Afshan Malik and Najiyah Maxfield
Afshan Malik and Najiyah Maxfield
Afshan Malik works for Rabata, an organization that aims to bring positive cultural change through creative educational experiences. She writes regularly for online and community publications on topics ranging from parenting to nonprofit work. Afshan is a graduate student at the University of Houston-Downtown Masters of Nonprofit Program. Her first Young Adult novel is scheduled to release soon through Daybreak Press, a publishing company of Rabata, which gives rise to Muslim women’s voices. Afshan organizes the Muslim Women’s Literary Conference at the University of Houston every year. She was born in Chicago, raised in Atlanta, and has been a happy Houstonian with her husband and five children for over three years.
Najiyah Maxfield is an award winning author and journalist whose articles, short stories, and poems can be found in several magazines and anthologies. She taught university level English in Damascus, Syria, and served as managing editor of Discover: The Magazine for Curious Muslim Kids. Najiyah is editorial director of Daybreak Press and teaches Creative Writing at Ribaat. Her YA novel, Sophia’s Journal, is being taught in social studies and English programs in North America and the Middle East. Najiyah lives in Canton, MI, where she kayaks in the summer and knits in the winter. She and her husband have three girls, three boys, and three granddaughters.