Curious to discover creative ways to fit in time for your writing even with a busy schedule? How to be more kind to yourself during your writing journey? Or how to craft dual POVs in your novel? We talk about it all and more with Samira Ahmed.
Samira is the author of Love, Hate & Other Filters, Internment, and her newest novel that just released in early April – Mad, Bad & Dangerous to Know. Her poetry, essays, and short stories have appeared in anthologies including: Take the Mic, Color Outside the Lines, Ink Knows No Borders, Who Will Speak for America, This is What a Librarian Looks Like, and the forthcoming Vampires Never Get Old and A Universe of Stories.
In Samira’s episode, we discuss her childhood experience growing up in small-town America, how different groups of people are targeted throughout history, and how to safely confront racism by using our power and privilege for a purpose. We then unpack Samira’s career path from working in education to becoming a full-time writer, how she learned to construct a novel, how she discovered the inner workings of the publishing world, and what the process of finding a literary agent was like for her.
We talk about creative ways to fit in time for your writing even with a busy schedule, the importance of saying “yes” to yourself and your dreams, and why it’s crucial to be gentle with the language you use towards your writing, especially with your first draft. Further in, we chat about her newly released novel Mad, Bad, & Dangerous to Know, the inspiration behind the story, and her writing process for crafting dual POVs. And Samira wraps up our conversation with a creative assignment for our listeners that will help you make progress towards your writing goals!
Books and resources:
- Author Sona Charaipotra (Check out her 88 Cups of Tea episode right here!)
- Author Agatha Christie
- Little House on the Prairie by Lora Ingalls Wilder
- Mediabistro
- Author David Sedaris
- Author and founder of CAKE Literary Dhonielle Clayton
- Author Sandhya Menon (Check out her 88 Cups of Tea episode right here!)
- Poet Lord Byron
- Frankenstein by Marry Shelly
- Author Alexandre Dumas
- HBO’s Watchmen directed by Nicole Kassell
- Exit West by Mohsin Hamid
- Authors Claude McKay, Gwendolyn Brooks, and Langston Hughes
- Interpreter of Maladies by Jhumpa Lahiri
Check out these highlights:
- Samira’s journey to falling in love with storytelling
- Her childhood experience growing up in small-town America and how different groups of people are targeted throughout history
- She shares her advice on safely confronting racism in your day-to-day life
- We unpack her career path from working in education to becoming a full-time writer
- The steps she took to learn how to construct a novel
- How she discovered the inner workings of the publishing world
- Her experience finding and landing a literary agent
- Unique ways to fit in time for your writing even with a busy schedule
- The huge impact saying “yes” to yourself and your dreams can make
- Why it’s crucial to be gentle with the language you use towards your writing, especially with your first draft
- Samira gives us a snapshot of her newly released novel Mad, Bad, & Dangerous to Know and the inspiration behind it
- She shares her writing process for crafting dual POVs
- A creative writing assignment that will help you make progress towards your writing goals
“What power and privilege you have, use it for a purpose and let that purpose be to better the world we live in.”
Samira Ahmed
“Everyone might be saying no to you, but you have to say yes to your dreams and if your dreams change, that’s okay. There’s not an expiration date on dreaming.”
Samira Ahmed
“Say yes to your dreams even when they might seem farfetched. Build a foundation for yourself. Ground them in reality.”
Samira Ahmed
Say “Hi” to Samira:
Learn more about “Mad, Bad & Dangerous to Know”
It’s August in Paris and 17-year-old Khayyam Maquet—American, French, Indian, Muslim—is at a crossroads. This holiday with her parents should be a dream trip for the budding art historian. But her maybe-ex-boyfriend is probably ghosting her, she might have just blown her chance at getting into her dream college, and now all she really wants is to be back home in Chicago figuring out her messy life instead of brooding in the City of Light.
Two hundred years before Khayyam’s summer of discontent, Leila is struggling to survive and keep her true love hidden from the Pasha who has “gifted” her with favored status in his harem. In the present day—and with the company of a descendant of Alexandre Dumas—Khayyam begins to connect allusions to an enigmatic 19th-century Muslim woman whose path may have intersected with Alexandre Dumas, Eugène Delacroix, and Lord Byron.
Echoing across centuries, Leila and Khayyam’s lives intertwine, and as one woman’s long-forgotten life is uncovered, another’s is transformed.
Learn more about Samira Ahmed
Samira is the author of Love, Hate & Other Filters, Internment and Mad, Bad & Dangerous to Know. Her poetry, essays, and short stories have appeared in anthologies including: Take the Mic, Color Outside the Lines, Ink Knows No Borders, Who Will Speak for America, This is What a Librarian Looks Like, and the forthcoming Vampires Never Get Old and A Universe of Stories. She was born in Bombay, India, and grew up in Batavia, Illinois, in a house that smelled like fried onions, spices, and potpourri. A graduate of the University of Chicago, Samira has taught high school English in both the suburbs of Chicago and New York City, worked in education non-profits, and spent time on the road for political campaigns.
