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! I’m now writing plays! In 2022, I joined Ossining's Westchester Collaborative Theater which had previously performed a piece from my memoir in their 2021 festival. I immediately submitted "Something to Remember Him By" for lab review. After hearing real actors read my lines, I went back to the drawing board and fleshed out the story I was trying to tell into a full-fledged play. It's still a work in progress but I'm happy to report that my very first play - "Adventure in Greenswamp," based on my self-published folktale, "Wanderlust - was published by Westchester Review Magazine in their spring 2023 issue! Check it out at www.westchesterreview.com and let me know whaat you think. I'd love to see it staged. Any suggestions? It's a four character play: two preteens, an adult male and a 60 year old, southern root-doctor!
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.