This week I spoke with renowned author and novelist Elif Shafak. Elif is an activist on women's rights, minority rights and freedom of speech. In 2017 she was chosen by Politico among the 12 people that will "give you a much needed lift of the heart”. We spoke about the power of storytelling, the language of power and the need for us to engage more emotionally with one another in the political sphere.

This is a very thoughtful, considerate and inspiring conversation, please enjoy!

Me and Reza get well into it with God. We talk about Jesus, Muhammad and Buddha and their similarities. Did the institutions that follow them behave in a comparable way? Does the divine message when it comes through get institutionalised and turned into a materialistic ideology? We speak about the effect globalisation has had on identity and the way we view ourselves and others in the world. We dig deep. There is literally no small talk. Let us know what you thought of it on social media!

Reza is an internationally renowned scholar of religion and writer whose books include the #1 New York Times Bestseller, "Zealot: The Life and Times of Jesus of Nazareth," and the International Bestseller, "No god but God: The Origins, Evolution, and Future of Islam.”