https://www.sarahhenstra.com/about daily 0.75 2025-01-12 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/652f3c6fbed0406973ecbeb8/1705456204136-BI31J87318WT9SMSEN3H/HenstraSarah2_byPaolaScattolon_color.jpg Bio - Make it stand out Photography by Paola Scattolon https://www.sarahhenstra.com/home daily 1.0 2024-02-24 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/652f3c6fbed0406973ecbeb8/1705507930170-6WY9GQEDHMWEJ882SOQZ/Henstra_TheLostTarot_cover+image.jpg Landing Page https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/652f3c6fbed0406973ecbeb8/1698617157349-FODP0JBTL9YHW8CKVF8O/BookCover_The_Red_Word_GG_Seal_1024x1024+%281%29.jpeg Landing Page https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/652f3c6fbed0406973ecbeb8/1698617335980-LY3ZD13C208T0YU9MD7R/BookCover_WeContainMultitudes.jpg Landing Page https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/652f3c6fbed0406973ecbeb8/1698617173015-50E51WM13BTRSFEZB94H/BookCover_Mad_Miss_Mimic.jpeg Landing Page https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/652f3c6fbed0406973ecbeb8/1698617605920-E1Y73PRRJAYB7MDIZLJ8/71Os9G1AgHL._SL1360_.jpg Landing Page https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/652f3c6fbed0406973ecbeb8/1707496322702-SKAE7CT2I3VUPLHZK0CV/HenstraSarah2_byPaolaScattolon_bw.jpg Landing Page https://www.sarahhenstra.com/we-contain-multitudes daily 0.75 2024-03-02 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/652f3c6fbed0406973ecbeb8/1698617335980-LY3ZD13C208T0YU9MD7R/BookCover_WeContainMultitudes.jpg We Contain Multitudes We Contain Multitudes, 2019 https://www.sarahhenstra.com/the-lost-tarot daily 0.75 2026-01-03 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/652f3c6fbed0406973ecbeb8/46063f4a-805b-4511-8f98-907f74e6f6cc/LTaudio2.webp The Lost Tarot - Make it stand out The Lost Tarot audiobook- narrated by Sarah Henstra https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/652f3c6fbed0406973ecbeb8/e760c870-87f2-4da7-9f25-498ebf2db11c/Dazzling_Banner.jpg The Lost Tarot - Make it stand out Whatever it is, the way you tell your story online can make all the difference. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/652f3c6fbed0406973ecbeb8/cd3f0f2b-1c27-4840-918f-fe55e74702da/Koos_Star_small.png The Lost Tarot - The Artist Tarot Project artwork by Gillian Frise, 2024 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/652f3c6fbed0406973ecbeb8/f7a8588c-58ab-4816-81ef-c05eacb8dc3a/Henstra_TheLostTarot_cover+image.jpg The Lost Tarot - Make it stand out Cover design by Kate Sinclair for Doubleday https://www.sarahhenstra.com/mad-miss-mimic daily 0.75 2024-02-09 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/652f3c6fbed0406973ecbeb8/1698617173015-50E51WM13BTRSFEZB94H/BookCover_Mad_Miss_Mimic.jpeg Mad Miss Mimic https://www.sarahhenstra.com/the-red-word daily 0.75 2025-12-13 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/652f3c6fbed0406973ecbeb8/1698617157349-FODP0JBTL9YHW8CKVF8O/BookCover_The_Red_Word_GG_Seal_1024x1024+%281%29.jpeg The Red Word - Make it stand out Whatever it is, the way you tell your story online can make all the difference. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/652f3c6fbed0406973ecbeb8/100035b4-35d8-4a7d-8f11-6fae8be4ed2f/red+word+audible.jpg The Red Word - Make it stand out Whatever it is, the way you tell your story online can make all the difference. https://www.sarahhenstra.com/events daily 0.75 2025-12-13 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/652f3c6fbed0406973ecbeb8/1765655919169-0DMA5S4ZXL8JWXVGT9ZE/ECC_Xmas2025.png Events - Winter's Peak Premiere, 2025 new choral work with composer Henry Renglich, Etobicoke Centennial Choir, Toronto photo: ECC https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/652f3c6fbed0406973ecbeb8/1765656112885-C4II77OIZ45MLDO3QHH6/Briefs2025.png Events - Opera Briefs, 2025 premiere of 3 short operas (libretti by Sarah Henstra), Tapestry Opera, Toronto photo: Tapestry Opera https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/652f3c6fbed0406973ecbeb8/1765656536640-BWH815VQBDNEJS1IB3RI/WOTS2025.png Events - Word On The Street, 2025 Magazines Canada “The Secret Life of Magazine Stories” panel discussion, Toronto photo: @magscanada https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/652f3c6fbed0406973ecbeb8/1765642855403-9UN8Z3P6HM2RYZDP8OIP/tarot.jpg Events - Tarot, Creativity &amp; Writing, 2024 with Liz Worth, Type Books, Toronto https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/652f3c6fbed0406973ecbeb8/1765644512434-LI51XAOS0BFQP50ARUE6/IMG_4676+2.jpg Events - Ottawa International Writers' Festival, 2024 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/652f3c6fbed0406973ecbeb8/1765645533012-RHHL1Q4X45EQORO447R2/IMG_4683+2.jpg Events - Vancouver Writers Fest, 2024 “Hunting For Clues” reading/panel discussion, Vancouver, BC https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/652f3c6fbed0406973ecbeb8/1724598569471-544OX4SU7Q5DW8R3HTTB/AM_graphic.png Events - Art Monsters, 2024 Panel discussion, Books & Company, Picton, ON. June 2024 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/652f3c6fbed0406973ecbeb8/1724598974340-8PQ1P1R5Q0W8N67JICB5/IMG_0339.JPG Events - The Lost Tarot Book Launch, 2024 Society Clubhouse, Toronto https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/652f3c6fbed0406973ecbeb8/1706301519207-ILFNIDFNJDVQ7GT048VI/TIFA2.jpg Events - TIFA, 2018 Governor General’s Literary Award finalists’ panel hosted by Carol Off, Toronto International Festival of Authors https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/652f3c6fbed0406973ecbeb8/1704930299906-X6FWE91TLP5NO3NWOQ3P/adelaide+writers+week+2019.jpeg Events - Adelaide Writers' Week, 2019 Reading + Panel Discussion, South Australia https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/652f3c6fbed0406973ecbeb8/1704930978833-1OOBP1VGKVNP3MUMJ9AB/sarah-henstra-julie-payette.png Events - GG Award Ceremony, 2018 Literary Award for Fiction: Sarah Henstra with Canada’s Governor General , her Excellency the Rt. Hon. Julie Payette Ottawa, Canada https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/652f3c6fbed0406973ecbeb8/1706301518089-6SMETT67H4UOCY3ESVPZ/secondshelf3.jpg Events - Second Shelf, 2019 Second Shelf feminist bookstore salon (reading + interview) with Lucy Scholes London, UK https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/652f3c6fbed0406973ecbeb8/1704931428057-D9UMA3K8DB8UQN46M6SM/sh-tour-banner-with-book.png Events - UK Book Tour 2019 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/652f3c6fbed0406973ecbeb8/1706301520622-KDCW78RFPV741G015HFK/edinburgh.jpg Events - Edinburgh Festival, 2019 Reading + Q & A, Edinburgh Book Festival, Scotland UK https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/652f3c6fbed0406973ecbeb8/1704930300368-BPBD3DVNB39TX9AVYCBL/bluemet+2019.png Events - Blue Met Festival, 2019 Panel Discussion, Metropolis Bleu Festival, Montreal, Canada https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/652f3c6fbed0406973ecbeb8/1706301523671-N50REN6TIUR83VLAWMXR/Cheltenham.JPG Events - Cheltenham Festival, 2019 Reading + Q & A, Cheltenham Literary Festival, UK https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/652f3c6fbed0406973ecbeb8/1704855181802-ZMSDB7M4O4F345W4X9A4/hookuponstage+2019.jpeg Events - Hook Up, The Opera, 2019 After Show Q&A: From left, librettist Julie Tepperman, composer Chris Thornborrow, and Sarah Henstra Theatre Passe Muraille, Toronto, Feb 8, 2019 Photo: TapestryOpera https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/652f3c6fbed0406973ecbeb8/1706301519060-JMS5FY3KJNPZ16HB45B1/EM2019_2.jpg Events - Eden Mills Festival, 2019 Reading + Q & A, Eden Mills Literary Festival Eden Mills, ON Canada https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/652f3c6fbed0406973ecbeb8/1704920841703-QXDOGUU2T7JGTNJ4QF9X/TIFA+2018.jpeg Events - TIFA, 2018 Reading from The Red Word and discussion with authors Rachel Giese, Sarah Henstra & Vivek Shraya. Interviewer: Rinaldo Walcott Toronto, ON Photo: TIFA https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/652f3c6fbed0406973ecbeb8/1704840563344-SC6MKFANWCW5AR2WYQ3D/The+Red+Word+book+launch%2C+The+Arts+%26+Letters+Club%2C+Toronto%2C+March+2018.jpeg Events - The Red Word book launch, 2018 Arts & Letters Club, Toronto, Canada https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/652f3c6fbed0406973ecbeb8/1704928725998-8JPMS5NVDB4QOO1SM14J/shwildwriters2015.jpg Events - Wild Writers Festival, 2015 Workshop: “Writing for Young Adults” Waterloo, ON Canada https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/652f3c6fbed0406973ecbeb8/1707497309358-BC5O5O2O9H4A9FJ2V37Q/BWS_2016.jpeg Events - Brockton Writers Series, 2015 Brockton Writers Series reading + Q & A Toronto, Canada https://www.sarahhenstra.com/essays daily 0.75 2026-01-03 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/652f3c6fbed0406973ecbeb8/b4cf7919-2d65-48cd-9019-9ddd672fa018/LitHubwhite.png Essays - 10 Brilliant Retellings of Classical Myths by Female Writers There’s something about our oldest stories that never gets old. Rereading classical mythology is for me an exercise in surprise and recognition mixed together. . .I believe that myths hit us somewhere below the brain, at some irrational, dreamlike level that somehow feels truer than ordinary stories. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/652f3c6fbed0406973ecbeb8/4372f86d-8359-48f1-9a6e-4f36a472135f/GenreAffect2.png Essays - Confronting Genre: Opera, Memorial, and John Greyson’s Fig Trees John Greyson's documentary-opera film Fig Trees made for one of 2009's most popular and critically celebrated screenings at international festivals. Billed as "a tribute to the warrior saints of AIDS activism," the film offers at once a gorgeous, intensely moving portrait of loss and a withering parodic critique of the consolatory and mythologizing practices associated with public remembrance today. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/652f3c6fbed0406973ecbeb8/5283e195-107a-4ae4-8f86-cbd60b188897/LARB2.png Essays - Gertrude Stein: Nonsense with a social conscience On Sunday afternoons, I’ve been attending a creative writing workshop led by award-winning poet Hoa Nguyen. We read aloud, paragraph by paragraph, from Gertrude Stein’s Tender Buttons and then write our own poetry with the help of Hoa’s prompts. As a novelist I’m a bit intimidated by poetry — by Gertrude’s poetry, in particular. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/652f3c6fbed0406973ecbeb8/c51ca5c4-de0b-44bb-90f8-3ace27aa9f01/salon2.png Essays - Confessions of a bystander: Why intervening in abuse can be so hard When I was ten years old, my best friend Tracy* and I made an excursion one Saturday to the public library. With our bags full of newly checked-out books, we were unlocking our bikes when a couple of teenaged girls, smoking cigarettes on a nearby bench, started to harass us. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/652f3c6fbed0406973ecbeb8/8efce67e-54fc-447c-897f-bc04978d91f8/IrishTimes2.png Essays - Consent versus ‘hotness’: Letting go of the sexual mystique In 1940, the world watched Rhett Butler haul Scarlett O’Hara up a grand flight of red-carpeted stairs. Straddling a very fine line between healthy sex and rape, the scene has divided audiences of Gone With the Wind for decades. At the centre of the debate is our tendency to mystify sex: songs and books seem to get hotter after they’ve been banned; forbidden love makes for a steamier romance. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/652f3c6fbed0406973ecbeb8/739a797b-ab7e-4a7f-a837-319b5387f971/SSWritingSchool.png Essays - Keeping Secrets Why you should keep your writing secret Do you remember writing notes to your parents back when you first learned how to write words? Don’t look, don’t look! you’d say, hunched over the paper to shield your work as you laboured over each letter. But when you were finally finished, you’d say Look, look! https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/652f3c6fbed0406973ecbeb8/46cf2323-d522-4963-bd4d-b7b084b36f2d/Bookanista.png Essays - Writing in the #MeToo Era Shocking revelations, a barrage of headlines, rising public outrage, hashtag activism, and… fiction. My novel The Red Word has been launched at the height of the #MeToo movement, and from its first days on the market it’s been praised for being ‘timely.’ https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/652f3c6fbed0406973ecbeb8/f090854e-3c91-4bff-85c7-3190a98b235d/OperaCanada.png Essays - Letter from LIBLAB For ten days this July, as most Canadians were taking it easy at the cottage, campsite or patio, Tapestry Opera's new performance space in downtown Toronto thrummed with intense, sweaty activity. Eight of us creative types - four composers and four writers, including me - had been selected to participate in the company's prestigious Composer-Librettist Laboratory. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/652f3c6fbed0406973ecbeb8/1e7b331a-2dab-4b3e-b45d-1333d6bd4509/Guardiansmall.png Essays - Cliques, clubs and cults: the treacherous allure of belonging Two years ago, I drove eight hours south from Toronto with two friends to participate in the Women’s March on Washington DC. That night we hand-lettered our posters (“This pussy grabs back!”) and stitched up the final seams of our pink knitted hats. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/652f3c6fbed0406973ecbeb8/57c3b624-d9b8-4bfc-8735-40e63d20f1bb/LaphamsQ.png Essays - Voices in Time: History via Dorm Decor The author of The Red Word remembers a ubiquitous poster. Clarissa Pinkola Estés’ book Women Who Run with the Wolves was published by Ballantine in 1992, and it spent a record 145 weeks on the New York Times bestseller list. The book excited and inspired women across cultural, generational and political lines. https://www.sarahhenstra.com/the-countermemorial-impulse daily 0.75 2024-03-17 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/652f3c6fbed0406973ecbeb8/1698617605920-E1Y73PRRJAYB7MDIZLJ8/71Os9G1AgHL._SL1360_.jpg The Counter-Memorial Impulse - Make it stand out Whatever it is, the way you tell your story online can make all the difference. https://www.sarahhenstra.com/extras daily 0.75 2024-07-15 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/652f3c6fbed0406973ecbeb8/db3670f0-bc3f-47cf-a01f-45e5556d4602/CBCPerseus.png Extras - Perseus / Andromeda / Medusa (short fiction) I came late to the hero’s tale but then so did he. I was pinned three days in the surf before he came along, holidaying, glutted already on monsters. He trod the air dragging a bloodsodden bag. He hid behind his godmother’s shield so that only his golden shoes peeped out. He did the chivalrous thing but first he bargained with my father: https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/652f3c6fbed0406973ecbeb8/a1be7d4e-1b11-4ffe-908f-6a1495edb11e/49thShelf_list.png Extras - Make it stand out Whatever it is, the way you tell your story online can make all the difference. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/652f3c6fbed0406973ecbeb8/2e1df119-f7ad-4321-a2a5-55a7e8132ea5/bloodorange2.png Extras - IV. the navigator (poetry) Merciless We decided the dog would travel back and forth With the kids. Shark-toothed weeds edged the moon pool. Your brow was creased as maybe in a dream. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/652f3c6fbed0406973ecbeb8/70f6885d-784b-456b-8170-105df39d6a5d/49thShelfsized.png Extras - Make it stand out Whatever it is, the way you tell your story online can make all the difference. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/652f3c6fbed0406973ecbeb8/98545268-304d-4745-a1e2-110f45510611/Largehearted_Boy.png Extras - The Red Word playlist The Red Word offers a snapshot of American college life in the mid-1990s, when two opposing forces collided head-on: the heyday of fraternity hijinks and the rise of third-wave feminism in the classroom and beyond. . . Study groups, keggers in the dormitory basement, all-nighters in the computer lab, women’s marches, movies https://www.sarahhenstra.com/contact daily 0.75 2025-01-12 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/652f3c6fbed0406973ecbeb8/b48aa37d-43c4-4200-8352-e36cb338e324/sarah-SM-square-0175.jpg Contact Photography by Paola Scattolon https://www.sarahhenstra.com/press daily 0.75 2024-06-15 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/652f3c6fbed0406973ecbeb8/e94fc0e4-e907-4b84-b9b9-765ad5256087/VTdigger2.png Press - Amid book bans, Vermont Reads finds no news about first LGBTQ+ title is good news by Kevin O’Connor When the Vermont Reads program unveiled its first LGBTQ+ selection this past year, it didn’t anticipate a record number of nationwide calls to ban such books. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/652f3c6fbed0406973ecbeb8/984e30d3-28de-4db3-96e9-5d190e96f0fa/Globe_summerbooks.jpg Press - The Globe and Mail Summer Books Preview by Emily Donaldson I’D LIKE TO READ…a novel with a tinge of the strange or fantastical. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/652f3c6fbed0406973ecbeb8/2de79ebd-66ac-483c-984f-ebcb668b640a/Macleans2.png Press - Fiction meets politics by Brian Bethune The coming year will be a time to test that notion in Canadian literature, given the way 2017’s national prize juries have shown, in a politically roiled era, unusually clear responses to politically charged writing. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/652f3c6fbed0406973ecbeb8/21922a54-f62d-49d6-8d96-b92e3fdde480/UAffairs.png Press - Why campus novels matter by Randy Boyagoda Sarah Henstra’s The Red Word won the 2018 Governor-General’s Literary Award for Fiction in English. In its citation, the prize jury declared it “groundbreaking and provocative,” and commended the novel as “an astonishing evisceration of the clichés of sexual politics as they exist not only on our college campuses, but also within broader present-day society.” https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/652f3c6fbed0406973ecbeb8/639c94b0-86f9-4664-8d85-3b1405b56026/CBCbooks2.png Press - Highly anticipated spring fiction The CBC’s list of anticipated spring fiction, including The Lost Tarot by Sarah Henstra https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/652f3c6fbed0406973ecbeb8/b448f5de-b8db-430c-bd0b-e6916726dc69/CBCradio_logo.png Press - Make it stand out Whatever it is, the way you tell your story online can make all the difference. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/652f3c6fbed0406973ecbeb8/1d19e974-bac2-41a3-b1d6-5eaa49db5bb3/NextChapterlogo.png Press - 3 campus novels that explore the messy melodrama of being a student CBC Books associate producer Talia Kliot speaks with The Next Chapter host Ali Hassan about three of her favourite campus novels, including Sarah Henstra’s The Red Word. "People are branching out of the communities that they've grown up in and the age of 18 to 24 is about growth and coming of age," says Kliot. "Everyone's making mistakes… Also there's just an arrogance and an idealism of youth which…makes for great satire." (click to listen) https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/652f3c6fbed0406973ecbeb8/dce5bb68-29cf-4d93-a6a1-c6eda9aae608/Quill.png Press - After her GG Award win, Sarah Henstra returns to YA by Shanda Deziel Sitting in the kitchen of her west-end Toronto home in mid-March, Henstra looks out on a backyard garden that she recently landscaped (using some of the award money). It should start blooming around the same time that her next novel is published. https://www.sarahhenstra.com/interviews daily 0.75 2024-08-10 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/652f3c6fbed0406973ecbeb8/e580617a-e480-4a29-8be1-9863b686714b/AspenPR2.png Interviews + Appearances - First draft: a dialogue on writing Podcast interview by Mitzi Rapkin https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/652f3c6fbed0406973ecbeb8/06d8146c-5d49-439f-8c48-ca28acc0e9e9/HumberLitRev.png Interviews + Appearances - In conversation: Sarah Henstra Interview by Melanie J. Fishbane “I am curious about the marriage contract as a regulatory tool in society. Along with such “modern” institutions as medicine and law in the nineteenth century, marriage was a way of containing and regulating women’s sexuality and public deportment, as well as stabilizing the economies of property and childrearing.” https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/652f3c6fbed0406973ecbeb8/62fbd83b-2756-4d7c-b26c-c0a74e61668f/VanArtsReview2.png Interviews + Appearances - The process behind The Red Word Interview by Prachi Kamble. “There are people who talk about gender roles as being inborn. They use that as an argument to not make changes. That’s not what I’m interested in – that there’s no point in lifting a finger. That is one side effect of studying gender in mythology, you feel like we haven’t come anywhere in 3000 years.” https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/652f3c6fbed0406973ecbeb8/c0ba89e7-f167-4f9c-af36-362849235c85/HamRev.png Interviews + Appearances - Expanding possibilities for thinking and feeling Interview by Danila Botha “I wanted to capture something that I experience all the time in academia: this amazing sort of belief, or feeling that the things you’re learning about in class have relevance in your life. If students, at an undergrad or graduate level are into what they’re learning, if they have professors who light a fire under them, [they] suddenly see how tantalizing and relevant the material is.” https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/652f3c6fbed0406973ecbeb8/93e430d3-4ddf-40e2-b97c-486df66ea465/VTreads.png Interviews + Appearances - Make it stand out Whatever it is, the way you tell your story online can make all the difference. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/652f3c6fbed0406973ecbeb8/e80c2a60-2d57-44bf-a3ab-9ff5d9617550/SienaArtI.png Interviews + Appearances - Make it stand out Whatever it is, the way you tell your story online can make all the difference. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/652f3c6fbed0406973ecbeb8/2143e54a-d545-46b5-8ef5-a86a68799554/MorningShow.png Interviews + Appearances - Make it stand out Whatever it is, the way you tell your story online can make all the difference. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/652f3c6fbed0406973ecbeb8/1d19e974-bac2-41a3-b1d6-5eaa49db5bb3/NextChapterlogo.png Interviews + Appearances - Make it stand out Whatever it is, the way you tell your story online can make all the difference. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/652f3c6fbed0406973ecbeb8/639c94b0-86f9-4664-8d85-3b1405b56026/CBCbooks2.png Interviews + Appearances - Why GG Award winner Sarah Henstra keeps writing Sarah answers questions from 8 fellow writers. “My favourite writers are those who inhabit that sweet spot between everyday, vivid, granular detail and wildly fantastical or transcendent elements.” https://www.sarahhenstra.com/collabs daily 0.75 2026-01-05 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/652f3c6fbed0406973ecbeb8/75cb9de0-ebd7-418e-96de-935d72ad9ecc/POVandVO.png Collabs - HOWL: An Opera Fable With composer Chris Thornborrow, Sarah is writing an opera for children about the wolf’s essential role as apex predator in the ecosystem. The project is sponsored by Pacific Opera Victoria and Vancouver Opera under their inaugural Opera Sprouts new works program. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/652f3c6fbed0406973ecbeb8/a5f76e81-4391-41ac-88f3-ce1db1188554/Messy.png Collabs - Opera Briefs: Under Where? October, 2025, Tapestry Opera (Toronto). Sarah wrote the libretti (scripts) for 3 short operas produced as part of the company’s composer-librettist collaboratory. << baritone Jorell Williams and tenor Keith Klassen in Messy (Sarah Henstra/Rebecca Gray) https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/652f3c6fbed0406973ecbeb8/3668e97a-949f-4447-8acd-76de69d34a30/RenglichHenstra_small.jpg Collabs - Make it stand out photos: Etobicoke Centennial Choir https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/652f3c6fbed0406973ecbeb8/ca5e135d-dcdd-479b-b4a0-b13abc6f6d49/PocketConcerts.png Collabs - “Luthier” by Sarah Henstra + Schubert Cello Quintet July, 2019 (Toronto) Sarah presented a new story, entitled “Luthier,” between movements of Schubert’s String Quintet in C Major, performed live by Iris Ensemble. See below for a clip of the performance finale and an interview with Pocket Concerts co-founder, Emily Rho. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/652f3c6fbed0406973ecbeb8/51500bff-9cd3-4b58-820a-c0e1954bb880/FoolishV.jpg Collabs - songwriting Sarah has written lyrics for more than 20 songs, many of them with a folk/bluegrass vibe. See below for sample texts, sound files and video performances. Like what you hear? Need some words for your tunes? Sarah is always looking for new collaborations so please get in touch. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/652f3c6fbed0406973ecbeb8/5b054bb0-06c0-4e70-94c0-85c04ae33c27/ECCsinging.webp Collabs - choral music With composer and music director Henry Renglich, Sarah has written a number of works for SATB choral voices. See below for selected concert programs and sample recordings. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/652f3c6fbed0406973ecbeb8/c3b4c566-f788-492c-b7ef-f0cdb568b266/Koos_med.png Collabs - The Artist Tarot Project Sarah’s 2024 novel The Lost Tarot features a (fictional) set of tarot cards painted by a (fictional) famous avant-garde artist named Lark Ringold. Sarah curated an exhibition of original artworks that visually bring to life the various tarot cards depicted in the book. Visit the online gallery. <<THE SUN by Rita Koos, 2024 https://www.sarahhenstra.com/press-kit daily 0.75 2024-08-10 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/652f3c6fbed0406973ecbeb8/e760c870-87f2-4da7-9f25-498ebf2db11c/Dazzling_Banner.jpg Press Kit - Make it stand out Whatever it is, the way you tell your story online can make all the difference. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/652f3c6fbed0406973ecbeb8/1709745747537-FWUBQ4C8IFUZMU2G5NQG/HenstraSarah1_byPaolaScattolon_bw_cropped.jpg Press Kit https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/652f3c6fbed0406973ecbeb8/1709745119708-FIVDQREB7P541IEUWLD1/Henstra_TheLostTarot_cover+image.jpg Press Kit https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/652f3c6fbed0406973ecbeb8/1709753724847-CLN0WO9WNLZKJLGPEP4T/HenstraSarah4_byPaolaScattolon_color.jpg Press Kit https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/652f3c6fbed0406973ecbeb8/1709745111452-1TYY07DLFH2RXBTKZ69Q/HenstraSarah2_byPaolaScattolon_color.jpg Press Kit https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/652f3c6fbed0406973ecbeb8/1709745056475-RCU45SSQWCAQ5L6PKQJ3/HenstraSarah1_byPaolaScattolon_color.jpg Press Kit https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/652f3c6fbed0406973ecbeb8/1709747243420-QQGNWODQORRGFJM8IBHE/HenstraSarah3_byPaolaScattolon_color_8x10.jpg Press Kit https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/652f3c6fbed0406973ecbeb8/1709745193825-MSA3BWLS7H6TKGCV8HMQ/HenstraSarah1_byPaolaScattolon_bw_square.jpg Press Kit https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/652f3c6fbed0406973ecbeb8/1709753793803-3K3OSTARAGF49A1ENS8O/HenstraSarah4_byPaolaScattolon_color_square.jpg Press Kit https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/652f3c6fbed0406973ecbeb8/1709753870356-0QBA3KAD56IFY0CC02EM/HenstraSarah3_byPaolaScattolon_bw_square1.jpg Press Kit https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/652f3c6fbed0406973ecbeb8/1709745819465-HD3EFYOPH4ZC0CWZIZA2/HenstraSarah2_byPaolaScattolon_bw.jpg Press Kit https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/652f3c6fbed0406973ecbeb8/1709745809303-BY5D11N55EF7I1YQI6JA/HenstraSarah2_byPaolaScattolon_bw_square.jpg Press Kit https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/652f3c6fbed0406973ecbeb8/1709753789940-9WA9O5AMZCN4F1OPKS0M/HenstraSarah4_byPaolaScattolon_bw.jpg Press Kit https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/652f3c6fbed0406973ecbeb8/1709753799509-DCIZLO3YIYD96J9NCPQM/HenstraSarah4_byPaolaScattolon_bw_square.jpg Press Kit https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/652f3c6fbed0406973ecbeb8/1705456204136-BI31J87318WT9SMSEN3H/HenstraSarah2_byPaolaScattolon_color.jpg Press Kit - Make it stand out High-resolution photos available for download below https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/652f3c6fbed0406973ecbeb8/1705507930170-6WY9GQEDHMWEJ882SOQZ/Henstra_TheLostTarot_cover+image.jpg Press Kit - Make it stand out Whatever it is, the way you tell your story online can make all the difference. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/652f3c6fbed0406973ecbeb8/1705507930170-6WY9GQEDHMWEJ882SOQZ/Henstra_TheLostTarot_cover+image.jpg Press Kit - Make it stand out Whatever it is, the way you tell your story online can make all the difference. https://www.sarahhenstra.com/artist-tarot daily 0.75 2025-12-13 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/652f3c6fbed0406973ecbeb8/1717295361798-SWB5ELKDTK9OCG5EF2JV/Rule_TheFool.jpg The Artist Tarot - 0. THE FOOL by Heather Rule ceramic and paper sculpture, 10" x 10" x 20" Card description from The Lost Tarot: "Not quite newborn, [the fawn] posed on long, spindly legs above a bed of dense forest greenery, ears cocked and eyes wide in an attitude of strangely humanoid curiosity." https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/652f3c6fbed0406973ecbeb8/1718131539140-X2RVEJH94VDL11UZJ6KE/Kluthe_Fool.jpeg The Artist Tarot - 0. THE FOOL by Cory Kluthe Acrylic, paint markers, and collage on canvas, 16" x 20" Card description from The Lost Tarot: "Not quite newborn, [the fawn] posed on long, spindly legs above a bed of dense forest greenery, ears cocked and eyes wide in an attitude of strangely humanoid curiosity." https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/652f3c6fbed0406973ecbeb8/1718302169572-QC5QVDRBCCX0JMHBQE1B/Jasperson_Magician_blue.jpg The Artist Tarot - I. THE MAGICIAN by Judith Jasperson digitally altered watercolour print, 3" x 5"; in 8" x 10" antique frame with mat & Ultra Vue glass Card description from The Lost Tarot: "The Magician...holding a sprouting potato in one hand and a telephone receiver in the other.” https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/652f3c6fbed0406973ecbeb8/1718113655097-SB4MKVBANA7P5LVOPE26/Goodchild_HighPriestess.jpeg The Artist Tarot - II. THE HIGH PRIESTESS by Heather Goodchild Card description from The Lost Tarot: "[The High Priestess featured] a young woman, seated, draped in a blue robe and gazing serenely at the viewer. In one hand the subject held a book tilted just enough to obscure its title; the fingers of her other hand drew aside her garment to reveal her bare shoulder and, in the center of her chest, a large, glowing eye.” https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/652f3c6fbed0406973ecbeb8/1717295404632-2ISUQ4AJHMVXRI63UB3E/Farquharson_The+Empress.jpg The Artist Tarot - III. THE EMPRESS by Deborah Farquharson collage on birch panel, 8.5" x 14" Card description from The Lost Tarot: "[The Empress depicted] a young girl seated at a potter’s wheel. The clay between her hands rose and swelled and then tapered into the form of a large, wet beehive from which honeybees were swarming and massing round her head into a bristling golden crown." https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/652f3c6fbed0406973ecbeb8/1719234683632-CHZMH925LR23ENR79OTB/Frise_Emperor.jpg The Artist Tarot - IV. THE EMPEROR by Gillian Frise acrylic, ink, and watercolour on paper, 10" x 14" https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/652f3c6fbed0406973ecbeb8/1727978505293-K1XMDD2KZGLK5VMGTFF5/MAXINE_HIEROPHANT.jpg The Artist Tarot - V. THE HIEROPHANT by Maxine McCrann Card description from The Lost Tarot: "The situation put [Nell] in mind of the Hierophant, of her lifelong antipathy for that venerable figure. In the Tarot de Marseilles he was called the Pope, but modern uses of the card made him stand more generally for institutional knowledge, authority, tradition. Nell was used to being at odds with the Hierophant. On the whole she preferred the role of rebel and heretic..." https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/652f3c6fbed0406973ecbeb8/1718117135630-8UODAC0U5LJW1Y74JDS2/Richard_Lovers.jpg The Artist Tarot - VI. THE LOVERS by Annie Richard acrylic ink and glass beads embroidery on canvas, 24" x 36" more image detail here Card description from The Lost Tarot: "[In The Lovers,]...Against a vivid seascape a wooden boat foundered, its boards sagging and waterlogged. A woman’s legs splayed out over the bow, the pale feet submerged and the toes being nibbled by silvery fish. Her pregnant belly made a monstrous sphere twice the size of the sinking vessel. Her transparent flesh revealed twin fetuses curled around each other.” https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/652f3c6fbed0406973ecbeb8/1718117384994-L0V7BMJS20KXHU3MGC49/Friedland_Chariot.jpg The Artist Tarot - VII. THE CHARIOT by Nancy Friedland acrylic on wood panel, 9" x 12" Card description from The Lost Tarot: "Lark, handsome pilot in The Chariot, steers his vehicle north to find his missing twin.” https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/652f3c6fbed0406973ecbeb8/1718118869423-WJ2TI1J4OF8FF0QYD4WU/Strength_ASNOOK.jpeg The Artist Tarot - VIII. STRENGTH by Ashley Snook graphite on paper Card description from The Lost Tarot: "Pilgrim is the figure of Strength, with his hand resting tenderly between Diablo's [the goat's] horns." https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/652f3c6fbed0406973ecbeb8/1718301881360-MK9Z10WTV8PCK51KMOP4/Elliott_Hermit.JPG The Artist Tarot - XIX. THE HERMIT by Miranda Elliott graphite on paper, 11"x16" https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/652f3c6fbed0406973ecbeb8/1719234404822-S4X5D946J26JV4EHDRII/Frise_Wheel.jpg The Artist Tarot - X. WHEEL OF FORTUNE by Gillian Frise acrylic, ink, and watercolour on paper, 10" x 14" Card description from The Lost Tarot: "The painting figured a spinning wheel set-dressed for any number of fairy tales: golden thread, lethally sharp spindle. On one side stood a dewy-cheeked girl and on the other a bent-over hag. Seated between them, interceding in whatever magical violence the two might be tempted to hurl at each other, was a maternal figure whose breasts spilled over the pile of straw on her lap. Everything about her looked soft yet solid: her plump wrists and freckled forearms, the wide expanse of her hips under the folds of her dress. The white fabric was printed—painted—with a pattern of pomegranates, some smooth as apples, others split and spilling their ruby seeds.” https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/652f3c6fbed0406973ecbeb8/1718121658262-C1K2QBOISC2LI40C4548/Geher_Justice2.jpg The Artist Tarot - XI. JUSTICE by Judith Geher oil on mylar, 36" x 48" more image detail here https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/652f3c6fbed0406973ecbeb8/1718121930977-F5WAOP7FF4COKI9GMKBC/HANGED+MAN_Frise.jpeg The Artist Tarot - XII. THE HANGED MAN by Gillian Frise acrylic on paper mounted on panel, 12" x 16" Card description from The Lost Tarot: “[In the Hanged Man painting,] a human figure hung upside down, naked except for the ropes that bound and suspended it. The flesh bulged where the ropes bit. The feet, bony and gnarled, merged into the bark of the tree to which they were fixed. [...] The soft belly crisscrossed with ropes. The hair sweeping above the earth.” https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/652f3c6fbed0406973ecbeb8/1718556272926-RGL4NFYPSVLIWPA33Z9M/Kavehmehr_Death.png The Artist Tarot - XIII. DEATH by Anna Kavehmehr digital illustration Card description from The Lost Tarot: "[In the painting he is] stripped ..of his flesh and mounted on an equally skeletal horse, so that he is Death reaping his heedless, senseless way through the crowd.” https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/652f3c6fbed0406973ecbeb8/1718128202896-JJVZTEXDM437ZS9OBAT1/Quijano_Temperance.jpg The Artist Tarot - XIV. TEMPERANCE by Jobelle Quijano oil on canvas, 8" x 10" Card description from The Lost Tarot: "[The artist painted him] as the Temperance angel, his face radiant with dew and his scapulae winging out into a full-feathered sky. 'Keep the waters flowing,' tarot readers advise whenever this card turns up in an array. They note the angel's serenity, how he straddles the pond with one toe dipped among the lilies." https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/652f3c6fbed0406973ecbeb8/1718675564438-5FR4W26PSRKFIQAME368/Frise_Devil.jpg The Artist Tarot - XV. THE DEVIL by Gillian Frise acrylic, ink, and watercolour on paper, 9" x 12" Card description from The Lost Tarot: "[The painting depicts a Great War soldier]: one of two...shackled in the bonds of a poisonous friendship, chained to either side of a monstrous howitzer." https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/652f3c6fbed0406973ecbeb8/1718128763700-TYFL8W2D87HI2EYLHHT9/Root_The+Tower.jpeg The Artist Tarot - XVI. THE TOWER by Deborah Root oil on panel, 24" x 36" Card description from The Lost Tarot: “The Tower depicted [a young woman] not in the act of poisoning herself but leaping from the roof of the lodge. Lightning forked from the heavens like bright, jagged talons that reached for her arching body as if to pluck her from her fate. The rope noosed around her neck had already snapped from the weight of her fall; it trailed after her amid the avalanche of roof tiles loosened by her boots. [. . .] The gravel drive below them was nothing but a scrim over the abyss that opened its blue-black arms to receive [her]. And what was that glistening mass at the center of the earth? A tangle of serpents, of flames, of viscera, of nebulae: the writhing aborted hopes of every young person in history cut down by the murderous, selfish desires of their elders.” https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/652f3c6fbed0406973ecbeb8/1718129071908-LOT0N6C1K80L12HDAOEE/Koos_The+Star.jpeg The Artist Tarot - XVII. THE STAR by Rita Koos oil on canvas, 12" x 16" Card description from The Lost Tarot: "[I]n The Star she bathes in an enchanted forest pool under a glittering spangled sky.” https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/652f3c6fbed0406973ecbeb8/1718131246121-KLAGCM3XR2LX6SJ2LX0X/Havemehr_Star.jpeg The Artist Tarot - XVII. THE STAR by Anna Kavehmehr graphite on paper Card description from The Lost Tarot: "[I]n The Star she bathes in an enchanted forest pool under a glittering spangled sky.” https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/652f3c6fbed0406973ecbeb8/1718675759987-TMXTZEANZECYZ8KKAPF2/Young_Moon.jpg The Artist Tarot - XVIII. THE MOON by Cybèle Young see video here Card description from The Lost Tarot: "The Moon card in the Ringold Tarot depicts a mud-banked pond ringed by tall rushes. A narrow path slithers from the water and winds its way over the meadow to distant hills. Where is the path leading us? Under the shifty, silvery moonglow—for a heavy half-moon, wreathed in clouds, dominates the sky—there appears to be no clear view in either direction, and not much guidance on offer from the black water snake and the ancient catfish that loll about in the murk.” https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/652f3c6fbed0406973ecbeb8/1718130074561-KHJ9CJ7XNH2APPGM928Y/Pour_The+Sun.jpg The Artist Tarot - XIX. THE SUN by Hana Hozhabr Pour Watercolour and acrylic marker on paper, 4" x 6" Card description from The Lost Tarot: “[In The Sun painting] he holds hands with his young Welsh bride as their daughter frolics at their feet, with only enough rumor of war on the horizon to make their love more exciting than ever.” https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/652f3c6fbed0406973ecbeb8/1718130308274-A0IMI9I65N3GN4197T4H/McNeil_Judgment.jpg The Artist Tarot - XX. JUDGMENT by Logan McNeil gouache on illustration board, 8" x 13" Card description from The Lost Tarot: "[In the Judgment painting,] a Red Cross helicopter hung over a field of wounded infantrymen. [. . .] '[Look how] the soldiers are all jostling to be chosen. And you just know there won’t be a chance to rescue everybody.'" https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/652f3c6fbed0406973ecbeb8/1718767257361-3454OEHO78SXJ4T0V34D/Schandall_World.jpg The Artist Tarot - XXI. THE WORLD by Rami Schandall paper collage and watercolour, 6.5" x 10" Card description from The Lost Tarot: “In the image [of The World] she is working on four canvases simultaneously, one in each corner of the card’s frame. With a brush in each hand, she is fairly dancing in her frenzy, paint-splattered, smiling, round as the moon.” https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/652f3c6fbed0406973ecbeb8/899d4cf9-98d0-4a36-8868-cd5f55783213/AT_wpbanner.png The Artist Tarot - Make it stand out Whatever it is, the way you tell your story online can make all the difference. https://www.sarahhenstra.com/moon daily 0.75 2024-06-18 https://www.sarahhenstra.com/justice daily 0.75 2024-06-18 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/652f3c6fbed0406973ecbeb8/1718121658262-C1K2QBOISC2LI40C4548/Geher_Justice2.jpg XI. JUSTICE - Make it stand out Whatever it is, the way you tell your story online can make all the difference. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/652f3c6fbed0406973ecbeb8/1f933cec-d613-4e1f-a089-234525e1bd1d/Justice_05.jpg XI. JUSTICE - Make it stand out Whatever it is, the way you tell your story online can make all the difference. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/652f3c6fbed0406973ecbeb8/f19d450c-0b51-43b0-9caa-91c21881e234/Justice_03.jpg XI. JUSTICE - Make it stand out Whatever it is, the way you tell your story online can make all the difference. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/652f3c6fbed0406973ecbeb8/b9816b5a-d16c-4c9e-8b79-2d664437db0e/Justice_04.jpg XI. JUSTICE - Make it stand out Whatever it is, the way you tell your story online can make all the difference. https://www.sarahhenstra.com/lovers daily 0.75 2024-06-18 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/652f3c6fbed0406973ecbeb8/1718117135630-8UODAC0U5LJW1Y74JDS2/Richard_Lovers.jpg VI. THE LOVERS - Make it stand out Whatever it is, the way you tell your story online can make all the difference. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/652f3c6fbed0406973ecbeb8/a2db68f6-c57c-4069-a2f4-17ab10606187/Richard_Lovers2.jpg VI. THE LOVERS - Make it stand out Whatever it is, the way you tell your story online can make all the difference. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/652f3c6fbed0406973ecbeb8/2fb9df11-287b-47a6-8b04-d4e114e3fde2/Richard_Lovers3.jpg VI. THE LOVERS - Make it stand out Whatever it is, the way you tell your story online can make all the difference. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/652f3c6fbed0406973ecbeb8/773930bd-78ee-485a-8e23-e7ca6c3b42b8/Richard_Lovers1.jpg VI. THE LOVERS - Make it stand out Whatever it is, the way you tell your story online can make all the difference. https://www.sarahhenstra.com/read-me-wells daily 0.75 2025-05-13