The Diverse Bookshelf
Welcome to The Diverse Bookshelf. I’m Samia Aziz, celebrating the power of literature and the voices of authors and change makers from the global majority. Join me as we explore the stories that inspire, connect, and transform our world. Each week I interview an inspiring guest about a whole host of themes and issues while focusing on diverse literature.
Let’s uncover the stories that truly matter—together.
The Diverse Bookshelf
Huda Fahmy on growing up, divorce, mental health & friendship
For this week's episode, I’m super excited to be welcoming back one of my favourite guests – Huda Fahmy.
Huda is a seriously talented writer and artist, using comic style storytelling to explore wider, serious issues pertaining to identity, current affairs, faith, being a visibly Muslim person in the States, growing up and so much more. She explores these issues through comedy and in a light-hearted way, while both resonating with those experiencing them, and offering some insight to those who aren’t.
Huda is back with a hilarious and poignant follow-up book in her Huda F series, Huda F Wants to Know. In this book, Huda's life and worldview are turned upside down when her parents announce they're divorcing and Huda grapples with the change.
Huda Fahmy is ready for junior year. She’s got a plan to join all the clubs, volunteer everywhere, ace the ACTs, write the most awe-inspiring essay for her scholarship applications. Easy.
But then Mama and Baba announce the most unthinkable news: they’re getting a divorce.
Huda is devastated. She worries about what this will mean for her family, their place in the Muslim community, and her future. Her grades start tanking, she has a big fight with her best friend, and everything feels out of control. Will her life ever feel normal again? Huda F wants to know.
Huda Fahmy grew up in Dearborn, Michigan, and has loved comics since she was a kid. She attended the University of Michigan where she majored in English. She taught English to middle and high schoolers for eight years before she started writing about her experiences as a visibly Muslim woman in America and was encouraged by her older sister to turn these stories into comics. Huda, her husband, Gehad, and their children reside in Houston, Texas.