The Diverse Bookshelf

By Samia Aziz

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Category: Books

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Subscribers: 4
Reviews: 0
Episodes: 102

Description

Welcome to The Diverse Bookshelf. I’m Samia Aziz, celebrating the power of literature and the voices of authors and change makers from the global majority. Join me as we explore the stories that inspire, connect, and transform our world. Each week I interview an inspiring guest about a whole host of themes and issues while focusing on diverse literature. 

 

Let’s uncover the stories that truly matter—together.


Episode Date
Ramadan Reflections: Yasmin Stannard on faith, grief and Amani's legacy
Mar 14, 2025
Preethi Nair on carving your own path, aging and unravelling
Mar 11, 2025
Ramadan Reflections: Lianne on faith, fitness & body image
Mar 07, 2025
Omar El Akkad on Gaza, genocide, privilege, and historical amnesia
Mar 03, 2025
Huda Fahmy on growing up, divorce, mental health & friendship
Feb 25, 2025
Salma Ibrahim on the lives we could have lived, friendship, and identity
Feb 18, 2025
Salena Godden on love, grief, memory and identity
Feb 10, 2025
Azeem Rafiq on racism in cricket, grief and mental health
Feb 03, 2025
Aube Rey Lescure on Shanghai's privileged expat world, language and identity
Jan 27, 2025
Fatin Abbas on Sudan, objectivity & unrecognised history
Jan 20, 2025
Ep92: Wiz Wharton on untold stories, sisters, belonging and feelings of shame & guilt
Oct 28, 2024
Ep91: Mahvish Ahmed on home, authenticity, mental health & identity
Oct 21, 2024
Ep90: Mahmoud Muna on stories from Gaza, hope & the future
Oct 07, 2024
Ep89: Pragya Agarwal on motherhood, infertility & being a woman
Sep 30, 2024
Ep88: Payzee Mahmod on finding her purpose, child marriage & loss
Sep 23, 2024
Ep87: Jamaica Kincaid on her life, writing & our Earth
Sep 16, 2024
Ep86: Tasneem Abdur-Rashid on writing romance, female friendships & family dynamics
Sep 09, 2024
Ep85: Ilan Pappé on the 1948 Nakba, speaking out & the future of Palestine
Sep 02, 2024
Ep84: Safia Elhillo on poetry, language, friendship & Sudan
Jun 25, 2024
Ep83: Taiba Bajar on rewiring the brain and unlocking autism
Jun 18, 2024
Ep82: Saima Mir on strong women, crime, vengeance & morality
Jun 11, 2024
Ep81: Susan Muaddi Darraj on loss of home, belonging & Palestinian Christian communities
Jun 04, 2024
Ep80: Vanessa Chan on the Japanese occupation of Malaysia, big families & characters with agency
May 28, 2024
Ep79: Ishi Robinson on Jamaica, colonial legacies, race & class
May 21, 2024
Ep78: Jassa Ahluwalia on mixed heritage & embracing who you are
May 14, 2024
Ep77: Reem Gaafar on Sudan, motherhood & loss
May 07, 2024
Ep76: Shaimaa Abulebda on life in Gaza
Apr 30, 2024
Ep75: Nigar Alam on Partition, childhood friendships and displacement
Apr 23, 2024
Ep74: Ela Lee on privilege, children of immigrants & identity
Apr 16, 2024
Ep73: Dana Dajani on poetry, Palestine & storytelling
Apr 09, 2024
Ep72: Sofia Rehman on translation, dialogue & Aisha (ra)
Apr 02, 2024
Ep71: Matthew Robinson on storytelling, film-making and the charity sector
Mar 26, 2024
Ep70: Sarah Joseph on justice, slowing down & hope
Mar 19, 2024
Ep69: Aliyah Umm Raiyaan on the power of du'a
Mar 12, 2024
Ep68: Suhaiymah Manzoor-Khan on shedding external gazes and turning to God
Mar 05, 2024
Ep67: Sairish Hussain on grandparents, Partition & understanding the past
Feb 27, 2024
Ep66: Nadeine Asbali on being visibly Muslim in Britain
Feb 20, 2024
Ep65: Rowan Hisayo Buchanan on sleep-watching, family & mixed race identity
Feb 13, 2024
Ep64: Aamina Ahmad on Pakistani literature, class & society
Feb 06, 2024
Ep63: Sim Kern on anti-zionsim, anti-semitism, Palestinian literature & climate change
Jan 30, 2024
Ep62: Sheela Banerjee on the history, power, meaning & importance of our names
Jan 23, 2024
Ep61: Azad Essa on India & Israel; Kashmir & Palestine
Jan 16, 2024
Ep60: Celina Baljeet Basra: on migrant workers, food & talking to imaginary audiences
Jan 09, 2024
Ep59: Isabella Hammad on Palestinian identity, art and the power of words
Jan 02, 2024
Ep58: End of 2023 Q & A - Samia & Wasim
Dec 26, 2023
Ep57: Assia Belgacem on Algerian & Muslim identity in France
Dec 19, 2023
Ep56: Rashid Khalidi on the hundred years' war on Palestine
Dec 12, 2023
Ep55: Etaf Rum on literary empathy, performative reading & Palestine
Dec 05, 2023
Ep54: Huma Qureshi on sisters, representation & borrowing from real life
Nov 28, 2023
Ep53: Sahar Mustafah on Palestine, representation & privilege
Nov 23, 2023
Ep52: Dina Nayeri on the truth & who gets believed
Nov 14, 2023
Ep51: Ola Abou & Ilham Essalih on exploring Palestinian & Syrian freedom struggles through literature
Oct 24, 2023
Ep50: Etaf Rum on Palestinian stories, intergeneration trauma & representation
Oct 11, 2023
Ep49: Lucy Fulford on understanding the Ugandan Asian expulsion
Oct 03, 2023
Ep48: Kevin Jared Hosein on morally ambiguous characters & 1940's Trinidad
Sep 26, 2023
Ep47: Laila Woozeer on mixed identity, belonging and community
Sep 19, 2023
Ep46: Jaspreet Kaur on being brown girls
Sep 12, 2023
Ep45: Samia Aziz reflecting on one year of the show
Aug 29, 2023
Ep44: Faiza Shaheen on the myth of social mobility & the future
Aug 22, 2023
Ep43: Christy Lefteri on the environment, family and hope
Aug 15, 2023
Ep42: Hafsa Lodi on modesty & the modest fashion movement
Aug 08, 2023
Ep41: Chika Unigwe on rage-inducing characters and systems of oppression
Aug 01, 2023
Ep40: Parini Shroff on rage, justice and patriarchy
Jul 25, 2023
Ep39: Huda Fahmy on humour, family and everyday life
Jul 18, 2023
Ep38: Hiba Noor Khan on stories for children and forgotten histories
Jul 11, 2023
Ep37: Sara Nisha Adams on hope, uplifting stories and our names
Jul 04, 2023
Ep36: Krystle Zara Appiah on whether love is enough
Jun 27, 2023
Ep35: Eleanor Shearer on freedom, the end of slavery and storytelling
Jun 20, 2023
Ep34: Marjan Kamali on Iran, love and representation
Jun 13, 2023
Ep33: Mai Al-Nakib on unlasting homes
Jun 06, 2023
Ep32: Mona Hajjar Halaby on returning home to Palestine
May 30, 2023
Ep31: Farah Karim-Cooper on Shakespeare, race and the future
May 23, 2023
Ep30: Priscilla Morris on the Siege of Sarajevo
May 16, 2023
Ep29: Layla AlAmmar on memory, trauma and how stories are told
May 09, 2023
Ep28: Fatima Manji on discovering Britain's hidden heritage
May 02, 2023
Ep27: Cecile Pin on Wandering Souls, Vietnamese history and telling stories
Apr 25, 2023
Ep26 - Taher Adel on poetry, creativity and the names of Allah
Apr 18, 2023
Ep25: Suma Din on the soul, the experiences of women and gratitude
Apr 11, 2023
Ep24: Aliyah Umm Raiyaan on forgiveness, being present & knowing Allah
Apr 04, 2023
Ep23: Sofia Rehman on the mother of believers, justice and prophetic love & guidance
Mar 28, 2023
Ep22: Ruzina Ahad on having the courage to dream big & the power of prayer
Mar 21, 2023
Ep21: Sophia Thakur on stories that came before us, love and the seasons of life
Mar 14, 2023
Ep20: Leila Aboulela on historical fiction, recentering women and River Spirit
Mar 08, 2023
Ep19: Aiwanose Odafen on complicated relationships, love and being a woman
Feb 28, 2023
Ep18: Mikki Kendall on Hood Feminism
Feb 21, 2023
Ep17: Abi Daré on what it means to have a louding voice & the power of education
Feb 14, 2023
Ep16: Ayọ̀bámi Adébáyọ̀ on power, love, loss, politics and womanhood
Feb 07, 2023
Ep15: Sukh Ojla on feeling left behind, mental health, identity & speaking your truth
Jan 31, 2023
Ep14: Louise Hare on the Windrush generation, passing and murder mysteries
Jan 24, 2023
Ep13: Jyoti Patel on family, language, mental health and where we're from
Jan 17, 2023
Ep12: Melissa Fu on finding our own peach blossom spring
Dec 28, 2022
Ep11: Tasneem Abdur-Rashid on finding love, debut novels and the stories we wish we had while growing up
Dec 14, 2022
Ep10: Jendella Benson on gentrification, family, and all things South London
Nov 16, 2022
Ep9: Sabba Khan on art, words and who we truly are
Oct 19, 2022
Ep8: Shahd Alshammari on reframing the narrative of chronic illness and disability
Oct 05, 2022
Ep7: Zoulfa Katouh on stories from Syria
Sep 21, 2022
Ep6: Nguyễn Phan Quế Mai on retelling history
Sep 14, 2022
Ep5: Noreen Nasim on the Asian expulsion from Uganda
Aug 31, 2022
Ep4: Soraya Chemaly on reclaiming women's anger
Aug 17, 2022
Ep3: Sairish Hussain on the importance of good representation
Aug 03, 2022
Ep1: Christy Lefteri on the Power of Storytelling
Jul 18, 2022
Ep2: Suhaiymah Manzoor Khan on Uprooting Islamaphobia
Jul 18, 2022