Sarah Vap

Sarah Vap grew up in Missoula, Montana. She attended Brown University where she studied English and American Literature. She received her MFA from Arizona State University, and is completing her PhD at the University of Southern California.

Vap is the author of six collections of poetry. Her most recent book, Viability, was selected by Mary Jo Bang for the National Poetry Series, and was released by Penguin in 2016. Her first book, Dummy Fire, was selected by Forrest Gander to receive the Saturnalia Poetry Prize. Her second, American Spikenard, was selected by Ira Sadoff to receive the Iowa Poetry Prize. Faulkner’s Rosary and Arco Iris were released by Saturnalia Books, and Arco Iriswas named a Library Journal Best Book of 2012. End of the Sentimental Journey was released in 2013 from Noemi Books, initiating their Infidel Poetics Series. She is recipient of an NEA Literature Fellowship for Poetry, and a Research Enhancement Fellowship from the University of Southern California for a year of writing and research in West Africa.

Vap has taught poetry and literature at Arizona State University and University of Southern California, and for many years now she has taught creative writing to kids in public schools.

She lives with her family in Venice, CA.