Waiting…waiting…waiting! To hear from my agent about the hajj novel. I don’t know, that last revision really took it out of me. I feel like I’ve been wrung out like a dish rag and someone’s using me to sop up a spill. In the meantime I’ve been starting a new novel–began the first chapter today. […]

My first taste of stand up was a gentle one! Alhamdu lillah. I went down to Kitchener on Sunday to do an hour of storytelling for the Lattitudes Festival. When I finished I was just chatting with the organizers and they were saying how their children’s tent is doing so much better–in terms of attendance–than […]

Now that jury deliberations are over, I think it’s safe to say that I was on my first award jury. It was for an international award called the NSK Neustadt award given by the University of Oklahoma! The prize is $25000.00 for a living writer who’s contributed to the quality of children’s literature. What a […]

So I actually took the plunge and went to Yuk Yuk’s tonight to scope out the joint, so to speak. From 7:30 till about 11:30 pm, my ears were assaulted with a barrage of, ahem, very colourful language. There were some genuinely funny jokes in there. Three to be exact. Three jokes in the whole […]

I just finished the third revision of the Hajj novel. I think it’s pretty much done–or I should say I HOPE it’s pretty much done. Won’t know till I polish it up and send it off to my agent and I hear back. But one good sign, the book made me cry when I got […]

The end is in sight. These last weeks have been insanely busy. But of all the days I was dreading, today topped the list. I had to shoot my storytelling DVD’s today. My anxiety levels have gone through the roof! It was SO outside my comfort zone–it aint funny! But alhamdu lillah, it’s done. Two storytelling […]

was an event I presented at today. Sometimes I wonder if it was wise agreeing to presentations so soon after a long trip, but I think there’s always something in the back of my mind that’s afraid I’ll never get another paid gig–that perhaps all this is too good to be true, or something, so […]

Last night we had the final keynote address from Leonard Marcus, a noted expert in children’s literature, and its history and a biographer of some of the greatest names in child lit! Started writing this post at the Hong Kong airport, and now that I’m back home, safe and sound, I can finish it. Ooh, […]

One of the biggest challenges I face is going into a venue and trying to explain the Muslim perspective to people who think completely differently. It’s never easy, and I’m not complaining, it’s just a challenge that has landed on my plate for whatever reason. I do the best I can, but it can get […]

Someone told me that Singapore is a little island of prosperity in an area of the world that is struggling, and I think I know why. For the longest while, I’ve suspected that it was vision and innovation that made America become the superpower it is. You get a sense of that here in Singapore […]