BIO

Sara Roahen writes, edits, coaches, teaches, and otherwise dabbles in storytelling—for fun and for hire.

Her memoir, Gumbo Tales: Finding My Place at the New Orleans Table, was the chosen reading for the One Book One New Orleans reading initiative in 2009, and it received the Louisiana Library Association’s Louisiana Literary Award in 2010. Sara co-edited and contributed writing to The Southern Foodways Alliance Community Cookbook, and she self-published How to Begin Writing Your Life Stories: Putting Memories on the Page in 2024. Her work has additionally appeared in Saveur, Bon Appetit, Tin House, Oxford American, and Garden & Gun magazines, and in/on a host of other magazines, newspapers, books, and websites.

Conducting extensive fieldwork for the Southern Foodways Alliance’s extraordinary oral history initiative helped Sara hone her listening, documentarian, and backroad-driving skills.

She holds a copyediting certificate from UCSD and currently teaches life story writing in San Luis Obispo, California, through Cuesta College’s Emeritus program.

Sara finds great joy in helping others express themselves. View her range of services HERE.

Look for Memories on the Page: A Year of Tips and Prompts for Memoir and Life Story Writers, to be published in 2025.