Shafaq Khan
Shafaq Khan is a mom and lawyer. Born to Pakistani parents, she grew up in a small port city in Saudi Arabia, along the Persian Gulf, called Jubail Industrial City. Shafaq attended college in New York City, majoring in political science and Middle Eastern and Asian languages and cultures, before heading to law school. She worked for nearly a decade as a legal services attorney, representing low-income people with disabilities facing eviction and benefits issues. In this role, Shafaq became acquainted with people’s stories—the ones we tell and the ones we don’t—and learned to listen to the stories beneath the surface. Shafaq works at Stanford Law School and lives in the San Francisco Bay Area with her husband and children.
Interview
What was your favorite book when you were a child?
It is a two-way tie and I am not ashamed to admit it! My favorite books as a ten-year-old were From the Mixed Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler (Claudia is a lot like Zeyna!) and Kristy’s Great Idea (Baby Sitters Club).
What’s your favorite line from a book?
There are so many lines I have loved over the years and I believe we gravitate towards words depending on the personal context we read them in so my current favorite line as I ruminate on the importance of human connection and community and belonging is: “Great passions grow into monsters in the dark of the mind; but if you share them with loving friends they remain human, they can be endured.” Sabaa Tahir, All My Rage
Who are your top three favorite authors or illustrators?
My top three favorite authors of all time, one serious, one fun, and one funny: Salman Rushdie, Yangze Choo, and Mindy Kaling.
Why did you want to become an author or illustrator?
I became an author because I felt I had a story to tell—not necessarily about me directly, but more about what I’ve seen and studied, inside and outside the classroom. I think a lot of people feel that they have a perspective and POV on The World and perhaps writing is their best chance at expressing it, preserving it, so that it outlasts them. I hope my words have impact because I know I’ve been changed as a human being by the words I have read. Books have guided me through different chapters of childhood and now my adult life, offering me escape when I needed it and also reassurance that this moment was felt before by someone at some time, and I wished to be part of someone else’s journey in that way.
Do you have any advice for future authors or illustrators?
My advice to future authors is to keep at it! If you have a story that is on your mind and you feel compelled to write it, just start writing! Don’t worry about how it look, just put pen to paper (metaphorically, of course, unless that’s your thing!) and treat it like an unsculpted piece of clay. Come back to it consistently if you can, sculpting it into the shape you want it to be. If you can’t do it so consistently, then write regularly, and if you can’t do that, obsessively think about it so that you are in conversation with your characters and stories till they become so real you lose touch with reality. In all seriousness, immerse yourself in the process for the process itself—even though it can be grueling and heartbreaking it is also therapeutic and grounding and awarding!