Sumaiya Beshir Biography

Sumaiya Beshir is a Canadian Muslim author, scriptwriter, and educator who writes for Muslim teens and young adults. The daughter of Dr. Ekram and Mohamed Rida Beshir — themselves prolific authors on Islamic family life and parenting — she earned her BA in Psychology with a minor in English and Communications from the University of Ottawa and currently resides in London, Ontario.

Beshir's two best-known books are Everyday Struggles: The Stories of Muslim Teens (2004), a collection of short stories written by Muslim teenage girls, and A Light at the End of the Tunnel: The Stories of Muslim Teens (2007), a follow-up anthology in which young Muslims share first-person accounts of navigating dating, hijab, family expectations, identity, and faith in Western contexts. Both volumes — published through Amana Publications — are widely used in North American Islamic schools and youth programs as accessible, peer-voice resources for Muslim adolescents.

She is the founder of the Muslim Girls Learning Network, a nonprofit dedicated to providing educational materials and support to Muslim girls. Her work as a scriptwriter and content writer has continued alongside her authorship, and she remains active in writing on themes of refugee experience, displacement, and the spiritual and emotional lives of Muslim youth growing up in the West.