Samira Ahmed: Lead With Curiosity, Not Just Passion

Samira Ahmed is the New York Times bestselling author of Love, Hate, & Other Filters and Internment. She was born in Bombay, India, and has lived in New York, Chicago, and Kauai, where she spent a year searching for the perfect mango. She invites you to visit her online at SamiraAhmed.com, and follow her on Twitter and Instagram.

Samira Ahmed

Photo by Erielle Bakkum

In this interview, Samira discusses discusses how a simple question helped inspire her new young adult novel, This Book Won’t Burn, her hope for readers, and more!

Name: Samira Ahmed
Literary agent: Joanna Volpe, New Leaf Literary & Media
Book title: This Book Won’t Burn
Publisher: Little Brown Books for Young Readers
Release date: May 7, 2024
Genre/category: Contemporary young adult
Previous titles: Love, Hate, & Other Filters, Internment, Mad Bad & Dangerous to Know, Hollow Fires, the Amira & Hamza middle-grade duology.
Elevator pitch: This Book Won’t Burn is the story of a young woman who finds her inner strength and her voice as she leads her community to fight the rise of book banning in her new town.

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What prompted you to write this book?

Inspiration for my novels always begins with a character, a conflict, and a question—not always in that order. The question that inspired This Book Won’t Burn was both simple and heartbreaking: How can I be brave?

That’s the question a teacher asked me after I gave a keynote at a conference of English teachers. She wanted to bring my novel, Internment, as part of a grade-wide literary circles curriculum, but she met resistance from other faculty at her school because of the novel’s subject matter—there were no Muslim students at their school and very few students of color. The teacher wanted to push back but she was afraid—of losing her job, of being ostracized—and so she asked me that question, How can I be brave?

I sat with that question for a very long time and as I heard more stories of my books being soft banned or banned outright in the wave of book bans that began sweeping the country over two years ago, I realized it was the foundational question for my next book.

How long did it take to go from idea to publication? And did the idea change during the process?

About 2.5 years. Originally, I was going to try and add a true-crime element to the novel, but that fell by the wayside pretty quickly. I also added the character of a younger sibling at the suggestion of my agent, and I’m so glad I did because in many ways, that character became the beating heart of the novel and introduced an emotional texture the story needed while also driving the stakes.

My young adult novels often feature only children—honestly, I think I began with a single child in my first novel because I have two siblings and I was worried that negative sibling traits or sibling disagreements would perhaps feel a bit too close to home. I write with a kind of distance from my story. That might sound counter to a lot of the advice you hear, but this space allows me greater freedom as I build the story. Wayne Booth’s notion of implied author from his Rhetoric of Fiction has always resonated with me and I build story with that in mind. It doesn’t mean my novel isn’t influenced by personal experience—that would be impossible—but I try to write with an awareness of authorial perception and influence on the reader experience.

Long story short, as I’ve built my writing practice, my writing muscles have strengthened and including Noor’s little sister, for me, is an example of how I’ve learned to get out of my own way. That sibling relationship added a sense of purpose for the main character and it also helped me introduce a unique perspective from a younger teen that added in layers and nuance to the novel.

Were there any surprises or learning moments in the publishing process for this title?

This Book Won’t Burn is my seventh novel and my fifth with Little Brown. My wonderful editor Alvina Ling and I have built a trust and an editing practice that makes the process smooth and one I look forward to. The part of the process that is always a surprise—in a good way—is how the team works with an artist to create the cover. I love seeing how the themes and story are given life via design and illustration. It’s a unique sort of translation and I learn something new with each new cover design process.

Were there any surprises in the writing process for this book?

I think the biggest surprise was how revising this book felt like I was writing into the present moment. When I began the novel 2.5 years ago, censorship and book bans were gaining steam, and unfortunately, we all have seen how it’s spread. While revising, I tried to incorporate new developments in the fight against book bans. And after attending a school board meeting in Michigan where two of my books were amongst a couple hundred being withheld from shelves by the school board, I witnessed firsthand how book bans were tearing communities apart, pitting neighbor against neighbor. I met librarians and teachers and students who were doxed and threatened and those experiences helped shape the novel.

What do you hope readers will get out of your book?

I write for and am inspired by young people—by their brilliance, strength, and resilience. I hope that my readers can see a piece of themselves in this book. I hope they recognize the incredible power of their voices—how they do and can change their schools, communities and our world for the better.

If you could share one piece of advice with other writers, what would it be?

Lead with curiosity, not just passion. Curiosity is often the root of inspiration and it also can be a source of resilience and joy in your career. We often hear writing talked about as a passion, but passion can wane over time; curiosity is infinite. Passion doesn’t always come when we want it to, but a curious mind is an open invitation. Ask questions, not just as the start of the writing process, but throughout—a deep curiosity opens you up to new ideas, it challenges you.

One of the very simple ways I’ve tried to lean into this practice is to write down my questions and observations in a physical notebook that I call “Seeds.” Life gets busy and I don’t always have time to go down a research rabbit hole when things pop into my head, but I almost always have thirty seconds to jot down a question. I use this not only for observations I have as I’m walking through my day but as I’m working on my revisions, especially when I receive my edit letter. I read the letter, noting all my questions on the note and then set it aside. These are sometimes questions for my editor, but often are things I want to push myself on as I revise. Your mileage may vary, but I believe that a curious mind may well be one of the most powerful tools in your writing arsenal. 

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