Sarah Beth Childers
Assistant Professor
MFA, West Virginia University
Areas of Interest & Expertise
Creative Nonfiction (lyric and narrative essays, memoir, linked essay collections, flash nonfiction, literary journalism)
Recent Courses Taught
Advanced Creative Nonfiction
Seminar in Creative Nonfiction: Hybrid Forms
Seminar in Creative Nonfiction: Integrating Research into Personal Essays, Journalism, and Memoir
Studies in Creative Nonfiction: Essay Collections
Craft and Forms of Prose: Flash Nonfiction
Writing the New Mexican Landscape
Selected Publications
Books:
Prodigals: A Sister's Memoir. Crux: The Georgia Series in Literary Nonfiction. University of Georgia Press, 2023.
Shake Terribly the Earth. Ohio University Press, 2013.
Journal Publications:
"Candy Crane." Sweet: A Literary Confection. Forthcoming.
"Checking." MiCRo. Publication of Cincinnati Review. 9 June 2021.
“A Haunting.”Shenandoah.vol. 70, no. 1, Fall 2020.
“What Happens When You Drown.”Brevity: A Journal of Concise Literary Nonfiction.Issue 61, May 2019.
“An Infestation.”Colorado Review.Spring 2018.
“Beagle in the Road.”Superstition Review,no. 20, Fall 2017.
"Grateful." Beautiful Things. 25 Sept. 2017.
"A Hobo Like Me." Quiddity. 10.1. 2017.
"Things Sad People Shouldn't Have."Pank 10.4. July-Aug. 2015.
"Chariot's a-Comin'." Gravel. May 2015.
"Portraits within Portraits." Guernica Daily. 30 April 2015.
"Ghost Siblings." Beside the Point. Fall 2014.
"Ten Years Ago." Brevity. Winter 2014.
Shorn."Wigleaf: (Very) Short Fiction. 24 Sept. 2012.
"Dear Wigleaf: Under the Night Heron Tree." Wigleaf: (Very) Short Fiction. 24 Sept. 2012.
"Boat Stories: Three Generations." Tusculum Review 7 (2011): 175-184.
"Garbage-Bag Charity." SNReview 10.2 (Summer 2008).
"Red Ribbon." Paddlefish (2008): 18-21.
Anthology Publications:
"Lydia." Walking the Line: An Anthology of Parkinson's Writing. Ed. Susan Brennan, Hal Sirowitz, and Minter Krotzer. Vol. 2, Fall 2021 edition. Parkinson's Poetry. Online.
“Beaver Pond.” Mountains Piled Upon Mountains: Appalachian Nature Writing in the Anthropocene.Ed. Jessica Corey. Morgantown, WV: West Virginia University Press, 2019.
"Ten Years Ago." Love and Profanity: A Collection of True, Tortured, Wild, Hilarious, Concise, and Intense Tales of Teenage Life. Ed. Nick Healy. North Mankato, MN: Switch Press, 2015: 128-131.
Craft Pieces:
“Welcoming Our Ghosts Inside.” Online craft feature, Shenandoah. 1 April 2021.
“Writing about Grief without Mentioning It.” Guest post, Superstition Review blog. 3 March 2018.
Textbook Chapter:
“A Memoirist Teaches Narrative.” Who Teaches Writing? Ed. Joshua Daniel. Oklahoma State University Libraries, 2021.
Honors & Offices
Nonfiction Editor, Cimarron Review
Wildacres Artist Residency, Little Switzerland, NC, September 2019.
Jentel Artist Residency, Banner, WY, June-July 2019.
Hargis Fellowship, Doel Reed Center for the Arts, Taos, NM. Oklahoma State University. June 2018.
Olive B. O’Connor Fellowship for creative writing at Colgate University, Hamilton, NY, 2009-2010.