Sharing My Thoughts

Memoir, Essays and Poetry: A Lifetime of Recollections

Primary Lessons: A Memoir

"an Inspirational Writer" 

My name is Sarah Bracey White, and I've been a writer since I was 12 years old. Join me on a journey through my world. In these pages, you'll learn about my life as a poor little Colored girl who grew up in the Jim Crow community of Sumter, SC, in the 1960s who has since made a home — and a respected name for herself — in Westchester County, NY.
My journey has been an excursion through high mountains and low valleys. Education, life experience, and friendship have sustained me. Now, I turn to look back in search of the meaning of all that has happened. For my full resume, click here:
RESUME

My Pride and Joy

The publication of Primary Lessons: A Memoir by CavanKerry Press, Ltd. in 2013 was a watershed moment for me. I'm very proud of this book, and I'd like to share it with you. If you would like me to speak at an event or your book club, or you'd like a signed copy of my memoir, please contact me by phone or email. Primary Lessons was recently staged as "Transcendence," a dramatic musical, featuring me in the starring role!

Get Your Copy Today

Paperback copies and Kindle editions are available at CavanKerry Press and Amazon. You can also purchase a hard copy at The Village Bookstore in Pleasantville, NY. I'd like to express my gratitude to everyone who has purchased a book or requested that their local library purchase one. Special appreciation goes to those readers who posted reviews on Amazon or Good Reads!

Get In Touch With Me To schedule a visit to your book club (live or virtual)

Contact Me

Literary Works

Aside from being a writer of memoirs, poetry, and essays, I'm also a motivational speaker and arts consultant. I was a 2010/2011 Inaugural Fellow at the Writers Center at SUNY Purchase. Here are some of my literary works.
The Wanderlust: A South Carolina Folk Tale
This prize-winning Zora Neale Hurston inspired folk tale was published by SBW Promotions in 2015 and again in 2021. It is available in print and an audio version (MP3). To purchase copies, contact me for details. My new play, "Adventure in Greenswamp," (based on "The Wanderlust") will make its print debut in the spring 2023 issue of Westchester Review Magazine.
"Feelings Brought to Suface is a book of autobiographical poetry that was published in 1979 by Harlo Press, Detroit.
Playwriting is my newest writing challenge! Using characters from “Primary Lessons,” I’ve started writing plays! I've been fortunate to find a supportive community at Ossining’s Westchester Collaborative Theater. I was introduced to the group of directors, actors, and playwrights when I submitted a monologue "Camp Cook" to their 2021 call for new plays and monologues. When a conflict of opening dates arose, I tried to withdraw my monologue. Fortunately, one of their playwrights, Misha Templar Sinclair, encouraged me to let her turn my monologue into a six-person play. I agreed and it was performed as a part of their 2021 "People of Color Festival." I subsequently joined the theater group and submitted my own play "Something to Remember Him By" for lab review. After my first review where real actors read my lines, I received great comments and went back to the drawing board to flesh out the story I was trying to tell. I then submitted it for a second time. The second lab review has inspired me to make it an even longer play and fill out the five-characters in the cast. Playwriting is exciting and demands drama on stage. Game on!
Primary Lessons: A Memoir
My memoir, published by CavanKerry Press Ltd. in 2013, was added to a blogger's list of "books to read for diversity.” Readers say that they now have a better understanding of life in the Jim Crow South. Visit https://www.amazon.com/ to see what readers have to say about it.

My Essays Have Been Anthologized In:

  • Children of the Dream, Simon & Schuster Pocket Books, 1999
  • Dreaming in Color, Living in Black and White, Simon Pulse, 2003
  • Aunties: Thirty-Five Writers Celebrate Their Other Mother, Ballantine Books, 2004
  • Gardening At A Deeper Level, Garden House Press, 2004
  • Heartscapes: True Stories of Remembered Love, Spruce Mountain Press, 2012
  • Places We Return To, CavanKerry Press, 2020
  • Mothers, Martyrs and Jezebels, Black Lawrence Press, 2023

Interviews and Readings

Nothing on this site can be reproduced or distributed, electronically or in print, without the written consent of Sarah Bracey White. Please get in touch for additional details.