Hanna Alkaf

Hanna Alkaf (born 1985) is a Malaysian writer of fiction for children and teenagers who has lived nearly all her life in or near Kuala Lumpur, aside from six years studying journalism at Northwestern University and working in Chicago. Before turning to fiction, she worked as a journalist for Malaysian publications including Marie Claire and Esquire. Her debut novel, The Weight of Our Sky, set during Malaysia's 1969 race riots, won the Freeman Book Award, and her middle-grade novel The Girl and the Ghost, about a girl who inherits a spirit familiar from Malay folklore, was a Kirkus Prize finalist. She has continued writing folklore-infused fiction for younger readers in Hamra and the Jungle of Memories and Night of the Living Head, part of the multi-author Tales from Cabin 23 series, and co-created the anthology The Grimoire of Grave Fates with Margaret Owen.