How This Narratively Piece Triggered an International Investigation

Reema Zaman on her rise in the literary scene, her story of abuse and resilience, and what it takes to get published as a first-time author.

Collage by Yunuen Bonaparte

To those in the literary world, it might seem like Reema Zaman just exploded onto the scene. In the past year alone, her work has been featured in Narratively, The Guardian, The New York Times Dear Sugar Podcast, and The Rumpus, earning her the 2018 Oregon Literary Arts’ Writer of Color Fellowship and a nomination for the prestigious Pushcart Prize. Behind the scenes, however, the Bangladeshi writer's growth has been discerning, and intentional.

Trained as an actress and model, Zaman moved from New York City to Portland, Oregon, in 2013 to write her way to healing. Her goal was to unearth a voice that, through the trials of an abusive marriage, sexual assault, and anorexia, had been all but quashed. For one calendar year, she wrote. Through dogged determination and persistence, that manuscript became I Am Yours, her debut memoir set to be published in January 2019 by Amberjack. Bestselling author Lidia Yuknavitch calls the book a "phenomenal triumph of one wo…