Welcome Ausma Zehanat Khan!

INGRID THOFT

Last fall in Toronto I sat waiting for the opening ceremony at Bouchercon to begin.  I don't like to wait, but in this instance, I hoped the delay would continue given that I was sitting next to Ausma Zehanat Khan.  Ausma and I first met through social media and then were on a panel together at the Tucson Festival of Books.  Everything that I had surmised about her from her books was born out in person:  Ausma is smart, talented, kind, and funny.  She also has a Ph.D. in international human rights law with a research specialization in military intervention and war crimes in the Balkans and writes fantastic, thought-provoking mysteries.  I'm so happy she is joining us today on Jungle Reds!

INGRID THOFT:  I love your protagonists, Inspector Esa Khattak and Sergeant Rachel Getty, who are members of Canada’s Community Policing Team.  What is it about these two characters in particular that made you want to tell their story?

AUSMA ZEHANAT KHAN: Thank you, Ingrid! I wanted to write Esa because I hadn’t seen a character like him in crime fiction before—he’s a devout Canadian Muslim, and I’ve portrayed him in ways that people don’t expect to see someone of his background. He’s handsome, charismatic, thoughtful—a bit reserved, because I have always loved the archetype of the sexy, brooding detective—but it’s his faith that grounds his actions and his view of his job. In the real world, there is a lot of prejudice against a person like Esa, and writing him as I have was a way for me to tackle bigotry head-on.

With Rachel, there’s nothing I love so much as characters who have suffered adversity but find a way to push through. Rachel comes from this truly dysfunctional family background, and she’s in a male-dominated field where she’s faced setbacks and been diminished in ways that her male colleagues haven’t experienced—ways that speak to this #metoo moment. But though Rachel is far from perfect, she doesn’t give up on herself—through trial and repeated error, she’s been getting herself on her feet. And then she’s so different from Esa, that creatively it’s been really rewarding to figure out the parameters of their relationship.

IPT:  The latest book in the series, "A Dangerous Crossing,” focuses on the refugee crisis in Europe, specifically on the flight of Syrian refugees to the Greek Islands.  How did you choose this particular issue as the focus of the book?

AZK:  My cousin, who has quite a globe-trotting job, introduced me to an amazing young volunteer who’d been on Lesvos.  I did a long interview with this volunteer that made me realize that no matter what I’d been seeing on the news, I wasn’t even close to having the full picture of conditions in the camps on the islands, or of the overwhelming scale of the crisis. The Greek islands are a perfect microcosm of the different dimensions of the refugee crisis: the many dangers of the journey, the kindness or cruelty of strangers, the inadequate response by both international organizations and national governments, and the very human moments that spring up in these extreme circumstances that we may not expect. 

One thing that struck me when my first book, “The Unquiet Dead," came out, is how many readers responded to the book by telling me that they knew very little about the genocide that followed upon the dissolution of Yugoslavia. Now we’re seeing atrocities on a much greater scale in Syria. I wanted to write about these crimes while they were ongoing to try and provide some context to the refugee crisis, and to clarify the realities we often find difficult to grasp. I hoped I could do my small part to engage on these issues with some immediacy.

IPT:  You have a Ph.D. in international human rights law with a research specialization in military intervention and war crimes in the Balkans.  How did you make the transition from academia to fiction?

AZK:  It wasn’t easy to give up teaching, which I loved, but I felt the administrative side of my job was keeping me from focusing on the things that were important to me about my work. And the academic point of view often insists on this perceived sense of neutrality as a code for objectivity—I couldn’t fit my research or my point of view into that paradigm. I wanted to write more boldly and without that equivocating language. I also wanted to reach a broader audience. I’d been writing fiction all my life, and there finally came a period where I was able to make the decision to make it my priority. But because I’m writing about the issues that concern me, I’m still doing the work that matters most to me.

IPT: What has surprised you most about being a published author?

AZK: In a really great way, I’ve been surprised by how supportive and generous the community of crime writers is. So many writers have taken the time to educate or encourage me—it’s been such a tremendous help, and I’m truly grateful.

IPT:  Some readers may not know that your first fantasy novel, “The Bloodprint” was recently released to rave reviews.  I’m a fan of the tagline on the front: “The only defense against the ignorance of men is the brilliance of powerful women.”  Is there a wannabe book lurking in the back of your brain, something you would write if you didn’t have to consider agents, editors, and fans?  A romance?  Non-fiction? 

AZK:  Thank you so much for that nod to “The Bloodprint”. There is a book I have always wanted to write about a human rights crisis I won’t name. A war of aggression broke out and during the course of an attack on civilians, an entire extended family was destroyed. Its only surviving member was a nine-year-old girl. I want to write the story of that girl. What happened to her after her family was murdered? Who did she grow up to become—and how does she view the world after her experience of tragedy and exile? I don’t think I’m done with the subject of the politics of borders or the horrors of ultra-nationalism. I write about these things, but this little girl lived them. I’m not sure yet if this would be fiction or non-fiction. 

Isn't the UK cover gorgeous?

PS: I would also love to write romance. I write romantic scenes for my books all the time that never make it into the final version because they distract from the story too much. But they’re buried somewhere in the files on my computer!

Ausma will be here to answer your questions and is giving away a copy of "A Dangerous Crossing."  Join us in the comments!

"A Dangerous Crossing"

For Inspector Esa Khattak and Sergeant Rachel Getty, the Syrian refugee crisis is about to become personal. Esa’s childhood friend, Nathan Clare, calls him in distress: his sister, Audrey, has vanished from a Greek island where the siblings run an NGO. Audrey had been working to fast-track refugees to Canada, but now, she is implicated in the double-murder of a French Interpol agent and a young man who had fled the devastation in Syria.

Esa and Rachel arrive in Greece to a shocking scene, witnessing for themselves the massive fallout of the Syrian war in the wretched refugee camps. Tracing Audrey’s last movements, they meet some of the volunteers and refugees―one of whom, Ali, is involved in a search of his own, for a girl whose disappearance may be connected to their investigation. The arrival of Sehr Ghilzai―a former prosecutor who now handles refugee claims for Audrey’s NGO―further complicates the matter for Esa, as his feelings towards her remain unresolved.

Working against time, with Interpol at their heels, Esa and Rachel follow a trail that takes them from the beaches of Greece, to the Turkish–Syrian border, and across Europe, reaching even the corridors of power in the Netherlands. Had Audrey been on the edge of a dangerous discovery, hidden at the heart of this darkest of crises―one which ultimately put a target on her own back?

Ausma Zehanat Khan is the author of the award-winning debut novel The Unquiet Dead, the first in the Khattak/Getty mystery series. Her subsequent novels include the critically acclaimed The Language of Secrets and Among the Ruins. Her latest mystery in the series is A Dangerous Crossing. The Khattak/Getty mystery series has been optioned for television by Lionsgate, and Ausma is also the author of a fantasy series for Harper Voyager. The Bloodprint, Book One of the Khorasan Archives was published in October 2017. Ausma holds a Ph.D. in international human rights law with a specialization in military intervention and war crimes in the Balkans. A British-born Canadian and former adjunct law professor, she now lives in Colorado with her husband.