Mariam Quraishi

As a nine year old Mariam Quraishi wanted to design napkins for Ikea, become a figure skater and play the violin. She learned how to play the violin (poorly) and has forgotten how to ice skate. And while she’s never designed a napkin she’s sure she could do a decent job of it.  

Mariam’s illustration picture book debut, One Wish: Fatima al-Fihri and the World’s Oldest University by M.O. Yuksle (HarperCollins, March 2022) received a starred review in School Library Journal. Check out the One Wish cover reveal with Mr. Schu! She is also the illustrator of Nobel Prize laureate Malala Yousafzai’s first board book, My Name Is Malala, which introduces Malala’s story to inspire the next generation of readers and leaders (LBKids, Oct 2022).

Mariam grew up in Karachi, Pakistan and moved to Providence, Rhode Island to pursue a BFA in Illustration from the Rhode Island School of Design. She is now quite content designing and illustrating books and, maybe one day, napkins too! She previously worked as an in-house designer at Penguin Young Readers and Chronicle Books. Her illustrations are inspired by the plants and textiles she grew up around and her favourite thing to paint is a champa tree in full bloom.  

Download Mariam Quraishi’s Illustrator Showcase

Mariam enjoys books about eccentric, lovable characters and non-fiction about nature, history and science. She is currently working on her debut picture book. See Mariam online at mariamquraishi.com and on Instagram @mariamque