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Evelyn Kraber

Author Samira Ahmed spoke in West High’s Little Theater during second and third period on April 29.

Author Samira Ahmed held a panel with 11 West students in the Little Theater during second and third period on Tuesday, April 29, for an author visit organized by the West High Library. Afterward, the same students from the panel had a private lunch with Ahmed to continue to ask questions or talk with her.

The event was organized by the West High Library and sponsored by Hills Bank and the Iowa City Community School District Foundation. This is the fourth author visit; last year, students heard from Tiffany D. Jackson.

Ahmed is a Muslim-American author who writes young adult and middle-grade books like “This Book Won’t Burn” and “Internment.”

Though her books span many genres, they all take inspiration from her experiences as a South Asian, Muslim-American woman. Many of her books tackle themes of racism, xenophobia and finding the courage to combat injustice. 

She’s also very passionate and active in the fight against censorship. She spent a portion of her talk speaking about the importance of fighting against book bans and her experience as a banned author.

She published her debut novel, “Love, Hate & Other Filters” in 2018. She’s written nine books since then, with her upcoming book, “The Singular Life of Aria Patel,” set to release on May 13. Her newest novel is a multiverse spin on the ‘second-chance romance’ trope. The main character, Aria Patel, finds herself falling through parallel universes after breaking up with her boyfriend before college, forced to grapple with finding love and happiness across the multiverse.

Students can check it out from the library after the book is released.

During her panel and private lunch, Ahmed talked with 11 students who signed up and got selected to ask questions and talk to her personally. Some students were aspiring authors themselves. As a former English teacher, Ahmed said she loves getting to talk to young people.

“I feel I’m always inspired by young people, and I’m always energized by talking to students…I love the bigger group that I talked to, where I was getting interviewed by students. But I also love just having a lunch with 15 or 20 students who are super into writing, and I love getting peppered by questions by students,” Ahmed said.

Panelist Loren Barjis ’28 is in the process of getting her own book published, navigating agents and publishers alike. She talked to Ahmed about her book and tips for her journey as an author.

“I just really thought it was the best day of my life because it was really scary…it’s really hard to get an agent as it is. There’s like, a trillion people who want to write a book, and there’s like 1000 agents in the US,” Barjis said.

“So once you get an agent, you’re like, ‘Oh yeah, I’m set.’ And then your book dies on sub, that’s submitting to publishers. That’s just pretty embarrassing. And so I just felt really loaded in that moment, being able to have someone to talk to who can kind of navigate that for me, and who helped me out with reaching out to agents that she knows, that I’ve reached out to.”

Ahmed expressed her joy in advising and connecting with students, whether it was about their book, living in Chicago or being empowered.

“We live in a world of people always saying ‘No, you can’t write this or you can’t do that because of who you are, because of how you look, because of what your background is, because of what your identity is, because of what your religion is, because of who you love,’ or whatever. And I hate that so much. I want young people to feel empowered to not just follow their dreams, but also to work for them,” Ahmed said.

The next author visit at West will likely be during the 2026-27 school year, though an author might visit the middle schools before then. The library is already planning both, but no solid names have been announced as of now.