WELCOME
ABOUT
IFTIN
INK
Iftin Ink is an independent publisher of meaningful, authentic, and high-quality books, with a focus on children’s fiction.
The press launches with founder Saida Bulhan’s chapter book series while building the infrastructure to eventually publish other authors from around the world.
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BEHIND
THE
NAME
Iftin Ink brings together the Somali word Iftin and the English word ink, reflecting the founder’s Somali American heritage and the press’s vision of bringing people together through stories.
Iftin means light that exists within and radiates outward. In Somali culture, ink is revered as the key to knowledge. Together, Iftin and ink represent how authentic storytelling illuminates and transforms.
ABOUT THE FOUNDER, SAIDA BULHAN
Saida Bulhan is an author and entrepreneur born and raised in a nomadic region of Somalia. She learned to read after coming to the United States as a teenager, an experience that sparked her lifelong passion for storytelling.
For the past decade, Saida has dedicated herself to fiction writing, completing stories across young adult, middle grade, and picture book categories. After years of honing her craft through writing fellowships and receiving interest from literary agents for her young adult novel, Saida recognized a fundamental gap: traditional publishing is shrinking precisely when we need more stories that reflect our world.
She founded Iftin Ink to publish her own work while building a press that can soon provide a home for other authors.
Saida writes for children and adults, with children’s fiction as her first love.