Contributor(s): Elif Shafak | Storytelling is an ancient and universal art at the heart of which lies the need to imagine and the ability to empathize with others. In a world beset with cultural clashes, misunderstandings and invisible ghettoes, stories keep connecting us across worlds, across words. Women have always been great storytellers in my country, and yet the written culture is still "a man's world". Why do fewer women write even though they compose the majority of fiction readers today? How can stories connect us across boundaries - be it national, religious or gender boundaries. Elif Shafak is a Turkish writer and the best-selling female novelist in Turkey. She has published novels written in Turkish as well as English, including The Bastard of Istanbul which was long listed for the Orange prize.