Parents. Honestly. Sometimes they really do think the world revolves around them.

The easiest way for readers to connect with characters and feel sympathy is to make the character entertaining, sympathetic and likeable.

I wasn’t rebellious. Other friends had far stricter parents and where there wasn’t a relationship of respect and communication, they were usually the opposite; kids go to the other extreme.

We are, at almost every point of our day, immersed in cultural diversity: faces, clothes, smells, attitudes, values, traditions, behaviours, beliefs, rituals.

I’ve been writing stories since I was a kid. I love writing stories.

One of the first serious attempts I made to write a novel was when I was in Grade 6 and I had read ‘Matilda.’ I wrote my own version and my teacher had it bound...

For me, religious festivals and celebrations have become an important way to teach my children about how we can transform living with diversity from the superficial ‘I eat ethnic food’, to something dignified, mutually respectful...

If I like a book, I tend to read the author’s entire collection. But I choose mainly through personal recommendations, general word of mouth and book reviews.

Mr. Taylor has this habit of emphasizing his point by using three adjectives or verbs in a row. ‘Class, you must know,’ Simon begins [imitating] in a droning voice, flinging her arms around at every...

Sometimes it’s easy to lose faith in people. And sometimes one act of kindness is all it takes to give you hope again.

In a multicultural, diverse society there are countless ways in which people negotiate the everyday lived experience and reality of diversity.

It seems Palestinians can’t win. The language of peace negotiations has always been predicated on a representation that Palestinians are violent and that is why Israel behaves as it does.

You? Nervous? Man, you’ve got more balls than any girl I’ve ever known!’ ‘You’ve known some weird girls, then,” I say, raising an eyebrow at him.

Your perception is riveting, Amal,” he says in a bored and sarcastic tone, dropping the note down on my desk. “It’s comforting to know that there are people in my class who have the maturity...

To the Muslim woman, the hijab provides a sense of empowerment. It is a personal decision to dress modestly according to the command of a genderless Creator; to assert pride in self, and embrace one’s...

My family are observant Muslims, but I’ve come to the faith through an intellectual conviction, and that’s something that they’ve taught me. It’s never been forced upon me. They’ve given me a very strong identity...

Belief means nothing without actions

What’s the good of being true to your religion on the outside, if you don’t change what’s on the inside,were it really counts ?

The hijab, or sikh turban, or Jewish skullcap are all explicit symbols, but they do not represent a threat or affront to others, and have no bearing on the competence, skills and intelligence of a...

Religious celebrations, and the good will, high spirits and generosity that mark them, are wonderful occasions for understanding the potential of ‘everyday multiculturalism’, and how people from diverse faiths can connect and show they care,...

Are you still doing that crap?” I ask.”You can’t even do it properly,” Eileen says.”Just a matter of practice,” Simone says.”Wow! Practicing how to poison yourself and make your breath reek like the fart of...

Life isn’t like the movies. People don’t change overnight. people don’t go from arrogant and self-righteous to ashamed and remorseful. They don’t suddenly give in when they’ve spent years taking out. No doesn’t magically become...

When it comes to the hijab – why to wear it, whether to wear it, how to wear it – there is theology and then there is practice, and there is huge diversity in both.

Spirituality is deeply personal. Yet, society has to face the fact that certain faiths celebrate spirituality through an overt expression of inner convictions.

It’s like one of those scenes from a feel-good Hollywood movie. Where everybody is happy and nobody’s hair fizzes in the wind. Where it doesn’t rain, your shoes stay comfortable all day, and everybody’s jokes...

It is time Australian Muslims stop being treated as negotiable citizens in their own country. It is time people stop ‘tolerating’ us, presuming some right to decide if we have a place in our own...

With my human rights advocacy, that’s always been through my writing. I’ve always tried to write articles and contribute to journals and a lot of online journals – about human rights, especially Palestinian human rights....

True friends are those who love you not in spite of your faults and imperfections, but because of them.

A woman’s body is her body and what she wears or does not wear is her choice. Get over it and move on.

I do most of my reading on the train ride to and from work. But I always have a book in my handbag so that I can read at any time, anywhere.

I want to be with one person in my life. I want to know that the guy I spend the rest of my life with is the first person I share something so intimate and...

I’ve always loved writing, and the impulse for me is storytelling. I don’t sit down and think: ‘What political message can I sell?’ I love the creativity of it.

When you exist in the centre of a debate, as a topic, a hypothesis – otherised and stigmatised – you become the prop in a proposition.

You never feel good when you lie. It doesn’t matter how much you want something, if you lie to somebody you love, and they actually, sincerely believe you, you feel like a cockroach that needs...

Most Muslim women know it is fear and curiosity that cause people to stare. They know it is ignorance and stereotypes that cause people to suppose that a piece of material covering the hair strips...

You should take notes whenever you hear interesting or original language.