Carly Sachs
Current City, State, Country
Birth City, State, Country
Biography
Carly Sachs is the author of the steam sequence (Washington Writers’ Publishing House 2006) and Descendants of Eve (Blue Lyra Press, 2020). She is the editor of the why and later (Deep Cleveland Press, 2007), a collection of poems about rape and assault. Her poems and stories have been included in The Best American Poetry series and read on NPR’s Selected Shorts. Recent work has appeared in the Jewish Book Council’s Witnessing series, the Mid-Atlantic Review, Three Fold, the At the Well blog, and the Earth Etudes for Elul project. When not writing, you can find Carly teaching yoga or baking with her daughter. She lives in Lexington, KY and is the PJ Library Coordinator at The Jewish Federation of the Bluegrass.
What is the relationship between Judaism and/or Jewish culture and your poetry?
When I was a participant of the March of the Living in 1996, I became known as the bus poet—often sharing reflections in poems rather than reflective writing or journal entries. I had no idea then, that this identity of poet and Jewish poet were so intertwined. I attended college on an Honors poetry scholarship and my first book of poems is a fragmented narrative of a fictitious Holocaust survivor, based on years and years of research—most likely begun when I was just a teenager. So from the beginning, being Jewish and being a poet were both essential components of my identity. After graduate school, I studied as an Arts Fellow at the Drisha Institute and have always felt that Jewish learning and identity played significant roles in my poetry.
Published Works
Descendants of Eve, Delphi Series Vol. 8 (Blue Lyra Press, 2020)
the steam sequence (Washington Writers’ Publishing House, 2006)
the why and later, an anthology of poems that women have written about rape and sexual assault (Deep Cleveland Press, 2007)
Yama/Niyama chapbook inspired by yoga philosophy (self published)
Author Site
Links to Sample Works
- Witnessing, “October 7, 2024”
- Mid-Atlantic Review, “The Thread of Elul,” A Woman of Valor,” Since October 7, 2024″
- xThreeFold, “Simchat Torah 2024,” “Making Challah in a Hurricane,” “Only Child”
Current Title
Education
Kent State University, BA
The New School University, MFA
The Drisha Institute (Arts Fellowship)