The Diverse Bookshelf Samia Aziz

This week, I'm talking to Ishi Robinson, author of the delightful novel, Sweetness In the Skin. In this book, we meet the absolutely wonderful character of Pumpkin, a teenage girl trying to make her way in the world and be true to who she really is. The story is moving and wholesome, while tackling some darker issues including colourism, classism, abusive and absent parents, strained family relationships and so much more. Ishi Robinson is a Jamaican writer living in Berlin. Her fi...

This week on the show, I’m talking to Jassa Ahluwalia about his book and memoir, Both Not Half. Both Not Half is a poignant exploration of Jassa’s own heritage – Punjabi and English – and other forms of identity including faith, class, gender and sexuality. Jassa reminds us that we are never fractions of an identity, but always whole, in a myriad of beautiful, overlapping, confusing but empowering ways. Jassa Ahluwalia is a British actor, writer, filmmaker, and trade unionist. Born in Coventr...

On the show this week, I'm speaking with Reem Gaafar, author of the novel, A Mouthful of Salt. This book is a really stunning, powerful story of a community in the north of Sudan, struck by calamity and loss. The book opens with a devastating scene of a boy gone missing and presumed to have drown, and the panic and grief in the wake of his search. Reem explores so much in this novel, including motherhood, the power of education, othering, community structures, tribalism and so much more.&nbsp...

This episode is a special bonus episode with scholar, writer and translator, Shaimaa Abulebda, from within Rafah, in Gaza.Shaymaa’s family home in east Khan Younis brings together her 8 married siblings, and for her nieces and nephews, it is their grandparents’ house.Shaimaa has lived through the second intifada, and all the aggressions on Gaza since 2008 until this curren ongoing genocide.With dreams of getting a PhD in literature, Shaimaa looked forwad to a bright future. She was lecturing ...

On the show this week, I spoke to Nigar Alam about her stunning debut Novel, Under the Tamarind Tree, which I absolutely love. In this episode we talk all about Partition voices an d stories, Pakistan, class, identity, friendships, displacement and so much more.Author Nigar Alam was born in Karachi, Pakistan, and spent her childhood in Turkey, Nigeria, Italy, Kenya, Indonesia and the United States. She currently lives in Minnesota and teaches at Anoka-Ramsey Community College.“Under the Tamar...

On this week’s show, I’m speaking to Ela Lee, author of the debut novel, Jaded. Now, I absolutely loved Jaded. I cried several times while reading it, and found a sense of commoradory, validation and being seen that I didn’t even know was missing. Ela writes a multi-layered story of her character, Jade, who is British-Korean-Turkish. Having gone to a prestigious University, Jade is now a 20-something professional lawyer working in a law firm in London. One night, a devastating incident takes ...