Open Books Challenge 2026: By a Muslim Author

The Open Books Reading Challenge is a year-long reading challenge for people interested in pushing the boundaries of their reading. For full details of the program, please check-out our page at: https://www.rplmn.org/books-more/discover-more/open-books-reading-challenge

These are some ideas that fit the 2026 category "By a Muslim author."

Happy Reading!

Updated December 31, 2025
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Between two moons
Abdel Gawad, Aisha
Ebook
LONGLISTED FOR THE 2024 CAROL SHIELDS PRIZE, THE NEW AMERICAN VOICES AWARD, & THE BROOKYLN PUBLIC LIBRARY PRIZE * Set in the Arab immigrant enclave of Bay Ridge, Brooklyn, following three siblings coming of age over the course of one Ramadan, "a moving look at family, survival, and...
Martyr!
Akbar, Kaveh
Paper Book
NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER * SHORTLISTED FOR THE NATIONAL BOOK AWARD * ONE OF THE NEW YORK TIMES BOOK REVIEW'S 10 BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR * A TIME MUST-READ BOOK OF THE YEAR * A newly sober, orphaned son of Iranian immigrants, guided by the voices of artists, poets, and...
Life as a unicorn : a journey from shame to pride and everything in between /
Al-Kadhi, Amrou, 1990-
Paper Book
From a god-fearing Muslim boy enraptured with their mother, to a vocal, queer drag queen estranged from their family, this is a heart-breaking and hilarious memoir about the author's fight to be true to themself My name is Amrou Al-Kadhi - by day. By night, I am Glamrou, an...
Rich and pretty
Alam, Rumaan
Paper Book
Named a Best Book of 2016 by Esquire, Refinery29, and Nylon One of Bustle's 17 Of 2016's Most Anticipated Books To Put On Your Wishlist Immediately One of the Wall Street Journal's Ten Titles to Watch in Summer Fiction An Amazon Editors' Beach Reads pick One of...
Love from Mecca to Medina.
Ali, S. K.
Paper Book
On the trip of a lifetime, Adam and Zayneb must find their way back to each other in this surprising and romantic sequel to the "bighearted, wildly charming" (Becky Albertalli, New York Times bestselling author) Love from A to Z. Adam and Zayneb. Perfectly matched....
The city of brass.
Chakraborty, S. A.
Paper Book
NAMED ONE OF THE BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR BY Library Journal | Vulture | The Verge | SYFYWire *Finalist for the World Fantasy Award: Best Novel *Nominated for the Locus Award: Best First Novel *Finalist for the British Fantasy Award: Best Newcomer<...
A tempest of tea
Faizal, Hafsah
Paper Book
*An Instant #1 New York Times Bestseller* "Brewed to perfection." --Rebecca Ross, #1 New York Times bestselling author of Divine Rivals Now available in a deluxe paperback edition with gorgeous stenciled edges, Hafsah Faizal's deliciously...
Exit west
Hamid, Mohsin
Paper Book
One of The New York Times's 100 Best Books of the 21st Century FINALIST FOR THE BOOKER PRIZE & WINNER OF THE L.A. TIMES BOOK PRIZE FOR FICTION and THE ASPEN WORDS LITERARY PRIZE "It was as if Hamid knew what was going to happen to America and the...
A case of exploding mangoes.
Hanif, Mohammed
Paper Book
Teasing, provocative, and very funny, Mohammed Hanif's debut novel takes one of the subcontinent's enduring mysteries and out if it spins a tale as rich and colourful as a beggar's dream. Why did a Hercules C130, the world's sturdiest plane, carrying Pakistan's military dictator General Zia ul Haq,...
The girl and the ghost
Hanna Alkaf
Paper Book
* Chosen as a 2020 Kirkus Prize Finalist for Young Readers' Literature! * A Malaysian folk tale comes to life in this emotionally layered, chilling middle grade debut, perfect for fans of The Book of Boy and The Jumbies. I am a dark spirit, the ...
The weight of our sky
Hanna Alkaf
Paper Book
A music loving teen with OCD does everything she can to find her way back to her mother during the historic race riots in 1969 Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, in this heart-pounding literary debut. Melati Ahmad looks like your typical movie-going, Beatles-obsessed sixteen-year-old....
The Jasad heir. [online electronic book]
Hashem, Sara
Ebook
"A remarkable, razor-sharp debut that cuts straight to the heart."―Chelsea Abdullah, author of The Stardust Thief A fugitive queen strikes a bargain with her greatest enemy that could resurrect her scorched kingdom or leave it in ashes forever in this...
Jana goes wild
Heron, Farah
Paper Book
Kirkus Best Books of the Year Library Journal Best Books of the Year The highly acclaimed author of Accidentally Engaged delivers a delightful rom-com of one woman trying to shed her perfect image at a destination wedding with...
The antiracist kitchen : 21 stories (and recipes)
Hohn, Nadia L.
Paper Book
★"Twenty-one kid-lit authors of color share a wide array of delicious recipes as well as personal experiences related to culture, race, and racism. Accompanied by vibrant illustrations, these story-recipe pairings demonstrate how intertwined food and identity are...The result is a...
The kite runner.
Hosseini, Khaled
Paper Book
The #1 New York Times bestselling debut novel that introduced Khaled Hosseini to millions of readers all over the world. Amir and Hassan are childhood friends in the alleys and orchards of Kabul in the sunny days before the invasion of the Soviet army and Afghanistan's...
Detective Aunty : A Novel
Jalaluddin, Uzma
A GLOBE AND MAIL TOP 100 BOOK OF THE YEAR When her grown daughter is suspected of murder, a charming and tenacious widow digs into the case to unmask the real killer in this twisty, page-turning whodunit--the first book in a cozy new detective series from the acclaimed...
The map of salt and stars.
Joukhadar, Zeyn
Paper Book
This rich, moving, and lyrical debut novel is to Syria what The Kite Runner was to Afghanistan; the story of two girls living eight hundred years apart--a modern-day Syrian refugee seeking safety and a medieval adventurer apprenticed to a legendary mapmaker--places today's headlines in the...
Unmarriageable. [online electronic book]
Kamal, Soniah
Ebook
"This inventive retelling of Pride and Prejudice charms."--People "A fun, page-turning romp and a thought-provoking look at the class-obsessed strata of Pakistani society."--NPR Alys Binat has sworn never to marry--until an encounter with one Mr....
As long as the lemon trees grow
Katouh, Zoulfa
Paper Book
A love letter to Syria and its people, As Long as the Lemon Trees Grow is a speculative novel set amid the Syrian Revolution, burning with the fires of hope, love, and possibility. Perfect for fans of The Book Thief and Salt to the Sea.
Thorn
Khanani, Intisar
Paper Book
Hunted meets The Wrath and the Dawn in this bold fairytale retelling--where court intrigue, false identities, and dark secrets will thrill fans of classic and contemporary fantasy alike. Princess Alyrra has always longed to escape the confines of her royal life, but when her mother...
The dream hotel : a novel
Lalami, Laila
Paper Book
NATIONAL BESTSELLER ● READ WITH JENNA BOOK CLUB PICK AS FEATURED ON TODAY ● From Laila Lalami--the Pulitzer Prize and National Book Award finalist and a "maestra of literary fiction" (NPR)--comes a riveting and utterly original novel about one woman's fight for freedom, set in...
Furthermore
Mafi, Tahereh
Paper Book
This captivating and colorful adventure that reads like a modern day fairy tale, from the bestselling author of the Shatter Me series is the perfect gift! "Brimming with color and magic." --New York Times Book Review   ★...
This woven kingdom
Mafi, Tahereh
Paper Book
New York Times, USA Today, and Publishers Weekly bestseller from the acclaimed author of the Shatter Me series! Clashing empires, forbidden romance, and a long-forgotten queen destined to save her people--Tahereh Mafi's first in an epic romantasy series inspired by Persian mythology. To...
The bad Muslim discount : a novel
Masood, Syed
Paper Book
Following two families from Pakistan and Iraq in the 1990s to San Francisco in 2016, The Bad Muslim Discount is an inclusive, comic novel about Muslim immigrants finding their way in modern America. "Masood's novel presents a stereoscopic, three-dimensional view of...
My friends
Matar, Hisham
Paper Book
*WINNER OF THE ORWELL PRIZE FOR POLITICAL FICTION* *FINALIST FOR THE NATIONAL BOOK AWARD FOR FICTION* *FINALIST FOR THE ANDREW CARNEGIE MEDAL FOR EXCELLENCE IN FICTION* *LONGLISTED FOR THE BOOKER PRIZE* A "masterly" (The New York Times...
The return : fathers, sons, and the land in between
Matar, Hisham
Paper Book
WINNER OF THE PULITZER PRIZE * The acclaimed memoir about fathers and sons, a legacy of loss, and, ultimately, healing--one of The New York Times Book Review's ten best books of the year, winner of the PEN/Jean Stein Book Award, and a finalist for the National Book Critics Circle...
A place for us : a novel
Mirza, Fatima Farheen
Paper Book
AN INSTANT NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER * NATIONAL BOOK AWARD "5 UNDER 35" NOMINEE * NEW YORK'S "ONE BOOK, ONE NEW YORK" PICK Named One of the Best Books of the Year: Washington Post * NPR * People * Refinery29 * Parade * BuzzFeed "Mirza ...
The fortune men
Mohamed, Nadifa
Paper Book
BOOKER PRIZE FINALIST * Based on a true event, this novel is "a blues song cut straight from the heart ... about the unjust death of an innocent Black man caught up in a corrupt system" (Walter Mosley, best-selling author of Devil in a Blue Dress). In Cardiff, Wales in...
The boldest white : a story of hijab and community
Muhammad, Ibtihaj
Paper Book
In this call to bravery from Olympic medalist Ibtihaj Muhammad, Faizah learns to overcome her fears and stand in front of the crowd in this beautiful celebration of family, fencing, and community.   Faizah loves being part of the community at her mosque, and...
This is what America looks like : my journey from refugee to Congresswoman
Omar, Ilhan
Paper Book
Named a Best Political Book of the Year by The Atlantic "This Is What America Looks Like is the origin story of a leader who, finding no set path that would take a person like her to the places she wanted to go, was forced, and free, to chart her own." -The New York Times...
Nights of plague.
Pamuk, Orhan, 1952-
Paper Book
NAMED A BEST BOOK OF THE YEAR BY THE NEW YORK TIMES * THE FINANCIAL TIMES * THE NEW YORKER A new book by the winner of the Nobel Prize in Literature. Part detective story, part historical epic--a bold and brilliant novel that imagines a plague ravaging a...
You truly assumed
Sabreen, Laila
Paper Book
"You Truly Assumed is a beautiful portrayal of the multitude of ways to be Black and Muslim while navigating our contemporary world. A must-read for everyone."--Adiba Jaigirdar, author of The Henna Wars   In this compelling and thought-provoking debut novel, after a...
Grounded
Saeed, Aisha
Paper Book
When a thunderstorm grounds all flights following a huge Muslim convention, four unlikely kids are thrown together. Feek is stuck babysitting his younger sister, but he'd rather be writing a poem that's good enough for his dad, a famous poet and rapper. Hanna is intent on finding a lost cat in the...
Best of friends
Shamsie, Kamila
Paper Book
"A profound novel about friendship. I loved it to pieces." --Madeline Miller "A shining tour de force about a long friendship's respects, disrespects, loyalties and moralities." --Ali Smith  From the acclaimed author of Home Fire, the moving and surprising...
Ms. Marvel. Vol. 1, The new mutant
Vellani, Iman
Paper Book
Kamala Khan is back - and she's an X-Man! Ms. Marvel bursts into the next phase of her life in an exciting adventure co-written by Iman Vellani, the MCU's own Kamala, and Sabir Pirzada of both DARK WEB- MS. MARVEL and her Disney+ series! That's right - the good news is that in the wake of her recent...
The bird king
Wilson, G. Willow
Paper Book
One of NPR's 50 Best Science Fiction and Fantasy Books of the Decade: A fifteenth-century palace mapmaker must hide his powers in the time of the Inquisition . . . Award-winning author G. Willow Wilson's debut novel Alif the Unseen was an NPR and Washington Post Best...
Fundamentally
Younis, Nussaibah
Paper Book
SHORTLISTED FOR THE 2025 WOMEN'S PRIZE FOR FICTION WINNER OF THE COMEDY WOMAN IN PRINT PEOPLE'S CHOICE AWARD AND PUBLISHED NOVEL AWARD 'A NEW NAME TO WATCH OUT FOR' THE TIMES 'THE DEBUT OF THE YEAR' STYLIST 'ELECTRIC' GUARDIAN ...
A dutiful boy : a memoir of a gay Muslim's journey to acceptance /
Zaidi, Mohsin.
Paper Book
'A beautifully written, heartrending story of a young gay man's journey, liberation and love. A real page-turner that sparks with humanity and hope' Lord Michael Cashman A coming of age memoir about growing up queer in a strict Muslim household. ...

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