Leena A. Khan is an Arabic fellow at the Center for Arabic Study Abroad (CASA) in Amman, Jordan. She graduated from Georgetown University summa cum laude in May 2023 with a B.S. in International Politics and a certificate in Arab Studies. At Georgetown, Leena received the Michael Hudson Award for her excellent achievement in her written work on Arab Studies.
Following her fellowship, Leena will matriculate at Harvard Law School to pursue a J.D. in the fall of 2025, where she hopes to specialize in international human rights law. While in university, Khan founded the Georgetown chapter of Stand with Kashmir, a national organization of the Kashmiri diaspora in the United States advocating for human rights in Kashmir. As a third-generation Kashmiri American, Khan enjoys reading and writing about Kashmiri stories. In her spare time, she runs the instagram book review page “library.of.leena.”
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Flames of the Cherry Tree
In the majestic valley of pre-Partition Kashmir, Aafreen Khan dreams of becoming a doctor like her beloved grandfather. Fierce, curious, and headstrong, she defies the boundaries of convention as a Muslim and a woman in a country rigged against her, determined to carve her own path. But as the partition of India looms closer and Kashmir finds itself in the crossfire, Aafreen is swept into the whirlwind of a story much larger than her own. When love, loss, and political upheaval reshape her entire world, Aafreen is forced to confront everything she thought she knew.Spanning decades and generations, Flames of the Cherry Tree is a sweeping, intimate portrait of a young woman’s coming-of-age against the backdrop of colonialism, rebellion, and the violent birth of today’s occupied Kashmir. At once tender and unflinching, it traces the story of one Kashmiri family through oppression and resistance, illuminating the forgotten histories that have shaped Kashmir and the hope that survives in its people.
This book is for readers of historical fiction that crave a deeper understanding of places too-often lost under the narrative of their tyrants. Flames of the Cherry Tree is a vivid, devastating, and ultimately life-affirming tale of the ties that bind us across time.