By Mitu Malhotra

Today we are excited to welcome National Book Award–winning author Shifa Saltagi Safadi to Cynsations to talk about her recent novel Sisters Alone (Putnam, PRH, 2026) which released on Sept. 8. This expertly crafted verse novel with its honest depiction of anxiety and intrusive thoughts will definitely resonate with middle grade readers. You can read more about Shifa’s thoughts on the writing process and Things AI Could Never Do in Publishers Weekly.

Sisters Alone is your second novel after Kareem Between (Putnam, 2024), which won the National Book Award. How similar was the process of writing in verse this time round, especially after an award-winning debut?

Writing Sisters Alone was definitely a huge difference for me from writing Kareem Between, and honestly, it was actually more difficult, if you can believe that! I think if I had waited to draft it before I won the National Book Award, I might not even have been able to finish it. But thankfully, it was already acquired when I won. My main issue was the pressure of trying to follow a book that so many people loved with a new title, and worrying if I would be able to live up to the expectation. But also, the writing itself was a challenge.

Sisters Alone was still in a very raw and unrefined draft at the point my editor had taken it on. Not quite a first draft, but also not where I wanted it to be either. I had actually written Kareem Between in prose before changing it to verse, and so I feel like that really helped me focus on the plot and character arc first before the language.

With Sisters, I drafted the book as a novel in verse, and because poetry came out of me first, I struggled majorly to “kill my darlings” and let go of the beautiful lyrical parts that needed cutting while revising. I also felt like the plot was weak— in the first draft, it was a survival story with one sister, and it was only on revising that I added the second sister.

Adding a whole other point of view meant I had to rethink the plot. Anyone who loves to write knows you can’t just add a POV. Every change done to the story must flow seamlessly and it has to feel like it was there all along.

During revisions with my editor, I rewrote vast parts of the book multiple times, and the end result was a quite different manuscript than the one my editor acquired. The heart of the story, however, remained the same. And in fact, all my revisions and work only served to help the heart of my story shine clearer to readers.

And that leaves me feeling super proud. I might not know how this book will be received, but I know I did my best!

From the opening of this dual POV novel, the voices are so distinct. Your use of lowercase pronoun “i” and no capitalization as well as the italicized before and now in Leena’s narration, combined with the all caps and succeeding large fonts in Rama’s narration, are great visual cues for the young reader. What was your process of discovering and defining the voices of the two sisters as you wrote this verse novel?

Thank you for asking this question! I am going to be honest, I don’t know that I really thought too deeply about middle grade voice before Sisters Alone. Kareem Between’s voice was very defined by football, and so it was very easy to pin his personality and character down. But for Sisters Alone, I was sort of forced to do a deep dive on voice and characterization for this book because it was two POV’s, and I was adamant that the two girls had to sound and look immediately different to the reader. As an avid reader myself, I know how confusing it can get if characters sound too similar to each other in a story.

To make the voices distinct however, I had to really know who these characters are. And boy were they elusive to me. They did not want to cooperate with my process, and I constantly found myself just staring at the screen for hours thinking about the girls and what they were feeling in certain scenes. It took until the very last draft for me to finally crack the code into who they were and click everything into place.

One way to define voice was as you stated, was Leena’s use of lowercase i to signify her lack of feeling strong or capable, and her short flowy words trickling down the page like the water she loves to swim in. Leena is creative and artsy and so you see her photograph-based poetry be described vividly.

Rama is more the eldest daughter, bossy, loud and very type A. And you see her control lead her to want to forget the past and just fix her future. Her intrusive thoughts and anxiety make her spiral into loud and large repetitive thoughts, shown through capital letters and italics.

I had always heard that syntax and word choice are the key to voice, but it was only until I applied these changes to both sisters that I finally understood what this meant.

You have effortlessly integrated words like wudu, janaza, anse, ayas, duaas etc. in your text that ring true for your Syrian American protagonists. Do you have any tips or strategies on creating word banks or in text explanations for beginning writers who want to employ non-English words in their stories?

I often discuss this with other BIPOC writers, but truly, I love including cultural and language and religious words and contexts very authentically on the page as how I perceive the characters to behave, and expect the reader to use context clues to understand what these words mean. I have thought deeply about how in-text definitions or glossaries can sometimes other a character, or take a reader out of a tale.

I think for me, as a fantasy reader, I feel confident in readers’ abilities to understand the word or guess at its meaning by reading the paragraph, dialogue, and descriptions and filling in the blanks. And I think that it is a brilliant way to teach our kids how to learn context clues, and be challenged in their reading experience to use their minds more.

As for weaving in these words, I try to just think of how the character would behave naturally.

In my chapter book series Amina Banana [illustrated by Aaliya Jaleel (Putnam, 2025 – 2026)], she uses Arabic in the most of all my books because she is a refugee who came recently from Syria to America.

In Kareem Between, Kareem is feeling stuck between Syria and America and so he highlights this between feeling by dwelling on the differences between his two worlds, and so you see Arabic balanced with English.

Rama and Leena are Syrian American, and so their world in Sisters Alone is shaped by this sort of “between-ness” but also, it is not something that they dwell on at all. It is just their language sometimes includes Arabic and Islam, threaded into their day to day, a matter of how they live. This is part of their character and so to not include these details would be to hide part of who they are. And I always want to make sure to never hide or hesitate with my words on the page, because I believe that fear kills good writing.

In Sisters Alone, Rama deals with a ‘mind monster’ and intrusive thoughts plague her. How did you craft her anguish-filled emotional journey and draw boundaries around sharing your own lived experience with anxiety?

This is a bit difficult of a question to answer simply because I don’t really have a good answer. I would love to say that I was able to separate myself from my character and deal with the book objectively, but truthfully, there were times where I was able to, and also many times where I was not. I had many writing days where I felt triggered by Rama’s intrusive thoughts because they sounded identical to my own, and until now, when I do a reread, my heart hurts when I read her scenes.

I wish that there was a happy way to answer this question, but I think that being real about anxiety is the way I have tried to cope with it the most. Anxiety, as I mentioned in my author’s note, does not have a solution or a quick fix.

All I can do is admit that it is hard, and lean on those I love to try and survive the harshest moments of panic. And so in Rama’s story, I tried to craft the same idea of my own experience—that she does not get cured from her struggles, even if she survives the blizzard. But she does admit her struggles to her family and her friends, and this admission itself, being real to readers, and her commitment to seek therapy is a step of the healing too.

Was it easy…no. But I kept reminding myself of how many readers will be helped by this story and feel seen in their own struggles, as I feel seen when I see anxiety represented. And so I promised myself to pour honesty and truth on the page, and that promise carried me through to the end.

The alliterative consonance of your similes and metaphors is a pleasure to read. For example, “hijabs cascading out of her drawer in a wrinkled waterfall,” and “dawn’s / blushing lilac light / a cradle.” How do you reach beyond the clichés to create imagery that feels fresh for the young reader?

Oh man, thank you for this beautiful compliment!

Can I be honest with you!? One of the hardest parts of my writing process (besides the emotional truths I write) is my feelings about my own poetry craft! I genuinely constantly think to myself about how I could not possibly be an amazing poet, and when I read other incredible poets like Jacqueline Woodson, Elizabeth Acevedo, and Naomi Shihab Nye, I feel my breath taken from my whole chest, and wonder if I could ever write that well!!

I constantly wonder if I should just stick to prose because at least then, I wouldn’t feel the pressure of writing gorgeous words and can just focus on plot and character. But I love poetry, and that is why I keep writing it.

I truthfully don’t think that poetry comes naturally to me. Some of my friends write words that I can only marvel at. But I read A Lot of poetry, and I study a lot of poetry craft books, so I do want to be good at language, and I do try and endeavor to be better at it. But again, I will say that I try so hard. It isn’t effortless. Those metaphors and words you love in my story took me hours and hours and hours of writing and rewriting before I felt like I got to the right word or simile that brought a meaning to a phrase that I could feel in my heart.

And usually that is where I feel like my poetry is revised enough. When I can feel it viscerally in my bones. And then I hope that this feeling is transferred to my readers and felt by them too.

So maybe that is the way to avoid cliches? To keep revising and sit with each stanza by itself and think over it for hours? At least that is what I end up doing!

In our conversation, you mentioned mentor texts like Dusti Bowling’s The Canyon’s Edge (LBYR, 2020). Which other verse novels have inspired your writing journey and how?

Alone by Megan E. Freeman (Simon & Schuster, 2021) is one of my main inspirations, too! I adore that survival novel in verse so much, and its companion novel Away (Simon & Schuster, 2025). And Megan is a wonderful human who kindly did a blurb for my book! Her verse novels bring vivid plots and exciting storylines to poetry, and it inspired me to step out of the box in writing verse novels.

I also love Iveliz Explains it All by Andrea Beatriz Arango (Penguin Random House, 2023). Iveliz is a gorgeous tale about a girl who deals with PTSD, and seeing the mental health so unapologetically portrayed on the page inspired me to shed my fears and write bravely about anxiety in my own work.

And of course, Jackie Woodson’s Brown Girl Dreaming (Nancy Paulsen Books, PRH, 2014). The lyrical language and vivid voice of Jacqueline’s poetry always inspires me to be a better writer, and I am always changed for the better every time I read any of her books.

We spoke about the challenges of being a writer while raising a family. How do you carve writing time and enjoy the incidental benefits of having beta readers at home?

Writing is not easy as a mom, and I was also an ELA teacher before Kareem Between got published! I had to choose what to drop when I became a writer truthfully, and so I had to stop teaching to dedicate my spare time to writing fulltime, and even in that is great privilege, because my husband’s income supports our family.

Writing time for me during the summer is mostly done in the morning, before the kids wake up. I have to wake up super early to try and get in a lot of silent hours before they are clamoring for my attention, and then I get busy with the day and taking them out to activities and swimming and such. In the school year, I do have an easier time, because my kids are at school, and so I am able to dedicate many hours of my time in my day to my writing.

But I have learned to also adjust to life. Some weeks I will write for hours and hours, and some weeks will pass where I will not write at all. And I have learned that it is part of the creative process to just let my brain breathe, and let myself go with the flow. Creativity is best done when I am rested and my best rest is joyous time spent with my loved ones.

I also really love to ask my kiddos for ideas, as well as rely on them to be my little beta readers. I will often have an idea, and run it by my kids to see if they think it is exciting enough before I commit to writing it. They are very honest with me, and if something sounds boring, I can nix it before I waste my time on it! I also realize through them that kids these days prefer shorter, faster-paced plots, and so it helps me try to make my books more engaging for readers.

They are also my biggest fans! My middle kiddo loves my Amina Banana series, and they are our main read alouds every night, each chapter being the perfect length before bed, and she often demands I change my endings to make them happier, which always makes me laugh. I think maybe if your mother is an author, you think she will change the ending of books for you, but it is so interesting that writing is its own craft process, and I often feel like the endings just make themselves, without my control. But my little one does not accept that excuse! So it makes me smile to see her investment in this book series, and I love that it helps bring up conversations about life with us that we might not have had in the first place.

Tell us about life before and after the National Book Award. How do you approach setting time aside for writing and other public engagements?

Oh man. Can I be honest? My writing process itself hasn’t really changed much!

Like yes, the name recognition and the award has elevated my books so much more than I could have ever dreamed of, and I am So Very Grateful for it. But also, in terms of writing, I have to treat each story as its own journey, and it helps my stories to keep my focus on the craft rather than on my popularity as an author. After all, each book should stand for itself story-wise in my opinion.

As for speaking engagements, podcasts, and interviews—I try to accept as many as I can, especially in the between times where I have a lull between deadlines, but also am forced at times to decline requests as well, which is hard as a people-pleasing person! But, if I accept every single engagement, unfortunately, it means I have zero time for fulfilling my deadlines and writing new books. Sales are obviously very important for a continuous future in publishing, but so are new crafted stories that can boost backlist sales. It is a delicate thing to try to figure out, and I am not sure I have achieved the right sort of balance yet. But I sort of try to take it day by day, week by week, month by month, and just try my best.

Please share the literary friendships that you hold close to your heart. And any advice on how to navigate competition or comparison in a field full of highs and lows?

Literary friendships are foundational and hugely important in the field of publishing and writing. This industry is so unpredictable, and so much of it is just trying to figure out how to best handle tough situations—rejections, tough revisions, or reviews, among other things. And what has helped me so much is holding on to my critique partners and friends.

Not only do we help each other out craft wise, and recommend awesome books to each other to read for inspiration, but we also just exist together in this space and offer a shoulder to lean on.

Sometimes, all you can do is vent in the moment about something making you sad, and then you feel better about facing it. I strongly recommend writers find their circle of people who will be there for them, and in that is a special relationship where you truly are so thrilled for all the good happening to your author friends! When I hear of my friends’ successes, it honestly makes me feel like it is my own success too! And we cheer each other on through it all.

How do you feel about being a storyteller for young people right now, during these challenging times? What message would you like young readers to take away from Sisters Alone?

Sisters Alone really highlights the need to have our circles of people to carry us through the storms of life. Unfortunately, the world feels more full of conflict and hardship than ever, and it can swallow you up if you let it.

Sisterhood and love, is the thread that we can cling to through it all, knowing that we are in community with incredible people all working for the betterment of the world helps me feel like we are trying our best to do good. And in these whirlwinds of life, that is all we can do sometimes. Keep going.

Cynsations Notes

Shifa Saltagi Safadi is the National Book Award winning author of Kareem Between, the Amina Banana series, and several picture books, including The Gift of Eid. She has a bachelor’s degree in English literature, is a former ELA teacher, and is passionate about spreading a love of reading through storytimes and school visits. Shifa was born in Syria and immigrated to the US with her parents as a young girl. She lives near Chicago with her husband and four children. Find her on Instagram @shifasaltagisafadi

Mitu Malhotra holds an MFA in Writing for Children and Young Adults from the Vermont College of Fine Arts. She has been recognized as a Lee & Low New Visions Award finalist, winner of the Katherine Paterson Prize for Literature, and with scholarships from Boyds Mills/Highlights Foundation, Tin House, and a Djerassi Program writing residency. Her short story “Toxins” is part of ELA curriculum and her writing has appeared in Hunger Mountain, Thin Air Magazine and elsewhere. In previous avatars, Mitu was a textile and fashion designer, and has taught in India, the Middle East and the US. Mitu is a member of CBIG (Children’s Book Illustrators Group, NYC) and SCBWI, New Jersey. When not writing or drawing, Mitu can be found cooking, upcycling clothes and sewing memory kimonos or building miniature doll houses from salvaged materials. Website: www.mitumalhotra.com Instagram: @mituart Bluesky: @mitumalhotra.bsky.social