Aya Khalil is the author of award-winning picture book, The Arabic Quilt (illustrated by Anait Semirdzhyan), Egypt (illustrated by Magda Azab), upcoming books The Great Banned-Books Bake Sale (with Anait Semirdzhyan, August 2023), and The Night Before Eid (illustrated by Rashin Kheiriyeh) released on Tuesday, March 7, 2023. Along with her work as an author in children’s literature, Khalil is a freelance journalist and holds a master’s degree in Education with a focus in teaching English as a second Language. She is involved in a variety of organizations — co-founder of Kidlit in Color, a Muslim Highlights Foundation Storyteller, and serves as a mentor for PBRising Star 2022, Kweli 2022 and DVDebut 2022.
Interview Questions were compiled by Hadeal Salamah and Ariana Hussain.
If you feel comfortable with this question, how do you identify? (i.e. nationality, ethnicity, etc.)
Sure! I am Egyptian. I was born in Zagazig (yes that’s the real name), Egypt and immigrated to the U.S. when I was one.
When did you decide that you wanted to be a writer? What inspired you to become a writer? Growing up I loved writing, anything and everything. I loved writing in my journals, poetry, notes and letters to friends and cousins. In high school I fell more in love with it after my English teacher praised my writing and often shared my essays in class. I majored in English literature and communications and worked as a journalist for a few years. I enjoyed that, but I went on to get a master’s degree in education and taught for a little bit. I was getting frustrated with the lack of picture books with Muslim and/or Arab characters so I decided I would learn and write kidlit!
We talk a lot about windows and mirrors for marginalized readers/reader’s of color. Where and when did you first see yourself in literature? We recognize that identity is intersectional, so please do list multiple titles, if applicable, that coincide with your identity.
In high school we read some work by Muslim authors, but not American Muslims. I also read Umm Zakiyyah’s novels If I Should Speak and A Voice both of which I remember came out in the early 2000s. I really enjoyed them. I don’t remember ever seeing or reading a children’s book with characters who looked like me out and about. My parents would get us some books from Egypt in the summer, but they were either too difficult to read (in Arabic) or not interesting enough. It was when Reem Faruqi and Hena Khan’s books came out that I knew how important these books were to children, especially seeing them at libraries, schools and bookstores.
We absolutely loved The Arabic Quilt, it was one of our favorites from 2020, and we are thrilled to see The Night Before Eid: A Muslim Family Story. What has been the most meaningful reaction to your book from a reader?
Thank you so much! I can’t believe The Arabic Quilt has been out for three years it’s still doing so well. I still get messages from teachers, parents and readers thanking me for writing it and how it made them feel seen. I actually got an email a few weeks ago from an adult reader and writer who came across my book at the library displayed on the top shelf. She said she was filled with joy to read a book about an Egyptian girl (she is Egyptian too) and said her heart was filled with recognition. I love when children say they enjoy my books, but I feel even more grateful when adults or young adults enjoy it because they never saw such books when they were young.
We understand that editors/publishers pair authors and illustrators together. Was it a surprise to be paired with Rashin Kheiriyeh as an illustrator for The Night Before Eid? What were elements of her illustrations that captured your story best?
I love her illustrations and was so excited to be working with her. She captured everything so well, and I especially loved the facial expressions throughout, because there are so many emotions from teita and Zain. She captured the love and tenderness between Zain and teita so well! I also absolutely love the cat she added throughout the book because it makes reading it out loud so much fun.
How important was it for you to include the character of Zain and his relationship with (and gentle teaching of) his Teita? Can you tell us more about your inspiration for Zain and their relationship?
I feel like part of my author brand now is intergenerational relationships! A big part of Egyptian culture (and Arab and Muslim culture) is respect and kindness towards elders. In this picture book, there is kindness towards teita, but also so much respect is shown to the boy. He’s given tasks to do, he struggles, he comes up with a solution and in the end he feels empowered. Teita explains the history of the special cookies to Zain, and Zain loves listening to her, and in the end, they enjoy this beautiful intimate moment drinking tea and eating left over cookies. It’s such an emotional and beautiful scene that Rashin brought to life with her beautiful illustrations. I have fond memories of baking with my grandma when she visited from Egypt and also I love watching my own mother and my children bake and spend time together.
Though we have some books about Eid, more are always welcome and needed. The focus of your story is very unique and affirming, and goes beyond eidiya and new clothes to focus on family tradition and generational stories and ancestral ties. What was the most important thing that you wanted to include in this narrative about Eid?
There are so many layers in this picture book, from traditions to history to food to sharing. I started writing this in 2019 but I completely revised when the world shut down in March 2020. I wanted readers to feel like they’ve been given a big hug that they had missed during the beginning of the pandemic. So it was important to have these sweet intimate moments with teita and Zain and also the history of ka’ak was so interesting when I was doing research for this story so I felt like I had to include it! There are many traditions sprinkled in like henna, eidiya and Eid songs, but the most important thing is spending special moments with loved ones during the holidays and of course sharing delicious treats during those times.
You also included a detailed author’s note about Eid, photographs of your family and your celebrations and a recipe for Ka’ak, and khayamiya. Did you feel like you had to include more back matter? We thought that this really enriched the experience of reading the book and gave it a very culturally specific (loved the Egyptian dialect!) and individual lens to an Eid celebration of your family, that emphasized the diversity of Muslim communities. Was this important for you to include in addition to the book?
Thank you so much! I wanted to include more information about Eid in the back matter, as you know there’s only so many words you can write in a picture book. I wanted to add that personal note about me growing up and celebrating Eid and how it’s so different now because it was also part of the reason I wrote this book. Because I never read Eid books with my parents growing up or read Eid books in the classrooms. Eid culture in America now is so different than Eid culture decades ago and I hope that this book will continue to be part of Muslim family’s Eid traditions.
Both The Arabic Quilt and The Night Before Eid: A Muslim Family Story have important lessons, affirmation and agency for Muslim children, their families, non-Muslim readers and educators. You capture Zain’s excitement and pride in being able to share ka’ak with his classmates. What are some effective ways that families and educators can create more awareness and deliberate joy around Muslim holidays and identity?
I love this question. I grew up in public schools most of my life and there was very little out there for educators and for Muslim families. I mean, now, if you search Eid and Ramadan decor, it’s so overwhelming with all of the choices. Me and author/illustrator Huda Fahmy made a Practical Guide for Educators for Ramadan that’s been popular over the past few years. For the most part, teachers and administrations are very welcoming of ideas, tips and Eid/Ramadan book donations and read alouds. Last year I created a Ramadan basket for the fasting students in my kids’ school and they had the choice to stay in the library and read or use those kits or go outside for recess. The Muslim families also got donuts for the whole school and things like this really mean so much for all of the kids!
We noticed that the text has ka’ak being made with a mixer, but it is made by hand in the backmatter. Both Hadeal and Sara have said that their families believe this is an absolute, non-negotiable no-no and that specific hand mixing must be used. Just for fun, are you team hand mixing or team mixer? You can also plead the 5th.
Definitely hand-mixing, but the onomatopoeia for the mixer made more sense 😂. But they could have used the mixer at the beginning and finished off hand mixing – so a little bit of old and new traditions ☺️
Do you have a favorite shape or design for the ka’ak?
I just love the classical ones that my aunt and mom do – with the Egyptian ka’ak tweezers.
We know that animals can be a strong visual device for young readers and Zain’s cat is no exception. Is the cat based on a real cat in your life or just a fun addition to the story?
So I have no pets, and didn’t include a cat in my manuscript, so when I was the cat in the sketches I e-mailed my editor and told her it was a brilliant idea from Rashin! I read my author copy to my daughter’s preschool class, and they had so much fun with the cat. I asked them to name the cat, and then I told them every time they see the cat to raise their hands, so it was very engaging, especially for that age group (3-5).
How do you hope your work can impact the Muslim community? How do you hope your work can impact perceptions of Muslims?
I hope when Muslim kids see this book displayed in libraries, bookstores, classrooms and Target (absolutely dream come true), they will feel empowered and proud of who they are. Also, to continue to be unapologetic Muslims and never ever feel ashamed of who they are. I hope everyone else learns about our diverse cultures and traditions. I also hope my work reaches wide audiences, from children to adults, and hopefully remind them not to stereotype Muslims and know that Muslims are very diverse. I hope my work starts conversations in classrooms and within families about the different topics in my books raging from immigration, to holidays, to book bans.
Are there any words of wisdom that you would like to pass on to young writers?
Write as much as you can and find friends who also like to write. Read each others’ works, ask for feedback and submit your work to contests!
What is something that you would like your readers to know about you?
I love everything about Eid and Ramadan, especially the traditions, food, books, gifts, family and friends. So writing this picture book and seeing it come to life has been an absolute dream and I couldn’t have done it with my amazing agent, Brent Taylor, editor Jessica Anderson who was so excited about this book from day one and continues to show so much passion for it, super talented illustrator Rashin and the whole team at Little, Brown/Christy Ottaviano. There’s so much behind the scenes people on the team like designers, copy editors, the school and library team, marketing/publicity and I am forever grateful for all of their hard-work.
Can you tell us anything about what you are working on next? Are there other genres or age groups that you would be interested in writing about/for?
I have a few other picture books in the works and hoping to announce one soon because it’s so special. I am also writing a middle grade novel. I have two other picture books coming out this year one is called The Great Banned Books Bake Sale illustrated by Anait Semiridzhyan and the other is My First Book Arabic Words: An ABC Rhyming Book of Arabic Language and Culture illustrated by Chaymaa Sobhy.
Images from The Night Before Eid are from the egalley provided to Hijabi Librarians courtesy of Little, Brown/Christina Ottaviano Books.
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