About SAJ

Sarah is the author of The Very Telling, The Art of the Author Interview, and Conversations with American Women Writers, all published by the University Press of New England. Her interviews appear in The Writer’s Chronicle, Glimmertrain Stories, Provincetown Arts, and The Writer where she is a contributing editor. Her fiction has appeared in Other Voices, and she is the recipient of residencies in fiction from Jentel Artists’ Residency Program and Vermont Studio Center. She has taught the Art of the Author Interview Workshop at Bennington College Writing Seminars MFA Program, Leseley University MFA Program, and at literary conferences. Currently, Sarah is working on a novel about a woman lighthouse keeper in 1843.

Interviews

• How I Write, an Interview with Junot Diaz, December 2010, The Writer
• A Gift for the Short Form, an Interview with Antonya Nelson, September 2010, The Writer
• The Best Writing Advice I Ever Received, Round Table Interview, August, 2010, the writer
• Rescued by language, an Interview with Aleksandar Hemon, May 2010, The Writer
• The Sound of a Novel, Interview with Jayne Anne Phillips, November 2009, The Writer
• Panel discussion with first-time novelists Charles Bock, Rachel Kushner, Fiona Maazel, Mark Sarvas, Salvatore Scibona, Sept. 2009, The Writer
• Interview with Andre Dubus III, March 2009, The Writer,
• Swaying through the ‘60s with the Rolling Stones (Interview with Zachary Lazar), Feb. 2009, The Writer
• Inside advice from top agents (panel), Dec. 2008, The Writer
• Tips from a master storyteller (Interview with Elizabeth Cox), Jan. 2008, The Writer
• A great story—and a gripping morality tale, to(Interview with Tom Mullen), Nov. 2007, The Writer
• MFAs: The cost-benefit debate (panel), Oct. 2007, Special Interest Publication: The Writer’s Guide tFiction
• Learn from other writers (reprint of sidebar from Aug. 2005 issue), June 2007, The Writer
• How I Write: Rick Moody, May 2007, The Writer
• Jennifer Egan on the importance of atmosphere (Interview), November 2006, The Writer,
• What’s a Memoir Writer tDo?, October 2006, The Writer,
• Stories Within Stories, An Interview with Margot Livesey, August 2006, The Writer,
• Interview with Mary Yukari Waters, July 2006, The Writer
• How I Write: Ayelet Waldman, June 2006, The Writer,
• 4 top editors-what turns them on –and off, June 2006, The Writer,
• How I Write: Elizabeth McCracken, October 2005, The Writer,
• How I Write: Amy Bloom, September 2005, The Writer,
• How I Write: Bret Anthony Johnston, September 2005, The Writer,
• How Writers Think About Money, August 2005, The Writer,
• Building a Literary Life, May 2005, The Writer,
• Writing for Children with Judy Blume, Nikki Grimes, Kate DiCamillo, David Elliot, Anita Riggio, April 2005, The Writer’s Chronicle
• Interview with Chang-rae Lee, April 2005, The Writer
• How I Write: Augusten Burroughs, March 2005, The Writer
• An interview with Marilynne Robinson, February 2005, The Writer’s Chronicle
• Interview with Edwige Danticat, February 2005, Glimmertrain Stories
• An Interview with Ha Jin, October 2004, The Writer’s Chronicle,
• An Interview with Sarah Waters, April 2004, The Writer
• An Interview with Edward P. Jones, March 2004, The Writer’s Chronicle,
• An Interview with Nora Okja Keller, February 2004, The Writer
• An Interview with Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni, February 2004, The Writer’s Chronicle,
• An Interview with Aimee Bender, November 2003, The Writer,
• An Interview with l thi diem thy, November 2003, Glimmertrain Stories,
• An Interview with Andrea Barrett, October 2003, The Writer,
• Low Residency Writing Programs: A Sampling, September 2003, The Writer’s Chronicle
• An Interview with Ann Patchett, June 2003, The Writer,
• An Interview with Donna Tartt, March 2003, Cape Cod Voice,
• Marge Piercy Works Once Again in her Distinctive Poetic Palette, December 2002, The Writer’s Chronicle
• An Interview with Gish Jen, November, 2002, The Writer,
• An Interview with Sena Jeter Naslund, October, 2002, The Writer’s Chronicle,
• Public Life, Private Poetry: An Interview with Jason Shinder, September, 2002, The Writer’s Chronicle,
• An Interview with Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni, June 2002, The Writer,
• An Interview with Lynn Freed, June 2002, AWP’s The Writer’s Chronicle,
• An Interview with Jayne Anne Phillips, April, 2002, AWP’s The Writer’s Chronicle,
• An Interview with Amy Bloom, November, 2001, AWP’s The Writer’s Chronicle,
• An Interview with Maria Flook, September, 2001, AWP’s The Writer’s Chronicle,
• An Interview with Sue Miller, May, 2001, AWP’s The Writer’s Chronicle,
• An Interview with Elizabeth Cox, August, 2000, AWP’s The Writer’s Chronicle,
• An Interview with Elizabeth McCracken, February 2000, AWP’s The Writer’s Chronicle,
• An Interview with Jill McCorkle, October 1999, AWP’s The Writer’s Chronicle,
• An Interview with Lynn Freed, September 1999, AWP’s The Writer’s Chronical

Fiction

• Jentel Artists’ Residency in Fiction, 2005
• Vermont Studio Residency in Fiction, 2004
• Fall 2002, Other Voices, Basketball

Teaching Highlights

• Lesley College MFA Program, Cambridge, MA. ongoing.
• Bennington College Writing Seminars, 2003-2004
• Cape Cod Writer’s Conference, Centerville, MA. August 2003.
• Castle Hill Center for the Arts, Truro, MA. July 21 2003.

Related Work

• Association of Personal Historians Conference Keynote Speaker, November 2005
• Books and the World, author interviews broadcast on local cable television.
• Live interview with Michael Cunningham, September 5, 2004
• Live interview with l thi diem thuy, Provincetown Fine Arts Work Center, July 26, 2004
• The Art of the Author Interview panel at AWP Writer’s Conference in Chicago, IL, March 2004.
• Web site www.sarahannejohnson.com – an ongoing resource listing upcoming engagements, publications, contact and booking information, and other literary links of interest.
• Program Coordinator for the YMCA National Writer’s Voice Program, September 2001 June 2003.
• Project Coordinator for the YMCA of the USA Arts & Humanities, September 2001 June 2003

Education

• Bennington Writing Seminars, Bennington College, Bennington, VT, MFA in Creative Writing and Literature, June, 2000
• University of Massachusetts, Boston, MA., BS in Computer Science, Minor in English, 1987