Seeing yourself reflected in your favourite fantasy books can improve self-esteem, validate experiences, and break down barriers and stereotypes. Representation in media matters, and it matters especially when you are young and still forming your identity. It has crossover appeal, but SPICE ROAD is a young adult book, and I chose to write in the young adult space to become part of the change I want to see. Later, the story ventures through wilderness, ancient ruins, and a kingdom ravaged by colonialism and imperialism. The story begins in the city of Qalia which, along with its magic, has been hidden from the world for a millennium. It follows seventeen-year-old Imani, a gifted warrior who must fight to find her missing older brother after she discovers that he may be alive and sharing her nation’s secret spice magic beyond the enchanted sands of their borders. SPICE ROAD is an epic fantasy and my debut novel. So, while reading is still my escape from the world, writing has become my way of confronting it. Words can comfort, validate, and entertain. Words, I learned, had power, as much as money and missiles. I never did, but by then, I had already been delighted by the act of storytelling.

These stories made me feel less alone, but I always hoped I would stumble upon a book where the hero was like me or someone from my family, and the world was one I would recognize I was looking for a tale that uplifted my experiences rather than portrayed them as evil, savage, or otherwise exoticized them.

There, I followed the epic journeys of heroes, typically outsiders too, who defied unfair destinies and triumphed over the forces of evil and hatred through fortitude and great sacrifice. But I didn’t come from anywhere except here, so where was I to go back to?Īdrift, I sought refuge in fantasy worlds. Sometimes, I was even told that I didn’t belong and that I should go back to where I came from. At school, I was treated as an ‘other’, and I felt like I didn’t belong. My parents immigrated to Australia to escape war.

Maiya writes about Spice Road for Joy in Books at PaperbarkWords blog: An epic Young Adult fantasy set in an Arabian-inspired landĭebut author Maiya Ibrahim has written Spice Road (first in the Spice Road fantasy series), her fantastic #ownvoices story inspired by her heritage and the stories passed down to her from her parents, who fled Lebanon and resettled in Australia during the Lebanese Civil War.

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