An Interview with Sarah Branson

Award-winning author Sarah Branson was a midwife for close to thirty years, helping families welcome their little ones into their arms in the hospital, at a birth center, and at home. Now she writes tales of action, adventure, revenge, and romance. Her stories are firmly rooted in the strength of the human spirit with themes of resiliency, family, and personal growth entwined throughout.

Sarah first started conjuring stories of pirates when her family hopped a freighter to Australia when she was seven. As a child and as an adult, she traveled extensively across the US and the globe. Her children grew up in Northern Michigan, swimming in Sturgeon Bay and Little Traverse Bay. Over the years, she has worked as a receptionist, retail clerk, writing tutor, business owner, and certified nurse midwife. She also taught science and history to middle school and high school students in the U.S., Brazil, and Japan. Through these myriad experiences, Sarah developed a deep appreciation for people’s strength and endurance.

Sarah’s debut novel, A Merry Life, has been honored as the 2022 Connecticut Adult Fiction winner by the Indie Author Project, was the 2022 Kindle Book Award winner for science fiction, and was named a 2022 Book of the Year finalist in the action/adventure and science fiction categories by the Independent Author Network. It is the first book in the four-book new adult series Pirates of New Earth. The second book in the series, Navigating the Storm, was a finalist for The Eric Hoffer Award. The series was followed by a young adult spin-off, Unfurling the Sails, a finalist for the 2023 Foreword Indies Award and for the 2024 Independent Author Network in both action/adventure and young adult categories. In 2024, A Pirates’ Pact, her first middle-grade book, was released and garnered a Best Book Cover Page Turner Award. A stand-alone novel, North Country, A Kat Wallace Adventure, is scheduled for publication in January 2025.

Who/what made you want to write? Was there a particular person, or particular writers/works/art forms that influenced you?

My protagonist, Kat Wallace, required I become a writer! She really wanted her story out there and if that meant shoving me out of my comfort zone, then so be it. She is a pirate, after all.

I would also say my family of origin started me on this path because my entire family were and are voracious readers, and authors have always been held in high esteem. When I met my husband, part of our connection came through a love of writing and reading, and books and storytelling have been a part of our own family from the beginning.

Writing was my favorite thing to do in school and, as a child, I wrote poetry. My mother took one of my poems, “The King of the Sea,” illustrated it with a sketch of an albatross, and mimeographed off several copies, which I handed out to unwary folk. Honestly, my business plan is still pretty similar today.

I never wrote much beyond a short poem or a well-written essay for most of my life because I did not feel I had a story to tell that was worthy of a book. Of course, that was in the days of raising small children and working full-time, so there was precious little time for additional endeavors. I really do admire and am impressed with writers who can balance raising a family, working a day job, and getting a book written.

I do believe the universe provided a series of events that allowed the writer in me to be birthed. At the birth center I worked at, we had an informal report we completed after each day on call to be sure the on-coming midwife was up to date on happenings. Since it was not a medical record, we could add in our opinions and general comments, and I tended to make my comments extensive and rife with drama and humor. One morning, one midwife was reading report and turned to me and said, “Have you ever published anything before?” I scoffed and said, “No, of course not.”

But that seed was planted. Then Kat showed up and here we are.

What other professions have you worked in? What’s something about you that your readers wouldn’t know?

I’ve worn many professional hats over my working life. Early on, I worked in food service, picked berries, and babysat. As a young adult, I worked as a clinic assistant, a receptionist, a lingerie clerk in a department store, a writing tutor, and a nurse. Then I embarked on my thirty-year profession as a midwife. There was a span of time when my kids were of a certain age, that I stepped back from midwifery to teach science, health, and history to middle and high school students. Inspired by well-traveled friends, my husband, our youngest son and I moved overseas to Brazil and then Japan to teach in international schools.

I am pretty open with my readers, but newer ones may not know that I picked up boxing and kickboxing in order to learn how Kat and other characters might respond in a fight and now am totally addicted to the sport.

Tell us the story of your book’s title. Was it easy to find, or did it take forever?

Kat’s story began long before North Country, which is a stand-alone novel, with my four-book series, Pirates of New Earth. But the idea of her returning to the North Country—the land she was born into and was forcibly taken from—has always been a part of her path and the title was always a given. The concept of that trip to reclaim the past becoming a four-woman ensemble adventure developed over time, but the title remained constant, reflecting the starkness, isolation, and harshness of the land.

How did it feel when you first saw your book cover? Or when you first held your book in your hands?

Every time I confer with my book cover designers and let them know what I am envisioning, I wait with giddy excitement for the first iterations because they are so gifted. Seeing those iterations and playing with them, giving feedback, and then seeing the image that simply says “this is it, this is the one” is always one of my favorite parts of publishing.

If your book had a soundtrack, what are some songs that would be on it?

“Mountain Song” by The Del McCoury Band

“Girl from the North Country” by Bob Dylan and Johnny Cash

“Mean” by Taylor Swift

“Winter Song” by Sara Bareilles and Ingrid Michaelson

“Good-bye My Lover” by James Blunt

“Mine” by Taylor Swift

“Girl on Fire” by Alicia Keys

“Pocket Full of Gold” by American Authors

What is one thing you hope readers take away from reading your book? How do you envision your perfect reader?

I want readers to take away a sense of hope and adventure from North Country, as well an awareness that while the past shapes us, it does not define us and we are all capable of choosing change.

For me a perfect reader is one who comes to the story ready to take it in. In that sense, everyone is the perfect reader depending on where they are in their own journey.

What was the most rewarding/meaningful part of publishing your book?

The most meaningful part of publishing my first book was sending Kat out into the world. I felt like a mama sending her babe off on the first day of kindergarten. I just wanted people to like her.

Now, seven books in, my favorite part happens when someone emails, texts, messages, or calls to express the emotion they are feeling at a particular point in one of the books. Knowing that I helped them feel that can bring me to joyful tears.

What new writing projects are you currently working on? Or, other projects that are not writing?

There’s certainly another Kat book to write. As well as a Grey Shima adventure to follow my YA, Unfurling the Sails, and a Kik & Mac Adventure to follow my middle grade, A Pirates’ Pact. I do have some stories brewing that do not include Kat and are not New Earth tales, but those darn pirates are very insistent about getting their stories told first.

Are you a writer, too? Submit your manuscript to Atmosphere Press.