Kahlil Gibran CARAVAN Award
for Transformation through the Arts
The Kahlil Gibran CARAVAN Award goes to an individual of artistic, literary, academic, spirituality or philanthropic distinction who has used the arts in exceptional ways for transformational purposes.
The inaugural Kahlil Gibran CARAVAN Award was presented to Elif Shafak, the best-selling novelist, public intellectual, cultural commentator, who has been shortlisted for the 2019 Booker Prize, at St. Martin-in-the-Fields, Trafalgar Square in London, U.K. in August 2017.
Elif Shafak's storytelling has profoundly transcended Eastern and Western boundaries of spirituality and culture. Elif writes in both English and Turkish, and has published 21 books, 13 of which are novels, including the bestselling The Bastard of Istanbul, The Forty Rules of Love, Three Daughters of Eve and more recently, The Island of Missing Trees. As the most widely read women writer in Turkey, her books have been translated into over 50 languages and she has been awarded the prestigious Chevalier des Arts et des Lettres from France.
Novelist Elif Shafak with CARAVAN President, Paul G. Chandler
The Kahlil Gibran CARAVAN awarded to Elif Shafak was a work of original art - a donkey sculpted and painted by the noted Egyptian contemporary artist Dr. Reda Abdel Rahman. The donkey symbolizes peace in both the Middle East and West. In the Middle East, the donkey also symbolizes “compassion,” as a beast of burden most often used by the poorest of the poor. Through Elif Shafak's work, she has demonstrated that the only way forward is “in peace and with compassion."
The award is named after Kahlil Gibran, the early 20th century Lebanese-American poet, artist and mystic, and author of the bestselling book The Prophet. As a supreme East-West figure, Gibran's life and work embodies CARAVAN’s vision and mission, as he artistically focused on peace, harmony, care for the environment, and the building of bridges between diverse peoples, creeds and cultures.
