Sarah Gorham

Always having to balance her full-time commitments to Sarabande Books (which she founded and directs), her writing life, and her family, poet and essayist Sarah Gorham knew that the time and space VSC provides would be invaluable.  

“It’s not about having an alternative to your home studio,” Sarah said, “because in my case there IS no home studio … I knew the VSC residency would allow me to follow the rhythms of my work; it’s not just being in a new place, it’s looking at the entire day, for four whole weeks, as an opportunity to work.”

As necessary and productive as her time at the Studio Center has been, it was the things she did not expect to find -- the welcome surprises, influences, and sources of inspiration -- that have made her time here especially valuable.

Having always been interested in the linkages between genres, especially writing, visual and ceramic arts, music, and ornithology and botany, Sarah found walking through the open studio evenings to be fabulous, when the full scale and diversity of the VSC community is on full display.

She also found the informality of the Studio Center to be refreshing, the simple daily routine of people going about their work.  Likewise, she enjoyed the positive community spirit created through shared good food in the riverside dining room, the international program, and VSC’s location at the heart of a Vermont village.

“And the readings, and the writers I’ve met,” Sarah said, “Rosanna Warren, Eric Pankey, my fellow residents and writers on staff … it’s just been a great month.”

photo courtesy of Howard Romero