AVA HOMA is a writer, journalist and activist specializing in women’s issues and Middle Eastern affairs. She holds an MA in English and creative writing from the University of Windsor. Her collection of short stories, Echoes from the Other Land, was longlisted for the Frank O’Connor International Short Story Award, and she is the inaugural recipient of the PEN Canada–Humber College Writers-in-Exile Scholarship. Born and raised in the Kurdistan Province of Iran, Homa now divides her time between Toronto and San Francisco. Daughters of Smoke and Fire is her debut novel.