Love From A to Z

S. K. Ali is an Indian Canadian author known for her young adult novels. Beginning with her 2017 debut novel Saints and Misfits, Ali’s works of young adult fiction explore the complexities of coming of age as a Muslim individual. Saints and Misfits was named one of the year’s best teen novels by Entertainment Weekly, Kirkus Reviews, and the New York Public Library. Ali explores similar themes of identity and romance in her sophomore novel, Love From A to Z. The novel also translates Ali’s personal experiences to the realm of fiction. As she says in her Author’s Note at the end of the source text, the Islamophobia that Zayneb faces in the novel is based on the “litany of hateful incidents” Ali herself has experienced and borne witness to (337). Therefore, Ali’s own Muslim identity informs her writing, granting her the empathy to explore complex themes.

Ali’s young adult novels focus on positively representing the Muslim community but aren’t specifically tailored to Muslim audiences. Rather, Ali says in her Author’s Note that she “write[s] for all of you—those who know what it feels like and those who don’t, but want to” (338). Her diverse cast of characters and array of complex conflicts make her stories accessible to a range of readers.