BIOS
THE SHORT VERSION
Hanna Alkaf graduated with a degree in journalism from Northwestern University and spent over ten years writing everything from B2B marketing emails to investigative feature articles, from non-profit press releases to corporate brochures. She now spends her time making it up as she goes along, both as an author of fiction and as a mom. Hanna lives in Kuala Lumpur with her family. Her first young adult novel, THE WEIGHT OF OUR SKY, was published by Simon & Schuster in 2019; her middle grade debut, THE GIRL & THE GHOST, will be published by HarperCollins in 2020.
THE SLIGHTLY LONGER VERSION
Hanna Alkaf graduated with a degree in journalism from Northwestern University and spent over ten years writing everything from B2B marketing emails to investigative feature articles, from non-profit press releases to corporate brochures. She worked in Chicago as an online copywriter for several years upon graduation before coming home. She’s been a senior writer at Marie Claire Malaysia, the communications manager of education non-profit Teach For Malaysia, and a freelance journalist. Her articles have appeared in the Malaysian iterations of Marie Claire, Shape, and Esquire, as well as a host of other media both print and online.
Hanna now spends her time making it up as she goes along, both as an author of fiction and as a mom. Her first young adult novel, THE WEIGHT OF OUR SKY, was published by Simon & Schuster in 2019; her middle grade debut, THE GIRL & THE GHOST, will be published by HarperCollins in 2020. She lives in Kuala Lumpur with her family.
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HEADSHOTS
Photos by Azalia Suhaimi. Click for hi res versions.
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THE WEIGHT OF OUR SKY
Melati Ahmad has imagined her mother’s death countless times. Plagued by gruesome thoughts she believes are put into her head by a djinn, Melati has developed an intricate set of tapping rituals to tame the monster withinand keep her mother safe.
But there are things that Melati can’t protect her mother from. On the evening of May 13th, 1969, racial tensions in her home city of Kuala Lumpur boil over. The Chinese and Malays are at war, and Mel and her mother become separated by a city in flames.
With a 24-hour curfew in place and all lines of communication down, it will take the help of a Chinese boy named Vincent and all of the courage and grit in Melati’s arsenal to overcome the violence on the streets, her own prejudices, and her djinn’s surging power to make it back to the one person she can’t risk losing.
Publishers Weekly starred review | Kirkus starred review | School Library Journal starred review | Shelf Awareness starred review
Cover illustration by Guy Shield | Art direction by Krista Vossen
Official Simon & Schuster page | Goodreads
Buy it now from: Amazon | B&N | Indiebound
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