Sarah (Beth) Southern

Sarah Southern — Washington Square Review Issue 54 Fall 2025

So thrilled to have my CNF essay ‘Rise’ published in Washington Square Review: www.washingtonsquarereview.com/sarah-southern

So excited that my dear friend Liz will be tomorrow’s @plnuwritingma.bsky.social visiting writer!

Join us this afternoon at 3:00 in Latter 101 on PLNU's Campus for a Q&A event with R.F. Kuang! Virtual tickets are also available for $5 for those who can't attend the event in person! plnu.universitytickets.com/w/default.as...

My Oceans: Essays of Water, Whales, and Women by Christina Rivera - Terrain.org Sarah Southern reviews Christina Rivera's My Oceans: Essays of Water, Whales, and Women, finding "ocean isn’t so much the theme of this book as its essence."

Check out graduate student @sarahbsouthern.bsky.social's review of Christina Rivera's 2025 book 'My Oceans' for @terrainorg.bsky.social! www.terrain.org/2025/reviews...

Goodness, I’m pretty terrible at @bsky.app 🫣

The best decision I made (so about #AWP2025 (so far) was opting to take the train instead of driving up from San Diego 😍

A Conversation With Jeff Chu on the Good News of Good Soil “To name the soils that you come from is to acknowledge that you were not self-made, because there is no such thing as a self-made human.

@byjeffchu.com’s stunning new book ‘Good Soil’ releases today! I had the opportunity to read an ARC and ask Jeff a few questions—check out our conversation here: open.substack.com/pub/sarahsou...

Saturday in OB!

It’s wild how a bishop’s *Christian* plea for mercy elicit outrage while an unelected billionaire’s takeover is met with…silence.

Just got my first rejection slip from a big time lit mag. I’m committing to holding Sylvia Plath’s words close: “rejection reminds me that I tried.”

Friend, I’m so sorry. I’ve been on the verse all week 😭

Blessed are the women who would not be silenced.

Screaming for Freedom Corky the Orca’s cries from captivity have shattered glass. I know the feeling.

This excerpt in @thecut.com from Christina Rivera’s forthcoming ‘My Oceans’ is a stunning reflection on the parallels of the horrors of orca captivity and human subjugation in a world in crisis. Sobering + stunning: www.thecut.com/article/cork...

JAKE: The Anti Literary Magazine Submission Manager Submit to JAKE: The Anti Literary Magazine. Powered by Duosuma: Duotrope's Submission Manager.

Nearing the end of the first 24 hours of the new sub manager, and 11 of the 15 submitted pieces are in Fiction. The rest are poems. So if you're a poet or CNF writer, the odds are generally never better than this to get a quick response/acceptance!
duotrope.com/duosuma/subm...

The best thing I did for my mental health last night was slip my phone onto airplane mode. I spent the entirety of last weekend doomscrolling instead of the legion of actual productive things I needed to accomplish 😭 But I refuse to let my anxiety ruin this semester 💪🏻

a woman says i 'm so relieved in a sequined top ALT: a woman says i 'm so relieved in a sequined top

Just deactivated Twitter and I feel so free.

May we all remember St. Madeleine’s words: “Stay angry, little Meg. You will need all your anger now.”

Maya Angelou said, “When someone shows you who they are, believe them.”

There’s really no point to this post except to say, things are hard and scary and maybe we all just collectively voice that here. Sometimes the writer within just needs to let the words be.

But the truth is everything is political + I cannot distance myself from politics, not do I want to. Writing, no matter how “simple” is always political. But god, things feel dire. I am reading essays in bed and cannot stop myself from doomscrolling.

I wanted this space to be my literary refuge where I’d encounter other writers, publications, and books, share my own work, discover abundant craft + beauty. I thought Bluesky could be an oasis against the loudness of every other app, the dreadful, depressive news permeating every digital turn.

Same 😭

I’m so, so sorry. I hope this space and Substack continue to hold up and remain consistent. So many don’t understand how social media can provide real community, and the grief we’re feeling realizing it could all end 😔

Of course I’d prefer in person community, a village of trustworthy friends, but I haven’t always had that. Social media lifted my loneliness and I’m a little scared to think it might all come crashing down.

I think what makes me saddest about whatever is happening with social media (not just TikTok even) is that I still don’t have consistent IRL community. Social media has helped me survive long swaths of loneliness, months when my husband was deployed and I had no one.

a ground squirrel is holding a piece of food in its mouth and the word mukbang is on the bottom of the picture . ALT: a ground squirrel is holding a piece of food in its mouth and the word mukbang is on the bottom of the picture .

I am genuinely intrigued by the phenomenon of consuming a dozen cookies or the entire Wingstop menu on camera. I think I want to write an essay about this because it’s just wild 🤯

Right? 🤣😭

Ohh love that!!

Unintentionally triggered some exvangelical folks when I said I wanted to “submit” more this year (to clarify: I want to submit more to lit mags, not to men [not ever])

This photo though 🔥