Almost exactly a year ago, i opened a thread on one of the books published by this Muslim author, Dahling, if you luv me…. i came across her interview by an Islamic website, and thought i’d post it here. She’s a Muslim female Canadian author/poet/singer. i’m just posting the first part of this article, it’s too long to post in its entirety. List of her awards/published books is at the end.
Interview: Rukhsana Khan - Author, Poet Singer Extraordinaire, Mohammed Ayub Khan
Rukhsana Khan was born in Pakistan and moved to Canada when she was three. Growing up as a Muslim in Canada was difficult and she was often picked on and bullied by her classmates because of her background. To escape this trauma she turned to books.
It was Khan’s eighth grade teacher who first discovered her creative abilities and encouraged her to become a writer. Khan took the advice to heart and by the age of 16 had already written and illustrated her first book. Unfortunately, the work was rejected by a children’s book editor in New York. However, that same editor encouraged Khan to continue writing. That she did, going on to become an award-winning children’s author whose books have been published by major publishers including Scholastic, Inc.
Laced with moral themes, Khan’s books have been instant hits with both Muslim as well as non-Muslim children. In this interview with IslamOnline she talks about her writing career, Islamic themes and her latest book King of the Skies.
IslamOnline: When did you start writing and what was the motivating factor that led you towards becoming an author?
Rukhsana Khan: I first started writing when I was about fourteen years old. My English teacher told me I was a “poet” and should become an author when I grew up. The idea appealed to me because I absolutely loved books; but I didn’t think I could be one because of my cultural background.
But I began to dream of it. I thought it would be wonderful to write stories for other children, the kind of stories that I loved and cherished. So I proceeded to write a very bad novel called Carla the Gypsy Girl and a silly little picture book about a worm named Waldo.
My mother worked as a cleaning lady back then, to help feed us, and at the time she was working for an English professor from McMaster University. She told him about Waldo and he asked to see it. Before she came back to clean his house, he had sent it off to a New York publisher friend of his and I thought my dreams were coming true. Instead I received a rejection letter; a very nice rejection letter - my first.
After that I gave up on getting published for a while. But I still continued to write. I wrote songs, including a lullaby for my first child, and other poems. When my husband got involved with the masjid [mosque] newsletter I took on the children’s page. People liked my stories so much they encouraged me to get published.
The editors of the newsletter kept asking me to write for the sister’s page but I kept gravitating towards the children’s page.
About 10 years after my mother had first sent off Waldo, my husband bought me a desk. I was transferring my old files and came across the rejection letter I’d received. I realized that the lady was actually encouraging me, so I rewrote Waldo and waited for the acceptance to arrive. It didn’t. Instead I received a whole lot more rejections.
So I started studying writing. I took courses, went to conferences and seminars, and I read voraciously. People told me I’d never make it because of the way I dress - I wear hijab [headscarf]. But I didn’t give up. It took six years to get my first acceptance, although that book didn’t work out. But by eight years I had not one book accepted, but five. Then it took me another four years before I sold my sixth.
Writing and publishing is a very sporadic type of business.
One of the things that motivated me and kept me going through all the rejection was the anger I felt at Salman Rushdie. One day I fumed to my husband, “Why don’t we as Muslims write something to counter what he wrote?”
My husband said, “What’s wrong with you?”
But I thought, “I can’t do it! I’m just a housewife!”
He said, “Nobody else is [doing it].”
And I thought, “He’s right.”
[Rest of article accessible via link]
~ ~ ~
Published Works
King of the Skies, Scholastic Canada, 2001
Bedtime Ba-A-A-lk, Stoddart Kids, 1998.
The Roses in My Carpets, Holiday House, 1998.
Dahling, If You Luv Me, Would You Please, Please Smile, Stoddart Kids, 1999.
Muslim Child, Napoleon Publishing, 1999
Short stories: Fajr, Santa didn’t Come, Message International, July and December 1993
Songs: A Little Sadaqa, Thank You Allah, Born to Learn, One Big Family, Where Can My Baby Sister Be? (Sound Vision, Adam’s World Videos 5, 6, 7, 8)
Awards
The Roses in My Carpets: The Honorary Janusz Korczak International Literature Award of the Polish Section of IBBY (International Board on Books for Young People) in 1998
Dahling, If You Luv Me, Would You Please, Please Smile: Short-listed for Red Maple Award; short-listed for the Ruth Schwartz (2000) and nominated for the Manitoba Young Reader’s Choice Awards (2001)
Muslim Child: Short-listed for the 2001 Hackmatack Award. Canadian Children’s Book Centre “Our Choice”.
Other Memberships
The Storytellers School of Toronto
Storytellers of Canada
