My name is Sarah Kokernot and I’m a fiction writer and essayist. (Secretly I’m also a poet.) I write because others have touched me through their work and I hope to touch someone through mine. My writing has appeared or is forthcoming in The Best American Short Stories, The New York Times, Tricycle, EPOCH, Michigan Quarterly Review, Crazyhorse, West Branch, Lady Churchill’s Rosebud Wristlet, and other publications.

You can find a selection of published works on this page. I’m currently finishing my first novel and working on a book of essays.

I grew up in Kentucky in a queer family the 80’s and 90’s. I found refuge in books, nature, chosen family, and the numinous. Like many artists, I’ve struggled to balance creating from a place that feels true to my lived (and often deeply weird) experience with the demands of the commercial market. After writing and publishing for fifteen years, I’ve learned that I value genuine connection and authenticity most of all.

I live near Chicago with my husband and our two children. I work as a grant writer and nonprofit consultant at StoryStudio, one of the nation’s leading creative writing centers. I also teach there as an instructor. Additionally, I’ve worked as a Northwestern University professor, where I taught fiction workshops to undergraduates.

I draw on nearly two decades years of professional teaching experience to my work as a creative coach and as a manuscript consultant. You can read more about my coaching philosophy and methods here.

I’m a long-time Buddhist meditator who is interested in the connection between spiritual practice and creative process. I write a newsletter on writing into the numinous and wild, witchy Buddhism at Your Wild and Radiant Mind.

For updates, favorite poems, writing inspiration, and slow-mo reels of flipping through book pages, follow me on Instagram @ yes_like_coconut.

If you’re interested in working with me as a coach or manuscript consultant, please fill out the contact form below to book a free 15-minute session. If we both feel like it’s a good fit, we’ll move on from there!