Briallen Hopper

Briallen Hopper serves as Associate Professor of English at Queens College, City University of New York, where she also holds the position of Assistant Director of the MFA Program in Creative Writing and Literary Translation and acts as Faculty Advisor for Utopia Parkway Journal. Her academic work bridges creative practice and scholarly inquiry, focusing on nonfiction forms and their relationship to contemporary culture.

Hopper's research explores underrepresented forms of love and connection including friendship, siblinghood, and caregiving, challenging the cultural dominance of the 'marriage plot' narrative. Her work examines how relationships function outside traditional romantic frameworks, with particular attention to singlehood, religious perspectives on connection, and the political dimensions of personal relationships. She frequently blends memoir with cultural criticism to examine these themes.

Her publications reveal a consistent exploration of alternative relationship structures through both theoretical and personal lenses. Hopper's work spans personal essay, literary criticism, and cultural analysis, often examining contemporary social issues through the prism of her own experiences. She has developed a distinctive voice that combines scholarly rigor with personal vulnerability.

• Kirkus Best Memoir of the Year (for Hard to Love)
• CBC Best International Nonfiction Book of the Year (for Hard to Love)
• Finalist for a Washington State Book Award (for Hard to Love)

As an educator, Hopper teaches English 211W (Writing Nonfictional Prose), English 303W (Nonfiction Workshop) with thematic focuses including Writing about Family and Religion, and English 221 (Editorial Practices). In graduate programs, she teaches MA courses on Protest Prose and various MFA Creative Nonfiction Workshops. Beyond Queens College, she contributes as a co-editor-in-chief of Killing the Buddha, an online magazine of religion, culture, and politics, and as a contributing editor at And Other Stories, a UK-based independent press.