Fantasy as a genre continues to expand, welcoming new voices and world-building traditions. While many fantasy novels are widely known, Arab American authors in this genre are still under-recognized despite producing powerful, imaginative works. Here are five exceptional Arab American fantasy authors whose storytelling blends mythology, history, and cultural depth.
Saladin Ahmed
Saladin Ahmed is a celebrated fantasy, science fiction, and comic book writer whose work appears in journals like Strange Horizons and Beneath Ceaseless Skies. He has written for Marvel, including Miles Morales: Spider-Man and Magnificent Ms. Marvel.
His award-winning debut novel, Throne of the Crescent Moon, begins a trilogy inspired by One Thousand and One Nights. Set in the Crescent Moon Kingdoms, the book follows ghuls, holy warriors, political power struggles, and a series of supernatural murders that a small group of unlikely heroes must investigate.
Hafsah Faizal
Hafsah Faizal is a YA novelist and web designer who founded IceyDesigns at age seventeen. She also runs a successful book blog, IceyBooks.
Faizal is best known for the Sands of Arawiya Duology, beginning with We Hunt the Flame. Inspired by ancient Arabia, the story follows Zafira, a woman who disguises herself as a man to hunt in the cursed forest of the Arz, and Nasir, the feared Prince of Death. Both are bound by duty, secrecy, and danger as they navigate a collapsing kingdom.
Zamil Akhtar
Zamil Akhtar, a novelist and short-story writer, shares many of his stories on Reddit’s NoSleep and on his Patreon, where readers can access exclusive content.
His debut novel, Gunmetal Gods, launches a dark fantasy trilogy. The story follows Micah, who arrives with fifty thousand gun-wielding paladins to seize a kingdom after his daughter is kidnapped. Only the janissaries stand in their way, but their legendary warrior Kevah is broken by grief and must reclaim his strength before everything is destroyed.
Chelsea Abdullah
Chelsea Abdullah is a rising fantasy author whose first novel was published in 2022. Her Sandsea Trilogy, inspired by One Thousand and One Nights and Gulf desert folklore, will continue with a sequel in 2025.
Her debut, The Stardust Thief, follows Loulie al-Nazari—the Midnight Merchant—and her jinn bodyguard as they retrieve illegal magic. After saving a prince, Loulie is forced by the sultan to find a mythical lamp said to revive the land but kill all jinn. Her journey reveals dangerous truths and forces her to confront who she is and what she stands for.
Zeyn Joukhadar
Zeyn Joukhadar is a novelist and short-story author whose works appear in anthologies like This Arab is Queer and Letters to a Writer of Colour. He has won the Lambda Award and the Middle East Book Award.
His debut novel, A Map of Salt and Stars, intertwines two timelines: Nour’s family fleeing war-torn Syria, and a twelfth-century girl named Rawiya who disguises herself as a boy to become a mapmaker’s apprentice. Their journeys mirror one another, creating a lyrical and powerful narrative about displacement, identity, and hope.