Tayyaba Syed is an award-winning author and freelance journalist. Her work has been featured in numerous publications including NPR, Islamic Horizons, Azizah Magazine, Chicago Crescent, Halal Consumer and Chicago Parent. She also co-authored four chapter books in the popular kids' series Jannah Jewels. Tayyaba works as the Research Specialist for Daybreak Press and a Writing Curriculum Consultant for Whitestone Foundation's Author Development Program. She also designs unique plots for Noor Kids educational books as their Creative Developer. In 2016, she was selected to present a biographical paper on Fatima al-Fihri at Georgetown University Qatar's Writing Women's Lives Conference. Tayyaba travels extensively to share her passion for reading and writing by conducting literary seminars for all ages. In April 2017, she led a weekend writing intensive at Zaytuna College in Berkeley for "Muslims Write Now." Her debut middle grade novel titled Call Me Mary is scheduled for release early 2018 by Djarabi Kitabs Publishing. Tayyaba volunteers as a youth mentor and is pursuing her Islamic Studies certification through the Ribaat Academic Institute, while working on her next novel. She lives in Chicago with her husband and three young children and enjoys baking sugar-free desserts in her free time.
Melani Putri is an illustrator based in Jakarta. After finishing her visual art education at Bandung Institute of Technology, she has been focusing on children illustration and has won the National Folktale Illustration award in 2016. Her illustration works include children books, greeting cards, posters and stationery. Please visit her website at www.memels.com.
