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Hafsah Faizal

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Hafsah Faizal
Faizal at the 2019 Texas Book Festival
Faizal at the 2019 Texas Book Festival
Born1993 (age 30–31)
Florida, U.S.
OccupationNovelist, designer, business owner
LanguageEnglish
GenreYoung adult fiction
Years active2013–present
Notable worksWe Hunt the Flame
Website
hafsahfaizal.com

Hafsah Faizal is an American author of young adult novels, best known for her New York Times best-selling fantasy novel We Hunt the Flame.

Personal life

Faizal was born in Florida and grew up in California.[1] She is of Sri Lankan and Arab descent and is an American Muslim.[1][2] Her parents are both Muslim Sri Lankan immigrants.[3] Faizal is the oldest of four children and has two sisters, Asma and Azraa.[4][3]

She was homeschooled starting at age 13, the same age when she first started building her design skills, which ultimately turned into her founding her own web design company, IceyDesigns, at 17.[5][6][7][8]

She wrote her first novel at 17.[1] Aside from writing, she also has been running a book blog called IceyBooks since September 2010.[1][6]

Faizal names fellow young adult novelists Leigh Bardugo, Roshani Chokshi, and Renée Ahdieh as some of her major literary influences and describes Graceling by Kristin Cashore as the book that made her fall in love with reading.[1][9]

She lives in Texas.[10]

Career

Faizal self-published her first book, a young adult science fiction novel called Unbreathable, set in a distant future where Earth was destroyed and humanity settled on a new planet devastated by food shortages and oxygen scarcity, under the pen name Hafsah Laziaf in October 2013.[6][11] Faizal says that her background in design influences her writing to the degree that she considers to be a very visual writer.[8]

We Hunt the Flame

Faizal wrote four other manuscripts before starting the first draft of We Hunt the Flame.[8]

She found her literary agent through the twitter book pitch contest #DVPit, finishing up the first draft of what would ultimately become We Hunt the Flame just before the contest started.[1]

Inspired by ancient Arabia, the novel tells the story of a hunter who disguises herself as a man in order to travel into a dangerous forest and restore magic to her people.[10] Faizal set the story in a world reminiscent of ancient Arabia, avoiding ties to South Asian cultures that she states are often wrongfully entwined with stories about the Middle East.[10] She first got the idea to write the novel at 17, when she first came into contact with the young adult novel scene, due to being a book blogger.[10] Faizal was inspired by The Hunger Games and Lord of the Rings, asking herself the question "what if the games were set in a fantasy world?" and using that as the basis for her story.[9]

We Hunt the Flame was published by Farrar, Straus & Giroux in May 2019 and debuted on the New York Times bestseller list, at #5.[12] It debuted to favorable reviews, earning a star from Booklist,[13] School Library Journal,[14] and the Bulletin of the Center for Children's Books.[15]

It is the first of a planned duology called Sands of Arawiya, with a sequel titled We Free the Stars to be released January 19, 2021.[16]

In February 2021, it was reported that STX Television was developing a television adaptation of novel with Faizal as executive producer.[17]

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f "Q&A with Hafsah Faizal". www.publishersweekly.com. Retrieved May 22, 2019.
  2. ^ "This YA Author Wants You To Rethink Your Vision Of The Middle East". Bustle. Retrieved May 24, 2019.
  3. ^ a b Faizal, Hafsah (May 15, 2019). "Finding Yourself Through Fantasy and Culture". Tor.com. Retrieved May 24, 2019.
  4. ^ "#DVPit Faizal-Cusick". dvpit.com. Retrieved May 24, 2019.
  5. ^ Cuadrado, Dana (May 13, 2019). "Debut Author Hafsah Faizal Shares Her Road to Publishing We Hunt the Flame". Bookish. Retrieved May 22, 2019.
  6. ^ a b c "Badass Ladies You Should Know: Hafsah Faizal". Kate Hart. Retrieved May 22, 2019.
  7. ^ "PW KidsCast: A Conversation with Hafsah Faizal". www.publishersweekly.com. Retrieved May 22, 2019.
  8. ^ a b c "Author/Designer Hafsah Faizal on Writing We Hunt the Flame". SPINE. Retrieved May 24, 2019.
  9. ^ a b Tales, Miss Blue Fairy (May 14, 2019). "Q&A! We Hunt the Flame, Hafsah Faizal". Blue Fairy Tales. Retrieved May 24, 2019.
  10. ^ a b c d Hershberger, Katy. "First Flames: An Interview Between Debut Authors Hafsah Faizal and Nafiza Azad". School Library Journal. Retrieved May 22, 2019.
  11. ^ "Books". Retrieved May 24, 2019.
  12. ^ "Young Adult Hardcover Books - Best Sellers - The New York Times". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved May 24, 2019.
  13. ^ than 200, Booklist Online: More; Librarians, 000 Book Reviews for; Groups, Book; Association, book lovers-from the trusted experts at the American Library. We Hunt the Flame, by Hafsah Faizal | Booklist Online.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
  14. ^ "We Hunt the Flame • Hafsah Faizal". Hafsah Faizal. Retrieved May 24, 2019.
  15. ^ Quealy-Gainer, Kate (March 28, 2019). "We Hunt the Flame by Hafsah Faizal (review)". Bulletin of the Center for Children's Books. 72 (8): 342–342. doi:10.1353/bcc.2019.0253. ISSN 1558-6766.
  16. ^ "We Hunt the Flame". We Hunt the Flame. February 5, 2019. Retrieved May 24, 2019.
  17. ^ Del Rosario, Alexandra (February 22, 2021). "STXtv Developing TV Adaptation Of Hafsah Faizal's YA Fantasy Adventure Novel 'We Hunt The Flame'". Deadline Hollywood. Retrieved February 22, 2021.
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