DIDIHOOD ~ Issue 63

Happy May, Didis!

Thank you to everyone who came to celebrate our fifth anniversary! We had an amazing evening with our Didihood community and look forward to what the next five years has in store! A big thanks to our venue partner Black Lab Brewing,  The Kettle for the delicious food, and Cured Catering for the candy! 

Meet the Didi: 

This month, we're featuring Uzma Jalaluddin, the bestselling author of Ayesha at Last and Hana Khan Carries On, both of which have been optioned for film, the latter by Mindy Kaling. A high school English teacher, Jalaluddin is also a contributor to the Toronto Star and The Atlantic. Her new novel, Much Ado About Nada will be published in June. She lives near Toronto with her family. 

Tell us about your journey into becoming an author. Is it something that you’ve always wanted to do? 
 
Like most writers, my interest stems from a love of reading. Growing up, I always had a book in my hand and another in my bag. I love libraries, and can get lost in a bookstore. Despite all this, while I dreamed of one day writing a book of my own, I didn’t actively pursue this as a career option until I was in my 30s. This is entirely due to a lack of knowledge about the publishing business – which is different from the craft and art of creative writing – as well as not having any mentors or role models. Thankfully, there is a lot of information online now, as well as resources for underrepresented groups, which hopefully help up-and-coming writers, so they don’t have to wait that long!
 
In both Ayesha at Last and Hana Khan Carries On, the main characters are young Muslim women growing up in Toronto. How much of your own experience was brought into writing these characters? 
 
I get asked this question all the time. The joke is that fiction writers are always asked if their stories are real, while non-fiction writers are accused of making everything up! My first two novels, as well as my latest novelMuch Ado About Nada both feature young Muslim women protagonists, and take place in Toronto. I did this deliberately, as a means of providing unique representation to a population that is rarely, if ever, given the spotlight. This is very personal to me, as I am a Muslim woman who grew up in Toronto, and while the experience of attending mosque, being part of a close-knit family, and living in the diverse suburb of Scarborough is something I share with my protagonists, they are also their own people, with their own wishes, dreams, and flaws and very different from me. It’s fascinating the way that characters emerge from a writer’s subconscious, and then take on a life of their own – or at least, that has been my experience! 

How important is representation and how has it shaped you as a novelist trying to write about these intersections of identity as you do in your books? 
 
I write stories that are meaningful to me. And since I’m a visibly Muslim, South Asian, second-generation Canadian, the aspects of life that are meaningful to me tend to revolve around issues of identity, generational trauma, navigating intersectional identity, as well as the search for belonging and, since I write romance, the search for love!
 
Have you faced any challenges entering the literary space as a South Asian Muslim woman?
 
Writing is often a long and lonely road, filled with rejections but also with joy. I’ve faced the same challenges as any writer trying to navigate a bewildering and oftentimes opaque industry. Of course, my path was likely a little unique due to my identity as a South Asian Muslim woman. For one, the lack of mentors who looked like me, or who came from a similar background, was a definite deterrent. Before I published my first novel, I could count the number of Muslim, South Asian authors I knew on one finger. It’s hard to walk a road that no one has walked before, so I make sure to celebrate every little win. Also, finding a community is very important. One of the best things about becoming a published writer has been meeting fellow writers and forging meaningful connections with other word nerds.

You have two more books coming out this year! What can readers expect?
 
I had a busy few years, and I’m so happy to share that I will have two books out in 2023! First up isMuch Ado About Nada, which publishes on June 13, 2023, and is a second-chance romance set during a massive Muslim convention in Toronto. It is also loosely inspired by Jane Austen’s Persuasion, and filled with meditations on female ambition, regret, female friendships, and how to start over. Then in late September/early October, my second novelThree Holidays And A Wedding will be published. I co-wrote this book with NYT bestselling author (and fellow Torontonian) Marissa Stapley, and the book is set in the year 2000, when Ramadan, Christmas and Hanukkah all happened at the same time. Think multi-faith holiday rom-com. I can’t wait for readers to dive into both books! They’re available for pre-order at your favourite bookseller. 
 
Amazon Studios and Kaling International are developingHana Khan Carries On as a film! Can you tell us about how this happened and what we can expect from the film adaptation?
 
Yes! This news still makes me grin. I’m a huge fan of Mindy Kaling, and absolutely love her unique and joyful take on storytelling, and admire her strong, complicated female protagonists. As for how this all came about, I have a film agent, and whenHana Khan Carries On was published, he took it out to various producers. It landed in Mindy Kaling’s hands, she loved it, and then Amazon got onboard, and they hired talented Hollywood screenwriter Sahar Jahani to write the script. As for when the film will be made, development is a long road, and all I can say is they’re working on it!  
 
Do you have any advice for younger Didis who want to pursue a career in writing?
 
Read widely. Good writing is fed by a voracious love of reading, across genres and topics. The other advice I always give to new writers is that there is no deadline to publish, no gold star for getting there before a certain age. Stephen King wrote about this in his excellent memoir/writing guide On Writing: “Life isn’t a support system for art. It’s the other way around.” Which means, essentially, that you don’t live life to make art, but rather, art results from living your life. So, finish school, find a job, travel, make friends and enemies, make memories, fall in love, break up, have children, spend time with family, and while you’re doing all that, make sure to look around and pay attention. Stories are everywhere, just waiting for your unique viewpoint!

What we're reading and watching:

Ishani Nath on this season ofIndian Matchmaking, Sima Aunty is the Aunty We Know, Not the Aunty We Need 

This conversation between Meera Sethi and Mriga Kapadiya on
Exploring South Asian Style and Contemporary Art 

Polite Society's Priya Kansara on doing her own stunts and South Asian representation​

— Roohi Sahajpal

Issue 63
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