Safia Fazlul

I was born in Dhaka, Bangladesh, and was still a baby when I moved to Oslo, Norway. I grew up preoccupied with reading Norwegian books and poetry and knew as soon as I learned how to write that I wanted to be a writer when I grew up. My family and I moved to Canada when I was ten years old. I found myself curious about the extremely different gender ideologies that I experienced in my South Asian, Muslim home and outside in the Canadian world. While I was a student at the University of Toronto, I tried to satisfy my curiosity by majoring in history and sociology, focusing on feminist views especially. My interest in feminism and my love for writing pushed me to complete The Harem, my first novel. My second novel, The Red One, also uses a feminist lens to explore the topics of marriage and expectations in a South Asian community living in the diaspora.

I’m currently working on a collection of poetry and a third novel. When I’m not writing or reading, I’m just enjoying life in Toronto with my family – especially with my fascinating and fabulous daughter.