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Samina Najmi

Goodreads Author

Born

Pakistan

Website

https://saminanajmi.com

Genre

Memoir, Nonfiction

Influences

Bapsi Sidhwa, Maxine Hong Kingston, Paule Marshall, N. Scott Momaday, ...more

Member Since

May 2025

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Samina Najmi teaches multiethnic US literatures at California State University, Fresno. Her personal essays have appeared in over thirty literary journals, including World Literature Today. Her memoir-in-essays, Sing Me a Circle: Love, Loss, and a Home in Time, won the 2024 Aurora Polaris Award in creative nonfiction and will be published by Trio House Press on Oct 1, 2025. Daughter of multigenerational displacements, Samina grew up in London and Karachi before arriving in Boston for graduate school. She has lived in California's Central Valley since 2006 and watched with wonder her children, her students, and her citrus grow. For more on Sing Me a Circle and Samina's other publications, come visit https://saminanajmi.com ...more

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Samina Najmi’s books

Average rating: 4.17 · 139 ratings · 37 reviews · 12 distinct works • Similar authors

	The Heart of Hyacinth by Onoto Watanna, Samina Najmi (Goodreads Author) (Introduction) 3.41 avg rating — 51 ratings — published 1903 — 64 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	The Ordinary Chaos of Being Human: Tales From Many Muslim Worlds by Marguerite Richards (Goodreads Author) (Editor ), Samina Najmi (Goodreads Author) (Contributor) 4.41 avg rating — 37 ratings — published 2019 — 5 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Our Stories: An Introduction to South Asian America by South Asian American Digital Archive, Samina Najmi (Goodreads Author) (Contributor) 4.93 avg rating — 15 ratings — published 2021 — 3 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	New Moons: Contemporary Writing by North American Muslims by Kazim Ali (Editor), Samina Najmi (Goodreads Author) (Contributor) 4.35 avg rating — 17 ratings — 2 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Sing Me a Circle: Love, Loss, and a Home in Time 4.88 avg rating — 8 ratings	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Writing the Golden State: The New Literary Terrain of California by Carribean Fragoza, Romeo Guzmán, Samine Joudat 4.40 avg rating — 5 ratings	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Insurgent Feminisms: Women Write War by Bhakti Shringarpure (Editor), Veruska Cantelli (Editor), Samina Najmi (Goodreads Author) (Contributor) it was amazing 5.00 avg rating — 4 ratings — 3 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Form and Transformation in Asian American Literature (Scott and Laurie Oki Series in Asian American Studies) really liked it 4.00 avg rating — 3 ratings — published 2005 — 2 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	White Women in Racialized Spaces: Imaginative Transformation and Ethical Action in Literature by Samina Najmi (Goodreads Author) (Editor), Rajini Srikanth (Editor) 0.00 avg rating — 0 ratings — published 2002 — 2 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Sing Me a Circle 0.00 avg rating — 0 ratings	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars

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Samina Najmi is currently reading

A Council of Dolls

by Mona Susan Power (Goodreads Author)

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Jul 26, 2025 10:10AM

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Samina’s Recent Updates

Samina Najmi added a status update: Big week for Sing Me a Circle! The book receives a starred review by Publishers Weekly, is one of Poets & Writers' 5 New Nonfiction picks of the year, and makes the Amazon Hot New Releases list for Asian and Asian American Biographies/Memoirs. Preorder from Trio House Press and get free shipping: https://triohousepress.myshopify.com/...
Aug 23, 2025 11:55AM · like · see status
Samina Najmi rated a book it was amazing One Day, Everyone Will Have Always Been Against This by Omar El Akkad (Goodreads Author)	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
Aug 09, 2025 12:01PM · like · preview book See a Problem? We’d love your help. Let us know what’s wrong with this preview of One Day, Everyone Will Have Always Been Against This by Omar El Akkad. Problem: Details (if other): Thanks for telling us about the problem. Not the book you’re looking for? Preview — One Day, Everyone Will Have Always Been Against This by Omar El Akkad <iframe sandbox id="wrongBookKindlePreviewScreen">
Samina Najmi added a status update: Only a few days left to enter the giveaway for Sing Me a Circle! As a memoir in essays, it's specific to my life as a woman of Pakistani & Muslim background, who spent much of her childhood in England & her adult life in the US. But it's also a book about human experiences, of love, laughter, grief, yearning. Motherhood, marriage, divorce, & empty nest. And coming into your own through art. Take a chance on it!
Jul 26, 2025 10:26AM · 1 like · like · see status
Samina Najmi is currently reading A Council of Dolls by Mona Susan Power (Goodreads Author)	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
Jul 26, 2025 10:10AM · like · preview book See a Problem? We’d love your help. Let us know what’s wrong with this preview of A Council of Dolls by Mona Susan Power. Problem: Details (if other): Thanks for telling us about the problem. Not the book you’re looking for? Preview — A Council of Dolls by Mona Susan Power <iframe sandbox id="wrongBookKindlePreviewScreen">
Samina Najmi rated a book it was amazing Kaan and Her Sisters by Lena Khalaf Tuffaha	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
Jul 26, 2025 10:08AM · like
Samina Najmi is currently reading One Day, Everyone Will Have Always Been Against This by Omar El Akkad (Goodreads Author) Goodreads Choice Awards Nominee in Readers' Favorite Nonfiction	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
Jul 26, 2025 10:04AM · like · preview book See a Problem? We’d love your help. Let us know what’s wrong with this preview of One Day, Everyone Will Have Always Been Against This by Omar El Akkad. Problem: Details (if other): Thanks for telling us about the problem. Not the book you’re looking for? Preview — One Day, Everyone Will Have Always Been Against This by Omar El Akkad <iframe sandbox id="wrongBookKindlePreviewScreen">
Samina Najmi rated a book it was amazing Martyr! by Kaveh Akbar	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
Jul 26, 2025 10:03AM · like · preview book See a Problem? We’d love your help. Let us know what’s wrong with this preview of Martyr! by Kaveh Akbar. Problem: Details (if other): Thanks for telling us about the problem. Not the book you’re looking for? Preview — Martyr! by Kaveh Akbar <iframe sandbox id="wrongBookKindlePreviewScreen">
Samina Najmi has read New Moons: Contemporary Writing by North American Muslims by Kazim Ali	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
Jul 04, 2025 07:19AM · like · preview book See a Problem? We’d love your help. Let us know what’s wrong with this preview of New Moons by Kazim Ali. Problem: Details (if other): Thanks for telling us about the problem. Not the book you’re looking for? Preview — New Moons by Kazim Ali <iframe sandbox id="wrongBookKindlePreviewScreen">
Samina Najmi has read Our Stories: An Introduction to South Asian America by South Asian American Digital Archive	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
Jul 04, 2025 07:19AM · like
Samina Najmi has read The Ordinary Chaos of Being Human: Tales From Many Muslim Worlds by Marguerite Richards (Goodreads Author)	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
Jul 04, 2025 07:19AM · like

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Quotes by Samina Najmi (?)

“Sometimes at Fresno State I teach Sandra Cisneros's story "Eleven," in which the child narrator says that when you're eleven, you're also ten, nine, eight, seven, six, five, four, three, two, and one years old, like the layers of an onion or a doll inside a doll. I think when we live inside one home, we are also living in all the other homes we have ever inhabited. We live among those smells, those surfaces, those different dawns; we breathe the air of those homes populated by faces we will never see again.”
― Samina Najmi, Sing Me a Circle: Love, Loss, and a Home in Time

tags: essays, memoir

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