Erik D’Souza interviews Laury Silvers, discussing her nomination for the Whodunit Award for Best Traditional Mystery sponsored by Jane Doe, for her book, Some Justice. The interview covers Silvers' background as a retired professor of early Islam and Sufism, her decision to set her novels in Baghdad in 1912, and the evolution of writing styles from her Sufi Mysteries Quartet to the new Ghazi Amar Medieval Mysteries series. They discuss her writing approach, which she describes as emotionally driven, and her preference for self-publishing over traditional publishing. The conversation also touches on her contemporary thriller series, written under the pseudonym Jayne Green, and concludes with Silvers expressing her shock and excitement at being nominated for the award.
Bio
Laury Silvers is a North American Muslim of Southern and New Yorker cultural origin, finally at home in Canada. She is a retired professor of early Islam, early Sufism, and early pious and Sufi women. She taught at Skidmore College and the University of Toronto. Silvers also published work engaging Islam and Gender in North America in academic journals and popular venues, was actively involved in the woman-led prayer movement, and co-founded the Toronto Unity Mosque. She has since retired from academia and activism and hopes her mysteries and thrillers continue her scholarship and activism in their own way. She lives in Toronto under Treaty 13.