Tag: q/a

• “Seeing our ancestors in stories, especially those who made important strides, empowers us.”

• “I wanted to tell a version where [Kaikeyi’s] actions were not motivated by spur of the moment jealousy, but rather decisions based on her life experiences.”

  

• “If dark academia is meant to be about the darkness of academia…what is darker than structural or institutional racism?”

• “It has been a pleasure to craft…an embrace of warmth and acceptance around a young brown girl”

• “I hope that young queer Muslim readers understand that you’re perfect just the way you feel”

• “As a writer, I believe it’s extremely important to try and create, as much as possible, diverse stories about a community”

• “I wanted a brown kid at the center, the protagonist of her own life, abolishing the misconstructions society has of Desis and Muslims”

• “I wanted to explore Aafiyah’s denial, acceptance, and guilt…but also show that she is much more than a bad habit”

• “I honestly don’t think it’s possible for me to write a story that doesn’t have a healthy dose of family drama”

• “An Urdu phrase I loved including was ‘aaj jaane ki zidd na karo,’ which…loosely translates to: today, don’t insist on leaving”

• “Every time someone connects with Michie I feel like I’ve given a voice to this thing that no one really talks about”