“The idea is to write it so that people hear it and it slides through the brain and goes straight to the heart.”
--Maya Angelou
About Write.
- Sarah C Patten -
Sarah earned her BA in English from Cornell University and her MALS in creative writing from Dartmouth. She has written four books, a collection of short stories, worked as an editor at a small book press, and writes articles on travel, culture, and cooking.
Over the course of her career, she spent almost fifteen years working as an English teacher, a creative writing instructor, then a school administrator, helping to build the foundation for Hanger Hall School in Asheville, North Carolina. Her journey from classroom teacher to administrator to writer and mother has given her a unique perspective on education.
After the pandemic, a realization hit home for her: writing is becoming a lost art in today’s schools.
Sarah helped found WRITE., based on her unwavering belief that writing builds both hearts and minds, whether you’re the next best-selling author or a future engineer. She believes that when students develop their writing voice, they discover parts of themselves they never knew existed.
When she’s not teaching and writing, she can be found trail running, reading, tending her garden, and spending time with her husband, three children (now in college and high school), and her three wily mutts.
- Maria Smilios -
Maria Smilios is the award-winning author of The Black Angels: The Untold Story of the Nurses Who Helped Cure Tuberculosis, which won the 2024 Christopher Award for literature and was a finalist for the Gotham Book Prize, the NASW Science in Society Journalism Award, and the English PEN literary award. The book was also selected as an NPR Science Friday Summer Read, a New York Public Library Book of the day, and a 2023 American Library Editor’s Pick.
The book greatly informed the Staten Island Museum’s acclaimed exhibit Taking Care: The Black Angels of Sea View. Recently, The Black Angels was also the impetus for a historic street naming in Staten Island, honoring the nurses’ legacy at the very entrance to Sea View Hospital, where they once worked.
Born and raised in New York City, Maria holds a Master of Arts in Religion and Literature from Boston University, where she was both a Henry Luce Scholar and a Presidential Scholar. She began her teaching career in BU’s Writing Program before returning to New York, where she spent five years teaching English literature at The Chapin School.She is currently an adjunct at Columbia University’s Mailman School of Public Health.
A dedicated educator with over 20 years of experience English literature and writing, Maria was also the founder of a teen writing program that empowered young voices through storytelling and self-expression.
Her writing has appeared in The Guardian, Narratively, The Rumpus, Dame Magazine, The Forward, Lit Hub, Writer's Digest, The Emancipator, and Newsweek, among others.
When she’s not writing or teaching, she can be found reading, writing, walking, gardening (a new hobby), and spending time with her teen daughter and rescue dog, Buddy.