Sarah Heady is a poet and essayist interested in place, history, and the built environment. She is the author of two full-length poetry collections, Comfort (Spuyten Duyvil, 2022, finalist for the National Poetry Series) and Niagara Transnational (Fourteen Hills, 2013, winner of the Michael Rubin Book Award).

Her latest project, The Hudson Lines, was a finalist for Kelsey Street Press’ 2025 Open Reading Period, a semifinalist for Tupelo Press’ 2025 Dorset Prize and Helena Whitehill Award, and an honorable mention for Green Linden Press’ 2025 Wishing Jewel Prize.

Sarah is also the librettist of Halcyon, a documentary opera about the death and life of a women’s college, with composer Joshua Groffman and producer Vital Opera. Halcyon debuted in summer 2016 at sold-out engagements in Dutchess County, NY and at the National Opera Center in New York City, where it returned in October 2018. 

Raised in New York State’s Hudson River Valley, Sarah holds an MFA in Creative Writing from San Francisco State University and a BA from Oberlin College. She is the recipient of fellowships and residencies from the Corporation of Yaddo, Vermont Studio Center, Asylum Arts, In Cahoots, Bethany Arts Community, and Art Farm. She lives in San Francisco, where she co-edits Drop Leaf Press, a small women-run poetry collective.