Essays

Why I Lied to Everyone in High School About Knowing Karate
"I wasn’t exceptional. I wasn’t a child prodigy, or a good student or a talented writer. I wasn’t popular. And I didn’t know karate. This was who I truly was, a composite of negatives, a person defined by all she is not."

Islam Hasn’t Had Our Friedrich Schleiermacher: A Conversation with Ayad Akhtar
Jabeen Akhtar interviews Pulitzer prize-winning playwright, novelist, and screenwriter Ayad Akhtar.

Dear Donald Trump: An Open Letter From Jabeen Akhtar
Jabeen Akhtar gives Donald Trump advice on how to deal with Pakistani parents.

The Evolution of Comics from Batman to Burkas
Looking back on comics’ engagement with socioeconomic, political, and cultural events, it’s no surprise that as we step into this century, brown, mustache-twirling terrorists have begun stirring up trouble in the comics universe. And Captain America isn’t the only one fighting them.

Why Am I Brown? South Asian Fiction and Pandering to Western Audiences
In much contemporary literature, South Asians are exotic little creatures fluttering about in glass jars for the bemusement of monocle-clutching Western observers.