The Importance of Telling Stories
Associate Professor of English Sarah Braunstein discusses the role of fiction and the excitement around Colby’s Creative Writing Program
Professionally speaking, there’s no doubt that Associate Professor of English Sarah Braunstein had a very good year in 2024. Her second novel, Bad Animals, was published to enthusiastic reviews—the New York Times called it “sharp-witted” and “ravishing.” Her short story, “Abject Naturalism,” was published in The New Yorker, that grande dame of literary fiction.
But one of the accomplishments that she’s proudest of is not a published work. Rather, it’s something that can be felt when you walk up the winding staircase of Miller Library to the English and Creative Writing Department on the second floor. It becomes immediately clear that you’ve reached a curious, collaborative, and kind corner of campus.
That energy—generated by the entire department—inspires students to bring their whole selves to the classroom and the page. It fills Braunstein with inspiration and hope, and it’s something she loves to talk about.
This interview has been edited.
Q: Tell me about the English Department—what do you think makes it shine?
A: I have really fond feelings about this department. I think we have a really lovely community of scholars, creative writers, and students, who are working in lots of different disciplines in English. And there’s a real community here. There’s a student lounge, and students are always working there.
I so admire the work that my colleagues are doing, and the way that we talk and share resources in big and little ways. There’s a feeling of excitement and, I think, disciplinary breadth.
Last year, we had five books come out in the department. A book of poetry, two books of fiction, and two books of scholarship that we celebrated. That felt like a big year—I mean, that’s exciting.
Are the creative writing and other English classes quite separate, or are there ways that the concentrations work together?
I think traditionally there would be more silos. We don’t have that vibe in this department. The meshing of the creative writing and the critical, it feels good. We have a student advisory board in English. They’re so great. Having a board of students who are passionate about English has been really cool. We learn about what they’re really interested in, and worried about, which is nice.
Chris Walker (assistant professor of English) and the concentration in literature and the environment gives a lot of flavor to what we’re doing and it also creates opportunity, like doing the Jan Plan in India.
And we also have these just extraordinary visiting people who bring so much energy, like Melissa Heide (visiting assistant professor of English). And then new tenure-track people, like Onnesha Roychoudhuri (assistant professor of English). She has all kinds of ideas about teaching a writing class that also involves working in the community directly, and is also thinking about creating opportunities for students to think about what activism looks like beyond being on the street.
Bad Animals, your first novel since 2011’s The Sweet Relief of Missing Children, is about a disgraced small-town Maine librarian and the power and peril of the stories that we tell. I was excited about your great review in the New York Times. How is the process going for you?
It’s just like sending a child to kindergarten. I don’t want it to be mocked or teased. I want it to be taken in good faith, and, hopefully, it will find its people. I think that generally speaking, it did, and that’s exciting. And I think it will find its readers as it goes.
I did essentially a national tour to promote it, and I went to some big cities. Boston, New York, Iowa City, Los Angeles, Portland, Ore., and at all independent bookstores. Some of my favorite events have just been among readers at libraries, and, you know, the book is about a librarian. So I think my next goal will be to just visit libraries and try to spread the word about it. The main character in my book can’t stop going to the library even though she’s causing trouble after she’s been laid off. She’s obsessively going to the library. I think there’s a lot of inside jokes there for those who work among books, and that’s fun.
In terms of your own writing, what do you think is next?
I feel like finishing that novel freed me because I’ve been working on it for many years. And I’m really excited about doing new things. I have a story collection that I’ve been working on concurrently, and that is about done. The story that came out in The New Yorker in July is in that book. There’s room for that book to still grow and change, but it’s beginning to be in its final stages.
And then at the end of the summer, I had an idea for a new book. I think that freed from the anxiety and worry about figuring out Bad Animals, I just let myself be really reckless with plot, and I ended up drafting something like a novella. I know there’s going to be more in it, but I got it done. I wanted it to exist so it could sit in my drawer for the next few months. And so now it’s cooking in the drawer. My next work time will be devoted to opening that up again, and I’m so excited about it.
