A list /analyses of Muslim authors and their works to check out before Ramadan.
The publishing industry, though in recent years has attempted to revamp their hiring and manuscript acceptance practices, has a long way to go when including minority voices. The reason for the lack of visible diversity isn’t because writers that subscribe to certain minorities are less likely to submit work due to creative differences. Instead, the publishing industry has created a standard that minority and people of color authors feel discouraged by.
In 2018, New York Times bestselling author Hafsah Faizal, tweeted, “When I first started writing, a 'friend' actually said to me: ‘no one would want to publish someone who hides their face’.” Faizal has been veiling her face since she was 11 years old, and her being a visible Muslim had previously not only affected her confidence as an author, but also prevented her from being published in France for several years despite her achievements. However, she has not allowed the negativity to affect her. Since the publication of this tweet, Faizal has hit the NYT list once more and currently holds place for the second most popular book on Barnes & Noble’s Teens & YA Best Sellers list.
Muslim authors have been marginalized to a point where we see so few, especially in the young adult space, that have been marketed loudly even after receiving monumental success. The publishing industry sees minorities as something they need to take a risk on, which should no longer be the standard.
In order to cancel this common belief, it’s imperative to raise the voices of Muslim authors. As Ramadan approaches, what better time to uplift Muslim creators?
1. Sabaa Tahir
Sabaa Tahir is the young adult author of the Ember in the Ashes series which has landed her on the NYT bestselling list for every book, as well as All My Rage which won the National Book Award in 2022. Her books contain minorities and tell stories of bravery, resistance, and resilience. She has repeatedly noted that her stories are inspired by her Pakistani Muslim background, stating that her inspiration for Ember in the Ashes came from “‘...the Kashmiri occupation and the Kashmiri boys and men who are getting taken up by the military.’” The characters in All My Rage are Muslim and extremely relatable as they work through difficult circumstances and emotions while living in an ever changing contemporary world. Tahir’s next novel Heir is set to be released in October 2024 and will be an addition to the Ember in the Ashes universe. Currently, it sits at number 23 out of 100 on B&N’s Teens & YA Best Sellers list.
2. Tahereh Mafi
Tahereh Mafi is the New York Times bestselling author best known for her Shatter Me series. She is also the author of two young adult contemporary novels, both of which explore the difficulties of being a teenage visibly Muslim girl post 9/11. A Very Large Expanse of Sea is a book about an Iranian girl named Shirin who, despite being strong willed, struggles with finding kindness at school. She falls in love with a boy named Ocean, but shortly after this is made known to the school, they both face immense backlash because she’s Muslim. The book was longlisted for the National Book Award in 2018. Her most recent series, This Woven Kingdom, is inspired by the Persian epic poem Shahnameh.
3. Hafsah Faizal
As mentioned before, Hafsah Faizal is a revered author in the Muslim and young adult community. Despite obvious obstacles, she has proven that her art lands far above critics. The Sands of Arawiya duology is heavily inspired by ancient Arabia. Zafira, a huntress who disguises herself as a man so that she can hunt and feed her people, is in turn hunted by the crown prince, Nasir, who is controlled by the sultan of their world. Faizal writes about resilience, forbidden romance, and reliance on one’s own morals in a difficult environment. Her latest book, A Tempest of Tea, was published February 20, 2024.
4. Khaled Hosseini
Khaled Hosseini is one the most well known authors, not only in the Muslim community, but in the literary world as well. He is often the New York Times bestselling go-to novelist when it comes to excellent Muslim representation, and so it’s clear he needs to be on this list. This work includes an impressive amount of well known titles including A Thousand Splendid Suns, Kite Runner, And The Mountains Echoed, and The Stationary Shop of Tehran. Although his novels are written in different moments in history, the themes and motifs continue to remain relevant today. His books have been hailed as “contemporary classics” and have even been included in school curriculums across America. Hosseini is an ambassador of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees. He also has his own foundation called the Khaled Hosseini Foundation which funds shelters, food, and healthcare in Afghanistan.
5. S.K. Ali
S.K. Ali, or Sajida, is the young adult author of several books. She is the recipient of the Asian/Pacific American Award in 2017, and her book Saints and Misfits won the APALA Honor Award and Middle East Book Honor Award. Most recently, she has edited Once Upon an Eid, a middle grade anthology of “hope and joy” just in time for Ramadan. Ali, in conversation with fellow author Nevien Shaabneh at The Courier in 2022, stated, “‘I wasn’t seeing the kind of love stories that I’d had and my friends and family had had. I was seeing that Muslim love was presented only a certain way.’” Romance in Muslim centric voices remains to be at a low, but Ali has made an effort to break that standard. Now, she is one of the loudest voices advocating for lighter, more optimistic Muslim stories. Fledgling, Ali’s upcoming young adult dystopian book, is set to be released in October 2024.
6. Shannon Chakraborty
Shannon Chakraborty, previously known as S.A. Chakraborty, is a New York Times and Sunday Times bestselling author known for her adult fantasy series titled The Daevabad Trilogy, which was inspired by the history of the Islamic world. The trilogy includes romance, explicitly Muslim characters, and Islamic folklore. Her website states that her Islamic faith and community has greatly influenced her work. She pulls in excellent world building skills as well as complex characters that have different interpretations of morality. In Chakraborty’s most recent work The Adventures of Amina al-Sirafi, the main character Amina is Muslim. She’s an immensely relatable character, too, as she grapples with being a “good” Muslim, working on repenting for her actions in the past. The book speaks about motherhood, faith, and has an adventure fit for exactly what Amina is: a pirate. Chakraborty is currently writing book two of the Amina al-Sirafi series.
7. Ahmed Saadawi
Ahmed Saadawi is best known for his novel Frankenstein in Baghdad which won The International Prize for Arabic Fiction in 2014. The book takes place in a U.S. occupied Baghdad where a Hadi, a junk dealer, stitches together a corpse with the body parts of the deceased in the war torn city. Once completed, the body gains the soul of a dead guard who has been in search of a body to inhabit. This book is a modern “take” on Frankenstein as a horror novel with satirical dry humor, but it’s also an extension of the beliefs of our current society which dehumanizes those in Muslim-led countries that have faced decades of collective punishment. This book, though published in 2013, has remained relevant for those reasons. Saadawi lives and works in Baghdad, Iraq.
8. Mohsin Hamid
Mohsin Hamid is the author of Exit West and The Last White Man. His books have been translated in 30 languages, and they speak towards issues within society including racial discrimination, discussions on where a person truly belongs pre and post immigration, and prejudice in first world countries such as England and America. The Last White Man is Kafka’s Metamorphosis meeting a post 9/11 world. Hamid has been shortlisted for the Man Booker Prize several times. He has spoken extensively on his personal identity, stating in a New York Times interview in 2007, “‘In the Pakistani context, my attitudes toward religion, to the state, to gender relations are perceptibly American. That makes me American.’ Yet when he is in the United States, he can feel quite Pakistani, he said.” His novels create conversations about belonging, which is a theme that remains relevant, and will likely stay that way as the world evolves. The Last White Man was released in August of 2022.
9. Ayad Akhtar
Ayad Akhtar is a novelist, screenwriter, and playwright, but that’s just the start. He received the Pulitzer Prize for Drama in 2013, two Tony nominations, and an Award in Literature from the American Academy of Arts and Letters, amongst several more accolades. Akhtar is best known for Disgraced, a play about a character named Amir who struggles with coming to terms with how he feels about his religion as a person living post 9/11. Akhtar has received plenty of backlash for creating such a character, but he stated in an interview with CBS News in 2015: “...no one voice can speak for American Muslims in the theater.” Homeland Elegies, a memoir/fiction hybrid which takes place after 9/11 is Akhtar’s most recognizable book. It speaks to identity, economy, and the debt Muslim citizens felt they owed to Americans following the tragedy.
As Sabaa Tahir states in a Q&A interview with The Daily Bruin, “In terms of diversity and inclusion within publishing, we have a long way to go.” The market is not oversaturated with Muslim authors and characters. There is plenty of material present, but when it comes to empowering voices, it’s never enough. There are a plethora of stories ranging from memoirs to romance to horror to humor, ready to be delved into.
Which book will you check out first?
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