the author bell hooks, who has died aged 69, radical politics and gentleness of spirit went hand in hand.

We know that populist dictators are emboldened by each other’s atrocities, so how many more disappearances will it take before China crosses the West’s “red line”?

The attack on Salman Rushdie was not an isolated incident, but connected to the political and cultural changes we are living through.

An unexpected link to a schoolgirl killed in Afghanistan is a reminder that we are all citizens of the world.

I look out the plane window at New York covered in white. I was not expecting the snow. I have neither the right shoes nor the proper coat. This happens to me often. An immigrant, a self-imposed exile

Published between the wars, Woolf’s essay Three Guineas still has lessons for today’s conflict-ravaged world.

Also this week: Yodelling for Kafka and how water connects us all.

Theft, the Nobel Prize winner’s new novel, is full of wisdom and free of judgement.

Also this week: Sweet summer reading and why we need immigrants.