For Salaam Reads, Publishing Muslim Stories For Five Years And Counting

Stories provide more than just entertainment. They present an opening to help people understand the world—and to understand people and places that are different than their world. Therein lies the value of reading for children. Kids can discover that they have more in common with others than they may have expected. And that was part of the aim of the launch of Salaam Reads, the first imprint dedicated to exclusively featuring Muslim characters and stories.

The imprint, celebrating five years in the Simon & Schuster family, had two goals. One was to “plant seeds of empathy” in non-Muslim readers. The other equally or perhaps more important goal was to offer Muslim children the chance to see themselves reflected in literature, something rarely afforded youngsters.

“To my knowledge, it was the first imprint at a major publisher focused on joyous, positive and diverse portrayals of Muslim characters and stories,” says Simon & Schuster Editor Deeba Zargarpur. “I still remember the announcement in 2016 when executive editor Zareen Jaffery and publisher Justin Chanda launched the imprint. Seeing the imprint come to life inspired me to continue pursuing a career in publishing.”

The books published in Salaam Reads’ five years have sold 1 million copies. This year, the imprint is publishing seven titles, including S.K. Ali’s recently published Love From Mecca to Medina, a followup to her hugely popular 2019 young adult romance Love From A to Z. Ali appreciates the freedom that Salaam Reads allows her to make her characters “be Muslim in unfiltered ways.”

She explains: “By unfiltered, I mean not catering to an external gaze that expects Muslims to be ‘x, y, and z’ due to popular perceptions based on media constructs from outside of our communities. And this is exactly what I’ve heard from the Muslim readers and reviewers: that they can expect storytelling truly authentic to our communities (I should mention here, diverse communities because Muslims belong to the most diverse faith group in North America) from Salaam Reads.

“All this while being inviting to all readers, including those who’ve never interacted with Muslims, either in stories or in real life, as per the vision of the imprint’s founder, Zareen Jaffery.”

Salaam Reads’ books cover different genres and varied age levels. Hena Khan writes the Zara’s Rules series, about an energetic young Muslim girl who loves adventure. Readers learn about her faith organically through her interactions with her family, including her grandparents, and through her everyday actions.

“Zara’s Muslim identity is just one of the many things that makes her who she is and is woven throughout the story, along with her Pakistani heritage,” notes Khan. “It’s not something that she is forced to wrestle with, but like so many kids, is an important and positive aspect of her life and her family.”

Salaam Reads publishes nonfiction books as well. Linda Sarsour, one of the co-founders of the Women’s March, published an adaptation of her memoir (We Are Not Here to Be Bystanders) for kids. We’re in This Together focuses on her childhood and young adult experiences that led Sarsour to become a well-known activist who advocates for policy and legislation.

She wanted to write for the imprint because it centers Muslim voices. She believes that visibility remains critical to the community.

“Since the horrific attacks of 9/11, Muslim Americans experienced an alarming uptick in hate crimes and bias incidents, and unfortunately it exists until today. These incidents escalated again after the Trump presidency, where the most powerful man at the time engaged in blatant anti-Muslim sentiment and often translated that into policy such as the Muslim ban,” Sarsour says. She knew she wanted to share her story with young readers.

“For my community, especially young Muslim girls who wear hijab, it was inspiring, and it instilled courage in them to see a hijab-wearing woman fighting loudly and proudly on their behalf. Even through all the hate and threats I received, I still forged forward because I knew little Muslim girls around the country and world were watching me, and they needed me to be brave so they can be brave.”

Zargarpur hopes that as Salaam Reads continues, the diverse depictions of characters will help more people see that the Muslim community is not a monolith. Salaam Reads is a start but not an end.

“There is no one lived Muslim experience,” she says. “We are a beautifully diverse community, and that needs to be reflected in the published literature by and about us. While it’s been encouraging to see an increase in Muslim representation across all publishers, there is always more work to be done, and as an editor, I’m always striving for our list to more fully reflect the incredible variety of what being Muslim can mean.”