Sarah Lawson was born in Indianapolis in 1943 and grew up in nearby Danville, Indiana. After degrees in English at Indiana University and the University of Pennsylvania, she went to Scotland and took a PhD in English at Glasgow University in 1971 with a thesis on Sir Thomas Malory's Morte Darthur. Initially intending an academic career, she soon changed to full-time writing, although in 1991-92 she taught English literature and composition at the University of Suzhou in Jiangsu Province, China. She has held a C. Day Lewis Fellowship, granted by the Greater London Arts Association, and in 2005 a Hawthornden Fellowship tenable at Hawthornden Castle International Writers' Retreat in Scotland. She lives in London.

      Sarah is a writer and translator from French, Spanish and Dutch. Her translation of Christine de Pisan's Treasure of the City of Ladies (Penguin, 1985) was the first translation of that work in English since it was written in 1405. She translated, as A Foothold in Florida (Antique Atlas, 1992), the 16th-century French tale of exploration in the Americas by René de Laudonniere, L'histoire notable de la Floride. Her translation of  Selected Poems by Jacques Prévert (Hearing Eye, 2002) was a Poetry Book Society Recommended Translation for the Summer Quarter in 2002. The Spanish classic El sí de las ninas by Leandro Fernández de Moratín was performed in her translation at the Prince's Theatre in Greenwich in 1997. In addition, she has translated some short prose pieces by the Mexican writer Martha Cerda and some poetry by the late Manuel Ulacia, also of Mexico, published in Pen International. With Małgorzata Koraszewska she has translated the poetry of Jan Twardowski (Serious Angel, Dedalus Press, 2003) and a group of aphorisms by S. J. Lec (included in Friends in the Country).

     Sarah Lawson has been publishing poetry since the 1970s. A group of her poems was published by Faber in Poetry Introduction 6 in 1985. A pamphlet, Dutch Interiors, appeared in 1988 published by MidNAG, and Down Where the Willow Is Washing Her Hair (16 poems about China) by Hearing Eye in 1995, but her first full collection was Below the Surface (Loxwood-Stoneleigh, 1996). That was followed by two pamphlets from Hearing Eye: Twelve Scenes of Malta (2000) and Friends in the Country (2004) and another full collection, All the Tea in China (2006). Some of her poems have been translated into Galician and Serbian.

     Her non-fiction memoir about her mother, A Fado for my Mother (Loxwood-Stoneleigh, 1996), is an unusual story set in Indiana and Lisbon and concerns history, music, grief and humour in a curious mixture. Read more about each title from the menu at the left.

     Her play, Gertrude, Queen of Denmark, ran in October 2007 at the Lion and Unicorn theatre on the London Fringe. Now at last the world knows the reasons that Gertrude married Claudius! We also discover, among other things, what Hamlet's sister thinks of Fortinbras.

     Her translation of Sera Anstadt's Al mijn vrienden zijn gek (All My Friends Are Crazy) was published lin 2007 by chipmunka in London. This account of schizophrenia has been a minor classic in The Netherlands since it first came out in 1983, but this is the first time it has appeared in English.

     She has reviewed for a number of journals over the years: American Speech, New Humanist, New Statesman, The Tablet, New Library Review, and The Art Book, among others. She has just begun reviewing for the new online art magazine, Cassone Art.

     Her recent book, The Ripple Effect, is published by Paul Mould in Boston, Lincs. It is a prose memoir about Poland--about how the author went from knowing little about the country to having an increasing connection with it, all thanks to one casual conversation on a Polish train in 1980. (A fascinating read for anyone interested in Poland or the way a seemingly insignificant event can have a huge influence on your life.)

     Her collection of 100 haiku, The Wisteria's Children, has also recently appeared with Hearing Eye in London. They are traditional, playful, aphoristic, and serious by turns.

     Some current work and preoccupations are listed at the right. Sarah is a member of English PEN and also belongs to the Royal Society of Literature, the Society of Authors and the Translators' Association.

     Comments and feedback to: salawson@ntlworld.com

In the pipeline

A series of 20 poems ("The Future History of Things") dedicated to my late mother-in-law, Christina Pettigrew (1906-2006).

A study of the literary qualities of Gone with the Wind. In 14 essays collected in "The GWTW Fortnight" I explain why GWTW deserves to be re-evaluated and recognized as serious literature.

A translation of poems by the Mexican poet Manuel Ulacia (1953-2001). These are touching, personal poems about his life and loves. "Origami for a Rainy Day", his arresting autobiographical work, will have to be the title poem. In the meantime, some of them are to be found in an anthology of Mexican poetry published in the UK by Shearsman.

My play, Gertrude, Queen of Denmark, has been translated into Arabic by Ekbal Baraka in Cairo under the auspices of the Egypt Council. Ms. Baraka is a journalist, author and theatre director, and excellent stylist in Arabic. (Well, that's what she told me, anyway.)

An unpublished (as yet) novel, "The Bohemian Pirate". The title refers to a mythical coffeehouse in London where Swithin, a lecturer at the nearby King Edward College, sits working on his book in spite of every conceivable kind of interruption.

Another batch of 100 haiku entitled "Footprints on the Clouds" is almost ready to go.

The new Cassone Art website has just been launched. For a pittance you can subscribe to it and read reviews of dozens and dozens of art books. I have already contributed three reviews. See especially the one about Judy Egerton's Hogarth's "Marriage A-la-Mode" entitled "The Most Disgusting Handkerchief in British Art". Go on, it's worth the subscription.