It’s very important as an author to keep abreast of what’s coming out: trends in story creation and trends in literature. But with me, I always tend to read a book or watch a movie that’s received a lot of hype, long after the hype has died down. Hype is really tricky! It can color […]

One of the things I’ve been worried about with the Syrian crisis and everything is what if, as happened in Sweden, a refugee commits a crime or even expresses an ‘ungrateful’ sentiment. People are very fickle. And sometimes people in difficult circumstances are at the end of their patience and might not express themselves in […]

Just deleted my first hate mail/comment just now. It feels so weird to think that someone would be so irate that he’d take the time and energy to leave a hate-filled comment on a blog like mine. In a way though, I kind of see it as a bit of a triumph. What did Gandhi […]

Some times you’re so busy just trying to write the next book that you forget that your work is out there in the world. Someone might be reading it even as I’m writing this and it’s having an impact. Insha Allah it’s having an impact. It’s not like I haven’t received fan mail over the […]

“…if you forgive me ISIS.” This is a sentence I wrote to a friend of mine Brent Olsen (a former pig farmer) who writes a fabulous column called Independently Speaking. I’ve known him for decades. After reading his Christmas and New Year columns, I felt a lot more hopeful! That’s what Brent does. He can […]

I read an interesting article about the creative process recently. I’m always curious about other people’s processes, comparing them to my own, trying to imagine how they came up with an idea and then how they developed it so the story was properly executed. So I came across this article written by a person charging […]

I really wasn’t planning on blogging again about the Downsview Public Library residency, but after what happened yesterday, the last day of the residency, I simply can’t resist. I did the last two workshops with the kids yesterday. At 1 pm, we did the writing workshop. I’d begun with an imaginative scenario that the kids […]

And I’m already feeling nostalgic. I’ve come to know so many of the people, the kids, the teens, the adults, the seniors. In each program there are a few people that have really stood out! I look at the progress I’ve seen in the teenagers from the time they first started the public speaking program. […]

I had been dreading this week! Six days, non-stop. Not easy. I’m still processing it. On Monday I visited a small town outside Toronto. No Muslims in the school that I could see, only one or two brown kids! Part of me wondered if they’d cancel, considering the devastating attacks in Paris the Friday before. […]

Last week I did two out of town trips in one week! I shouldn’t be surprised that I got sick, sick, sick, as a dog! The first trip was down to Windsor, to one of my favorite schools: Al Hijra Academy. I tried something new, did a workshop on my new book with Pearson Educational […]