Shabana Sharif Bio
Shabana Sharif is currently working on her childhood memoir – Pagli. Themes include race, gender, religion, immigrant life, blended families, abuse, and neglect in Long Island and Queens, New York. She became a finalist for the 2023 PEN Emerging Voices Fellowship and was a Tin House 2024 Winter Workshop participant and accepted as a 2024 Summer Workshop participant. Shabana is the daughter of Guyanese immigrants, a descendant of Indian Indentureship, and a mother of two children.
Shabana has an Executive Master of Public Administration from Baruch College (CUNY) and an MS in Education from City College (CUNY). She lives outside of New York City.
Currently, Shabana is an Essay Reader for The Rumpus and Shabana co-founded Jahajee Sisters: Empowering Indo-Caribbean Women.
Inspirational Memoirs
I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings, Maya Angelou
Liars Club, Mary Karr
Dust Tracks on a Road, Zora Neale Hurston
What My Bones Know, Stephanie Foo
The Glass Castle, Jeannette Walls
Ordinary Girls, Jaquira Díaz
Educated, Tara Westover
Heavy, Kiese Laymon
Somebody's Daughter, Ashley C. Ford
What We Carry, Maya Shanbhag Lang
Born a Crime, Trevor Noah
My Brother, Jamaica Kincaid
Writing Craft
Gotham Writers' Workshop
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Memoir I - Instructor: Joselin Linder
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Memoir II - Instructor: Cindy House
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Memoir Book - Instructor: Elizabeth Cohen
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Plot 2: Machinations - Instructor: Tommy Jenkins
Private Classes
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Essay Writing - Instructor: Joselin Linder
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Diving Into the Wreck - Instructor: Sarah Dohrmann
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Memoir Writing - Instructor: Blaise Allysen Kearsley
Kundiman Workshops
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Writing Deliciously with Jane Wong
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Writing with Conscience with Kavita Das
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Writing Parents with Sarah Thankam Mathews