ZP Dala (Zainab Priya)

ZP Dala (Zainab Priya) is a freelance writer, journalist and psychologist. Her Debut novel WHAT ABOUT MEERA won the Minara Literary Awards in 2015 and was longlisted for the Sunday Times Literary Award, South Africa, and the Etisalat Prize, as well as being named one of the Top 10 African novels of 2015 by Afridisapora. Her short stories have won runner up in Elle Magazine, Woman and Home Magazine and Marie Claire, South Africa, as well as being published in the Wagon Magazine, India. Her second novel THE ARCHITECTURE OF LOSS (2017) is published by Pegasus Books New York, in the UK, USA, Europe, India and the subcontinent (2018). It has been named as one of the novels to look out for on the New York Public Libraries 2017 list. She has written opinion pieces for The New York Times, The Tribune and Post Newspapers (South Africa). Zainab also spearheaded the successful bid for the City of Durban to gain UNESCO City of Literature Status in 2017, and currently sits on the Board as a city liaison for the UNESCO City of Literature Durban, She is involved with literacy and community journalism projects under this banner. She received an Honorary Fellowship in Writing from the International Writers at the University of Iowa (2016). She currently lives between Ames, Iowa and Durban, South Africa, and is working on a third novel.