Like many writers, Mirza drew on some of her own experiences to write A Place for Us, but she insists that it's not literally autobiographical.
"It's both a novel that is deeply personal to me, and one that doesn't look anything like my life when you to consider the facts. The novel isn't autobiographical because the characters took on their own lives, they acted in ways that I never acted, but through them, the heart of it is very personal," she told Read It Forward.
For instance, she told The Guardian, she drew somewhat on her own experiences wearing (and not wearing) hijab. "I wore hijab from when I was nine until I was about 22. It wasn't out of a lack of respect or care that I took it off. It was the opposite of that. It was because I have so much respect for hijab and for the women in my life who are devoted to it, that I realised my own personal relationship with it was not for the same reasons. It has made me who I am and it will always be a part of me, even if it is not visible to the outside world."