Former high school English teacher Samira Ahmed earns success as an author of young adult novels.
There are many classroom teachers who have achieved success in arenas outside of the classroom. One of these is Samira Ahmed, a former high school English teacher who has established herself as an author of popular young adult novels.
Samira was born in Bombay, India. She was raised in Batavia, Illinois, and in Chicago, Illinois. As a youngster, Samira says she spent countless hours at her local library nestled in an overstuffed armchair next to an old Victorian fireplace with her nose in a book. Her favorites were Agatha Christie novels and Louisa May Alcott’s Little Women.
As a young woman, Samira earned both her Bachelor’s degree in English Language and Literature and her Master’s degree in English at the University of Chicago. After earning her college degrees, Samira accepted her first teaching position at Niles North High School in Skokie, Illinois. She taught high school English there from 1994 to 1999. Next, she worked as the Humanities Department Chair at Young Women’s Leadership School in New York City from 1999 to 2000. From 2005 to 2007, she was employed as the Director of External Affairs for New Visions for Public Schools in New York City.
Samira published her first novel, Love, Hate & Other Filters, in 2018. The book is about a Muslim Indian-American teenager and her attempts to cope with Islamophobia. The novel was praised by Publishers Weekly and School Library Journal. Her second book, Internment, features a setting in the future where Muslims are sent to internment camps as the result of a law passed by an Islamophobic president. This novel received praise from Kirkus Reviews and Entertainment Weekly. This Fall, Samira will publish her third book, Mad, Bad & Dangerous to Know. The novel is a literary mystery inspired by a poem by Lord Byron and a painting by Eugene Delacroix. The plot follows a young Muslim girl that leads the readers through parts of forgotten Paris.
To learn more about this chalkboard champion and successful author, visit her website at Samira Ahmed.
