Sarah Aziza

Languages: English (fluent) Arabic (fluent)    
Hebrew and French (intermediate)
sarahazizawriter@gmail.com

Sarah Aziza is a writer, translator, and journalist based in New York City. 

She is represented by Elias Altman at Massie & McQuilkin Literary Agency. 

Journalism 

2015 - Present 

  • Primary topics of coverage include human rights, gender and women’s issues, refugees, foreign affairs, and culture. Reported from New York City as well as numerous countries in the Middle East, North Africa, and Western Europe. 

  • Work has included both long and short form writing, collaborative pieces, podcasts, and TV interviews.

  • Publications include The New York Times, The New Yorker, Harper’s Magazine, The Intercept, The Nation, Slate, The Rumpus, Lux Magazine, The Intercept, and The Atlantic, as well as several print anthologies. 

  • Television and radio appearances have included Democracy Now! NPR, WNYC, WBUR, Al Jazeera English, and the Canadian channel, CBC. 

  • Participated in numerous academic panels at venues including Johns Hopkins, The National Press Club, the Wilson Center, and NYU. 

  • Three-time grant recipient at the Pulitzer Center for Crisis Reporting, which has funded numerous reporting and research trips abroad. 

Creative and Educational Work 

2020 - Present

  • Awarded 2023 Margins Fellowship at Asian American Writers’ Workshop.

  • Awarded month-long writer’s residency at Tin House books, October 2022. 

  • Founding contributor (fiction) to The Koukash Review,“A new indie literary magazine featuring South West Asian / North African voices.” October 2022. 

  • Featured writer/reader at Hala Alyan’s poetry series, Kan Ya Makan, September 2022.  

  • Recipient of the Literature Grant from Cafe Royal Cultural Foundation, September 2022   

  • Fellow at Sachs Program for Arts Innovation, May 2022 

  • Contributor to Madeleine Mori’s Wine Folio Notebook, published by The Margins in June 2022

  • Co-organizer and speaker at Brooklyn Public Library’s event series, Can Palestinian Lives Matter? Summer/fall, 2021. Series launched in response to my piece of the same title, published May 2021 in The Intercept. 

  • Creative non-fiction in The Baffler, The New Yorker, The Rumpus and elsewhere. (Various) 

  • Essay Tea/Time included in Rutgers Creative Writing among a collection of South Asian and Arab writers. 2021. 

Work Experience (non-writing) 

The New York Times: Bilingual Proofer/Editor

Proofread and edit Times content on Arabic-language syndicates for accuracy and style. (February 2021-Present).


The Nation: Fact Checker

Full-time paid position; fact-checking and light editing duties. (June-December 2017).

New York University School of Journalism: Graduate Assistant
Responsible for organizing journalism-related events for faculty and students, supporting younger journalism students, and representing the Institute in recruiting efforts from 2016 through May 2017.

New York Times: Fact Checker
Worked as a paid fact-checker at The New York Times from May-September, 2016.

Arab American Association of New York: Adult Education Volunteer, Translator
English teaching and translation for the Arab immigrant community of Bay Ridge, Brooklyn from July 2015 - May 2018.

Fulbright Fellow: Jordan, 2014-2015
Received a Fulbright grant for the 2014-2015 year to Jordan, which sponsored a year of partnership with UNRWA in refugee education and humanitarian work.

Education 

New York University, Graduate School of Arts and Sciences

M.A. in Journalism, Literary Reportage New York City, May 2017

University of Pennsylvania Philadelphia, PA
May 2014
College of Arts and Sciences  

BA With Honors in Comparative Literature, Middle East Studies 
Summa Cum Laude, Phi Beta Kappa, Dean’s List 2010-2014