Rukhsana K’han was a speaker at the Sunday luncheon at the summer SCBWI Conference in LA, where she accepted the Golden Kite Award. She is an excellent speaker and kept everyone riveted to her every word and laughing at her humor. In the last few years New Jersey has added quite a few Middle Eastern members and most have been asking me questions on what steps they should take to get published. I figured Rukhsana would have the answer so I called her and she said she would be happy to write something for my blog. It appears we can all learn something from her post.
Here is what she shared:
When Kathy Temean, the SCBWI Regional Advisor for New Jersey contacted me about writing a guest blog post about what it was like to write Muslim stories I thought it would be a great idea!
I’ve been writing seriously for over twenty-two years now, and coming from a Muslim perspective there are certain lessons I’ve learned that I can definitely share!
But these aren’t just lessons about writing from a Muslim perspective. These are lessons that anyone writing about any culture can benefit from!
In writing this blog post, I’ve combined ideas I elucidated in my speech “Writing about Other Cultures” . I’ve given this speech a couple of times now, the last time being at the SCBWI convention in L.A. just last August while I was there to accept my Golden Kite Award for my picture book Big Red Lollipop.
So here goes!
Ms. Temean said:
I am getting a lot of questions about where to submit or what publishers would be interested in Muslim stories.
This question’s easy! Any publisher that says they’re accepting multicultural stories will be interested in Muslim stories, and that would be most publishers—as long as the story’s GOOD!
What makes a story good? Interesting characters, interesting predicaments, a fresh and interesting voice that tells the story! In fact the very same ingredients that make ANY story good will make a Muslim story good!
It is extremely tempting to read a Muslim/multicultural children’s story and think, “I could write that!” Especially if the story’s not that well written.
Many beginning authors compare their writing to the worst out there. Thinking if *that* could get published, then surely the publishers will jump at my story! But that’s the wrong attitude to have.
You need to compare your work to the *best* that’s out there not the worst because the worst probably got published at a time when there were no other choices available in terms of Muslim/multicultural stories.
It might have been marketable then, but it isn’t now.
As for publishers who accept stories about Muslims, if you want some more specific suggestions check out the Muslim booklist that I mention below. Look at the publishers who’ve published these books, they’re a good place to start submitting.
The children’s field has gotten a LOT tougher in terms of quality and there are a LOT of good Muslim writers out there now, which brings me to the next point that Ms. Temean raised:
These writers feel there is a hole in the children’s market for stories for and about Muslim children.
Actually that’s not as true as it once was.
In fact I made it my business to prepare a Muslim children’s booklist on my website (that I’m constantly updating) where I’ve listed books being published by mainstream publishers, about Muslim and related cultural themes. You can find it here: http://www.rukhsanakhan.com/muslimbooklist/Muslimbooklist.pdf
I am constantly