About Sarah

Bio

Sarah is an Australian born, Iraqi Jewish writer, poet, and educator. She is the author of the award winning picture book, Shoham’s Bangle and This is Not a Cholent. Her poetry micro chapbook, This is Why We Don’t Look Back was awarded the Harbor Review Jewish Women’s Poetry prize. She is also the joint author of the The In-Between, a women’s literary dialogue about identity and belonging with a Christian Nazarene and an Austrian-Serbian, published by Verlagshaus Berlin. Her poetry and personal essays have been published in Consequence Forum, Hadassah Magazine, Michigan Quarterly and elsewhere. She is an editorial advisor for Distinctions: A Sephardi and Mizrahi Journal, and she received her MA in English Literature and Poetry from Bar Ilan University.

Sarah’s writing follows her curiosity exploring her Iraqi Jewish history, the story of refugees and resilience, the rich, layered 2600-year-old culture of Babylonian Jews, with a special interest in Middle Eastern women’s experience.

Sarah currently lives in Jerusalem with her four boys and a Belgian Malinois she found at her local coffeeshop.

Awards

Sarah is the recipient of the Harbor Review’s Jewish Women’s Poetry Prize, 2022 and the Andrea Moriah Memorial Poetry Prize, 2021. Her poetry has also twice been shortlisted for the Anna Davidson Rosenberg Poetry Award and received honorable mentions in the Reuben Rose and The Roadrunner Review poetry competitions. She has recently been awarded a writing grant by the Memorial Foundation of Jewish Culture, and her novel in verse was shortlisted for The Wingate Award for Unpublished Manuscripts (Jewish Subject) 2024.

Sarah’s debut picture book Shoham’s Bangle was named a Sydney Taylor Notable Book, and a SCBWI Crystal Kite Award winner, as well as a PJ Library book.

Palm

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