Sarah Mughal Rana is an MPhil candidate at the University of Oxford, studying at the intersection of economic policy and human rights. Beyond the page, Sarah co-hosts the On The Write Track podcast, where she spills the tea with bestselling authors. When she’s not writing, you can find her diving into historical rabbit holes or honing her skills in traditional martial arts. Her short fiction has appeared in romance and fantasy anthologies, including My Big Fat Desi Wedding, Owl Crate’s inaugural Monsters & Masquerades, and Home Has No Borders. Sarah is the author of the YA title Hope Ablaze. Dawn of the Firebird is her debut fantasy novel for adults.
Her YA debut was selected as Librarian Mychal Threet’s debut book club pick and earned a Junior Library Guild Gold Star standard. Her work has been spotlighted by CBC Books, Book Riot, and Indigo’s “Best Books of the Year” lists.
Sarah Mughal Rana
Keynote: All My Rage meets The Poet X meets Never Have I Ever in this electric debut that combines powerful prose and verse to explore a Muslim teen finding her voice in a post-9/11 America.
Nida has always been known as Mamou Abdul-Hafeedh’s niece - the poet that will fill her uncle’s shoes after he was wrongfully incarcerated [during the war on terror]. But for Nida, her poetry letters are her heart and sharing so much of herself with a world that stereotypes her faith and her hijab is not an option.
When Nida is illegally frisked at a Democratic Senatorial candidate’s political rally, she writes a scathing poem about the politician, never expecting the letter to go viral weeks before Election Day. Nida discovers her poem has won first place in a national contest, a contest she never entered, and her quiet life is toppled. But worst of all, Nida loses her ability to write poetry. In the aftermath of her win, Nida struggles to balance the expectations of her mother, her uncle, and her vibrant Muslim community with the person she truly wants to be.
Told through alternating prose and verse sections, and with a touch of magic, Sarah Mughal Rana's Hope Ablaze is gripping, heartbreaking, often funny, and ultimately uplifting. In her unforgettable exploration of poetry, society, and self, Rana not only celebrates the Islamic faith and Pakistani culture, but simultaneously confronts racism and Islamophobia with unflinching bravery.
For fans of The Poppy War, She Who Became the Sun and The Will of the Many, a breathtaking fantasy novel about the daughter of an overthrown emperor from an exciting new voice
Khamilla Zahr-zad’s life has been built on a foundation of violence and vengeance. Every home she’s known has been destroyed by war. As the daughter of an emperor’s clan, she spent her childhood training to maintain his throne. But when her clansmen are assassinated by another rival empire, plans change. With her heavenly magic of nur, Khamilla is a weapon even enemies would wield—especially those in the magical, scholarly city of Za’skar. Hiding her identity, Khamilla joins the enemy’s army school full of jinn, magic and martial arts, risking it all to topple her adversaries, avenge her clan and reclaim their throne.
To survive, she studies under cutthroat mystic monks and battles in a series of contests to outmaneuver her fellow soldiers. She must win at all costs, even if it means embracing the darkness lurking inside her. But the more she excels, the more she is faced with history that contradicts her father’s teachings. With a war brewing among the kingdoms and a new twisted magic overtaking the land, Khamilla is torn between two impossible choices: vengeance or salvation.