Two of today’s most vital and highly regarded writers, together for the first time. 2023 saw author Sarah Bernstein named a Granta Best Young British Novelist and Booker shortlisted for Study for Obedience, the story of an unnamed Jewish woman’s move to the remote, unspecified country of her ancestors. And ahead of her highly anticipated 13th novel later this year, internationally bestselling The Island of Missing Trees author Elif Shafak, herself a 2019 Booker nominee and Blackwell’s Book of the Year winner with 10 Minutes 38 Seconds in This Strange World, returns to the festival.