Sarah Aziza
Sarah Aziza is a writer, translator, and journalist based in New York City.
She is represented by Elias Altman at Massie & McQuilkin Literary Agency.
S A R A H A Z I Z A
CURRICULUM VITAE
Languages: English (fluent), Arabic (fluent), French (intermediate), Spanish (intermediate), Hebrew (reading)
EDUCATION
New York University, Ph.D. Comparative Literature (expected May 2028)
New York University, M.F.A. Journalism (Literary Reportage), May 2017
University of Pennsylvania, B.A. Comparative Literature and Middle East Studies, May 2014
Summa Cum Laude; Phi Beta Kappa; Dean’s List (2010–2014)
FELLOWSHIPS
MacDowell Artist Fellow, 2026
United States Artist Fellow, 2026
Asian American Writers Workshop, Margins Fellow 2023
Tin House Writers’ Workshop Residency 2023
Sachs Program for Arts Innovation (University of Pennsylvania) Fellow in Arts and Media 2022
Café Royal Cultural Foundation Literature Fellowship, 2022
Pulitzer Center for Crisis Reporting Grantee 2018-2020
Fulbright Fellow, Amman, Jordan 2015
Foreign Languages and Area Studies (FLAS) Fellowship
Arabic and Hebrew, three-time recipient, 2014-2016
Wolf Humanities Center Steering Committee & Research Fellow, University of Pennsylvania 2014
Prizes & Recognition
The Hollow Half
Winner, Palestine Book Award
Longlisted for the Chautauqua Prize (winner TBA)
Longlisted for the Indie Bookseller’s inaugural Bookshop Prize (winner TBA)
Named a Most Anticipated and Best Book of the Year by Vulture, Vanity Fair, Literary Hub,
Elle, Electric Literature, Library Journal, BookPage and The San Francisco Chronicle,
among others.
Krause Essay Prize, University of Iowa Writing Program, 2025 (Work of the Witness, Published in
Jewish Currents, 2024)
United States Artists Award (2026)
National Press Club Award (2019)
PUBLICATIONS
BOOKS
CORPI E CONFINI, Gramma Feltrinelli (trans. Gioia Guerzoni, Italia), 2026
I FEEL NOTHING LIKE GOOD (poetry anthology, contributor) Radix, 2026
THE HOLLOW HALF (creative nonfiction, memoir) Catapult Press, 2025
BEST AMERICAN ESSAYS (essay collection, contributor) Mariner Books, 2025
WHAT FUTURES (reportage, contributor) Unnamed Press, 2017
NONFICTION
Various work from the below have been translated into Spanish, Arabic, Swedish, Italian,
German, Turkish, and others.
Select Literary Non-Fiction & Essays
Beyond Words - The Markaz Review (February 2026)
There is No “After Gaza” - The Nation (January 2026)
Al-Atlal, Now: On Language and Silence in Gaza's Wake – Lit Hub (Dec 2025)
America Has (Always) Betrayed Palestinians. We Will Still Prevail – The Nation (June 2025)
Words as Borders, Weapons, Traps: Sarah Aziza on Being A Palestinian Writer Today – Lit Hub (April 2025)
Tracings – The Paris Review (March 2025)
A Rupture in Time – The Baffler (Oct 2024)
Palestine is Everywhere, and it is Making Us More Free – The Nation (May 2024)
Your Killer's Voice – The Baffler (April 2024)
Gaza's Past is Calling – Lux Magazine (Winter 2024)
Letters From the Apocalypse – The Nation (Jan 2024)
The Work of the Witness – Jewish Currents (Jan 2024)
The Age of Innocence: An Arab American Upbringing in the Shadow of 9/11 – The Baffler (Sept 2021)
Can Palestinian Lives Matter? – The Intercept (May 2021)
The Saudi Government's Global Campaign To Silence Its Critics – The New Yorker (Jan 2019)
Select Journalism
Cooking Through Gaza's Food Crisis – Bon Appétit (April 2024)
New Arab Pro-Democracy Group Founded by Jamal Khashoggi... – The Intercept (Sept 2020)
The Saudi Crown Prince's Digital Iron Fist – The New York Times (Sept 2019)
Mohammed bin Salman Is Running Saudi Arabia Like a Man Who Got Away With Murder – The Intercept (Feb 2019)
Saudi Arabia's Brutal Treatment of Women Activists... – The Washington Post (Dec 2018)
How Donald Trump Is Dismantling The Entire Refugee Resettlement System – The Intercept (Aug 2018)
Three Years Into Yemen War, A Collective of Women Street Artists... – The Intercept (March 2018)
Palestine's First Intifada Is Still a Model for Grassroots Resistance – The Nation (Dec 2017)
On Craft
Select Print & Digital Interviews
Sarah Aziza: On the Nature of Silence, Archives of Love, Palestine, and Her Hybrid Memoir 'The Hollow Half' – Write or Die (July 2025)
The Space Between: An Interview with Sarah Aziza – The Baffler (April 2025)
Literary Hub: "Sarah Aziza on Memoir as a Work of Art" (February 2026) and "Words as Borders, Weapons, Traps: Sarah Aziza on Being A Palestinian Writer Today" (April 2025).
The Baffler: "The Space Between: An Interview with Sarah Aziza" by Abdelrahman ElGendy (April 2025).
The Nation: "Living With Fracture: A Conversation With Sarah Aziza" (June 2025).
Mizna: "Uncrafted: An Interview with Sarah Aziza" by Hazem Fahmy (February 2025).
"Sarah Aziza: On the Nature of Silence, Archives of Love, Palestine, and Her Hybrid Memoir 'The Hollow Half'" (July 2025).
The Adroit Journal: "Issue Fifty-Three: A Conversation with Sarah Aziza" (April 2025).
Shelf Unbound: "Interview with Sarah Aziza" by Corinna Kloth (October 2025).
Select Podcast Appearances
The Stacks: "Ep. 398: Writing Palestine Alive with Sarah Aziza" (November 2025).
Thresholds: Featured guest discussing the intersection of personal health crisis and Palestinian ancestral history (June 2025).
Memoir Nation: "Episode #381: Sarah Aziza on Memoir as a Work of Art" (February 2026).
The Afikra Podcast Network: Featured in the Afikra Book Club series for The Hollow Half (September 2025).
Select Broadcast & Live Media
Democracy Now!: Frequent guest and featured analyst on human rights and Middle Eastern politics.
NPR & WNYC: Guest appearances on various radio segments and interviews.
Al Jazeera English: Featured in television interviews regarding her journalism and reporting.
Literary Arts: "The Hollow Half: Sarah Aziza in conversation with Omar El Akkad" (May 2025).
ACADEMIC & TEACHING POSITIONS
Visiting Writer, Juniper Summer Institute, Amherst, MA (June 2026)
Workshop Leader, McCormick Writing Center (formerly Tin House), Portland, OR (July 2026)
Visiting Writer, Vermont Studio Center, Johnson, VT (March 2027)
Guest workshops and craft talks: Pratt Institute; International Armenian Literary Alliance; Swarthmore College; George Washington University (2024-2026)
SELECT PRESENTATIONS & PUBLIC APPEARANCES
Academic
New York University, Arthur L. Carter Journalism Institute, Visiting Speaker, February 9, 2026
Cooper Series Lecture, Swarthmore College, September 29, 2025
New York University, Creative Writing House New Author Feature, September 12, 2025
The Nation Fund for Independent Journalism, Featured Speaker, May 30, 2025
Visiting Writer Series Lecture and Reading, Amherst College, April 30, 2025
Visiting Lecturer, Pratt Institute, October 24, 2024
The Nation Fund for Independent Journalism, Featured Speaker, May 31, 2024
Workshop Leader at Brooklyn Public Library Justice Initiatives Series, August 2021
Literary
Keynote at Delta Mouth Literary Festival, Baton Rouge, LA April 12, 2026
Strange Estrangement: SWANA Writers on Family, Home & Belonging Panelist at Associations of Writers and Publishers Conference (AWP), Baltimore MD, March 5, 2026
Towards a Liberatory Literature: A Palestinian Voices Reading and Conversation with Fargo Tbakhi and leena aboutaleb, at Associations of Writers and Publishers Conference (AWP), Baltimore MD, March 5, 2026
Writing Resistance in the Now at Associations of Writers and Publishers Conference (AWP), Baltimore MD, March 5, 2026
Gaza and the First Draft of History at Brooklyn Book Festival, Brooklyn NY September 14, 2025
Arab Time: Hybridizing Form, Language, and Temporality in Contemporary Arabic Literature at Associations of Writers and Publishers Conference (AWP) March 27, 2024, Los Angeles CA
Featured Speaker at McNally Jackson Festival with author and poet, Hala Alyan, New York NY May 12, 2025
Featured Reader at New York Arab Festival event hosted by The Word is Change
Written work taught in MFA curricula at University of Iowa, Columbia University, Rutgers University, Pratt Institute, Amherst College, among others.
NON-WRITING PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE
The New York Times, Bilingual Proofer/Editor (Arabic syndication), 2020–2022
The Nation, Fact Checker, 2017
The New York Times, Fact Checker, 2016
New York University School of Journalism, Graduate Assistant, 2016–2017
Arab American Association of New York, Adult Education Volunteer & Translator, 2015–2018
Fulbright Fellow, Jordan (UNRWA partnership in refugee education), 2014–2015
REFERENCES
Available upon request.