From a New York Times story by Elizabeth A. Harris headlined “An Author’s Family Inspired Her Stories”:

Aaliyah Bilal didn’t have an agent or any publishing connections to speak of when she sent six stories to Simon & Schuster in 2021, after an open call for submissions. The publisher, impressed, offered her a book deal, and those stories became part of “Temple Folk,” her debut collection, which follows Black American Muslims who were members of the Nation of Islam around the 1970s.

Published in July, “Temple Folk” was named a finalist last week for a National Book Award.