On Wednesday, September 25, the Writing Center hosted a workshop and presentation from critically acclaimed author Sabaa Tahir. Third form students read Tahir’s novel, All My Rage, for this past summer’s reading assignment. Along with All My Rage, her novel An Ember in the Ashes and its sequels have all been featured on The New York Times Best Sellers list. In 2022, Tahir won the National Book Award for Young Adult Literature for All My Rage.

During the workshop Dave Hoffman and Ben Bala’s third form English classes worked together in small groups to develop a character. Tahir listed criteria that the

character must have, but each group was able to develop them in their own ways. Tahir then gave the students writing prompts for how their character would act in certain situations. Their responses exemplified the idea that even though their characters had the same foundational qualities, each groups creativity made their character differ from each other.

During her presentation later in the day, Tahir told students and faculty about her upbringing and what inspired her to write. She grew up in the Mojave Desert in California where she lived with her family in their 18-room motel. Due to her Pakistani heritage and the unrest in America at the time, she never felt like she had a home. “I would constantly ask myself where I belonged,” Tahir said, “But eventually, stories became my home.” She became engrossed in fantasy novels and comic books because of their ability to transport her to a different world.

Tahir continued, “I started writing in my twenties because I felt like I had something to say.” The first novel she wrote was All My Rage which she based on her own life and the feeling of displacement. Although she stopped focusing on the novel to begin her An Ember in the Ashes series, she used the book as her outlet when things got hard. She stated, “Whenever I was frustrated or angry, I could shout into that book.” It was a novel where she could explore her own mind and use it as therapy through her characters. In a few words, she described her novel as “an intersection of love and trauma.”

She encouraged the students to tap into themselves so they’re able to discover their deep truths. Doing so reveals shared experiences among young adults in which they usually feel alone. To learn more about Sabaa Tahir and her works, click here.