• An image of Naseem, a light-skinned West Asian person with brown curls and purple highlights. They are looking at the camera, wearing a green sweater, blue nose stud, and gravestone earrings.

    Visit this link for a downloadable press kit and related materials.

    Photo credit: Jeramie Lu. Reprint of photo is permitted for publicity purposes.

  • 50-word Bio

    Naseem Jamnia (they/them) is the Judith A. Markowitz award-winning author of The Bruising of Qilwa and the upcoming Sleepaway (Aladdin '25). In addition to the inaugural Samuel R. Delany fellowship, they've received fellowships from Bitch Media, Lambda Literary, and Otherwise. Find out at more at www.naseemwrites.com or on Instagram @jamsternazzy.

     

  • < 100-word Bio

    Naseem Jamnia (they/them) is a Persian-Chicagoan, former neuroscientist, and the Judith A. Markowitz award-winning author of The Bruising of Qilwa (Tachyon Publications, 2022), which was shortlisted for IAFA's Crawford Award and the Locus Award, and the upcoming Sleepaway (Aladdin, 2025). Their work has appeared in The Washington Post, Bitch Media, Cosmopolitan, The Rumpus, The Writer's Chronicle, and other venues. A Lambda Literary, Otherwise, and the inaugural Samuel R. Delany Fellow, Naseem is the managing editor at Sword & Kettle Press, a tiny publishing house of feminist speculative writing. Find out at more at www.naseemwrites.com or on Instagram @jamsternazzy.

     

  • < 200-word Bio

    A former neuroscientist, Judith A. Markowitz Award-winning author Naseem Jamnia’s (they/them) debut novella, The Bruising of Qilwa, was released by Tachyon Publications to critical praise, including being shortlisted for IAFA's Crawford Award and a finalist for a Locus Award. Their middle grade debut, Sleepaway, will be released in 2025 from Aladdin. Their nonfiction has appeared in The Washington Post, Cosmopolitan, The Rumpus, The Writer's Chronicle, and other venues. They were a Bitch Media Fellow in Technology, a Lambda Literary Fellow in Young Adult Fiction, an Otherwise Fellow, and the inaugural Samuel R. Delany Fellow. In addition to co-writing the academic text Positive Interactions with At-Risk Children (Routledge, 2019), their work has been included in the Lambda Literary EMERGE anthology (2020), We Made Uranium! And Other True Stories from the University of Chicago’s Extraordinary Scavenger Hunt (University of Chicago, 2019), and is upcoming in The White Guy Dies First (Tor Teen, 2024). Naseem is also the managing editor and book designer at Sword & Kettle Press, a tiny independent publishing house of inclusive feminist speculative writing. A Persian-Chicagoan and child to Iranian immigrants, Naseem now lives in Reno with their husband and four furred creatures. Find out at more at www.naseemwrites.com or on Instagram @jamsternazzy.

     

  • Relevant Links

    Cover by Elizabeth Story
    The cover of The Bruising of Qilwa. A golden hand drips blood on the title. A city rises on a hill, an island in the middle of a sea with boats. Vines creep along the sides. The colors are red, gold, cream, and purple.

    Social Links

    Book Links

    For publicity requests, email Kasey Lansdale at Tachyon Publications: kasey@tachyonpublications.com

  • Talking Points

    Trying to figure out what to cover for either me or The Bruising of Qilwa? Check out some ideas below.

    A headshot of Naseem, a light-skinned nonbinary West Asian person with curly brown hair. They're wearing a colorful scarf over a black sweater with threads of blue and cream. They smile with closed lips at the camera.

    For Naseem

    • Growing up as first-generation (a child to immigrants)
    • Being in the Iranian diaspora
    • Growing up in Chicago
    • Relationship between being queer, trans, Muslim, and Iranian
    • Experiences with writing and psychiatric disabilities and neurodivergence 
    • Leaving animal research and neuroscience to pursue writing
    • Writing across genres (fiction, nonfiction) and age ranges
    • Experiences as a QTPOC in the MFA workshop
    • Experiences in academia in both the sciences and humanities, including teaching, research, and graduate school
    • Experiences in Ivy-Plus settings
    • Discovering a queer identity after adolescence
    • Being openly queer and nonbinary trans in today's political climate
    • Working as an editor for both fiction and nonfiction (e.g. through Sword & Kettle Press and Sidequest.Zone)
    • Being a nerd, baker, video and board gamer
    Two blurbs for The Bruising of Qilwa, set against the city from the cover. The first is from Charlie Jane Anders, which says, "I loved this gorgeous book about blood magic, chosen family and refugees." The second is from S.A. Chakraborty, which says, "A fascinating medical mystery in a rich, complex world I didn't want to leave."

    For The Bruising of Qilwa

    • Migration: refugees and immigrants
    • Gender identity in fantasy
    • Medical racism and medical ethics
    • Queernormative worldbuilding
    • SWANA/Persian-inspired worldbuilding
    • Scientific magic systems
    • The importance of representation in literature, including fantasy
    • Other books upcoming in this secondary world
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