Huda Al Marashi
Huda Al-Marashi writes for both children and adults. She is the author of the middle grade novel Hail Mariam and a co-author of the Walter Dean Myers Honors award-winning novel Grounded. Her memoir First Comes Marriage: My Not-So-Typical American Love Story was described by the Washington Post as “a charming, funny, heartbreaking memoir of faith, family, and the journey to love.”
Huda’s other writing has appeared in various anthologies and news outlets such as the New York Times, Washington Post, LA Times, and al Jazeera. She has been awarded a Cuyahoga County Creative Workforce Fellowship, an Aspen Summer Words Emerging Writer Fellowship, and a Boyds Mill, formerly known as the Highlights Foundation, Muslim Storytellers Fellowship. First Comes Marriage was longlisted for the Chautauqua Prize and a finalist for the Southern California Independent Booksellers’ Award.
Books by Huda
“ In Mariam, Al-Marashi has crafted an intensely relatable protagonist—one who sometimes sags under the weight of others’ expectations yet meets challenges with aplomb. A heartfelt and insightful celebration of family, identity, and connection.” —Kirkus Reviews
“The thoughtful story tackles enormous topics with care and contemplation.” —Booklist
“A refreshing and thought-¬provoking look at a Muslim girl’s very relatable middle school experience.”—School Library Journal
“A positive, engaging story centering Muslim kids. Four tweens stuck in an airport come together for a rescue mission. When 12-year-old Feek Stiles loses his 4-year-old sister, Ruqi, at the airport, he meets Hanna Chen and Sami Iqbal, who try to help him locate her.”
— Kirkus Reviews
"Charming, funny, heartbreaking memoir of faith, family and the journey to love. If Jane Austen had grown up as a first-gen daughter of Iraqi parents in the 1990s, she might have written this. Keenly observed, with indelible characters, Al-Marashi portrays the complex mores and manners that govern life and love in the immigrant community of her youth.” —Washington Post