Shubnum Khan is a South African author and artist. Her novel, The Djinn Waits a Hundred Years, 'a sweeping literary gothic coming-of-age novel set on the east coast of South Africa' is out in 2024 with Viking (US), Oneworld Publications (UK) and PanMacmillan (SA). It has starred reviews from Kirkus Reviews, Library Journal and was selected as a New York Times Editor's Choice.
Her writing has appeared in The New York Times, McSweeney's Quarterly Concern, HuffPost, O the Oprah Magazine, The Sunday Times, New Contrast, and Saraba Magazine.
She has a degree in Media Studies and a Master's in English from the University of KwaZulu-Natal. She is a writing fellow at OMI’s Ledig House in New York, the Swatch Art Peace Hotel in Shanghai and she is an Octavia Butler Fellow at Jack Jones Literary Arts. She was shortlisted for the Miles Moreland Writing Scholarship for African Writers and selected as a Mellon Fellow at Stellenbosch University in 2019.
When she is not traveling she lives in Durban, where the warmest waters meet the bluest skies.
