Ausma Zehanat Khan

Ausma Zehanat Khan is an American-Canadian novelist and author of crime and fantasy novels.

Ausma Zehanat Khan
BornLeicester, England
OccupationNovelist
NationalityAmerican-Canadian
GenreCrime fiction, Fantasy fiction
Notable awardsArthur Ellis Award for Best First Novel, 2016
Barry Award for Best First Novel, 2016
Website
ausmazehanatkhan.com

Biography

Khan holds a Ph.D. in International Human Rights Law with a research specialization in military intervention and war crimes in the Balkans. She received her LL.B. and LL.M. from the University of Ottawa, and her B.A. in English Literature and Sociology from the University of Toronto. She practiced immigration law in Toronto, and was an international human rights law professor at Northwestern University as well as a human rights and business law professor at York University.[1] She has lived in the United States for fifteen years and resides in Denver, Colorado.

Khan was the editor-in-chief of Muslim Girl magazine from 2007 until the magazine's closure.[2] Two documentaries were made about the publication, and it was featured in hundreds of national and international profiles and interviews including CNN International, Current TV, and Al Jazeera English's "Everywoman".[3]

Khan published her first crime novel The Unquiet Dead in 2015; the book received "best first novel" accolades from both the Arthur Ellis Awards and the Barry Awards in 2016. The Washington Post'' wrote of the novel: "Throughout Getty and Khattak's solid and comprehensive investigation, Khan's talents are evident. This first in what may become a series is a many-faceted gem. It's a sound police procedural, a somber study of loss and redemption and, most of all, a grim effort to make sure that crimes against humanity are not forgotten."[4] Kirkus Reviews wrote: "Khan's stunning debut is a poignant, elegantly written mystery laced with complex characters who force readers to join them in dealing with ugly truths." The novel also received a starred review in both Publishers Weekly and Library Journal.[5]

In 2017, Khan published her fantasy debut, The Bloodprint (Harper Voyager), the first in The Khorasan Archives, a five-book epic fantasy series. The Bladebone, Book 5, will be published in October 2020.

In 2018, Khan's middle-grade non-fiction book Ramadan was published by Orca Books as part of its Origins series. It was selected as a Children's Book Council Notable Social Studies Trade Book for Young People 2019, as well as the Children's Literature Roundtable of Canada's 2019 Information Book Award Honour Book. It was also nominated for a Hackmatack Children's Choice Award.

In 2020, Khan's nonfiction essay "Origins and Destinations" was published by Seal Press in the crime fiction writers' anthology, Private Investigations (ed. Victoria Zackheim). Her short story "The Once and Future Qadi" will be forthcoming in the Sword Stone Table anthology, also in 2020.

In a 2018 interview with Nick Douglas, published in Life Hacker magazine, Khan described how she devoted more time to her writing as a novelist when she and her husband began moving more often, and it didn't seem worthwhile to get the qualification to practice law in a short-term home.[6] She currently lives in Colorado.

Works

Rachel Getty and Esa Khattak series
  • The Unquiet Dead (2015)
  • The Language of Secrets (2016)
  • Among the Ruins (2017)
  • A Death in Sarajevo (2017) (novella)
  • A Dangerous Crossing (2018)[7]
  • A Deadly Divide (2019)

Khorasan Archives series
  • The Bloodprint (2017)
  • The Black Khan (2018)
  • The Blue Eye (2019)
  • The Bladebone (2020)[8]

Detective Inaya Rahman series
  • Blackwater Falls (2022)[9]

Nonfiction
  • Ramadan (2018)
  • "Origins and Destinations", in Private Investigations (2020)

Short stories
  • "The Once and Future Qadi", in Sword Stone Table (2020)

Honors and awards

Awards

Nominations

References
  1. "Bio". Ausma Zehanat Khan. Archived from the original on 2017-05-02. Retrieved 2017-05-06.
  2. Lara Spencer; Chris Wragge; Russ Mitchell (July 8, 2008). "Ausma Khan speaks about Muslim Girl magazine". CBS News Broadcast. Retrieved April 14, 2010.
  3. Author Website, bio https://www.ausmazehanatkhan.com/about.html
  4. "Ausma Zehanat Khan's crime novel 'The Unquiet Dead' delves into sensitive terrain'". The Washington Post. January 18, 2015. Archived from the original on February 16, 2017. Retrieved May 6, 2017.
  5. The Unquiet Dead, Reviews https://overdrive.com/media/1806864
  6. Nick Douglas (2018-11-28). "I'm Novelist Ausma Zehanat Khan, and This Is How I Work". Life Hacker. Archived from the original on 2019-05-02. Retrieved 2019-05-18. As all this was happening, my husband and I were moving around quite a bit, so instead of taking the bar exam or trying to round up a teaching position everywhere new I moved to, I took some time off to work full-time on a novel.
  7. "News". Ausma Zehanat Khan. Archived from the original on 2017-07-23. Retrieved 2017-07-05.
  8. Aysha Khan (2020-07-16). "Through sci-fi and fantasy, Muslim women authors are building new worlds". Religion News. Retrieved 2020-07-17. "You always hear, 'This field has been done to death, what else is there left?'" said author Ausma Zehanat Khan, whose book "The Bladebone," the final installment of her fantasy series "The Khorasan Archives," is due out in October.
  9. "Blackwater Falls by Ausma Zehanat Khan". www.publishersweekly.com. 2022-08-19. Retrieved 2022-09-27.
  10. "Arthur Ellis Awards". www.stopyourekillingme.com. Archived from the original on 2012-05-05. Retrieved 2017-05-06.
  11. "Barry Awards". www.stopyourekillingme.com. Archived from the original on 2017-04-01. Retrieved 2017-05-06.
  12. "Macavity Awards :: Mystery Readers International". mysteryreaders.org. Archived from the original on 2016-08-03. Retrieved 2017-05-06.
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