S.K. Ali

Sajidah "S.K." Ali[1] is a Canadian author of children's books, best known for her Asian/Pacific American Award-winning debut young adult novel Saints & Misfits, about an Arab American hijabi who grapples with getting sexually assaulted by a friend from her Mosque.[2]

S.K. Ali
BornIndia
LanguageEnglish
NationalityCanadian
EducationBA in Creative Writing
Alma materYork University
Genreyoung adult fiction
Notable worksSaint and Misfits
Notable awards2017 Asian/Pacific American Award for Young Adult Literature
Years active2017-now
Website
skalibooks.com//

Personal life

Ali was born in South India and immigrated to Canada when she was three.[3] The first language she learned in school was French.[3] She wrote her first story in seventh grade.[3]

She has a degree in Creative Writing from York University.[1] Aside from writing, Ali also works as a teacher and has written articles for the Toronto Star.[2][4] She mentions Judy Blume as one of her biggest inspirations for her writing career.[2] Ali is a practicing Muslim.[5] In January 2017, she created the hashtag #MuslimShelfSpace as a way to shine light on books by other Muslim authors.[6]

She lives with her family in Toronto.[1]

Ali is friends with fellow writers Ausma Zehanat Khan and Uzma Jalaluddin.[7] Khan told an interviewer that they considered themselves the Sisterhood of the Pen, and appreciated comments as they shared early drafts of their work.

Works

Novels

  • Saints and Misfits (Salaam Reads, 2017)
  • Love from A to Z (Salaam Reads, 2019)

Picture books

  • The Proudest Blue, co-authored with Ibtihaj Muhammad, illustrated by Hatem Aly (Little, Brown, 2019)

Short stories

  • in Hungry Hearts: 13 Tales of Food & Love (Simon Pulse, 2019)

Awards

Won

  • 2017 Asian/Pacific American Award for Young Adult Literature for Saints and Misfits[8]

Nominated

  • 2018 William C. Morris YA Debut Award for Saints and Misfits[9]

References
  1. "Serious, Official Bio & FAQs". 2018-09-11. Retrieved 2019-04-10.
  2. "2018 Morris Award Finalists: An Interview with S. K. Ali". The Hub. 2018-01-24. Retrieved 2019-04-10.
  3. "Bio". 2016-08-12. Retrieved 2019-04-10.
  4. "An Indies Introduce Q&A With S.K. Ali". the American Booksellers Association. 2017-06-13. Retrieved 2019-04-10.
  5. "Monsters, Saints and Misfits: An Interview with S.K. Ali". PRISM international. Retrieved 2019-04-10.
  6. "With #MuslimShelfSpace, Muslim authors get the spotlight". NBC News. Retrieved 2019-04-10.
  7. Nick Douglas (2018-11-28). "I'm Novelist Ausma Zehanat Khan, and This Is How I Work". Life Hacker. Archived from the original on 2019-05-02. Retrieved 2019-05-18. I also have a little writing circle. We jokingly call ourselves the Sisterhood of the Pen. (We’ve also tried out the name #blahblahplot). Uzma Jalaluddin and S. K. Ali share useful career advice, Uzma reads my work as I go along and helps me figure out what’s working and what isn’t, and we just generally enjoy each other’s company and love chatting about writing.
  8. "2017-2018 AWARDS WINNERS » Asian Pacific American Librarians Association". Asian Pacific American Librarians Association. 2018-02-11. Retrieved 2019-04-10.
  9. "William C. Morris Debut YA Award | Awards & Grants". www.ala.org. Retrieved 2019-04-10.
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