Media Contact:
Aishah Alam, President of Strange, Inc.
hello@strangeincorporated.org
347-560-8334

New York, August 15th 2025 The Strange Inc. Book Awards are proud to announce the winners of the 2025 competition. This year’s winners represent a diverse range of voices and topics, showcasing the incredible talent within the literary world.

The winners are:

Saira Anwar won the Poetry category for her book, Rising from Despair: A Journey to Hope. An educator, poet, author, and spoken word artist, Anwar writes about the beauty of life, with themes of marriage, divorce, healing, and self-love. Her work has been featured in a dozen anthologies and on BBC Radio Manchester. Rising from Despair is a follow-up to her first collection, The Death of a Beautiful Dream, which was featured on Amazon’s Top 20 Bestsellers list.

Sa’diyya Nesar took home the Non-Fiction award for her book, Strength from Within. A TEDx speaker, poet, and author, Nesar was born with muscular myopathy and transforms personal adversity into advocacy, sparking conversations on resilience, faith, and inclusion. She is a Zubin Foundation diversity list candidate and a RESOLVE social justice fellow. Nesar is passionate about making her books accessible, including offering them in Braille.

Tasneem Abdur-Rashid won the Fiction award for her young adult novel, Odd Girl Out. A British Bengali writer from London, Abdur-Rashid has a background in media, PR, and communications. She is also the co-host of the award-winning podcast Not Another Mum Pod. Odd Girl Out is her young adult debut, following her adult rom-coms Finding Mr Perfectly Fine and The Thirty Before Thirty List.

Dr. Nusheen Ameenuddin was the winner of the Children’s Book category for her debut, Are Cats Muslim? A practicing pediatrician for over 20 years, Ameenuddin is the first hijab-wearing staff physician hired at the Mayo Clinic. She is passionate about cross-cultural vaccine education, health equity, and the effects of media on children. Her book aims to create and share stories that resonate with readers of all ages and nurture a love of Islam with authentic, joyful Muslim representation.

The Strange Inc. Book Awards celebrate exceptional literary works and recognize the authors behind them. We congratulate this year’s winners and look forward to seeing more incredible works in the future.

ABOUT STRANGE, INC. Strange Inc., is a non-profit publishing house based in New York. Our goal is to uplift the authentic voice of Muslim women by publishing books, and offering a number of resources. We have created an intimate writing community for Muslim women fostered by mutual support and respect. .We were born out of a passion to uplift and celebrate the creativity and diversity of our community. For too long, the voices of Muslim women have been drowned out by biased and offensive narratives, and our stories have been hijacked and told for us. We collaborate, build and unite Muslim creatives worldwide, mobilizing a movement for positive change through art. At Strange, Inc. our banner is truthfulness, and our blueprint is excellence in all we do. Our vision is a world where the genuine and unique perspectives of Muslim women are valued and appreciated.

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