Hafsah Faizal

{{Infobox writer

| image = Hafsah-faizal-author-photo-2021.jpg

| caption = Faizal in 2021

| genre = Young adult fiction

| notableworks = We Hunt the Flame
We Free the Stars

| years_active = 2013–present

| website = {{url|hafsahfaizal.com}}

| language = English

| awards =

| home_town =

| birth_place = Florida, U.S.

| alma_mater =

| education =

| children =

| birth_date = {{birth year and age|1993}}

| occupation = {{flatlist|

Novelist
designer
business owner

}}

Hafsah Faizal is an American author of young adult novels, best known for her New York Times best-selling fantasy novel We Hunt the Flame.

Personal life

Faizal was born in Florida and grew up in California.{{cite web|url=https://www.publishersweekly.com/pw/by-topic/childrens/childrens-authors/article/79808-q-a-with-hafsah-faizal.html|website=www.publishersweekly.com|access-date=2019-05-22|title=Q&A with Hafsah Faizal|archive-date=May 23, 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190523232507/https://www.publishersweekly.com/pw/by-topic/childrens/childrens-authors/article/79808-q-a-with-hafsah-faizal.html|url-status=live}} She is an American Muslim of Sri Lankan and Arab descent.{{cite web|url=https://www.bustle.com/p/in-we-hunt-the-flame-author-hafsah-faizal-dares-readers-to-redefine-their-vision-of-the-middle-east-17890067|title=This YA Author Wants You To Rethink Your Vision Of The Middle East|website=Bustle|language=en|access-date=2019-05-24|archive-date=September 1, 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190901223729/https://www.bustle.com/p/in-we-hunt-the-flame-author-hafsah-faizal-dares-readers-to-redefine-their-vision-of-the-middle-east-17890067|url-status=live}} Her parents are both Muslim Sri Lankan immigrants.{{cite web|url=https://www.tor.com/2019/05/15/finding-yourself-through-fantasy-and-culture/|title=Finding Yourself Through Fantasy and Culture|last=Faizal|first=Hafsah|date=2019-05-15|website=Tor.com|language=en-US|access-date=2019-05-24|archive-date=May 18, 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190518184813/https://www.tor.com/2019/05/15/finding-yourself-through-fantasy-and-culture/|url-status=live}} Faizal is the oldest of four children and has two sisters, Asma and Azraa.{{cite web|url=http://dvpit.com/faizal-cusick.html|title=#DVPit Faizal-Cusick|website=dvpit.com|access-date=2019-05-24}}{{Dead link|date=March 2022 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}

Faizal was homeschooled starting at age thirteen. At the same age, she first started building her design skills, which led her founding her own web design company, IceyDesigns, at age seventeen.{{cite web|url=https://www.bookish.com/articles/hafsah-faizal-we-hunt-the-flame/|title=Debut Author Hafsah Faizal Shares Her Road to Publishing We Hunt the Flame|last=Cuadrado|first=Dana|date=2019-05-13|website=Bookish|language=en-US|access-date=2019-05-22|archive-date=May 15, 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190515003834/https://www.bookish.com/articles/hafsah-faizal-we-hunt-the-flame/|url-status=live}}{{cite web|url=https://www.publishersweekly.com/pw/podcasts/index.html?channel=5&podcast=980|website=www.publishersweekly.com|access-date=2019-05-22|title=PW KidsCast: A Conversation with Hafsah Faizal|archive-date=June 9, 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190609181554/https://www.publishersweekly.com/pw/podcasts/index.html?channel=5&podcast=980|url-status=live}}{{cite web|url=https://spinemagazine.co/articles/hafsah-faizal|title=Author/Designer Hafsah Faizal on Writing We Hunt the Flame|website=SPINE|language=en-US|access-date=2019-05-24|archive-date=April 26, 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210426114637/https://spinemagazine.co/articles/hafsah-faizal|url-status=live}}

Faizal names fellow young adult novelists Leigh Bardugo, Roshani Chokshi, and Renée Ahdieh as some of her major literary influences and describes Graceling by Kristin Cashore as the book that made her return to reading.{{cite web|url=http://www.bluefairytales.com.au/2019/05/14/qa-we-hunt-the-flame-hafsah-faizal/|title=Q&A! We Hunt the Flame, Hafsah Faizal|last=Tales|first=Miss Blue Fairy|date=2019-05-14|website=Blue Fairy Tales|language=en-AU|access-date=2019-05-24|archive-date=March 17, 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200317201102/http://www.bluefairytales.com.au/2019/05/14/qa-we-hunt-the-flame-hafsah-faizal/|url-status=live}}

She lives in Texas.{{cite web|url=https://www.slj.com/?detailStory=hafsah-faizal-and-nafiza-azad-interview|title=First Flames: An Interview Between Debut Authors Hafsah Faizal and Nafiza Azad|last=Hershberger|first=Katy|website=School Library Journal|access-date=2019-05-22|archive-date=May 17, 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190517091133/https://www.slj.com/?detailStory=hafsah-faizal-and-nafiza-azad-interview|url-status=live}}

Career

Faizal wrote her first novel at age seventeen. Aside from writing, she also has been running a book blog called IceyBooks since September 2010.{{cite web|url=https://www.katehart.net/blog//2015/07/badass-ladies-you-should-know-hafsah.html|title=Badass Ladies You Should Know: Hafsah Faizal|website=Kate Hart|language=en-US|access-date=2019-05-22|archive-date=June 21, 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210621144635/https://www.katehart.net/blog//2015/07/badass-ladies-you-should-know-hafsah.html|url-status=live}} Faizal says that her background in design influences her writing to the degree that she considers to be a very visual writer.

Faizal self-published her first book under the pen name Hafsah Laziaf in October 2013. It was a young adult science fiction novel called Unbreathable, set in a distant future where Earth was destroyed and humanity settled on a new planet devastated by food shortages and oxygen scarcity.{{cite web|url=http://www.hafsahlaziaf.com/p/books.html|title=Books|access-date=2019-05-24|archive-date=November 13, 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161113045643/http://www.hafsahlaziaf.com/p/books.html|url-status=live}}

Faizal wrote four other manuscripts before starting the first draft of We Hunt the Flame, which would be her first traditionally published novel. She found her literary agent through the Twitter book pitch contest #DVPit, finishing up the first draft of what would ultimately become We Hunt the Flame just before the contest started.

We Hunt the Flame was published by Farrar, Straus & Giroux in May 2019, the first of the Sands of Arawiya duology. It debuted on the New York Times bestseller list at #5{{Cite news|title=Young Adult Hardcover Books - Best Sellers - The New York Times|language=en|work=The New York Times|url=https://www.nytimes.com/books/best-sellers/young-adult-hardcover/?module=DropDownNav&action=click®ion=navbar&contentCollection=Books&version=Childrens&referrer=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.google.com%2F&pgtype=Reference|access-date=2019-05-24|issn=0362-4331|archive-date=April 21, 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190421135331/https://www.nytimes.com/books/best-sellers/young-adult-hardcover/?module=DropDownNav&action=click®ion=navbar&contentCollection=Books&version=Childrens&referrer=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.google.com%2F&pgtype=Reference|url-status=live}} and receiving favorable reviews. Inspired by ancient Arabia, the novel tells the story of a hunter who disguises herself as a man in order to travel into a dangerous forest and restore magic to her people. Faizal set the story in a world reminiscent of ancient Arabia, avoiding ties to South Asian cultures that she states are often wrongfully entwined with stories about the Middle East.

The second Sands of Arawiya book, We Free the Stars, was released on January 19, 2021.{{cite web|url=https://www.wehunttheflame.com/books|title=We Hunt the Flame|date=2019-02-05|website=We Hunt the Flame|language=en-US|access-date=2019-05-24|archive-date=May 21, 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190521171436/http://www.wehunttheflame.com/books|url-status=live}}

In February 2021, it was reported that STXtv was developing a television adaptation of We Hunt the Flame with Faizal as executive producer.{{cite web|url=https://deadline.com/2021/02/stxtv-we-hunt-the-flame-hafsah-faizal-1234696511/|title=STXtv Developing TV Adaptation Of Hafsah Faizal's YA Fantasy Adventure Novel 'We Hunt The Flame'|work=Deadline Hollywood|first=Alexandra|last=Del Rosario|date=February 22, 2021|access-date=February 22, 2021|archive-date=February 21, 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210221111840/https://deadline.com/2021/02/stxtv-we-hunt-the-flame-hafsah-faizal-1234696511/|url-status=live}}

Her new book, A Tempest of Tea releases February 20th, 2024 from FSG, Macmillan.{{cite web|title=A Tempest of Tea • Hafsah Faizal|url=https://www.hafsahfaizal.com/books/a-tempest-of-tea|access-date=2021-09-04|website=Hafsah Faizal|language=en-US|archive-date=October 30, 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211030085958/https://www.hafsahfaizal.com/books/a-tempest-of-tea|url-status=live}} In March 2024, A Tempest of Tea appeared on the New York Times bestseller list.{{Cite news |title=Young Adult Hardcover Books - Best Sellers - Books - The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/books/best-sellers/young-adult-hardcover/ |access-date=2024-03-07 |work=The New York Times |language=en-US |issn=0362-4331}}