Trigger Warnings: This post mentions homophobia, bisexual erasure, racism, xenophobia, and cultural appropriation
Adiba Jaigirdar burst onto the YA scene in 2020 with her debut novel, The Henna Wars. Since then, she has published a second book, found huge success with critics and audiences alike, and The Henna Wars was even featured on TIME’s list of 100 Best YA Books of All Time. So why not take a moment to truly celebrate this incredible writer? Here are ten things which we love about Adiba Jaigirdar.
1. Her Books
This should go without saying, but we love Jaigirdar’s books! Her two novels The Henna Wars and Hani and Ishu’s Guide to Fake Dating are beautifully written with touching, heartfelt morals, and wonderful romances at their core. Her novels contain themes of queer identity, cultural appropriation, bisexual erasure, homophobia, racism, and xenophobia (all of which are vitally relevant for young readers all over the world). In Jaigirdar’s books, her characters always conquer their naysayers through empowering journeys involving romance, true friendship, and self-love. We can’t wait for the upcoming A Million To One (to be released 13th December 2022).
2. Her Characters
Jaigirdar has a knack for writing people, not just characters. Her heroines tend to be flawed, funny and brutally honest about the challenges facing LGBTQA+ young people, especially queer people of colour. As well as lovable romances, Jaigirdar has written wonderfully observed sibling relationships, friendships, and wider family dynamics. Everyone will be able to find characters to relate to in Jaigirdar’s books.
3. Her Support For Bengali Creators
Jaigirdar was born in Bangladesh but now lives in Dublin. Her heritage is clearly important to her, and cultural identity is a big theme in her work. However, Jaigirdar also champions other Bengali creators too. On her website, there is a section solely dedicated to the promotion of Bengali books. When Hani and Ishu’s Guide to Fake Dating was due to become an audiobook, Jaigirdar was determined to find narrators who would do justice to the Bangla words and dialogue within the novel. The roles were given to Reena Dutt (of Bangladeshi descent) and Shubhangi Karmakar (Bengali-Irish), who both read the story beautifully.
4. Her Openness About Race, Faith, and Queer Identity
Jaigirdar identifies as queer. Yet as a queer woman of colour, she has been told that parts of her identity ‘cancel out others’ and ‘couldn’t exist in the same person.’ This view is echoed by the American actor Parvesh Cheena, who is an openly gay POC. He said:
"White people (are) allowed to be gay, in a sense, or be queer as an identifier. People see our colour and ethnicity first before our sexuality."
Hopefully Jaigirdar’s work will help more people to see queer people of colour for who they really are.
5. Her Fashion Sense
Jaigirdar is a proud hijab wearer and is often pictured in eye-popping-ly gorgeous attire. She is apparently the owner of an ever-expanding lipstick collection, and we certainly wouldn’t say no to a couple of make-up tutorials from her!
6. Her Honesty
When Hani and Ishu’s Guide to Fake Dating was due to be published, Jaigirdar found herself battling with some mixed emotions. Taking to her blog, she wrote about her feelings of ‘second book depression.’ One gets the impression that Jaigirdar didn’t just write this as a healthy coping mechanism, but also to forewarn and forearm her young audience about the hard truths of publishing. Some of her readers may dream of being writers themselves, and Jaigirdar has been honest about the complex emotions which can sometimes accompany great success.
7. She’s A Teacher
Jaigirdar still proudly identifies as a Teacher, as well as a writer, and she previously taught ESL (English as a Second Language).
8. She Changes Things For The Better
American novelist Octavia E. Butler famously started writing speculative fiction novels because she was dissatisfied with the stale sci-fi movies which she watched in cinemas. Adiba Jaigirdar followed a similar pattern prior to writing Hani and Ishu’s Guide to Fake Dating. She watched the TV show Faking It and was frustrated with its sapphic and bisexual representation. She resolved to write her own fake dating story, where the representation was more authentic to her own experiences. The rest is history!
9. She’s a Video Game Nerd
Who doesn’t love to kick back and relax with a video game? And who wouldn’t love to play alongside Adiba Jaigirdar? When Adiba Jaigirdar isn’t writing, reading or generally being awesome, you’ll find her playing Uncharted or Assassin’s Creed.
10. Her Sweet Tooth
Jaigirdar loves coffee flavoured donuts and is even working on an upcoming book called ‘Donut Fall in Love.’ (We love the pun almost as much as we love you, Adiba!).
Rebecca McHugh
@the_bookbound_mind
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