The daughter of immigrants, Sahar Mustafah explores her Palestinian heritage in her writing. She earned her MFA in Fiction from Columbia College where she was a Follett Graduate Scholar. Her debut novel, The Beauty of Your Face, was named a The New York Times Book Review Notable Books of 2020 and one of Marie Claire Magazine’s 2020 Best Fiction by Women. It was a Finalist for the 2021 Palestine Book Award, long-listed for the Center for Fiction First Novel Award, and chosen for the Los Angeles Times “United We Read.” Her short story “Star of Bethlehem” was awarded the Lawrence Prize for Best Fiction in 2022 by Prairie Schooner, and “Tree of Life” won the 2023 Robert J. DeMott Prize, selected by author Kirstin Valdez Quade. Her recent fiction is featured in Stories from the Center of the World: New Middle East Fiction and The View from Gaza published in The Massachusetts Review. She was awarded a 2023 Jack Hazard Fellowship from New Literary Project and an Illinois Arts Council Grant. Mustafah writes and teaches outside of Chicago. Mustafah writes and teaches outside of Chicago.
Photo by High Key Photography
Awards & Honors:
2023: Winner of the Lawrence Foundation Award for Best Fiction, “Star of Bethlehem,” Prairie Schooner, 2022
2022: Winner of Robert De Mott Prize for Short Prose, Quarter After Eight, “Tree of Life”
(selected by Kirstin Valdez Quade)
2021: Pushcart Nomination, World Literature, “The Bodies”
2021: The Palestine Book Award, Middle East Monitor, Finalist
2020: 100 Notable Books, The New York Times Book Review
2020: First Novel Award, The Center for Fiction, long-listed
2020: Fiction Award, Chicago Book Review, Finalist
2020: Book of the Year, Chicago Writers Association, Finalist
2019: Jeffrey E. Smith Editor Prize, The Missouri Review, Finalist, "Triumph"
2017: Pushcart Prize, nomination, "Men After All"
2016: Distinguished Story, "Failed Treaties," Best American Short Stories, Ed. Junot Diaz; Pushcart Prize, nomination, "New And Gently Use Hijab"; Best of the Net, nomination, "The Melancholy Oud," Sukoon; Willow Books Grand Prize Winner, Life, Move Leisurely (fiction collection)
2015: American Fiction Prize Finalist, "Code of the West"; David Friedman Award for Best Fiction, "Wingspan"; Columbia Scholastic Press Association, Certificate of Merit, "Wingspan"
2014 Columbia Scholastic Press Association, 3rd Place in Fiction, "Widow"
2012 Guild Literary Complex, 1st Place in Fiction, "Shisha Love"; Pushcart Prize, nomination, "Shisha Love"
Writings:
"The Case for Teaching Depressing Books," Lit Hub (2020)
"Make America," Peauxdunque Review (2019)
"Small Children," Mizna (2019)
"Lower Paradise Road," Sukoon (2018)
"The Arabians," Two Countries: US Daughters & Sons of Immigrants (2017)
"Mammogram," Minola Review, (2017)
"Men After All," Hypertext (2017)
"Public Pool," Midwestern Gothic (2016)
"New And Gently Used Hijab," Room (2016)
"Code of the West," American Fiction (2016)
"Failed Treaties," The Bellevue Literary Review (2015)
"The Thing Itself," The Grief Diaries (2015)
"The Great Chicago Fire," Story (2015)
"The Oud" Sukoon (2015)
"Wingspan," Hair Trigger 36 (2015)
"A Room of One's Own Without Windows," Chicago Literati (2015)
"No Photo Available," Hypertext (2014)
"Torn," Flyleaf Journal (2014)
"Arabs in Chicago," Great Lakes Review (2014)
"Writing Lessons," Ploughshares Online (2013)
"Light Wash," Mizna (2012)
"Shisha Love," Word Riot (2012)
"Easy to Say," Dinarzad's Children (2009)