2025 Knowlton Literary Festival
Ausma Zehanat-Khan x in conversation with Wendy Mesley
Canadian-American novelist, International human rights law PHD

Ausma Zehanat Khan holds a Ph.D. in international human rights law with a specialization in military intervention and war crimes in the Balkans. She is the author of the award-winning
Esa Khattak and Rachel Getty mystery series, which begins with
The Unquiet Dead, as well as the critically acclaimed
Khorasan Archives fantasy quartet. Her new crime series, featuring Detective Inaya Rahman, debuted with
Blackwater Falls.
Blood Betrayal, her follow-up novel, won the Colorado Book Award and was a Finalist for the WILLA Literary Award for Multiform Fiction. Ausma is also a contributor to the anthologies
Private Investigations, Sword Stone Table,The Perfect Crime and
A Thousand Nights. She is the founder of the Muslim Writers Index, and the author of the middle grade book,
Ramadan. A British-born Canadian and former law professor, Ausma now lives in the Washington, D.C. area with her husband. For more about Ausma visit:
www.ausmazehanatkhan.com .
