This book, Misfit in Love, adds to Janna’s story as she navigates new crushes, family drama, and more.Saints and Misfits-a William C. In fact, Ali’s next book and sequel to Saints and Misfits will be released on May 25 th, 2021. “You have a sounding board, and it’s especially amazing when you respect each other’s voices and you bring something else into the mix…it just becomes a much fuller project.” “Misfit in Love” by SK AliĪli has a few projects underway now-some kept under wraps for the time being, and others getting ready to launch into the world. “I’ve really, really enjoyed the collaborative process,” she says.

She worked with Aisha Saeed on Once Upon and Eid, and Olympic athlete Ibtihaj Muhammed on The Proudest Blue. “It does feel like a revival, a renaissance of sorts of Muslim creative voices,” she says.Īli has also co-written and collaborated with other Muslim creatives. But now, Ali is part of a growing community of Muslim voices looking to share their stories. Moreover, the Muslim voices that were heard usually had a negative perspective on Islam. She remarks that growing up, she saw Muslims talked about on the news and in media, but rarely by Muslim voices. “This Muslim community, but also other minority writers…people are there to empathize and sympathize and boost each other.” “I don’t know if I’d have kept writing if I didn’t have this community,” she says. For Ali, that place is a community of writers. Her characters navigate school, family, relationships and religion, finding their places in the world. Building a communityĪli writes about community, among other things. So for her next novel, Love from A to Z Ali focused on the positive, hoping to allow young readers to see themselves in her story, and to relate to the positive experiences of her characters in a Muslim community. But I noticed that young readers really wanted those stories rooted in their own Muslim backgrounds.” “For white readers and dominant groups, they see the stories that just let them be, and feel comfortable with the way they live their lives. “We as Muslims never had our foundational books,” Ali explains. Saints and Misfits quickly garnered widespread praise, earning its place on a dozen reading lists, grants, and awards around the country.īut following this successful debut, Ali decided to look at topics outside of intra-community ones for her next book, citing a certain “fatigue” of heavy literary topics within marginalized communities. This debut novel followed the story of Janna Yusuf, a teenaged Muslim girl living in the United States, navigating crushes, expectations, religion, and an attempted sexual assault by a well-known and respected boy in her community.

Sk ali saints and misfits