Inda Ahmad Zahri - Inda Ahmad Zahri

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Inda Ahmad Zabri

Inda Ahmad Zahri believes in a world of wonder.

Her stories are inspired by natural and cultural gems curated from her travels and lovingly added to her Malaysian heritage.

She is also a surgical doctor, swapping her writer’s hat and paintbrush for scrubs and scalpel when duty calls.

Writing for children

Books

Art & Illustration

Portfolio

Hippocampes Print

Projects

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Take your pick of these titles curated by @reading

Take your pick of these titles curated by @readingopensdoors for Refugee Week. I'm so happy to see Salih in the line-up, along with a lovely, insightful review on the blog by Elise 🐢 thank you!

#Repost @readingopensdoors
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Sunday was World Refugee Day and marks the beginning of Refugee Week. Hearing stories about refugees allows children to learn about the reasons why people make the agonising choice to flee their countries and put themselves in life threatening situations in a desperate attempt to seek safety. These stories are gateways to important conversations, they have the power to dismantle bias and encourage empathy and inclusiveness.
On the Reading Opens Doors blog there are a collection of books and digital stories about refugees to share with children. The post can be found here: https://blog.readingopensdoors.com.au/?p=885
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#childrensbooks #childrensliterature #kidsbooks #booktheme #literacy #literacycircles #literature #kidsbookreviews #bookreviews #englishteachers #bookstagram #booklover #bookblogger #teacherlibrarian #teachers #teachersofinstagram #teacherlibrarianlife

According to my calendar (and I'm really big on ca

According to my calendar (and I'm really big on calendars) I'm due for my Caesarean section today. Woot!!

As fate would have it, the boys arrived 3 weeks earlier, in a whirlwind of events. It transpired that they had a late onset of twin-to-twin transfusion, one of the known complications of a twin pregnancy. I am ever grateful for the medical care that we've had throughout my pregnancy and now, in the crucial first days of preterm life.

I remember the big splash that heralded Leo coming into the world, bursting through the extra amniotic fluid he had accumulated, and a minute later hearing my surgeon saying as she pulls out Wren, 'Oh, you are a bit smaller, aren't you, beautiful?'

These imperfect sketches are to remind me of those near-perfect moments. Subhanallah, subhanallah, subhanallah, how grateful I am to Allah for these huge blessings in such tiny packages.

Though we can still recognise Wren as the smaller of the two, the boys are growing steadily and cunningly to close that gap. Soon it'll be anklets and colour codes, birth-mark hunting and texta tattoos, arguments and mix ups on who's who 👶🏼👶🏼

And one day maybe we'll show them these sketches, and they wouldn't believe it themselves.

#twins #twice #multiplebirths #sketch #art #childbirth #caesarean #obgyn #womeninsurgery #illustration #graphite #colouredpencils #identicaltwins

Today is World Refugee Day 2021. But if the world

Today is World Refugee Day 2021. But if the world seems to large to take on, let's start with community 💙

There are many organisations that work hard to make a difference to the well-being and new lives of refugees in the community, and one that springs immediately to mind is You Belong Australia @youbelongaust

They strive to welcome and empower refugees as soon as they are settled. They hold heartwarming events so that families can get to know each other. They podcast stories that change the narrative around asylum seekers. They have programs to empower women, heal trauma, and master the language so that everyone feels like they belong 💙

When I wrote my picture book Salih, they were the kind of community that I hoped Salih would find on his new shores. Which is why I was truly honoured to have @rach.cart at my book launch, and for her to speak to my friends about the importance of their work.

So, it's World Refugee Day 💙 tell me about the organisations you admire, or different ways to get involved with refugee aid or awareness. Do visit @youbelongaust and maybe chip in for their fundraiser #biketobelong or just follow them to see what other events you might be able to participate in in the future.

May there be lots of love and good will going around today, and everyday of the year

#refugee #refugeesarewelcome #youbelong #worldrefugeeday #worldrefugeeday2021 #community

Last year I immersed myself in digital illustratio

Last year I immersed myself in digital illustration for several months, and loved learning different ways to make art. I loved the digital projects as much as I do my traditional mediums! I'm looking forward to more experimentation, flipping between the 2 methods, or combining them from time to time 💙

This was a double page spread that I made on Procreate. For a while it seemed all dressed up with nowhere to go, but now it's found a home on the virtual Illustrators Wall at the Bologna Children's Book Fair 📚.

These cubs are having so much fun, I wonder if they realise they're rubbing shoulders with some pretty awesome and talented illustrators from Australia & NZ, and around the world!

Go to bolognachildrensbookfair.com/en/highlights/illustrators-wall/10790.html to see all the art 💙

@bolognachildrensbookfair #illustrator #illustratorswall #bcbf2021 #procreate #digitalillustration #illustratingforkids #childrensillustration #openseas #picturebook #colours #illustratorsofinstagram #kidlit #courage #brave #tigers #boat

If rage & despair can be shared, then so, too, can

If rage & despair can be shared, then so, too, can hope & solidarity. In the tide of rising voices against the oppression in Palestine, I've found many kindred spirits.

Thank you @plantingmytree for bringing us together in a concerted effort to raise funds for the vulnerable children of 🇵🇸, @m.formoon for using her art in so many creative ways to reach that goal, and all the sisters in our group who are doing so much with the smallest of their gestures.

This project is beautiful & poetic and I have to share because I ❤ it.

Repost @m.formoon
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Rise Up, O’Child of Pal🍉stine

Written by @maymunahsmusings
Illustrated by me @m.formoon

Thank you to @maymunahsmusings, it has been my honour to work on this with you! Thank you to @deenhubb and @crescentmoonbookstore who have kindly offered their services and time totally for free so that 100% of proceeds can go to @thepcrf (You will be able to purchase as an ebook via either of their websites insha’Allah) Also I want to thank @thetatreezcircle who was super kind in helping me with some #tatreez research!

I pray that Allah accepts it from us all and accepts from YOU if you kindly buy a copy 🤲

One message I saw repeated from friends in Gaza and other parts of Pal🍉stine was, please share what is happening, please inform others, please let us know that you see us, and that we are not just some cold statistic.

It is my duty to stand against oppression and injustice in whatever way I can, and I cannot do that if I ignore what is going on. So this is a public promise, I will not close myself off to the suffering of my fellow human again. There is much I am unaware of so please forgive me.

“If you don't believe one person can make a difference, you have never been in bed with a mosquito”. Anita Roddick

I will be that mosquito! So as long as I am aware I will act in the small ways I can 🤍

Now I know that making some illustrations for a book is not going to save Palestine, but I pray that somehow in some small way it may help someone, or that it may touch the heart of someone who themselves has chosen to shut close their eyes to the plight of our fellow human beings.

Is it okay to still have cravings even after you'v

Is it okay to still have cravings even after you've had the babies?

#nasilemak #cravings #mengidam #papparich #postpartumprotein

It'll soon be CYA season and I am thrilled to be i

It'll soon be CYA season and I am thrilled to be included on the success panel along with these talented children's books creators, whom I personally know to be absolutely lovely 🥰

CYA is a conference filled with immense opportunity and has been a launch pad for so many of us. I'm honoured to be sharing my story as the 2021 conference kicks off online in July.

Thanks @cyaconference 😘

#Repost @cyaconference
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This is always one of our favourites and this year we have another 8 CYA Successes on the panel!

We hope you're as excited as us to hear how Alison McLennan, Amy Adeney, Brooke Graham, Christian Bocquee, Inda Ahmad Zahri, Liz Duthie, Rory H. Mather and Wenda Shurety are all finding their new-found fame.

You can read all about their journey to publication on their success pages.

www.cyaconference.com
#cya2021 #writerscommunity #author #illustrator #writing #YALit #childrensbooks #juniorfiction #middlegradefiction #mgbooks #kidsbooks #fictionwriters #nonfiction #literary #fiction #romancewriters #thrillerwriters #writingtips #picturebooks #illustratednovel #illustrations #illustrationartists #childrenillustrator #literaryfiction #memoir #biography #kidlit #kidlitart #CYASuccess

SALT HOUSES by Hala Alyan @hala.n.alyan 🏘🇵🇸

This is a story of a family that lives and loves fiercely.

With roots in Palestine, they are displaced time and again, the war following the successive generations as they move around the region, around the world.

It is told from the point of view of each family member over 4 generations, and through them we learn the secrets they choose to keep, the passions that make or break them, the quiet lull of peaceful days held like a precious trinket they return to when tumult once again enters their lives.

They witness and survive the Six Day War of 1967, the Kuwait invasion of 1990, the Israel-Hezbollah war of 2006, the memories of their homeland a form of resistance.

From Nablus, to Kuwait and Amman, to Boston and Paris, the landscapes invade their minds and their bodies and charge the air between them.

Hala's writing is beautiful, incisive. You will gain a family while reading this book - a difficult, impassioned, complicated family - but one that will stay with you for a long time.

#salthouses #palestine #war #family #novel #amreading #bookreview #bookrecommendation #palestinianvoices #palestinianauthor #middleeast #literature

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