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Sabaa Tahir is the author of the An Ember In The Ashes series.

About[]

Sabaa is a Pakistani-American from Ridgecrest, California, located in the Mojave Desert. She lived with her parents and two older brothers. She didn’t have cable and thus chose to entertain herself with books and radio. Her parents assured her that she wanted to become a doctor, but a brief stint working in a hospital changed her mind.

She left the desert for university at seventeen, graduated from University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) a few years later, and went to work for The Washington Post directly after. Five years later, she left the Post and started working on a book. She currently lives in the San Francisco Bay Area.

Development Of An Ember In The Ashes[]

While working at The Washington Post, Tahir read a story about Kashmiri women whose male family members are thrown into prison by the military and never seen again. She asked herself what she would do if she were one of those women. This was the kernel from which An Ember In The Ashes grew.

To characterize Elias, and other warriors in the story, authentically, Tahir interviewed a West Point cadet, police officers, soldiers, and an FBI agent. These people helped her understand the mindset of a warrior. She used what she learned to inform Elias's actions, dialogue, skills, thoughts, etc. She wrote by iteration, and her characters revealed themselves over time. In the book, Laia is forced to become a slave. Tahir read about slavery in ancient Rome as well as in the United States to make the experiences in the story more authentic.

The book's Martial Empire system is based on the social stratification of Ancient Rome.

Tahir got the idea for An Ember in the Ashes in 2007 and wrote the book over a period of six years. She cites music as a key inspiration.

Career[]

An Ember in the Ashes and A Torch Against the Night were listed among Time Magazine's 100 Best Fantasy Books of All Time inn 2020.

Bibliography[]

External Links[]

References[]

https://www.huffingtonpost.com.au/entry/sabaa-tahir-ember-ashes-profile_us_561e8470e4b028dd7ea608d6

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