As a neurodiverse South Asian American reader, I find that most of the books I read make me feel split in half: I get to read books either about neurodiverse characters or about South Asian American characters, but rarely characters like me who identify as both. Consequently, I was delighted to discover the middle-grade novel Drawing Deena (Salaam Reads/Simon & Schuster, Feb. 6), which features a neurodiverse, Muslim, Pakistani American protagonist and recently received a starred Kirkus review. In Hena Khan’s book, the main character, Deena, discovers her neurodiversity when her attempts to balance the responsibility she feels toward her family with her love of art stretch her coping mechanisms beyond their capacities. Deena’s struggle is poignant, relatable, and—post-pandemic—much more common than we think.
On a recent video call, I spoke to Khan about anxiety, secondary characters, social media, and the art of pacing a complex plot. Our conversation has been edited for length and clarity.
This book felt like a kind of continuation of Amina’s Voice and Amina’s Song. How did writing these earlier books affect your approach to Drawing Deena? What did their publication make possible for you as a writer?
Writing my earlier books made me a little more confident going in, but also a lot freer to write the story I wanted to tell. Amina’s Voice was my debut novel. When I wrote it, I was teaching myself how to tell a story in long form and was more focused on what I wanted the world to see. As a Pakistani American Muslim who never saw herself represented, I was like, OK, here’s a chance for people to get to know a family like Amina’s and to connect with a character like her. Here’s a chance for people to get into an Islamic center and see what happens there. And when I was writing Amina’s Song, I thought about readers’ reactions to Amina’s Voice—especially some of the specific things they wanted to know more about Amina.
Initially, I pitched Drawing Deena as a companion to More to the Story. I wanted to live in that universe a bit longer and tell the story of a character in that book who was an artist. When I talked to my editor, she convinced me to try Deena as a stand-alone. That was really freeing. I wasn’t thinking about the audience or limited by what already existed. It was really just me writing about things I was pondering, things I was grappling with in my own life that I thought would be relatable to readers of all ages.
What were some of the things you were pondering?
One thing was the idea of how the pressures of social media and other people’s opinions can influence our own—especially our creative processes. I wanted my character to grapple with those things because I’m currently thinking about the difference between what’s popular and what’s authentic, and how you stay true to yourself. How do you find mentors and role models and artists whom you admire? What is it about them that speaks to you? What are they trying to do with what they’re creating? And is there more there than just being commercial or popular?
Speaking of mentors, one of my favorite characters in the book is a South Asian Muslim artist named Salma who becomes Deena’s mentor. Did you have any Salmas in your life growing up?
I modeled Salma after Sobia Ahmad, an artist whom I interviewed for this book. I saw her working with youth, and I just loved her energy and the way the kids responded to her. Sadly, I did not have a Salma growing up. I had older sister figures, like baajis [sisters in South Asian communities]. There were a few that I thought were really cool. They were kind of artsy and alternative, but I definitely didn’t have anyone I would have called a mentor or someone to help me in my creative pursuits. As a more experienced writer, I now have people whom I consider mentors, but I wish I’d had them earlier. But then, I think so much of storytelling is writing what we wish for or what we’ve seen.
Another character I love is Parisa, Deena’s cousin. It seems like she has a much deeper backstory. When you develop secondary characters like Parisa, do you come up with their personal histories?
Not so much a backstory as a strong sense of who they are, what they look like, what their mannerisms would be, and so on. Sort of their essence as a person. For Parisa, I had the sense that she was a somewhat superficial, smart, put-together, confident girl who masks a lot of her insecurities through this persona she’s adopted. She’s a foil to Deena, who’s simple and natural and more of an observer than a performer. I loved Parisa because I felt like both Parisa and Deena have these preconceived notions of who the other person is. They both view the other as far more together and confident than themselves. That’s what leads to clashes but also to this bigger understanding and stronger relationship down the road.
As the oldest child of immigrants, I found Deena’s anxiety relatable but also surprising. I didn’t see the anxiety attack coming, and then when I went back, I could see all the clues you left the reader. How did you pace this so perfectly?
I’m so glad you said that, because I didn’t want her anxiety to beat the reader over the head! I do find some books will tell you the protagonists’ issues over and over as they spell out, I really hope I’ll find a way to solve this problem!
But anxiety isn’t always obvious. It doesn’t have to be these huge anxiety-causing moments that lead to panic attacks. It can be a slow build. That’s why I tried to leave a little string of anxious moments, like her family’s financial stuff, her art struggle, her cousin drama, those types of dynamics. And then, as children of immigrants, we sometimes have to be advocates for ourselves in a way that other kids don’t, just because our parents don’t understand the system. Like, There’s this thing called Back-to-School Night, parents, and you’re supposed to be there!
This reminds me of what you said earlier about how you want your stories to resonate with people of all ages.
We think writing for kids is for kids and writing for adults is for adults. I don’t see it that way. It’s just storytelling. Hopefully people of all ages will relate.
What’s next for you?
I have five books coming out [this] year! I’ve got an anthology called The Door Is Open. It’s got some superstar authors, including Sayantani DasGupta, Veera Hiranandani, Mitali Perkins, Simran Jeet Singh, and Aisha Saeed. I have a picture book, and another co-authored book, and my first graphic novel, We Are Big Time, coming out as well.
Any chance we’ll eventually get a book starring Parisa?
I don’t know! I mean, you can probably tell from my work that I love creating these worlds and then building out related stories, so it could be really fun. You’ve got me thinking…
Mathangi Subramanian is the author ofA People’s History of Heaven,a finalist for the Lambda Literary Award.
