Palestinian Author Becomes Pulitzer 2026 Finalist

Hala Alyan, the acclaimed Palestinian-American poet, novelist, and clinical psychologist, was recently named a finalist for the 2026 Pulitzer Prize in the category of Memoir or Autobiography.

She was recognized for her debut memoir, I'll Tell You When I'm Home, a work that intricately weaves her personal journey through infertility and surrogacy with the sweeping, intergenerational history of her family's displacement.

The memoir, published by Avid Reader Press/Simon & Schuster, has already garnered significant critical acclaim, earning spots on Time magazine's list of 100 Must-Read Books of the Year and being named an NPR Book of the Year. In the book, Alyan juxtaposes her decade-long struggle with miscarriages and her eventual decision to use a surrogate with the stories of her ancestors, who navigated exile across Palestine, Kuwait, Syria, and Lebanon. As she waits for her child to grow in another country, she confronts the fragility of her own life, including a crumbling marriage and the resurfacing of past traumas, while exploring the concept of "home" amidst the backdrop of geopolitical crisis in Beirut and her Midwestern upbringing.

Alyan was in a competitive field of finalists in the 2026 category. The winner of the prize was Yiyun Li. Li's winning entry is described as a deeply moving and austere account of losing both her sons to suicide, focusing on the persistence of life through facts and language.

The other finalists included Anelise Chen, whose experimental memoir reimagines the author as a clam to explore her relationship with her immigrant father, and Sarah Chihaya, whose work examines the dual nature of literary devotion as both sustaining and dangerous.

Alyan is the author of the novel Salt Houses, which won the Dayton Literary Peace Prize and the Arab American Book Award, as well as The Arsonists' City. Her poetry collections, including The Twenty-Ninth Year, have been widely praised and published in major outlets such as The New Yorker and The New York Times. Currently residing in Brooklyn, she balances her writing career with her work as a professor at New York University and a practicing clinical psychologist.

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