Sara Zarr

Sara Zarr is the author of nine novels for young readers, as well as Courageous Creativity: Advice and Encouragement for the Creative Life and This Creative Life: A Handbook for Writers. All of her fiction is contemporary realism, with a focus on the inter- and intrapersonal dramas within the family unit, broadly defined. Her nonfiction (both short and long form) ranges in focus from the psychological and practical obstacles to a productive writing life, to how childhood trauma and dysfunction play out in adulthood, to faith and religion in art and culture. 

Sara is a National Book Award finalist and two-time Utah Book Award winner. Her books have been variously named to annual best books lists of the American Library Association, Kirkus, School Library Journal, Publisher's Weekly, and the International Reading Association. Her essays and creative nonfiction have been published in Image, Relief, Gather, and several anthologies. She also hosts and produce the This Creative Life podcast.