Shifa Saltagi Safadi is an author and former English teacher currently living in Valparaiso, Indiana. Originally from Damascus, Syria, Shifa immigrated to the United States as a teenager and first lived in Fishers after her father became a pulmonologist in Indianapolis. The lack of Muslim books around her at the time and her personal struggles with her identity as both Syrian and American inspired her to write stories that provide a mirror and window for readers. She attended IUPUI for a few years, but after getting married and moving to northwest Indiana, she graduated from Indiana University Northwest with an English degree and began teaching middle school students.

Shifa has written several middle grade and children’s picture books, including the Amina Banana series—about a young refugee looking to make friends at a new American school—and The Gift of Eid, an illustrated retelling of The Gift of the Magi. She also won the National Book Award for Kareem Between, a story about a Syrian American boy determined to make his middle school football team while navigating the challenges of his shared identity.

When Shifa is not writing, she loves cooking copycat recipes from her favorite restaurants at home for her four children and visiting schools to share her love of reading.