British-Nigerian novelist Faridah Àbíké-Íyímídé and Bangladeshi-Irish writer Adiba Jaigirdar co-wrote a new novel together titled Four Eids and a Funeral. The rights were sold to Feiwel & Friends in a whopping mid six-figure deal and the novel will be published in Spring 2024.

Àbíké-Íyímídé and Jaigirdar’s exciting collaboration is an enemies-to-lovers rom-com in which “two Muslim teenagers must confront the events of past Eids that made and broke their friendship, and in the process get a second chance at love.” The story sounds sweet, and we cannot wait to read more from this fascinating duo!

Àbíké-Íyímídé announced the news on Instagram and described the book as being about “two snarky muslim teens who fall out of dislike and in love over the course of several eids and a funeral.” See below:

She also gave us some much-needed backstory to how the collaboration first came about:

Picture this. It’s March 2020, we’re in Amsterdam, Faridah on her semester abroad at University and Adiba visiting the Netherlands from Dublin. Not knowing that in literally less than a day or two, we would almost be trapped in Amsterdam. As the world descended into chaos, we found ourselves inside a hotel on the outskirts of the city talking about how cool it would be to write a story together that centred characters like us. While airports were closing and people were rushing home, we began planning what would become Four Eids and a Funeral. Three years later, here we are. Two Muslim authors publishing a rom-com starring snarky, sarcastic, and somewhat morbid Muslim teens.

Faridah Àbíké-Íyímídé is a British-Nigerian novelist, short-story writer and columnist. Her debut novel Ace of Spades (2021), received the 2022 NAACP Image Award for Outstanding Literary Work in the Youth/Teens category, and was on the The New York Times Bestseller list.

Adiba Jaigirdar is a Bangladeshi-Irish writer. Her debut novel The Henna Wars (2020) was on Time magazine’s 100 Best YA Books of All Time list. Her other publications include Hani and Ishu’s Guide to Fake Dating (2021), A Million to One (2022), and Donut Fall In Love (2023).

Congrats to Àbíké-Íyímídé and Jaigirdar!