Esther Heller
Literary Scholar
Esther Kondo Heller is a poet, literary critic, and experimental filmmaker. She holds a master’s degree in poetry from Cornell University and is a Ph.D. candidate in comparative literature at Harvard University, where she studies the where she studies the transnational poetics of the African diaspora and works as a translator. Her writings have appeared in various publications, including The Georgia Review, BOMB, Modern Poetry in Translation, and The Guardian. Her poetry collection Ar:range:ments was published in 2025.
During her fellowship, Esther Heller will aim to create a space for creative and theoretical engagement with Black poetry in translation in the United States and Germany.
Selected Awards
2025 | Philip Freund Prize for Creative Writing (for Ar:range:ments), Cornell University, Ithaca, NY
2024 | Modern Ancient Brown Visiting Fellowship, Detroit
2022 | Fellowship, Mellon Collaborative Studies in Architecture, Urbanism, and the Humanities, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY
Selected Publications
2026 | “May Ayim’s Poetic Noticing in ‘beobachtung I’ and ‘beobachtung II.’” In: Monatshefte für deutschsprachige Literatur und Kultur.
2025 | Ar:range:ments. Portland: Fonograf Editions.