Maryam Ahmad is a freelance writer. She writes about Muslim and South Asian representation in TV and film, and the intersection of politics and pop culture.
Abdel Gawad spoke to Fann about her journey writing “Between Two Moons” and the ways in which she allows her characters to have complexity beyond stereotypes.
Ashley Franklin spoke to Fann about her journey as a writer, her love of princesses and how “Beauty and the Beast” and her grandmother inspired her love of words.
The story of the Nakba has never been told on a globally accessible platform like Netflix before, and the backlash it faces fits within a pattern of Hollywood’s willful ignorance of Israel’s oppression of Palestinians.
"There was a key point when I understood the power of my writing connecting with an audience, and then that became more important to me as I realized the impact of misrepresentation, stereotypes and the erroneous narratives that were circulating in my society about people who are Muslim [like me]."
"I was one of the few [Muslim authors in young adult and middle grade] in the beginning, and now there are more and more, but you have to remember and honor those people around us. We stand on their shoulders, and so I think that's just really important to read the works of those who came before."
"There are so many aspects of Muslimness [about which] you can write a story. It's really, really challenging to let that go and to erase those different voices. When I write, I try to remember to write for little me. "
The author of the bestselling books "Amina’s Voice" and "More to the Story" sits down with Fann to discuss her upcoming book “Drawing Deena” and her love of writing for children.
"You would be surprised how many people complain to me about my books. If you want to read a book about perfect people then I don't know what you'll read because that would be boring. Nobody would do anything. There would be no story."
