All Student Success Letters
Razan Abdin
Dear Gotham,
In December 2016, while visiting City Lights Booksellers in San Francisco, l was delighted to see pages of poems and politics, fiction and philosophy at my fingertips—so why did I suddenly start crying? I stepped outside for a breath of fresh air. How did you let your dreams (of becoming a writer) drift so far away from you? That thought would haunt me for years before I actually did something about it.
I’ve been scribbling down stories since elementary school. I knew then that I wanted to be a writer. But my path to becoming one was far from linear. I remember flipping through the pages of Poets & Writers Magazine at my local bookstore, circa 2002, trying to learn how to land a literary agent. Fast forward a few years later, I was nine hours shy of a degree in Creative Writing before deciding that I needed to pursue “a more practical” path. Then, there were years of my life when I didn’t write anything. Not a single poem, essay, or journal entry.
In 2019, I was living in New York City when I decided to sign up for my first class at Gotham Writer’s Workshop—Essay & Opinion Writing. It felt satisfying—to slip back into this familiar identity that I had abandoned years earlier. To carve out a creative community. But it wasn’t until 2021 that I registered for the Children’s Book Writing class I’d been eyeing for years. This is where I learned how to write manuscripts for children in earnest. And I haven’t stopped crafting stories for young people since…
I signed with a literary agent in 2022. Then, there were a couple of particularly brutal years of being on submission, receiving rejection after rejection after rejection. Luckily, it’s true when they say that all that’s needed is that one yes…
I’m thrilled and honored beyond measure to share that my debut children’s book, Splendidly Sawsan, will be published on September 1, 2026 by Abrams Books for Young Readers. Almost exactly a decade since I stepped foot in that San Francisco bookshop. If you’re reading this, I hope you know it’s never too late to pursue your wildest dreams–however silly or impractical they may seem.
Thank you for being a part of my publishing journey. A part of this lifelong dream.
With warmth and gratitude,
Razan
