We Are Thunder (and we won't keep quiet): Writing Muslim voices in YA

Join writers Muhammad Khan and Mariam Khan in conversation with BAME in Publishing’s Sarah Shaffi as they celebrate the launch of Muhammad Khan’s debut I Am Thunder, and discuss the representation of young Muslims in YA, as well as in British popular culture today.

Muhammad Khan is an engineer and secondary-school maths teacher, whose writing is inspired by the children he teaches, and is intended to speak to those Muslim students ‘who were feeling unloved and afraid by the rise of the far right across the world.’ Muzna,the fifteen year old protagonist of I am Thunder, dreams of being a writer. She deals not only with the usual teenage angst, but also racism and Islamophobia. When she attracts the attentions of the charismatic Arif, he and his brother Jameel lead her down the dark path of radicalisation. I Am Thunder is a fierce, big-hearted and powerful call for hope and standing up for what you believe in.

Mariam Khan is a social-media activist, blogger at helloiammariam.com and a writer. She is the editor of a collection of essays (forthcoming from Picador in late 2019) about the experiences of Muslim women, set to challenge Western views that Muslim women don't speak.

All tickets include a soft-drink or a glass of wine.
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