Hilal ​Isler

Writer

Twin Cities


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Turkish Roots

Illustration: Kirsten Radtke for The Believer

⚡️Select Publications

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Khadijah Number Two


McSweeney’s

issue 67

2022


The Keys


Asian American

Writers Workshop

2022

A Rare & Wonderful Man


Brooklyn Review

2021

When in Riyadh


New York Magazine

The Cut

2020

*Selected for ‘One Great ​Story,’ New York’s ​Reading ​Recommendations ​newsletter.


Kismet


The Believer

2020


Baldwin


LitHub

2019


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Mafhouz


LA Review of Books

2019

Eartha Kitt


Paris Review Online

2019

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Nothing for Something


Wildness

2021

*nominee: The ​PEN/Robert J. Dau ​Short Story Prize for ​Emerging Writers

⚡️Anthologized Work

Never Forget

New Moons

Red Hen Press

2021

A creative nonfiction work on ​American life post 9-11, published ​originally in the Penn Gazette.

Scorpion

Best American Short Fiction

Alt Current Press

2023

A short story, published ​originally in the Baltimore ​Review.

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On​ Music

December, 2022



Micro-essay, in promotional support of ​Hua Hsu’s (Pulitzer Prize winning, NYT ​bestselling, National Book Critics Circle ​Award nominated) autobiography, ​STAY TRUE.

TURKISH ​LITERATURE

Issue 16 of the Happy Reader

The literary supplement of ​Penguin Books International

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⚡️Education

BS, MSc, UMCP


Doctorate (on the children of ​immigrants) awarded with highest ​distinction from UPenn.



⚡️Awards

At Yaddo, 2021. I’m in the ​jean jacket, top.[Photo credit]

2023-2024 ​McKnight Fellow in Creative ​​Prose. Alexander Chee was the ​judge, & ​selected my novel-in-progress as the winner. ​I was given $25,000 & a commemorative ​plaque :)


2022 Periplus Fellow


2021 Yaddo Fellow


2019 MacDowell Fellow


2019 Roxane Gay Fellow

Jack Jones Literary Arts Assocation


2018 Loft Fellow

Jerome Foundation &

the National Endowment for the Arts

⚡️Older Work

Places & Migrations


Catapult

2018


Loneliness & The Idiot


Electric Literature

2018

⚡️Service

Being a responsible literary citizen — who gives back to the ​larger community — is something I take seriously. To that end, ​here are some ways I engage with the work of advocacy, writing, ​and community building:

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Founding ​Editor

Post-George Floyd, I founded a literary ​journal, the Hennepin Review, in order ​showcase Black creative talent in the ​Midwest and beyond. I secured state ​funding for this (monthly) publication.

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Staff ​Reade​r

Since 2021, I’ve been volunteering as a ​staff reader, working through the slush ​pile for the literary journal ​Ploughshares, run out of Emerson ​College.

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Ju​dge

Since 2022, I’ve been serving as a judge ​and reader for the Scholastic Young ​Writing Award-contest, held annually. I ​read for the state of Minnesota.