Spilled Ink: Author Guest Post by Nadia Hashimi
Author Nadia Hashimi shares the inspiration behind her debut novel for teens, Spilled Ink. The story follows an Afghan American teenager grappling with racism in her small town. Discover her journey below and delve into a novel that promises to spark meaningful conversations among your teen readers.
At the center of Spilled Ink are a set of prankster twins, Yalda and Yusuf, who love to catch each other off guard. But from there, the story gets heavy. At times, I was physically uncomfortable writing it and found myself walking away from my laptop. But that discomfort also directed me back to my seat, to confront the ways hatred causes suffering.
Just as every character in a book has an origin story, there’s also an origin story to every book. I’ve been thinking about the origin story for Spilled Ink, my debut in the world of YA fiction, and a few experiences come to mind.
My family owned a delicatessen about two hours outside of New York City, a town with apple orchards and a drive-in movie theatre. I started working there as a tween, brewing endless pots of coffee and making sandwiches. In true small town style, it felt like we knew everyone. I was standing behind the cash register when a man I recognized came in to buy a tin of snuff. I’d seen him before but on this day, for the first time, noticed a swastika stitched onto the sleeve of his jacket. I rang up his purchase and probably told him to have a nice day, feeling too stunned to do anything else.
My paralysis was transient. I ended up writing a letter to the editor for our local paper and coordinated a school-wide assembly on the Holocaust. I thought often about how prominently this man wore his hate. In most people, biases are much more subtle or covert.
When I began writing Spilled Ink, I wanted to write the experience of an Afghan American teen coming to terms with her identity in a country that sometimes struggles with its identity as well. Like me, Yalda has to decide how she wants to confront colorism and bias against sexual orientation in her own community.
But writing does not happen in a vacuum. My work on this story was first derailed by a global pandemic and then again by the US withdrawal from Afghanistan and the subsequent evacuation of tens of thousands of vulnerable people to the United States. During that time, I worked on a psychosocial health program for the refugees as they transitioned to resettlement across the United States. Some communities were incredibly welcoming and faith communities and humanitarians banded together in truly inspiring ways. But there were also glaring examples of xenophobia and intolerance seen in town halls and school bullying.
Some incidents have been horrific. Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson called the fatal stabbing of six year-old Wadea Al-Fayoume, a Palestinian-American child, by his landlord a “shameful reminder of the destructive role Islamophobia plays in our society.” While I agree with his sentiment, Islamophobia is a word I contest. It defies reason to think Wadea’s murderer stabbed the kindergartener twenty-six times out of fear. Anti-Muslim hatred or sentiment is a mouthful, I know.
But words matter, which is why the epigraph of Spilled Ink is a quote from Hafez: The words we speak become the house we live in. In the story, Yalda learns to do away with the worst phobia of all, the fear of speaking out against hate.
About the Author
Nadia Hashimi is a pediatrician turned international bestselling novelist and daughter of Afghan immigrants. She is the author of four books for adults, as well as the middle grade novels One Half from the East and The Sky at Our Feet. She lives with her family in the Washington, DC, suburbs. Visit her online at nadiahashimibooks.com.