Award-winning author, Sameena K. Mughal started life in Lansdale, Pennsylvania. She is the proud daughter and sister of refugees who came to the United States from Uganda in 1972. She is a former high school English Language Learner teacher who retired early to pursue a passion for writing. For her, writing and the craft of storytelling enable her to enlighten others.
Like any writer, her passion for the written word came from an early love for reading. The way authors used words to create emotions and worlds fascinated her. She admired the creativity of writers and the power of story. She toyed with writing for years, suppressing the desire to delve into it. She kept her love for writing to herself for a long time, preferring to teach it, which she excelled at.
The desire to serve through teaching crept in subtly. Her initial goal was to attend law school, but that goal shifted as soon as she arrived a college campus. She knew right away that she was not a match for law school. A teaching assistant experience led her to conclude that she enjoyed being part of another’s learning journey and enhancing their perspective. In this way, the field of education found her.
Her inclination to make sense of the world through the written word remained, and, of course, that permeated into her teaching. As part of one of her favorite units to teach, 1001 Arabian Nights, she gave her students the assignment of retelling one of the stories. After reading students’ stories for years, Sameena decided to write one of her own. That one story became ten, which turned into Shaherazade’s Daughters, her first story collection. She followed that up with the fantasy novella, The Siddiqui Brothers in Cairo. After the publication of that book, she decided to pursue writing full-time.
There was more to her early retirement than just wanting to write. Freedom and time formed the foundation of that decision. Sameena wanted the freedom and time to use her unique voice and talent to serve.
After freelancing for a few years, she settled into copywriting at a retail corporation. She continues to write fiction and will publish her first novel in 2026.
Sameena currently resides in Smyrna, GA.