Saara El-Arifi author page

Saara El-Arifi biography

Saara El-Arifi is a British fantasy author of Sudanese and Ghanaian heritage. She studied Theatre Studies at the University of Kent (BA) and later completed a master’s degree in African Studies at SOAS, University of London. Before publishing fiction, she worked for several years in film and publishing marketing and communications.

El-Arifi’s debut novel, The Final Strife (2022), launched the Ending Fire trilogy and drew on West African and Arabian mythic traditions. It was published by HarperVoyager in the UK and Del Rey in the US. The sequel, The Battle Drum, followed in 2023, with the concluding volume, The Ending Fire, published in 2024.

In 2024 she began a second sequence with Faebound, the first in a romantasy trilogy that reached No. 1 in The Sunday Times fiction chart. Her books have appeared in multiple territories and formats, supported by festival appearances and media interviews about fantasy, worldbuilding and representation.

El-Arifi has also announced forthcoming historical novels on Cleopatra VII and the Queen of Sheba for adult readers. She is represented by Juliet Mushens at Mushens Entertainment.

Selected bibliography: The Final Strife (2022); The Battle Drum (2023); The Ending Fire (2024); Faebound (2024).

Most recent dated milestone: Faebound reached No. 1 on The Sunday Times bestseller list in 2024.