Shifa Saltagi Safadi

Shifa Saltagi Safadi is a children's author who was born in Syria and moved to the United States with her parents when she was young. She lives near Chicago. A former English teacher with a degree in English literature, she visits schools and leads story times to share her love of reading and writing.

Her middle-grade novel in verse Kareem Between (2024) follows a Syrian American seventh grader balancing football dreams, a family separated across two countries and a new refugee classmate who faces bullying. It won the 2024 National Book Award for Young People's Literature.

Safadi also writes for younger readers. Her books include the Amina Banana series and picture books such as The Gift of Eid, and her stories often center Muslim and Arab American children and their families.