Speaker

Tasneem Abdur-Rashid is a British Bengali writer born and raised in London A mother of two, Tasneem has worked across media, PR and communications for over 15 years, in the U K and in the M iddle East She holds a BA and M A in Creative W riting, and her debut rom-com, Finding M r Perfectly Fine, was published by Bonnier/Zaffre in July 20 22 as part of a two-book publishing deal. Back in 20 11, Tasneem was the anonymous writer behind the bestselling novel D esperate in D ubai, published by Penguin Random H ouse India.

Tasneem is also the co-host of the award-winning podcast, N ot A nother M um Pod, which empowers women who feel voiceless with a platform to share their stories. She recently won the coveted SH E A wards award for A rts and Culture 20 23 for her commitment towards bringing underrepresented voices to the fore

Throughout her childhood, teenage and young adult years, Tasneem struggled to find books that contained characters that she could relate to. A s a visible M uslim growing up in N orth London, the otherness she experienced in day-to-day life followed her home and continued in the books she read Later, the books she did come across that featured M uslims or South A sians, were always negative, portraying M uslim and A sian women as victims or extremists

Today, Tasneem hopes to bring diversity to publishing by creating stories that explore underrepresented cultures with sensitivity

Through her writing, she hopes to help create a world where everyone ?children and adults - can see themselves in the books that they read