Uzma Jalaluddin attended the University of Toronto for her undergraduate and teacher's college, where she spent too much time perusing the library stacks for novels to read, and not enough time poring over textbooks. She grew up in a close knit, diverse neighbourhood in Toronto, Canada,and regularly attended events at her local mosque, even when her parents didn't make her. Today she teaches in a public high school, and writes 'Samosas and Maple Syrup,' a parenting and culture column for The Toronto Star, Canada's largest daily newspaper. All of her reading and secret novel writing eventually paid off... AYESHA AT LAST is her first novel. She lives with her husband and two sons near Toronto.