About

Sahar Ishtiaque Ullah is a Lecturer in Literature Humanities at Columbia University, where she earned her Ph.D in Arabic and Comparative Literature. Her academic work and creative writing has been published in academic journals and digital humanities forums including the Cambridge Journal of Postcolonial Literary Inquiry, Journal of Arabic Literature, Ummah Wide, Chapati Mystery, Baraza, Arabic Literature (in English), and The Once and Future Classroom. Ullah is the recipient of numerous prestigious awards including the Presidential Teaching Award, the highest teaching honor at Columbia University.

Committed to bridging her scholarship, the arts, and critical pedagogy, Ullah is a co-founder, Creative Director and Head Writer for Hijabi Monologues, a theatrical production that has toured over the last decade across the United States and internationally. Ullah works closely with creative teams in the development and adaptation of the play. As the playwright of the original script, Ullah has carefully curated a collection of stories by emerging writers over the years that have been incorporated in different shows providing a platform for local Muslim artists to get involved on and off-stage. Ullah’s work has been reviewed by media outlets including the BBC, The Stage, Exeunt Magazine, The Asian Writer, and British Council Voices. She also consults for theater and television productions and facilitates storytelling and theater workshops.

A proud South Floridian-Bangladeshi living in New York City, Ullah holds a BA in English, Religious Studies, and Political Science from the University of Miami and an MA in Middle Eastern Studies from the University of Chicago.