Adiba Jaigirdar

Author

Shortly after The Henna Wars by Adiba Jaigirdar was published in the summer of 2020, Times included it on their list of the 100 Best Young Adult Books of All Time, alongside well-known classics such as Little Women, Lord of the Flies, and The Catcher in the Rye. Adiba’s debut novel, set in Dublin, about Nishat, a Bangladeshi Irish girl who struggles with bullying and coming out to her parents and develops a crush on her childhood friend Flávia, became an instant hit on BookTok. Dealing with many themes, from islamophobia and racism to sexuality and growing up, The Henna Wars was described by Booklist as ‘a wholly uncontrived story with lesbians who aren't just brown but diverse in a multitude of ways.’

‘I didn’t know I could be queer, because growing up I only really saw white queer people.’

The story has some similarities with Adiba’s own life. Born in Dhaka, Bangladesh, Adiba grew up in Dublin, Ireland from the age of 10. ‘As a Bangladeshi Muslim immigrant in Ireland’ she often felt ‘intensely alone in so many of [her] experiences’ so turned to books as a way of escape. However, none of these stories had characters who looked like her, or had experiences that she had, with her later lamenting that ‘seeing queer characters of colour whose love is not a weakness, but strength, would have been incredibly affirming…’ Because of this experience, when Adiba first started writing, she wrote herself out of the story too. She wrote about ‘white characters, straight characters, non-Muslim characters. Characters who didn’t look like me…’

‘I often write thinking of the books that I didn’t have when I was younger […] The ones that give queer brown girls their happy endings, even if they don’t always look like the happy endings we may expect.’

When she was a little older, Adiba graduated from University College Dublin with a BA in English and History, and then from the University of Kent with a Masters in Postcolonial Studies. Moving back to Ireland after university, she became a teacher, but never stopped writing. At the beginning of 2018, after a ‘rough couple of months,’ she set out to write a romantic comedy in what would become The Henna Wars. Following revisions and re-writes she secured an enthusiastic American agent by the end of the year and in May 2020, a few months into a global pandemic, it was finally published to much critical acclaim.

‘Writing as a person of colour often means writing with no blueprints set out in front of you. It means navigating new territories in writing. Navigating the responsibility—and burden—of representing not just yourself, but everyone who shares your culture, religion, language, ethnicity.’

In the months that followed, Adiba took on a mentoring role to new authors, and specifically, authors of colour, helping them with their manuscripts and the submission process. She also wrote her second novel, Hani and Ishu’s Guide to Fake Dating, which was described as: ‘To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before meets LGBTQ romance in this funny, heart-warming rom-com about first love and identity.’ Published in May 2021, Hani and Ishu follows an enemies-to-lovers storyline and just like in her first novel, explores themes of racism, family relationships, sexuality and growing up, as well as biphobia. Once again, Adiba’s novel was a great success and was shortlisted for the Irish Book Awards, nominated for Best Young Adult Fiction in the Goodreads Choice Awards and was a finalist in the 34th Lambda Literary Awards.

‘I want those who are different to me to celebrate my identity with me, because as a hijabi Muslim woman you are put in boxes both inside and outside of your community.’

2022 is set to be another big year for Adiba as she releases her highly anticipated third novel, and first YA historical A Million to One, set onboard the Titanic, in December, with a fourth book slated for release in 2023.

You can find out more about Adiba and her books on her website here. Or:

Follow her on Twitter: @adiba_j

And Instagram: @dibs_j

Herstory by Katelyn Hanna.

Want to read about historical LGBTQ+ women? See our photo essay here.

Sources:

The Irish Times, 5 July 2021.

Khan. Mariam, ‘Author Adiba Jaigirdar didn’t realise Asian people could be queer – now she hopes her book will help other people of colour embrace who they are,’ online at: https://metro.co.uk/2021/06/16/pride-2021-queer-muslim-author-adiba-jaigirdar-discusses-her-newest-book-14716679/ [accessed 7 Apr. 2022].

Jaigirdar, Adiba, ‘I…Have…An Agent!!!!,’ online at: https://adibajaigirdar.com/blog1/2018/11/17/welcome [accessed 7 Apr. 2022].

Jaigirdar, Adiba, ‘Pitch Wars 2020 Wishlist!’ online at: https://adibajaigirdar.com/blog1/2020/9/12/pitch-wars-2020-wishlist-zfsh6 [accessed 7 Apr. 2022].

SteveDunk, ‘Everything Is Canon: Hani And Ishu’s Guide To Fake Dating,’ online at: https://www.cinelinx.com/off-beat/everything-is-canon-hani-and-ishus-guide-to-fake-dating/ [accessed 7 Apr. 2022].