A conversation with Ausma Zehanat Khan

Newns, L. (2026) A conversation with Ausma Zehanat Khan. Literature, Critique, and Empire Today. ISSN 3033-3962

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Abstract

Ausma Zehanat Khan is a multi-award-winning author of crime and fantasy fiction that features Muslim protagonists and Islamic cultural milieus. Her work also engages with a wide range of contemporary global issues including genocide, terrorism, police violence, and refugee crossings. To date she has published 12 novels, which include two mystery series and the fantasy series The Khorasan Archives. Her first novel, The Unquiet Dead, which opens her Khattak/Getty crime series, was the winner of the Barry Award, the Arthur Ellis Award, and the Romantic Times Award for Best First Novel. Her latest crime series is set in Colorado and introduces us to a new detective who is female and Muslim. In this interview, Khan discusses the influence of her Pashtun roots and her work as an international human rights lawyer on her writing, the importance of diverse characters in genre fiction, the challenges of “translation” in the process of publishing and marketing books, and the global nature of her chosen genres.

Item Type:	Article
Additional Information:	Published by Sage in 2026. This is an author accepted manuscript of a published open access article available at https://doi.org/10.1177/30333962251414827. Uploaded in accordance with the publisher's self-archiving policy.
Keywords:	crime fiction, fantasy fiction, Ausma Zehanat Khan, Islam, Muslim protagonists, human rights, book production, book marketing
Divisions:	School of Humanities
Depositing User:	Lucinda Newns
Date Deposited:	02 Feb 2026 10:15
Last Modified:	17 Feb 2026 11:44
URI:	https://lbro.repository.guildhe.ac.uk/id/eprint/1293

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