Aaliyah Bilal Books In Order

Publication Order of Short Story Collections

Aaliyah Bilal is a successful published author.

This American writer is perhaps best recognized for her collection of short stories. Temple Folk was her debut into the literary world and revolves around the lives of Black Muslim people who were living in America in the seventies, extending to their participation and interaction with the Nation of Islam.

It was a finalist for the National Book Award for Fiction in 2023 and the 2024 Aspen Words Literary Prize. She has also been the recipient of the 2024 Whiting Award. The book also received the 17th Annual Ernest J. Gaines Award for Literary Excellence, something that was announced in May of 2024.

The author grew up in the Washington, D.C. suburbs where she was raised by her family, who were Sunni Muslim and middle class. Aaliyah went to Oberlin College, getting degrees in African American studies and Spanish. She then went on to the University of London, graduating with her master’s degree.

She has many literary influences, including Gwendolyn Brooks, Edward P. Jones, and Toni Morrison. Her writing has also been featured in publications such as The Rumpus and the Chicago Quarterly Review.

Temple Folk is a 2023 book by Aaliyah Bilal. If you have been on the lookout for something unique and original to read, this debut collection may just be right for you. Delve into the various lived experiences of different black Muslim characters who are all dealing with themes of family, faith, and freedom in America.

In this book, different black Muslim characters contemplate their convictions when it comes to things such as religion, race, economics, sexuality and politics in America. The ten stories in this collection all give something back to the collection of diverse narratives that are about Black life by portraying the experiences of a community that is resistant to the mainstream culture they are expected to accept and work towards while also doing their best to function in the country in which they are born.

For example, in the short story Due North, a daughter who has always been obedient and striven to do the right thing is trying to understand why the spirit of her recently passed father is haunting her. Meanwhile in the story Who’s Down?, a father dabbles in being a vegetarian but then decides to upend the diet by trying to get his daughter to order a double cheeseburger for him.

Then in Candy for Hanif, the routine trip that a mother takes to go to the store for her disabled son takes a turn no one expects when she reflects on a recent near death experience. In the story New Mexico, a federal agent is given the task of spying on a high ranking member of the Nation of Islam is dealing with the responsibilities that he has closer to home. Then in Woman in Niqab, the suspicion that a daughter has that her father has been unfaithful leads to her wearing her hair in public.

This debut is full of interesting stories that readers won’t want to miss! Bilal brings her own unique literary eye to the contradictions between what these characters talk about to what they end up doing. It presents moral failures with humor, nuance, compassion and more to show us that perfection may be what we strive for, but it is the errors and the failure to get there that end up making us the most human.

Get a copy of Temple Folk by Aaliyah Bilal for yourself to savor and devour each and every creative story in this collection and get the chance to experience a truly unique voice in the world of fiction writing.