Moriel Rothman (they/them) is a National Book Foundation ‘5 Under 35’ Honoree, and the author of two novels, Before All the World, which was named an NPR Best Book of 2022, and which Moriel is currently in the process of adapting into a play, and Sadness Is a White Bird, which was a finalist for the Dayton Literary Peace Prize, winner of the Ohio Book Award, and longlisted for the Center for Fiction’ First Novel Prize, among other honors. Moriel’s debut poetry collection, I Still Won’t Have Known, is forthcoming from BOA Editions, 2028.

Moriel’s work has been published in The American Poetry Review, Barrelhouse, Colorado Review, The Common, Jewish Currents, Lit Hub, Nashville Review, The New York Times, Poetry Daily, The Paris Review’s Daily, ZYZZYVA, and elsewhere. Moriel is the recipient of two MacDowell Fellowships for Literature, and a Donald Hall Scholarship for Poets from the Bennington Writing Seminars, where Moriel received an MFA in Poetry. Moriel is also a fellow in the 2026-2028 Mandel Institute Cultural Leadership Program (Cohort II).

Moriel teaches at Swarthmore College, as a Visiting Assistant Professor of English Literature and Creative Writing, and is also a member of the faculty of the Bennington Writing Seminars’ MFA Program. Moriel lives in West Philadelphia, and is the co-host of the 5-3-5 poetry salon, along with poet Mónica Gomery.