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Amina Derbi has always loved books. They pushed her imagination to places she never thought it could go and allowed her to bond with characters who she never thought she would get to meet. Amina is fascinated by the power of words and their ability to allow us to experience another's joy, pain, and transformation. Derbi also appreciates many other forms of storytelling such as movies and TV shows. However, as she dove into many novels, films, and TV programs, Amina began to notice that most of the time Muslim and Arab characters were portrayed purely as villains or victims whenever they were presented in the stories. Derbi thinks this along with other harmful portrayals of minority groups should change and she is glad to see that today there are more diverse characters emerging, slowly but steadily in mainstream media. She hopes this will contribute to better relations between people of all faiths and cultures. Najmah Qamar, the heroine of The Storyteller and the Terrorist in Our Newsfeeds, is the sort of protagonist Amina wishes she had a chance to read about when she was in high school. Najmah Qamar is brave, clever, and kind while being Muslim, brown, and American at the same time. The characters from Stories for Syria also have many diverse names and come from different backgrounds, many of whom are named after donors to Amina's fundraising project for Syrian refugees. Derbi hopes her stories will take readers on many adventures full of twists and turns, while critically thinking about ways to address serious issues which are a part of reality and not just fiction.
