Sarah Leamy is the author of the award-winning books, When No One’s Looking, Lucky Shot, and Lucky Find, as well as Van Life, a travelogue from exploring the Northwest with two dogs and a cat called Stephen. Her shorter work has been published in Los Angeles Review, Hunger Mountain, Santa Fe Writers Project, Ad Alta Literary Journal and others.
Photo: Eric Cousineau. c. 2019
Sarah was a Ph.D. research student at the University of Birmingham, England, writing on Ambiguity: In Search of Androgynous Narratives. A financial issue with the loan dept meant she had to take a leave. However, she presents at various colleges and conferences on writing from a gender-queer perspective. She is passionate about sharing the importance, the craft, and validation. She loves these conversations about representing outsider experiences through storytelling.
Recent and Upcoming Projects:
G’Dog, a collection of flash fables inspired by Old European Folktales, published March 2022. https://www.finishinglinepress.com/product/gdog-by-sarah-leamy/
Hidden, a fictionalised genderqueer narrative prose poem, was published by Finishing Line Press in 2021. https://www.finishinglinepress.com/product/hidden-by-sarah-leamy/
(For a sample, please listen to this public reading of poems from the chapbook. Read at VCFA, May 13, 2021. https://soundcloud.com/sleam-leamy/hidden-3-poems-from-the-new#t=1:05)
STAY is a hybrid visual story of a British tomboy & clown negotiating place/ identity, trauma/neurodiversity, gender roles, sexuality and violence. Due out with Madville Publishing, 2023. Works from this collection have been published in 2020 at Los Angeles Review, Immigrant Report, Passenger Journal, Dunes Review, Z Press Best Emerging Poets of New Mexico (2019). STAY was worked on with the help of Lidia Yuknavitch.
Various micro-essays/prose poems have been published in literary journals and anthologies over the years, most recently with Los Angeles Review, Immigrant Report, Passenger Journal, Dunes Review, Z Press Best Emerging Poets of New Mexico (2019), Devils Party Press (2019) as well as The People’s Apocalypse (2014). Sarah also writes book reviews and author interviews, found on Hunger Mountain, National Book Critics Circle, and Santa Fe Writer’s Project Quarterly. International publications include https://issuu.com/adaltabjl/docs/ad_alta_2020-21Ad Alta Journal in England, 2021.
Lucky Shot (2012) and When No One’s Looking (2016) won Best Gay Fiction in the New Mexico-Arizona Book Awards. Lucky Find was a finalist for the same award in 2014. Van Life won Best Non-fiction/ Grand Winner Award in the Great Northwest Book Contest of 2017 and was a finalist in the NM/AZ Book Awards 2018. Finishing Line Press is publishing Hidden, a chapbook in the form of a queer narrative prose poem in March 2021.
The following books are currently looking for representation:
Passing Through is a short-story collection, dealing with addiction and the cost on individuals and communities, and the tension between locals and newcomers along the Rockies. Saved, a short story, was published by Devils Party Press. Since then, the manuscript was worked on with the help of Lidia Yuknavitch. Here is a video of Sarah reading from the manuscript. https://youtu.be/5J9VTAOdODk
The Ambiguity Project is a non-fiction critical and creative exploration of gender ambiguity in contemporary Western Literature. It comes out of my need for literary role models. After constantly being asked, what are you, this manuscript is a personal narrative, research project and creative experimentation. Part One studies identity, cultural shifts towards gender, the rhetoric and representation of genderqueer literature, and offers a craft analysis through a look at a few key players. Part Two, my creative response, offers a taste of my own gender-ambiguous fiction. A full proposal is available upon request.
In other words, Sarah stays busy.
Quick Links:
https://www.facebook.com/SarahLLeamy/
New Mexico is home for her although she also has a deep connection with the Vermont Writing Community, VCFA and the Corporeal Writing Center in Portland, Oregon.
Headshot/Featured Photo Credit: Eric Cousineau Fine Art Photography. c. 2019.
http://www.ericcousineauphotography.com
https://www.facebook.com/SarahLLeamy/
New Mexico is home for her although she also has a deep connection with the Vermont Writing Community, VCFA and the Corporeal Writing Center in Portland, Oregon.
Headshot/Featured Photo Credit: Eric Cousineau Fine Art Photography. c. 2019.
http://www.ericcousineauphotography.com
Sarah Leamy 