With a 20-year background as an editor, I love to talk to students, readers, and writers about a wide range of topics, including craft, the writing life, queer and speculative fiction, and more. I’ve taught graduate-level classes, mentored high school students, and facilitated community workshops. You can download and review my CV here, or drop me an inquiry from the contact page.

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Upcoming Classes & Events

  • March 23, 2024 (11–2 p.m. EST): “Troubleshooting the Revise & Resubmit Rejection,” virtual class for the Center for Fiction

  • April 23, 2024: PAPERBACK NOW AVAILABLE HERE!

  • April 28, 2024 (1–2:15 p.m. EST): “LGBTQ+ Literature / Queer Mental Health,” Writers & Books Virtual Conference (free)

  • May 8–29, 2024: Writers on Writing three-week class fellowship at Furman University, Greenville, SC

  • October 22, 2024: Seavey Visiting Writers Series, Susquehanna University, Selinsgrove, PA

See Past Events

  • March 8–11: AWP Conference presenter, Seattle, WA

  • March 24: Moderator, Virginia Festival of the Book, “A Sci-Fi Salon with Lucinda Roy, Flying the Coop”

  • April 26: Random House Arab American Heritage Month panel with Lana Barkawi, Malaka Gharib, and Reem Assil (virtual)

  • April 27–29: Epigraph Literary Festival (virtual)

  • May 3: The Center for Fiction hybrid online/in-person conversation with Zaina Arafat, New York, NY

  • May 4: The Writer’s Center conversation with Zach Powers (virtual), Washington, DC

  • May 5: White Whale Books in conversation with Sarah Saba Cetra (in-person with Facebook option), Pittsburgh, PA

  • May 13: Books in Bloom Festival, Columbia, MD

  • June 13: American Society for Journalists and Authors conference, “Pathway to a Published Novel” session (virtual)

  • June 20: Vermont Studio Center reading, Johnson, VT

  • July 8: Presenting with Mizna as part of The Loft’s Wordplay three-day literary festival

  • July–September: Teaching three virtual workshops at The Loft Literary Center

  • September 22: In conversation with Christine Evans about her new novel, NADIA, at People’s Book Takoma (Washington, DC, area)

  • September 25–28: Annual writer-in-residence for “Writing: A Life” visiting writer series at Lebanon Valley College, Annville, PA. Public reading at 7 p.m. on 9/25.

  • October 9: Guest speaker at Michaelson, Briner & Kildahl Literary Symposium, Wartburg College, Waverly, IA

  • October 10: LGBTea Time afternoon talk at the University of Northern Iowa, Cedar Falls, IA

  • October 10: Prairie Lights Bookstore, Iowa City, IA as part of the Iowa City Book Festival (in-person, 7 p.m.)

  • October 11: Reading and signing at the University of Northern Iowa, Cedar Falls, IA

  • October 12: Guest speaker at the Archway Reading Series, Dubuque University, Dubuque, IA

  • October 26–28: RAWIFest + Mizna, “1+ Generation SWANA Writers on Writing ‘Home’" with Zaina Arafat, Eman Quotah, Leila Chatti, and Marim Abbas (virtual/hybrid)

  • October 31: Carnegie Mellon University, Pittsburgh, PA

  • November 1–29: Virtual class via The Loft Literary Center, “First-Person & the Hidden I: A Revision Class & Workshop,” 4 sessions

  • November 13–December 4: Virtual class via the Center for Fiction, “Breaking Storytelling Norms with Symbiotic Forms: A Generative Class/Workshop with Sarah Cypher,” 4 sessions>

  • January 25, 2024: One-day master class and public reading at Furman University, Greenville, SC

  • February 7–10, 2024: “First Time’s the Charm: Debut Novelists on How to Debut” panel at AWP, St. Louis, MO

  • March 2, 2024: “What to Expect When You're Debuting,” virtual class for the Loft Literary Center

  • March 23, 2024: “Troubleshooting the Revise & Resubmit Rejection,” virtual class for the Center for Fiction

Press

Reviews

Interviews

News Coverage

Author Events Available Online

 

Book Details

Hardcover | $28.00

Published by Ballantine Books (Penguin Random House)

Apr 25, 2023 | 352 Pages | 6-1/8” x 9-1/4”

ISBN 9780593499535

See advance praise here

Download cover PNG (3 mb)
 

Author Photos

Click to download compressed high-res JPEGs. When the image opens in a new browser tab, right click and select “Save Image.” Whenever possible, please credit Jen Joseph Photography.

 
 

Author Bio

Short:

Sarah Cypher is an Arab American independent editor and award-winning author of The Skin and Its Girl (Ballantine 2023), living in Austin, Texas, with her wife.

Medium:

Sarah Cypher is the award-winning author of The Skin and Its Girl (Ballantine 2023) and holds an MFA from the Program for Writers at Warren Wilson College, where she was a Rona Jaffe Creative Writing Fellow in Fiction. She grew up in a Lebanese Christian family near Pittsburgh and lives in Austin, Texas, with her wife.

Long:

Sarah Cypher is the author of The Skin and Its Girl (Ballantine), an ALA Stonewall Honor Book long-listed for the VCU Cabell First Novel Prize and winner of the 2024 Barbara Gittings Literature Award. She holds an MFA from the Program for Writers at Warren Wilson College, where she was a Rona Jaffe Graduate Creative Writing Fellow in Fiction. Her writing has appeared in the Washington Post, Lit Hub, Electric Literature, New Ohio Review, North American Review, Crab Orchard Review, and others, and she has been a resident at the Headlands Center for the Arts and Vermont Studio Center. She grew up in a Lebanese family near Pittsburgh and now lives in Austin, Texas, with her wife.