Elly Fishman’s work as a journalist and author chronicles stories of struggle and resilience inside American cities. Her reporting has earned her numerous awards and appeared in The New York Times, Rolling Stone, GQ, Fast Company, Chicago, and NPR, among others.
For her book Refugee High: Coming of Age in America, Fishman was awarded the Studs and Ida Terkel Award. The Washington Post praised the book as an "absorbing account" of life inside an American high school. Refugee High was named a best book of the year by National Public Radio and the Chicago Public Library. Fishman is a Chicago native and graduate of the University of Chicago. She is currently working her second book, forthcoming from HarperCollins.
Select Recent Work
Kat Abughazaleh, GQ, 2025
Amanda Carver Blue, New York Times, 2025
Chrishona Hodges's Life Sentence, Chicago magazine, 2025
An Uncountable Diaspora, Rolling Stone, 2024
Trapped at O'Hare, Rolling Stone, 2024
The year Mahbuba found her voice, WBEZ, 2023