This City Col­lege of New York pro­fes­sor has received numer­ous awards for her writ­ing, includ­ing a lit­er­a­ture fel­low­ship from the NEA, a Push­cart Prize and the Chica­go Tri­bune’s Nel­son Algren Award. Of Search­ing for Zion, author Dave Eggers has said, ​“I doubt there will be a more impor­tant book of non­fic­tion this year.”