To be honest, I was quaking in my boots over writing this feature. Miriella Jiffar is far from a scary person, but doing her talent justice is quite a scary feat.
Miriella Jiffar: former (and present) Iris writer, current Iris publisher, and one of the coolest people you’ll ever have the privilege of meeting. Where do I even start?
Miriella is an English and Cognitive Science double major at UVA, with a minor in French. In addition to handling the important, behind-the-scenes work for Iris, Miriella also writes for the Life and Focus sections of the Cavalier Daily, and is the Co-Chair of the Student Engagement Council at the Fralin Museum of Art. Her work for Iris as an author, starting in her second year like myself, has spanned a wide variety of genres.
Miriella is a lot of wonderful things, but above all, she is a communicator who thrives off of human connection.
From discussing the ins and outs of the Shadow and Bone series in the detail that only a true fan would one cycle, to sitting down with UVA’s Chief Financial Officer to dissect the topic of tuition, Miriella has done it all during her time with Iris. Although Miriella mainly deals with keeping Iris’s publishing process running smoothly, when she does decide to write for a cycle, the excellence of her work moves the editing meetings to awed silence.
If you ever run into Miriella, studying in the French House’s library, or editing Iris pieces at Grit, make sure to say hi. Miriella is a lot of wonderful things, but above all, she is a communicator who thrives off of human connection. She actively searches for it in her day-to-day life and seamlessly threads it into her work.
“I really want to get to the lived experiences of people,” she told me while sitting in the sunny window of 1515. Even in our casual conversations before the interview, Miriella asked about my shift at work (I offered to bring her coffee before I clocked out; she made the fatal mistake of saying no). She is genuinely inquisitive about the lives and experiences of others. When she asks how you are, it is not simply a formality—she genuinely wants to know.
Her work feels so beautifully, painfully human—you cannot read anything of Mirella’s without it eliciting shock, laughter, or tears.
Every piece Miriella writes feels as if little open hands are reaching out of your laptop, (in a happy fairytale, not creepy horror movie kind of way) ready to grasp yours and pull you into a universe of her creation. Her work feels so beautifully, painfully human—you cannot read anything of Mirella’s without it eliciting shock, laughter, or tears.
In her latest, "death may not oblige me," when Mirella vows to “relinquish” her lost loved one “from the tethers of this world,” anyone who has been forced to let go when they are not ready, something that is uniquely and profoundly human, briefly re-lives that feeling. The ability to invoke such an intense sentiment of the human experience with just a few sentences is something only a master in writing, and interpersonal connection can successfully do.
Miriella’s short story from Iris’s March 2023 edition, "Andromeda: A Myth Written in the Stars," is currently being transformed into a play by Saint Mary’s College of California’s theater department. Though "Andromeda" clearly stands on its own as a mythological short story, Miriella mentioned that writing the piece in short form was actually to test to see if it could be made into something longer, like a novel. She hopes to publish a longer work at some point in the future, partially to push new boundaries for herself as a writer, and partially to connect with readers on a much wider scale.
“It's everything I've ever wanted,” she told me—that is, to have readers both near and far interacting with, and being emotionally moved by, her work.
Aside from the little tiny open hands reaching out to pull me into her imaginative world, there’s nothing scary about her (well, besides the fact that she declined my offer to bring her free coffee—who doesn’t want coffee?).
Miriella is very open to a variety of potential future plans; unsurprisingly, her only requirements are to be able to write and connect with people (if you’re an employer and you’re reading this, hire her). Journalism, publishing, and even media/outreach are on her radar. Her English major allows her to think critically about the texts she’s reading, and how they find new meaning in the present moment.
“What I really want in my life is the writing, and how to think critically about what's going on around us in the present moment,” she told me.
Thanks to the process of doing this interview, I no longer quake in my boots trying to do justice to Miriella’s talent. Aside from the little tiny open hands reaching out to pull me into her imaginative world, there’s nothing scary about her (well, besides the fact that she declined my offer to bring her free coffee—who doesn’t want coffee?). Only warmth, a friendship I hope to cultivate, and best of all, a phenomenal role model for everyone—both on the Iris team and beyond.
