Born in Kano, Hadiza Isma El-Rufai holds BSc and MSc degrees in Architecture from Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria, Nigeria, and an MBA degree from the same university. She also has an MA in Creative Writing from Bath Spa University, Bath, UK.
She is the founder of the Yasmin El-Rufai Foundation which aims to awaken and nurture creativity in children, and improve the literacy skills of disadvantaged young women in northern Nigeria.
Hadiza currently lives in Kaduna with her husband and children. An Abundance of Scorpions is her first novel.