Suad Kamardeen
I am an award-winning writer and researcher investigating the psychological and systemic impacts of AI technologies through a postcolonial Gothic lens. My doctoral research at the University of East Anglia bridges AI ethics, Gothic literary theory, and Islamic epistemologies of healing, using practice-led methodology to centre Black Muslim women's experiences of algorithmic extraction and memory. My novel in progress, What We Become, is the creative heart of this research.
With a first-class degree in Chemical Engineering from the University of Birmingham and an MSt in Creative Writing from the University of Oxford, my work sits at the intersection of technical systems, structural equity, and narrative theory — a combination which shapes how I write and how I think.
My fiction has won the SI Leeds Literary Prize, been longlisted for the Commonwealth Short Story Prize, and appeared in Extra Teeth, Lolwe, Rowayat, Sapelo Square, Peepal Tree Press, and WAYF Journal. My YA novel is represented by Steven Evans at Eve White Literary Agency. I also work in documentary photography, capturing Black Muslim lives and communities.
I am the founder of Qalb Writers Collective, a community of over 700 Muslim women writers across multiple countries, and co-founder of WAYF Journal, an international literary and visual arts journal platforming diaspora writers and artists. I spent nearly a decade in senior editorial and publishing roles at Oxford University Press, Emerald Publishing, and Amaliah, and continue to work as a freelance editor specialising in literary fiction, creative non-fiction, and academic texts.
Everything I make is driven by the same impulse: to bear witness, and to give voice to the unspoken.
Projects
Qalb Writers Collective
Founded in 2022, Qalb Writers Collective is a home for Muslim women writers across multiple countries. Through weekly newsletters, Qalb Academy workshops, and community support, it provides craft guidance, publishing insights, and a space where Muslim women writers can stop shrinking and start shining. The collective champions Islam as a source of creative power rather than limitation.
WAYF Journal
WAYF Journal is an international literary and visual arts journal platforming diaspora writers and artists whose identities transcend man-made boundaries. Co-founded in 2024, it publishes poetry, prose, short stories, and visual arts in print and online.
Suad is available for literary readings, panel discussions, and speaking engagements exploring craft, representation, and the experiences of Muslim and Black women writers.
Speaking Engagements
Recent Events:
Literary Salon, Sézane Boutique, Notting Hill (October 2025)
The Muslim (M)other Book Launch (May 2025)
Primadonna Literary Festival (July 2023)
Platform Conference for Black and Asian Writers (March 2023)
Black Girl Magic & Modesty (March 2023)