Ramiza Shamoun Koya (1970 – 2020) was an author, painter, and professor who was born in Santa Rosa, California. She grew up in both California and Colorado and attended Sarah Lawrence College, graduating with a B.A. and an M.A. She was an adjunct professor at SUNY Purchase, but also taught in Spain, Czech Republic, and Morocco.
Most recently, Koya was a professor at Portland Community College where she also served as director of youth programs at Literary Arts of Portland. She published fiction and nonfiction in literary journals and was a fellow at Blue Mountain Center and MacDowell. Her debut novel, The Royal Abduls depicts the cost of the anti-Muslim sentiment in the United States, through the lens of an Indian-American family in post 9/11 America. The book was well received after it was published shortly before she died.
She told The Oregonian/OregonLive that part of her motivation for writing the book was to “be a part of that conversation of finding an acceptable identity for immigrants, refugees and people of color.” In an interview on Pen America’s Pen Pod podcast, Koya said, “So many people have reached out with little reviews or passing on love or sharing the book with people. A lot of book clubs are reading it. It felt like I had a lot of the experience I would have had. That’s just pretty amazing."
