Sahar Mustafah

About

Sahar Mustafah is a Palestinian American novelist and educator whose writing explores heritage, identity, faith, and the experiences of Palestinians living between cultures. The daughter of Palestinian immigrants, she draws on her family’s history and cultural inheritance to examine questions of belonging, displacement, and the lasting effects of political conflict. She earned an MFA in Fiction from Columbia College Chicago, where she was a Follett Graduate Scholar, and lives and teaches outside Chicago. Her debut novel, The Beauty of Your Face (2020), received widespread critical acclaim and was named a notable book of the year by The New York Times Book Review. It was also a finalist for the Palestine Book Awards. Her short fiction has earned significant recognition: Star of Bethlehem received the Lawrence Prize for Best Fiction in 2022, while Tree of Life won the Robert J. DeMott Prize in 2023. Her second novel, The Slightest Green (2025), continues her exploration of Palestinian history, family memory, and the enduring emotional ties between people and their homeland.