Sarah Orman
Editor
Sarah Orman writes personal essays and poetry that has been published in literary journals such as Witness, Narrative, oranges journal, The Barbed Wire, and Atlanta Review. Her essay, “How She Suffered,” received honorable mention in the 2024 Plentitudes Nonfiction Prizes. Sarah is also an assistant editor for Narrative and the author of A Reader's Compendium on Substack.
As a lifelong reader, Sarah tried out a number of book-related jobs before turning her attention to writing and editing. In her twenties, she worked in a used bookstore, dropped out of a Ph.D. program in Russian literature, and worked as an assistant literary agent at Sterling Lord Literistic in New York. Then she went to law school, becoming an attorney for public schools. In 2022, she co-authored the 10th edition of The Texas Educator’s Guide to School Law (University of Texas Press), a legal textbook used in administrator certification programs across the state.
Born and raised in Austin, she received her B.A. from The Evergreen State College, her M.A. in Slavic Languages and Literatures from the University of Wisconsin, and her J.D. from UC Law San Francisco. She lives with her family in Austin, where she is working on a memoir about her wayward youth.
AREAS OF SPECIALTY
Literary fiction & general nonfiction, including memoirs & personal essays
Topics of interest include: legal; public education; Russian or Slavic; motherhood; feminism; Judaism
Sarah does NOT work on: YA, kid lit, science fiction, fantasy, or romance
AVAILABLE FOR
Developmental editing
Manuscript critiques
Line edits
Short story critiques
Query letters
Book Proposals
Writing Coaching
“Sarah’s critical eye and line editing skills have helped me know when a story is ready for submission. I appreciate her insightful feedback on character development and plot as well as grammar. Working with Sarah is always a great experience.”
—Jim Weber, author of The Marker and other stories
“Sarah’s close attention to character, structure, and theme helped me see my draft novel so much more clearly. She had helpful, succinct suggestions for bringing about the change I was hoping to achieve, and her encouragement and support bolstered me so that I felt I didn’t have to embark on the daunting process of editing alone.”
—Katie Zdybel, Author of Equipoise (Exile Editions, 2021), shortlisted for HarperCollins/UBC Prize for Best New Fiction
“Sarah is an incredibly deft, skillful, and compassionate editor, and I cannot recommend her highly enough. Over the last three years I have worked with Sarah as an editor for both my fiction and nonfiction projects, from flash length to hundreds of pages, and have consistently found her feedback invaluable in developing my writing. Whether I am in the early developmental stages of a project or in need of final line edits, Sarah’s combined ability to step back and observe what is working in a piece overall and her keen eye for fine detail make her my first choice for editorial feedback whenever she is available. Moreover, Sarah is a deeply considerate and compassionate person with whom I have trusted writing about some of my most sensitive subject matter, and her feedback has always been tender without losing its sharp editorial eye. I have had both short stories and personal essays that Sarah has edited published in literary magazines including Electric Literarure, Epiphany, Tahoma Literary Review, and The Offing, and I am tremendously grateful I’ve had the opportunity to work with her.”