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Shaila Abdullah
Shaila Abdullah's creative work focuses on the strengths and weaknesses of Pakistani women and their often unconventional choices in life. Her work also deals with the Asian experience in America, the conflict between the two worlds and the culture of her adopted country. She offers her readers a window into the multicultural world through her vibrant characters.

Her debut book, Beyond the Cayenne Wall, is an award-winning collection of stories about Pakistani women struggling to find their individualities despite the barriers imposed by society. Among other accolades, the book won the Norumbega Jury Prize for Outstanding Fiction and the DIY Festival Award.

Abdullah received a grant from the Hobson Foundation for her new novel, Saffron Dreams, a mesmerizing tale of tender love, a life interrupted, and faith recovered. Arissa Illahi, a Muslim artist and writer, discovers in a single moment that no matter how carefully you map your life, it is life itself that chooses your destiny. After her husband's death in the collapse of the World Trade Center, the discovery of his manuscript marks Arissa's reconnection to life. Her unborn son and the unfinished novel fuse in her mind into one life-defining project that becomes, at once, the struggle for her emotional survival and the redemption of her race. Saffron Dreams is a novel about our ever evolving identities and the events and places that shape them. It reminds us that in the midst of tragedy, our dreams can become a lasting legacy.

Abdullah was born in Karachi, Pakistan in 1971. She has a bachelors degree in English literature and a diploma in graphic design. She also has a diploma in freelance writing. She has written several short stories, articles, and personal essays for various publications, such as Dallas Child, Web Guru, About Families, Sulekha,Women's Own, She, Fashion Collection and a magazine of the Daily Dawn newspaper called Tuesday Review, etc. She is a member of the Texas Writers’ League.

Abdullah is a seasoned print, web, and multimedia designer as well. At present, she works as a media design associate for SEDL–– a nonprofit research, development, and dissemination organization in Austin, Texas. She is the proud mother of one daughter, Aanyah Sarah.

Saffron Dreams Shaila Abdullah Loving Healing Press (2009) ISBN 9781440404597 Reviewed by Sandie Kirkland for RebeccasReads (11/08)

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