Sari Botton

Instructor & Writer
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Sari Botton is the author of the memoir in essays, And You May Find Yourself...Confessions of a Late-Blooming Gen-X Weirdo. She is a contributing editor at Catapult, and the former Essays Editor for Longreads. She edited the bestselling anthologies Goodbye to All That: Writers on Loving and Leaving NewYork and Never Can Say Goodbye: Writers on Their Unshakable Love for New York. She teaches creative nonfiction at Catapult, Bay Path University and Kingston Writers' Studio. She publishes Oldster Magazine, Memoir Monday, and Adventures in Journalism.

Photo credit to Sylvie Rosokoff

Classes

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Stories

Cover Photo: This header image has a picture of Cheryl Strayed sitting in a chair on the left hand side and a cover of her newest book, TINY BEAUTIFUL THINGS, on the right hand side.
How’s the Writing Going, Cheryl Strayed?

“I love writing. I really do. Even though I often hate it at various points in the process. Learning to accept that has been so important to me.”

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Sari Botton
Nov 22, 2022
Don’t Write Alone | Columns
Cover Photo: This header image is a picture of Mike's upcoming book, ANOTHER DIMENSION OF US, next to his headshot.
How’s the Writing Going, Mike Albo?

“It’s taken me fifty-three years to be able to understand how to say what I want, or say who I am, or say what I believe.”

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Sari Botton
Oct 11, 2022
Don’t Write Alone | Columns
Cover Photo: An image of a person looking at a reflection in the mirror
What I Wish I Knew As a Younger Writer

For our Application Week series, Sari Botton on writing for trade publications and what advice she wished she had received.

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Sari Botton
Aug 18, 2022
Don’t Write Alone | Writing Life
Cover Photo: This header image is a headshot of the author Deesha Philyaw next to THE SECRET LIVES OF CHURCH LADIES book cover
How’s the Writing Going, Deesha Philyaw?

“For me, getting better as a writer is learning how to get to the essence of things and boil down all of that exposition and backstory.”

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Sari Botton
Jul 26, 2022
Don’t Write Alone | Columns
Cover Photo: This black and white photograph shows a woman in front of a mirror. We see a side view, so we see both the woman, holding a hand over her eyes, and her reflection.
After Fifteen Years, I Stopped Panicking, Started Declawing, and Finally Published My Memoir

At last, I took my teachers’ and mentors’ advice, and scrutinized my own behavior more than anyone else’s.

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Sari Botton
Jun 16, 2022
Don’t Write Alone | Writing Life
Cover Photo: This header image is a headshot of the author, Jen Doll, next to the cover of her upcoming book, THAT'S DEBATABLE. The book cover is yellow with an illustrated teenage boy and girl standing next to each other, speech bubbles raising above them to frame the title of the book.
How’s the Writing Going, Jen Doll?

“I think I’m trying to reconcile the need to write and have a deadline with the need to be a human? And right now, the human is winning.”

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Sari Botton
Jan 06, 2022
Don’t Write Alone | Columns
Cover Photo: This header is a headshot of author R. O. Kwon on the left and her book cover on the right. The cover of her book has scattered lines in it, which have been added to her headshot to mimic the book cover.
How’s the Writing Going, R. O. Kwon?

“I know that when I’m really writing, when I’m really, really lost in a sentence, I forget I have a body, I forget what time is. I forget to eat.”

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Sari Botton
Nov 09, 2021
Don’t Write Alone | Columns
Cover Photo: On the left, we see a picture of the author Michael Seidlinger. He is wearing a black t-shirt with a white splotchy design on it and sits against a black wall. His hand is up to his temple, touching his glasses, and there's a concerned look on his face. On the right, we see the book cover of Michael's novella, RUNAWAYS, which has birds on the cover. Some of the birds are flying off the cover and into the frame of Michael's picture.
How’s the Writing Going, Michael Seidlinger?

“I always battle with the realization that the stuff I write doesn’t need to exist, and I wonder how many people actually want to read the horror and speculative fiction that I write.”

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Sari Botton
Sep 22, 2021
Don’t Write Alone | Columns
Cover Photo: Illustration by Meryl Rowin for Catapult
The Summer I Became a Thief

Sometimes I thought of it as war reparations. On the outwardly civil but quietly vicious battlefield of my parents’ divorce, I had been the clear loser.

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Sari Botton
Apr 29, 2019
People | Generations