The Emirates Airline Festival of Literature opened on February 3 in Dubai, highlighting the work of a diverse line-up of more than 160 authors. The event, which runs until February 13, presented one author who has managed to capture the essence of romance and faith in the Muslim community.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Sajidah Ali, more commonly known as S.K. Ali, is a 49-year-old Indian-Canadian author of young adult fiction novels who has also written picture books. Her most famous books include her debut novel, “Saints and Misfits<\/em>,\u2019\u2019 released in 2017, which received the Asian\/Pacific American Award for Literature, and “Love from A to Z<\/em>,\u2019\u2019 released in 2019, and which was named the Best Young Adult Book of the Year by a number of media outlets.<\/p>\n\n\n\n On Saturday, the festival featured a panel discussion moderated by Hafsa Lodi about Ali’s “Saints and Misfit<\/em>s\u2019\u2019 sequel, “Misfit in Love<\/em>.\u2019\u2019 “My first novel came out at a time when there was a big movement in North America called ‘we need diverse books,\u2019\u2019 said Ms. Ali during the panel. “Because there was this push from readers to publishers saying `We want books from all sorts of experiences,\u2019 “Saints and Misfits\u2019\u2019<\/em> came out that year.\u2019\u2019<\/p>\n\n\n\n She was pleased to see that a wide audience learned about Islam through her work. “I was very surprised that so many young people who are non-Muslims connected with my work,\u2019\u2019 she said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Ms. Ali has created the hashtag #Muslimshelfspace to encourage books written by Muslim authors. “It was a message to the industry to say, publish them, and we will buy them.\u2019\u2019 With the help of her first editor’s company, Salaam Reads by Simon & Schuster, Ms. Ali began to work on increasing the number of published Muslim authors. “It was Salaam Reads that showed the industry that, look, you make these books, people will buy them, and now every big publisher in New York, they all publish Muslim stories.\u2019\u2019<\/p>\n\n\n\n S.K. Ali’s journey did not start in literature, as she wanted to study fashion design. “I loved art and fashion a lot. I used to make my own clothes and clothes for family and friends as well,\u2019\u2019 said Ms. Ali. She changed her mind after the Gulf War broke out in 1990. “I started to get worried about the world and how everything was misrepresented about Muslims,\u2019\u2019 said Ms. Ali. She began to write articles and eventually majored in creative writing at York University. “I decided that I’d rather put my focus on something that betters the world, not that fashion doesn’t, but a bigger impact,” said Ms. Ali.<\/p>\n\n\n\n