Khadijah is a native Canadian who now lives in the southwestern United States who found writing later in life. With an undergraduate degree in Accounting and an unfinished M.B.A, she began writing fiction in 2012. Yes, she does admit to using pen and paper when she started. A love of libraries and books from an early age helped her decide to write fiction for children. All of them.
Khadijah loves writing young adult novels featuring Muslim teenage girls of colour. She is committed to uplifting voices that are not typically seen in contemporary literature for young people and is a 2020 New Mexico Writers grant recipient.
On the adult fiction side, Khadijah has four short flash stories in an anthology entitled Lost Echoes Found. The short fiction stories contained in this anthology were conceived in the dark part of her psyche.
Khadijah is an administrator of Black Creators HQ and was selected for a Highlights Foundation Muslim Storytellers Fellowships in 2021. She has a slight Twitter addiction. When not writing, Khadijah can be found at the dojo practising martial arts or at home, baking away her stress.
Khadijah’s debut YA Contemporary novel, Fatima Tate Takes the Cake (Holiday House, 2023) was a Junior Library Guild Gold Standard Selection, a Finalist for the NAACP Image Award in 2024 and a nominee for the 2025 Land of Enchantment Book Awards. Her sophomore YA novel My Perfect Family, forthcoming in 2025, has received two starred reviews from Publishers Weekly and Kirkus Reviews.
https://www.khadijahvanbrakle.com
Praise for Fatima Tate Takes the Cake
“Fatima is a fierce protagonist who will stop at nothing to preserve her dignity. Skillful examinations of the intersections between culture, gender, and religion, as well as nuanced perceptions of one Black Muslim community, round out VanBrakle’s searing debut”
— Publishers Weekly
“The baking element brings a fun new ingredient to the mix”
— The Bulletin for the Center of Children’s Books
“Looks at underrepresented issues within Muslim communities, making a case for forging one’s own path”
— Kirkus Reviews
Praise for My Perfect Familiy
“VanBrakle utilizes typical conflicts around teenage relationships and dating to contextualize conversations of Tariq’s Muslim practices and attitudes surrounding gender roles, modest dress, and abstinence,,,in this complex depiction of one teen’s yearning for more”
— Publishers Weekly, starred Review
“Relatable, page-turning, and honest, this story will leave readers wishing for more and thankful for the space it dares to create”
— Kirkus Reviews, starred Review
