Announcing the New Novel by S.K. Ali

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Congrats to S.K. Ali on her Two Book Deal!

S.K. Ali’s SAINTS AND MISFITS has touched so many readers and received so much praise, including becoming a William C. Morrow finalist. Today we get to announce there’s lots more to come from @sajidahwrites!

Check out the announcement from Publishers Weekly:

Congrats S.K.!

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You can check out SAINTS AND MISFITS on Goodreads, and pre-order on Amazon, B&N, and Indiebound.

 

 

Happy Pub Day to Saints and Misfits!

Happiest of Pub Days to the phenomenal S.K. Ali, and SAINTS AND MISFITS! S.K. Ali’s debut novel is also the first young adult from Simon & Schuster’s Muslim Voices imprint Salaam Reads.

Order right now on Amazon, B&N, and Indiebound.

Saints and Misfits is an unforgettable debut novel that feels like a modern day My So-Called Life…starring a Muslim teen.

There are three kinds of people in my world:

1. Saints, those special people moving the world forward. Sometimes you glaze over them. Or, at least, I do. They’re in your face so much, you can’t see them, like how you can’t see your nose.

2. Misfits, people who don’t belong. Like me—the way I don’t fit into Dad’s brand-new family or in the leftover one composed of Mom and my older brother, Mama’s-Boy-Muhammad.

Also, there’s Jeremy and me. Misfits. Because although, alliteratively speaking, Janna and Jeremy sound good together, we don’t go together. Same planet, different worlds.

But sometimes worlds collide and beautiful things happen, right?

3. Monsters. Well, monsters wearing saint masks, like in Flannery O’Connor’s stories.

Like the monster at my mosque.

People think he’s holy, untouchable, but nobody has seen under the mask.

Except me.

Follow S.K. Ali on twitter at @sajidahwrites, and check out her piece on her quest to find an agent.

 

S.K. Ali Talks Family, Togetherness, and Ramadan at NBC News

So cool to see SAINTS AND MISFITS author S.K. Ali talking about blended families, togetherness, and Ramadan with NBC News.

“With my remarriage nine years ago, my single-parented family of three gained two appetite additions: the nuanced one of my gourmand husband and, for two to three months of the year, that of my teen stepson, Jochua, solidly rooted in good ol’ southern American fare.

Which, for him, being brought up as a Christian, includes bacon. (Thank Allah for quality halal beef bacon ready to do fill-in duty!)

You could say my son Hamza is also a meat ‘n potatoes kind of guy. Halal meat and turmeric-laced potatoes that is. My mother, an amazing cook, has nurtured his taste for good ol’ southern Indian fare.

And then my daughter, Bilqis, turned vegetarian four years ago. The kind of vegetarian who thrives on the sameness of her favorite foods, like veggie sushi rolls, with drizzled spicy sauce on top (i.e. she’ll eat it every day if she could).”

…See the full article here.

Check out SAINTS AND MISFITS (which has garnered three starred reviews!) on Goodreads, and pre-order on Amazon, B&N, and Indiebound.

Follow S.K. Ali on twitter at @sajidahwrites,

Congrats to SAINTS & MISFITS – 3 Starred Reviews!

Saints and Misfits is an unforgettable debut novel that feels like a modern day My So-Called Life…starring a Muslim teen.

There are three kinds of people in my world:

1. Saints, those special people moving the world forward. Sometimes you glaze over them. Or, at least, I do. They’re in your face so much, you can’t see them, like how you can’t see your nose.

2. Misfits, people who don’t belong. Like me—the way I don’t fit into Dad’s brand-new family or in the leftover one composed of Mom and my older brother, Mama’s-Boy-Muhammad.

Also, there’s Jeremy and me. Misfits. Because although, alliteratively speaking, Janna and Jeremy sound good together, we don’t go together. Same planet, different worlds.

But sometimes worlds collide and beautiful things happen, right?

3. Monsters. Well, monsters wearing saint masks, like in Flannery O’Connor’s stories.

Like the monster at my mosque.

People think he’s holy, untouchable, but nobody has seen under the mask.

Except me.

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Check out SAINTS AND MISFITS on Goodreads, and pre-order on Amazon, B&N, and Indiebound.

Follow S.K. Ali, @sajidahwrites,

SAITS AND MISFITS Cover Reveal

In case you missed YA Highway’s cover reveal yesterday, check out the groundbreaking SAINTS AND MISFITS!

Saints and Misfits is an unforgettable debut novel that feels like a modern day My So-Called Life…starring a Muslim teen.

How much can you tell about a person just by looking at them?

Janna Yusuf knows a lot of people can’t figure out what to make of her…an Arab Indian-American hijabi teenager who is a Flannery O’Connor obsessed book nerd, aspiring photographer, and sometime graphic novelist is not exactly easy to put into a box.

And Janna suddenly finds herself caring what people think. Or at least what a certain boy named Jeremy thinks. Not that she would ever date him—Muslim girls don’t date. Or they shouldn’t date. Or won’t? Janna is still working all this out.

While her heart might be leading her in one direction, her mind is spinning in others. She is trying to decide what kind of person she wants to be, and what it means to be a saint, a misfit, or a monster. Except she knows a monster…one who happens to be parading around as a saint…Will she be the one to call him out on it? What will people in her tightknit Muslim community think of her then?

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Pre-order SAINTS AND MISFITS on Amazon, Barnes & Noble, or IndieBound, and check it out on Goodreads.

You can follow S.K. Ali at @sajidahwrites, and check out her piece on her quest to find an agent.

Most-Anticipated #OwnVoices 2017

11 of Our Most Anticipated #OwnVoices Reads of 2017

So excited to see S.K. Ali, along with Folio Jr’s own Julie Murphy and Jenny Han on this list!

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You can follow S.K. Ali at @sajidahwrites, and check out Sajidah’s piece on her quest to find an agent.

 Pre-order SAINTS AND MISFITS on Amazon, Barnes & Noble, and Indiebound, and check it out on Goodreads.

S.K. Ali Talks with NBC News about #OwnVoices

In this interview with NBC news, S.K. Ali talks about her #MuslimShelfSpace twitter campaign, and the importance of #ownvoices authors. Her debut young adult, SAINTS AND MISFITS is coming June 13th from Salaam Reads!

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You can follow Sajidah at @sajidahwrites, and check out Sajidah’s piece on her quest to find an agent.

 Pre-order SAINTS AND MISFITS on Amazon, Barnes & Noble, and Indiebound, and check it out on Goodreads.

#MuslimShelfSpace, Most Anticipated, S.K. Ali Giveaway

2017 is going to be an amazing year for YA. I’m so excited to see S.K. Ali’s SAINTS AND MISFITS on EW’s list. And in such good company! Check out all those #ownvoices projects.

SAINTS AND MISFITS follows 15-year-old Janna Yusuf, daughter of the only divorced mother at the mosque, as she examines her faith and relationships in the wake of an assault. It will also be Salaam Reads‘s first YA novel, which is pretty darn cool.

Speaking of which, you must check out S.K. Ali’s #MuslimShelfSpace hashtag and giveaway. Here’s how it works: tweet a pic of your #MuslimShelfSpace, tagging @sajidahwrites, for a chance to win a Muslim #ownvoices book! Folks have been tweeting their bookshelves full of #ownvoices books by Muslim authors all week, and it’s wonderful.

You can follow Sajidah at @sajidahwrites, and check out Sajidah’s piece on her quest to find an agent.