Amrit Kaur Instagram – Read an excerpt of Fatimah Asghars, “When We Were Sisters” at the Young Lions Fiction Awards Event. The award, founded by Ethan Hawke, Jennifer Rudolph Walsh, Rick Moody, and Hannah McFarland in collaboration with The New York Library, shines light on extraordinary books and novelists and their newly released fiction works advancing the craft of fiction literature.
Fatimah Asghar is a poet, filmmaker, educator, and performer. She is the writer and co-creator of Brown Girls, an Emmy-nominated web series that highlights friendships between women of color. Her works celebrate women, Muslims, queer, gender-nonconforming, and/or trans.
Never have I read a book this fast. Never. “When We Were Sisters” is a powerful story that makes me think about family, service, sex, and sisterhood. I never felt like a ‘good reader’ because I didn’t relate to ‘the classics’ as they were defined to me as predominantly English or assimilating literature – but this book redefined the notion of classic for me. As a South Asian Canadian woman and daughter of immigrants, for me, this book is a classic.
Sitting across a dinner table, listening to Fatimah’s stories on life, her fight for integrity and truth, and artistry, I felt empowered. I feel I’ve found a peer and hope I have the privilege to read her work again.
And because we’re both lactose intolerant, we did a little but very critical cheers to our lactose pills before we downed an amazing Mediterranean cheese plate. Essential.
Credit: Young Lions Fiction Awards, Founded by Ethan Hawke, Jennifer Rudolph Walsh, Rick Moody, and Hannah McFarland, Hosted at New York Public Library
Video Credit: @nicolecounts | Posted on 26/Jul/2023 19:50:28
