After converting to Islam while attending Boston University, Wilson moved to Cairo, where she contributed articles to the Atlantic Monthly, The New York Times Magazine and the Canada National Post. She was also a regular contributor to the now-defunct Egyptian opposition weekly Cairo Magazine. Wilson was the first western journalist to be granted a private interview with Sheikh Ali Gomaa after his promotion to the position of Grand Mufti of Egypt.

Her first graphic novel, Cairo, with art by M.K. Perker, was published by Vertigo in 2007. She has also written for the DC comics series The Outsiders.

Her current projects include reuniting her with Perker for Air, an ongoing series for Vertigo which started publication in August 2008, and the five-issue mini-series for DC Comics, Vixen: Return of the Lion, starring the Justice League member Vixen. The mini-series began in October 2008 with artwork by the artist Cafu.

Comics work:

• "Aces" (with co-author Shannon Eric Denton and art by Curtis Square-Briggs, in Negative Burn #7-10, 2006—2007; collected by AiT/PlanetLar July 2008, ISBN 193205152X)
• The Outsiders: "Five of a Kind - Metamorpho/Aquaman" (art by Josh Middleton, one-shot, DC Comics, 2007; collected in Outsiders: Five of a Kind, 160 pages, March 2008, ISBN 1401216722)
• Cairo (with art by M.K. Perker, original graphic novel, 160 pages, Vertigo, hardcover, November 2007, ISBN 1401211402; paperback, September 2008, ISBN 1401217346)
• Air (with art by M.K. Perker, ongoing series, Vertigo, 2008—2010)
• Vixen: Return of the Lion (with Cafu, 5-issue mini-series, DC Comics, October 2008)
• The Butterfly Mosque (memoir) (June, 2010)