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.

Raise Your Words Host Amani sits down with Author M.J. Soni to discuss her book, "Masala Chai Mystery Club." Manju (MJ) Soni grew up in South Africa and wrote, DEFYING APARTHEID, a part-memoir about being a doctor/ activist under apartheid. Since then, drawing on her American, African, and Indian background, she's written mystery short fiction and her debut cozy mystery, THE MASALA CHAI MYSTERY CLUB, which are full of heart and humor, with a saree-wearing librarian protagonist will be coming out on 21 July with Crooked Lane Books. https://mjsoniauthor.com/  

Raise Your Words host Amani sits down with poetry writer and teacher Khalfani Jabari to discuss his latest book, Black Ink.

You can find Mr. Jabari on Instagram @ib_theword. If you liked today's episode of Raise Your Words rate the podcast wherever you're tuning in from. Stay Tuned for more exciting guests this season!

This is a Teaser episode for Episode 10 , Season 3 of Raise Your Words. Raise Your Words Host Amani chats with Muslim matchmakers Amaney Kazlak and Sara Wada about finding the right spouse, Hulu's Matchmaking show, and marriage in Islam.

Raise Your Words Host Amani sits down with Islamic matchmakers Sara and Amaney from Sacred Soulmates to chat about Islamic matchmaking and Sacred Soulmates. They also chat about Hulu's Muslim Matchmaker show briefly.

In this episode, Raise Your Words host Amani sits down with author S.K. Ali about her books, writing advice, favorite stationery, and her next book!

Raise Your Words Host Amani sits down with BookTok creator Ashley from @wickedreads on IG/TikTok to chat about their mutual love of reading, Ally Carter books, writing, and Ashley's content creation advice. Ashley also shares news about her podcast, If It Was a Book.