Ausma Zehanat Khan - Author

Ausma Zehanat Khan is the author of The Unquiet Dead, the first mystery in a series featuring detectives Esa Khattak and Rachel Getty, which won the Barry Award, the Arthur Ellis Award and the Romantic Times Reviewers Choice Award for Best First Novel. She has also written a forthcoming fantasy series for Harper Voyager.

A frequent lecturer and commentator, Ausma holds a Ph.D. in International Human Rights Law with a research specialization in military intervention and war crimes in the Balkans. She completed her LL.B. and LL.M. at the University of Ottawa, and her B.A. in English Literature & Sociology at the University of Toronto.

Formerly, she served as Editor in Chief of Muslim Girl magazine. The first magazine to address a target audience of young Muslim women, Muslim Girl re-shaped the conversation about Muslim women in North America. The magazine was the subject of two documentaries, and hundreds of national and international profiles and interviews, including CNN International, Current TV, and Al Jazeera "Everywoman". Ausma has travelled the Muslim world extensively and frequently writes about ongoing tensions there, as well as the richness and diversity of the Islamic civilization.

Ausma practiced immigration law in Toronto and has taught international human rights law at Northwestern University, as well as human rights and business law at York University. She is a long-time community activist and writer. A British-born Canadian, she currently lives in Colorado with her husband.

Author photo © Athif Khan