Nazneen lives Southampton. She is a historian of migration in the geography department at University College London with extensive experience of running creative workshops with community groups. She is an embroiderer and writes creative non-fiction, fiction for children and adults, and poetry, often inspired by material she discovers in her research on migration and her work with archives. She was selected as one of 12 mentees from 2000 applicants for the 2016/17 round of Penguin Random House’s Write Now Live mentorship scheme which aims to support and publish underrepresented writers. She is working on a historical fantasy novel for older middle grade readers and is represented by Louise Lamont at LBA Books.

As the So:Write Libraries Writer in Residence, Nazneen began her residency by running storytimes themed around The Tiger Who Came to Tea, and wrote a creative, decolonial response to the classic children's story which can be read on the So Write Stories blog. She then ran two participatory projects at Central library: So Write Stories, an archive-based creative writing; and So Write Sew, an embroidery group.

She has worked with many community groups using writing, embroidery and other participatory methods to bring people together, and is particularly skilled at working with migrant and faith communities, as well as older people and children. She has run workshops and talks in association with arts organisations including Tate Engage, John Hansard Gallery, TedX Southampton, Solent Showcase Gallery and Mayflower Engage.

Photograph by Laura Cuch.