The Prophet (peace be upon him) had encouraged Muslims to welcome this sacred ninth month of the Muslim calendar! Welcome it because during this month the doors of heaven are opened and the doors of hell are closed and all the shayateen (devils) are chained up and have no power to influence us. It is […]

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 […]

“…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 […]

Hmm. In light of that mini-speech I gave at the NCTE, I’m starting to think, hey, what’s so wrong with being on the porch? I’m feeling a little disillusioned with pop culture. Last night I was watching Toy Story 3. It’s not the first time I watched it. It’s the third time, and yeah, there […]

with all the new stuff I’ve been learning! But of course it’s been a very *uncomfortable* process. You know that feeling when you’re in the midst of the learning curve,  you’re not proficient yet, you’re still struggling… Well that’s where I am right now. And it’s funny but with this artist residency, I’m dealing with […]

Apologies for the infrequency of my blog posts. This summer has been beyond hectic! And with all the work I’ve been doing, both writing, updating websites, preparing for conferences/workshops and preparing for Artist in Library residency that started today, well…things have been crazy. And blogging has not been a priority. I’m doing a workshop at […]

I can’t recall when I first heard about that famous, or even infamous song Let it Go from the movie Frozen. I must have watched the video clip of it on youtube about five or six times, it was quite compelling. (By the way, don’t bother with the Demi Lovato version, the Idina Menzel version […]

They say that most writers are frustrated actors. I find that funny because I never wanted to pursue acting, not that it was ever a choice. Acting was considered a licentious profession in Pakistani culture and that was actually something I agreed with growing up. Besides, I never had the confidence in my looks to […]

Sometimes I feel like if I could only delve into magical elements, I could write a bestseller so easily! I think having religious restrictions can make it much harder to write an engaging story! Alice Kane is considered one of the grand dames of storytelling. She came from Ireland I think, which has an epic […]

Suhaani Raath being sung by a young Indian troubadour strumming on a guitar on the roof of our hotel in Pune…wow, pretty close to heavenly! They had the Bookaroo Pune launch dinner last night and it was smaller than the one in Delhi, had a completely different feel to it, and it came with that […]