Name: Hebah Uddin

Recipient Year: 2019

Description: Hebah Uddin is a born and raised New Yorker. She holds a BA in English Literature from Hofstra University and completed a Masters in Fine Art from Hamline University’s prestigious MFAC program as an ISF Scholar. In her first semester of study, she was honored with the T.A. Barron Fellowship for Emerging Fantasy Writers, bestowed on one incoming student per semester. Previously, she has been an 2017 honoree on NBC Asian America’s Redefining A-Z list. Her work in children’s literature, intersectional feminism and Muslim representation has been featured on Entertainment Weekly, Amy Poehler’s Smart Girls, Book Riot, Shondaland and Teen Vogue.Hebah’s middle grade debut, The Gauntlet, was published in March 2017 under Simon and Schuster’s historical Muslim-focused imprint, Salaam Reads.Hebah believes very strongly in the importance of American Muslims being able to reclaim their own narratives, and in the power and potential of their community’s own storytellers to reach the next generation. 

School Name: Columbia University

Major: Writing

Sponsor: Islamic Cultural Center of Fresno (ICCF) Scholarship