ABDUL-REHMAN MALIK VOICEOVER:

Welcome to This Being Human…I’m your host Abdul Rehman-Malik. On this podcast from the Aga Khan Museum I talk to extraordinary people from all over the world whose life, ideas and art are shaped by Muslim culture. 

NADIR NAHDI:

There's a new generation that has a very unique perspective to how they see themselves as young Muslims in the modern world. 

TANYA MUNEERA WILLIAMS:

I am this wide-eyed girl. I'm like, I want it all, I want to experience it all.

GINELLA MASSA:

Everyone has a story. Sometimes you just have to find out what it is.

ABDUL-REHMAN MALIK VOICEOVER:

Like the poem that inspires this podcast, The Guest House, by Sufi poet Jallaludin Rumi, we’re talking to people who seek meaning and joy in work and life…regardless of what the day brings. 

UZMA JALALUDDIN: 

I tell my students that, you know, I'm a writer, I've written books and, you know, my books have been optioned for film and, you know, here's the The Variety column about Mindy Kaling and Amazon Studios. And they're just like, what is even happening? I don't understand. 

ABDUL-REHMAN MALIK VOICEOVER: 

Have you ever wondered what a Jane Austen novel might be like if it was say set in a Muslim community in Toronto? 

Or what if, I dunno, someone took the Tom Hanks-Meg Ryan movie You’ve Got Mail and turned it into a story about two competing halal shops.

No? Well, I bet you’re wondering about it now. 

That’s how Uzma Jalaluddin describes her first two novels – Ayesha At Last and Hana Khan Carries On.

Uzma writes modern, funny romance novels that take place in urban Muslim communities. 

When I was young, that kind of book was almost inconceivable, but now, her novels are making waves.

The Washington Post called Hana Khan one of the best romance novels of 2021.  It’s in the running for this year’s Stephen Leacock Memorial Medal for Humour.

And last year, it was optioned for a film adaptation by Hollywood star Mindy Kaling and Amazon Studios. 

But romance writing is still a part-time job for Uzma. She continues to have a day job teaching high school. She’s also a Mom, a playwright, and she spent over 7 years writing a parenting column for the Toronto Star. She left that job in the spring to focus more of her attention on fiction. 

UZMA JALALUDDIN:

I've been a fiction writer my entire life. I was always working on short stories. I actually started working on what would become my first novel, Ayesha At Last. I started that in 2010. So when I started writing for The Star, I was already deep into working on that book and trying to see it. But writing a book is oftentimes such a solitary act. You write and create in the margins. You write and create by yourself. Whereas I think writing for a publication, especially on a regular basis, I'm in constant communication with my editors. Like, What are you writing next? When is this due? Okay, can you tweak this? Can you edit that? It's much more collaborative. And I think yeah, I think what I learned was the discipline of writing. I had a deadline every two weeks. No matter what else is happening in my life, I have to produce an essay that makes sense and is timely and is topical and is interesting and I'm funny, so I have to make it funny too. And it was like I said, it was a great experience. 

AR MALIK:

You've called Ayesha At Last a retelling of Pride and Prejudice. And your latest novel Hana Khan Carries On is inspired by You've Got Mail, which we'll talk about in just a second, which I have to say is one of my favourite films. Do you consciously or have you consciously tried to retell stories that have this kind of classic, timeless quality? Or are these kind of hooks on which you kind of place the quick, you know, TV guide/Reader's Digest version of your novels so that we have something to connect them to? 

UZMA JALALUDDIN:

So that's a great question. I started writing Ayesha At Last in 2010. And for a long time, I didn't know what I was doing, even though I'm a high school English teacher and a lifelong reader. And I've always written, whether it was, you know, personal short stories or diary entries or whatever. But I didn't know how the world of publishing worked. And as someone who is, you know, who's who's Muslim, who's South Asian, like, I didn't have a lot of people I could ask these questions to because I didn't have to have any insight into the industry. So for the longest time while I was writing, probably the first five years, I was writing blind. I didn't know how to find a literary agent, how to get into publishing. And one of the things about publishing is that it's a business. It's a commercial business. It's designed to make money. It is just like all the other businesses. It's a function of capitalism. And the way that you make money and the way that you sell books is that you have something, an idea that's very hooky, like an idea that is something that will capture readers' attention. And so for Ayesha At Last, for years, like, I mean, years, I didn't know. I didn't realize that I was writing a Pride and Prejudice retelling. So people think I did this on purpose and I didn't. I didn't know. I didn't even think to describe it in that way because for me, I was just telling -- I wanted to write a happy, optimistic love story that was also funny and entertaining and amusing about observant, practicing Muslims. And you know, the way your subconscious works, I was a teenager when I read Jane Austen for the first time. I've been a lifelong fan. I reread Pride and Prejudice all the time. I'm obsessed with the miniseries and the movies and all of that. And, being that into a story does something to your psyche. Right, like it does something to your subconscious, your creative mind. So in 2010, when I started writing what would become Ayesha At Last, it wasn't until I think 2016, this is how you know, how long it took that another writer friend of mine said, Oh, you're you know, you're writing a Pride and Prejudice retelling. And I was like, No. And then I thought about it and thought, yeah, I totally am. I have the classic Mr. Darcy. I have the classic Lizzie Bennet. I'm writing A Grumpy Sunshine. That's basically the trope in the romance genre. It makes complete sense. And in fact, at the time when I was writing was around 2016, 2017, my final push to try to, you know, get this published. This was on the cusp of what is now known as the We Need Diverse Books movement, the push for diversity and greater representation in publishing as well as in other media. And as a result of that, I thought, I was still very much of the old school where it's like, I don't know if anyone's going to give this, you know, my little Muslim romance about observant Muslims, no one's like ripping off their hijab, and no one is, there's no, like, terrorist back story. I didn't think anyone was going to give me a chance because why would they? I never saw myself represented on the page or on the screen growing up, so I thought I needed a little thing that would be like a little kind of like a breadcrumb trail. You know, like, come here, it's -- everything is safe. We're entering the woods, but it's okay, you'll be safe. There's breadcrumbs on the ground. So I decided to say. 

AR MALIK:
 I love that analogy. I love it, I love it. Don't worry. We're Muslims. We're not dangerous. 

UZMA JALALUDDIN:
 It's fine. It’s fine.

AR MALIK:
 We love. We fall in love. We fall out of love. We desire. 

UZMA JALALUDDIN:
 Exactly. 

AR MALIK:
 We engage in a comedy of manners. We're as human as you. 

UZMA JALALUDDIN:
 Right. Right. Don't worry. And my trailer breadcrumbs did not lead into the witch's gingerbread house. It led to a funny, entertaining story that became Ayesha at Last. And so I pitched it as It's Pride and Prejudice, but it's set inside a close-knit Toronto Muslim community. So it's the familiar with the unfamiliar. And I think that's the secret sauce. That's the that's the magic. 

ABDUL-REHMAN MALIK VOICEOVER:

Uzma grew up not seeing much representation of herself in art. You barely even saw Canada on TV – much less Muslims in Canada. She remembers the shock she felt when she first saw Little Mosque on the Prairie, a TV show about a Muslim community in Saskatchewan. 

UZMA JALALUDDIN:
 I have this vivid memory of sitting on the couch and watching Little Mosque on the Prairie with my husband and our two-year-old son sitting between us and my husband just turning to me and saying, "Can you believe that this is happening? Can you believe that this is an actual experience that we are alive to see?." You have these Muslim, visibly Muslim characters who don't have some kind of like political espionage or intrigue. They're just talking about their regular life. They don't have an accent, or at least not all of them have accents. I think it kind of shook me. Like this is what it feels like when you see yourself represented on the page and the screen. And I know a lot of writers and creators say this all the time, but it's shocking when you see, when you really internalizing you feel like the lack of that story and then how your worldview changes when you start to question, why haven't there been stories represented? And I think for myself, like I think, yes, it was a lack of opportunity, but it was also maybe a lack of imagination on the part of the creators. So I think that you have to question it from both a systemic lens, right, there's a reason why publishing is experiencing this upheaval and this cry for diversity. And I also think that as like now as a parent, I keep telling my kids, maybe you should be a film director. Have you ever thought about screenwriting? Do you like to write books? And they're like, No, mom, I want to be a computer engineer. So I'm very disappointed. But, you know. 

AR MALIK:
 For people who love literature and words, this is like a stake to the heart of when our children tell us they want to go into science 

UZMA JALALUDDIN:
 I know. 

AR MALIK:
 Engineering and mathematics 

UZMA JALALUDDIN:
 Where did I go wrong? 

AR MALIK:
 It's like, why? 

UZMA JALALUDDIN:
 I tried so hard.

ABDUL-REHMAN MALIK VOICEOVER:

Uzma’s second novel, Hana Khan Carries On, follows two competing halal shops – The Three Sisters Biryani Poutine, which is a staple in the neighbourhood – and a new, upscale gourmet halal burger competitor. She describes it as a take on You’ve Got Mail – which happens to be one of my all time favourite films. The idea came to her in 2017, while she was waiting to hear back from publishers about her first book.

UZMA JALALUDDIN:
 My husband and I were out to dinner and we were out to dinner at a restaurant. AR maybe you know this one -- Affy's in Pickering 

AR MALIK:
 Yes, of course!

UZMA JALALUDDIN:
 It's kind of like a yeah, it's like the O.G. Muslim Steakhouse, you know. 

AR MALIK:
 That's a great description. 

UZMA JALALUDDIN:
 Yeah. And we were looking around and, you know, enjoying our meal. And I turned to my husband and I was like, this didn't exist when my kids were little. Like this idea of going to, like, a nice restaurant and being able to order something very western, which is steak and potatoes or ribs. I don't even know what we were ordering. And, and, you know, have like a mocktail, right? Right. Like a cocktail without any alcohol in it. This simply did not exist. Like if I wanted a burger when I was growing up, my mom had to make it. If I wanted pepperoni on my pizza, well, I'm out of luck because there's no such thing as halal pepperoni at the time. Not in the eighties and nineties. And look at how much things have changed. And I thought that food is such a great metaphor and the way that our tastes as a community, as a culture, as a country evolve over the years and the food that's available and not available, is such a great metaphor for... I was thinking about the way that communities change, that populations change like we had to come to a point where there was enough of a population to support the existence of halal restaurants, right? Because there has to be enough demand, enough people who actually care. And then the food that my parents would have paid to eat at a restaurant is very different from the food that like my kids want when we go out to a restaurant. My parents want the Indian food, Pakistani food. My kids, if I can get Indian food into them once a week, it's that's a win. Usually, they want pizza and burgers and, you know, again, pepperoni on their pizza, halal pepperoni and bacon. And so I was thinking about that as a jumping off point because my books are always about, you know, the hookiness is the oh, my book is a retelling of Pride and Prejudice or it's a retelling of You've Got Mail. But really what it's about, the thematic elements are always about community and culture and the way that communities change and grow. Because I'm always wondering about that. My place in the world, my children's place in the world. I'm also a huge fan of You've Got Mail. And you think that Nora Ephron has done — I'm a huge fan. I like the idea of like the epistolary story. You've got mail is email and mine is podcasting. 

AR MALIK:
 I love it. 

UZMA JALALUDDIN:
 So that's the genesis of the story. And it kind of grew from there. 

AR MALIK:
 I think in some ways, food is at the very heart of Muslim culture and the Muslim cultural experience, not only because I think we draw on this kind of amazing global smorgasbord palate of culinary influences, but because making food, sharing food, exchanging food, bringing food to one another and receiving food is just at the heart of our culture of hospitality and generosity, isn't it? 

UZMA JALALUDDIN:
 That's such a good point. You're absolutely right. I think, you know, I sometimes I wonder if it's because, like, as observant Muslims, we don't drink. So, like our idea of fun, like at weddings or at any kind of celebration, it's food. What's on the menu? I'm looking forward to those appetizers or, you know, this person cooks the specialty. Like we express our love, our parents cook for us. That's how they express their love. We bond over food. And I know this is a universal thing. It's not – it's probably not particular to the Muslim culture. But certainly, I think it's a good way for people to both experience other cultures and also maybe to kind of reaffirm their own place in their society. Like, as myself, I'm a second-generation immigrant, right. My parents immigrated from India. And so I when I eat certain kinds of food, like if I eat my mom's haleem, you know, like I remember a specific spot, like it is a memory associated with that food. And I'm sure my children, when they eat my loaded nachos, I'm sure they'll, you know, in the decades to come, they'll be like, "Oh, I remember watching a movie and eating these loaded nachos."

AR MALIK:
 The genius of your book is that those tastes and flavors and aromas are so evocative that they leap off the page. 

UZMA JALALUDDIN:
 Thank you for saying that. I appreciate that very much. I got a lot of comments from my first book that, oh, it was my you write food really well. So I made sure to jampacked my second book with lots of food because people love to read about food and you know, then they email me and say that they were really hungry and they had to order some Indian food to eat while they were reading my book. So I take that as a compliment. 

AR MALIK:
 I mean talking about South Asian, superstars, the comedian, producer, creative Mindy Kaling is certainly one of them. She kind of broke into the spotlight with the American version of The Office. But she's become a phenomenon. And Hana Khan Carries On has been optioned for the screen by Mindy Kaling's production company. I want to know how you found out that was happening and what your reaction was. 

UZMA JALALUDDIN:
 I have to take you back to Ayesha At Last. My first book was also optioned for the screen by Pascal Pictures. And the screenwriter that they hired in order to develop that project is has become a friend. Her name is Sahar Jahani. She's very talented. She's an actor screenwriter in Hollywood, and she's probably one of the few hijab wearing screenwriters that are currently working in Hollywood. She worked on Ayesha at last, and then moved on to work on many other projects. And when I told her that I'd finished my second book and we my film agent was shopping it around, she kind of got involved as well. And so we kind of tag teamed this and she worked her contacts, my film agent worked his contacts. Somehow or other, I don't know how, it got in front of Mindy Kaling's people. And there was a lot of negotiation. And then I think, just like you AR, Mindy's favorite movie is You've Got Mail. I didn't know about this before I wrote the book. I didn't know about this until after the deal was set. But I remember when I had an inkling that this might be a possibility and then it moved from possibility to, oh, this is actually happening. I just thought, this is amazing. Like Mindy Kaling is in so many ways such a pioneer, such an inspirational figure for so many South Asian creatives. So it's really been an honor. I'm really excited. And even when my first book was optioned by Pascal Pictures, I thought, you know, getting anything made in Hollywood is really hard. It's usually a long process, just like a book or like a book will take years to finish and to write, to publish. And movies take just as long, if not longer. But I always thought for me, this is the this is the step, right, like knowing that someone like me, a high school teacher from Toronto, who started writing after she had kids, after she, referring to myself in the third person, sorry. But after I started, you know, doing all this other stuff. And to know that my stories, which are unapologetically about Muslims falling in love, can be optioned by someone by two major players in Hollywood. This is going to pave a path just the same way that Zarqa Nawaz paved a path for me. 

AR MALIK:
 Where are you at in the process of making Hana Khan Carries On come to the screen. 

UZMA JALALUDDIN:
 So yeah Hana Khan Carries On was optioned... It was announced in August. And so the good thing about it is it was packaged with the screenwriter. So Sahar Jahani will be adapting it for the screen. And it'll be produced by Mindy Kaling and distributed by Amazon. So where they are in the process, as far as I know, is that Sahar is working on a script. So she's she's hard at work on that among a couple of other projects that she's doing. The beauty, the beautiful thing about being the writer in this piece is that my job is done. I have no idea. And and it's wonderful because my husband calls it like the lottery ticket. That's kind of like percolating in the background. But I get to focus on my other projects, which I've been doing. So as far as I know, I have no updates. Sahar is working on it and I have complete faith in her because she's talented and amazing and I assume they'll fill me in at some point. And I don't have to worry. 

AR MALIK:
 Uzma, I got I gotta level with you. When that script is written. And when the actors are hired and when they get to the studio. If I were you, I'd be jumping out of my seat, jumping on any plane that I could find to get there, to watch it come to life. You must be thinking, you know, I wrote the story. They're going to have me there. They're going. They're going to need my -- 

UZMA JALALUDDIN:
 Of course. 

AR MALIK:
 …my presence, my expert eyes, to help them through this process. 

UZMA JALALUDDIN:
 Definitely. I'm going to be there whether they want me there or not. And I'll probably be the auntie who's making everyone chai while they all do their thing. That's fine too. But yeah, you know, hopefully make dua. I think having more Muslim stories adapted for the screen is really like, I would love to see that. I know there's so many people who it would mean so much right, it– ultimately that's what it is. When when both my books were optioned, I just thought, my God, like this. This is influencing pop culture, changing the narrative. This is how we do it. 

AR MALIK:
 I love the fact that these two, you know, amazing and successful books are romances. How did you get to that point? Was it something that you read when you were young? Was it a passion that you developed a lot earlier that got you writing romance? 

UZMA JALALUDDIN:
 So l, you know, I'm known as a romance writer, and it's a label I wear proudly. But the romance genre in general is such a-- it's such a large genre. Like you can have all types of romances within the genre. You can have romances that are set inside like an Amish community all the way to like aliens you know and paranormal and all of that. I never sat down and told myself, I'm writing a romance novel. I just told myself that I'm writing a book about two Muslim characters who are dealing with their life issues, dealing with their identity. And of course, as a Desi Muslim woman, the search for a suitable boy is something that is very much a big part of your life in your twenties. And if I'm writing about characters in their twenties, it’s going to be a conversation that they have. And it might be the purpose of the book as well is to have a happy ending. So I see myself the label that has been put on my writing, as has being a writer of romance, a writer of romantic comedies is something that sort of like publishers kind of put on you, because they have to again, this is publishing as a business. They have to know how to market. Who was going to buy your book. Who's the target demographic? How can they make this story commercial and sellable? But I just write stories about Muslims who are young, so of course they're going to think about romance because that's what you think about when you're young and probably when you're older too, but definitely when you're in your twenties. And I think now that I've thought about it and I've had some time to reflect on my journey as a writer, even though I'm very much in the beginning of that journey, I'm sure I was also influenced by the romantic comedies that I read and watched. I'm a child of the nineties, so all of Nora Ephron's oeuvre as well as, the books that I can think of, which mostly featured white women, whether it was the Bridget Jones series or the Sophie Kinsella books or the Meg Cabot books, like these are all books that I read because they were fun and they were light. And romance is kind of having a bit of a renaissance right now. I don't know if it's getting the respect it deserves, but it's certainly selling a lot of copies. You know, like Emily Henry is The New York Times best selling author. And there's so many other books like The Love Hypothesis by Allie Hazelwood, also huge bestsellers. And I think it points to the time. Like we're just we're just living through a really dark, depressing time, probably more than normal. And people need an escape. So if you're going to escape and learn something about maybe a diverse community that they never thought about before, but still get all of the kind of butterfly feelings in your stomach that you get when you're reading a good romance, I think that's great. 

AR MALIK:
 What were the books that were much thumbed and were falling apart because you read them so much when you were, when you were younger. 

UZMA JALALUDDIN:  
 When I was really young, I was a big fan of L M montgomery. So Lucy Maud Montgomery wrote The Anne of Green Gables series. I loved those books. I probably read– 

AR MALIK:
 Me too, Uzma. 

UZMA JALALUDDIN:
 Really? No way. That's awesome. 

AR MALIK:
 I read, I read, read them all. Tell me tell me why you loved why you loved Anne. 

UZMA JALALUDDIN:
Well, I read in Green Gables probably when I was ten or 11 years old, and I thought she was just so confident and funny and she was just so irrepressibly who she was. I really admired that. And yet she was also, you know, like L.M. Montgomery situated this young girl is an orphan. So she's she is a member of her community, but also an outsider. And I think I could read into that and say, well, as a muslim woman who was growing up in Toronto in the nineties, I probably felt a little bit like that too. Like I'm a part of this community, but I'm also very much an outsider, which is made manifest in all sorts of different ways that I internalized most likely. And I also love Gilbert. Like I wanted Anne and Gilbert to get together. So I can't believe she made us wait three books for that to happen. But you know, it eventually did. Anne of the Island. 

AR MALIK:
 Can admit something to you Uzma, which I was I think I've only told close friends. I think Anne was my first crush. 

UZMA JALALUDDIN:
 Oh yeah, yeah, yeah definitely. 

AR MALIK:
 I fell in love with Anne. It was kind of, you know, that sweet first crush, you know, it's like, can I meet you in real life? 

UZMA JALALUDDIN:
 Yeah.

AR MALIK:
 I think we’d really get along with, like, poetry and literature and words. We talk about big ideas and, and act out plays. You know, I, I loved the book so much that, you know, the other pieces of literature that were quoted in the books and then later on immortalized on, on screen by by Megan Follows in that amazing adaptation, which in our family was watched on a yearly basis. 

UZMA JALALUDDIN:
 Oh yeah, same. 

AR MALIK:
 We’d watch it every year. You know, I became attached even to those pieces of literature that L.M. Montgomery mentions because the character was so was so compelling, wasn't it? 

UZMA JALALUDDIN:
 Yeah, definitely. 

AR MALIK:
 And they live with us. These characters sort of live with us all of our lives. Do you see a little bit of Anne and Gilbert and some of the characters that you write now? 

UZMA JALALUDDIN:
 I've never thought of it, but I'm sure, you know, college is maybe a little bit like Gilbert to a certain extent. I mean, I think the inspiration there is very firmly in Jane Austen territory, for sure. But Gilbert was always a very gentle, kind person. And I think his one of the things that I liked about him is that he never gave up on Anne. Right. He he just had very steadfast, tender feelings. Maybe in the beginning he was a bit of an idiot because he liked a girl and didn't know how to tell her until he pulled her hair and did all the stuff that little boys do. But later on, he just really supported her and loved her. And when I think about the kind of male characters that I write, the love interests, whether it's Khalid Mirza in Ayesha at Last or it's Aydin Shah in Hana Khan Carries On, I really wanted to give Muslim men who I think have been really done very dirty by the media, some kind of a character arc, some kind of an emotional growth to show that these are men who are capable of gentleness and kindness and falling in love and feelings of tenderness and romance. That was very important to me on top of, of course, the representation of strong, confident, powerful Muslim women. 

AR MALIK:
 Uzma, you're still teaching. And so I'm interested. Do your students ever read your books? And if they do, what do they tell you about them? 

UZMA JALALUDDIN:
 Well, they all want A's, so they tell me I'm a genius,of course. No, I'm just kidding. You know, the great thing about being a teacher and also being a parent is you can't get too stuck in your head. And kids have a great way of kind of like bringing you down, right? So -- and I mean that with all of the affection of what that entails. So like, I tell my students that, you know, I'm a writer, I've written books and, you know, my books have been optioned for film and, you know, here's the The Variety column with me about Mindy Kaling and Amazon Studios. And they're just like, what is even happening? I don't understand. And then we spend the rest of the semester talking about how to write an essay and how to analyze Shakespeare and let's talk about how you can improve your writing. Like, the day to day of teaching is just so intensive that there's that Uzma who's the writer, but there's that Uzma who lives in the world. And that Uzma who has like deadlines. And I'm doing the thing again of talking to myself about myself in the third person. But I think for my students, I think it's good for them to see that, to quote Walt Whitman, we contain multitudes. We can be all sorts of different things and we are all sorts of different things in various points in our life. 15 years ago, I wasn't a published writer, but I was still a teacher. And I hope ten years from now I'll still be a teacher. It's a job I enjoy. I'm privileged and honored to do it. Sometimes it drives me crazy. June is always a really hard month, but overall, and I'm really happy to have the opportunity to interact with young people, young minds every day. 

AR MALIK:
 Have you promised them a visit from Mindy to the classroom? 

UZMA JALALUDDIN:
 No, never. But I know that that's a definite humblebrag. I'm like, oh, well, you know, my book was optioned by Mindy Kaling. 

AR MALIK:
 You don't tell them, oh, you know, Mindy and I were chatting the other day. 

UZMA JALALUDDIN:
 That would be a lie because it never happened. But, yeah. 

AR MALIK:
 It's going to happen one day, Uzma. 

UZMA JALALUDDIN:
 One day, one day, inshallah. 

AR MALIK:
 And then you're going to be, like, really close friends. 

UZMA JALALUDDIN:
 Oh, I mean, we are in my head, and I feel like that counts. So... 

AR MALIK:
 Uzma, who or what would you like to welcome into your guesthouse? 

UZMA JALALUDDIN:
 I think lately I've and this is in my third book, too. I'd like to welcome ambition. I want to be ambitious for myself. I want Muslim women in particular to be ambitious for themselves. And I want us to think bigger. Bigger dreams, bigger hopes, and not be afraid to run after whatever your ambition is. 

AR MALIK:
 Uzma, this has been such a pleasure. Thank you so much for being with me on This Being Human. 

UZMA JALALUDDIN:
 Thank you so much, A.R. This was a lot of fun. You asked excellent questions. Good job. Gold star. 

AR MALIK:
 Thank you.

AR MALIK VOICEOVER:

Thanks for listening to This Being Human. Uzma mentioned the influence of Zarqa Nawaz, the creator of Little Mosque on the Prairie. We released an interview with Zarqa earlier this season, so if you’re interested, go check that one out. We’ll include links to some of Uzma’s work in the show notes.

This Being Human is produced by Antica in partnership with TVO. Our Senior Producer is Kevin Sexton. Our associate producer is Zana Shammi. Additional editorial support from Lisa Gabriele.

Mixing and sound design by Phil Wilson. Original music by Boombox Sound.

Stuart Coxe is the president of Antica Productions. Katie O’Connor is TVO’s senior producer of podcasts. Laurie Few is the executive for digital at TVO.

This Being Human is generously supported by the Aga Khan Museum, one of the world’s leading institutions that explores the artistic, intellectual and scientific heritage of Muslim civilizations around the world. For more information about the museum go to www.agakhanmuseum.org

The Museum wishes to thank Nadir and Shabin Mohamed for their philanthropic support to develop and produce This Being Human.

Uzma Jalaluddin is a writer, high school teacher, and published author of her debut novel Ayesha At Last and her latest bestselling novel that has been optioned for film by Amazon Studios, Hana Khan Carries On. 

Uzma talks about making sure that Muslim women are represented through her storytelling, the journey from publishing her debut novel in 2018 to having her work optioned for film, and finding inspiration in classic films like Pride and Prejudice and You’ve Got Mail. 

Uzma also writes a culture and parenting column for The Toronto Star, and has written for The Atlantic. She lives near Toronto, Canada, with her husband and two sons, where she also teaches high school.

In the episode, Uzma talks about:

• Being compared to Jane Austen
• Finding inspiration for her books in classic films like Pride and Prejudice and You’ve Got Mail
• Writing a Muslim romance novel about observant Muslims
• Where she found herself represented in the media as a Muslim, and how it inspired her to become a storyteller
• Balancing being a school teacher with being a published author, and how she encourages her students to pursue their dreams
• The interesting connection between a mainstay Muslim steakhouse in Pickering, and the way that tastes evolve with community and culture
• The challenges of getting her work optioned as a Muslim creator in Hollywood
• Walking the fine line between her work being commercial and sellable, with being a space for representation and relatability

Quotes:

"I want to be ambitious for myself. I want Muslim women in particular to be ambitious for themselves. And I want us to think bigger. Bigger dreams, bigger hopes, and not be afraid to run after whatever your ambition is." — Uzma Jalaluddin

"I really wanted to give Muslim men who I think have been really done very dirty by the media some kind of a character arc, some kind of an emotional growth to show that these are men who are capable of gentleness and kindness and falling in love and feelings of tenderness and romance. That was very important to me on top of the representation of strong, confident, powerful Muslim women." — Uzma Jalaluddin

"When both my books were optioned, I just thought, "my God." This is influencing pop culture, changing the narrative. This is how we do it." — Uzma Jalaluddin

To learn more about this conversation, AR recommends:

• Visit Uzma Jalaluddin's website
• Learn more about Hana Khan Carries On
• Learn more about Ayesha At Last
• Follow Uzma on Twitter
• Follow Uzma on Instagram
• Read Uzma's columns for The Toronto Star