Sarah Riggs

Sarah Riggs (b. 1971, New York City) is an American poet, filmmaker, visual artist, and translator. She is the author of seven collections of poetry, and as many translations of work from the French. In 2020, Riggs was awarded the Griffin Poetry Prize, the world's largest international prize for a single book of poetry written or translated into English, for her translation of Etel Adnan's TIME (Nightboat, 2019). In the same year, Adnan and Riggs received the 2020 Best Translated Book Award.

She received her B.A. from Amherst College and her Ph.D. in English from University of Michigan. She taught at University of Michigan, NYU Paris, and Reid Hall until 2014 when she joined the faculty of Pratt Institute in Brooklyn. She also teaches at Naropa University Summer Writing Program.

Her films have screened at Anthology Film Archives, the Berlinale, Cinémathèque de Tanger, Jeu de Paume, Tate Modern, 98 Weeks, and others. She has had solo exhibitions at FiveMyles Gallery (New York), galerie éof (Paris), and Salon du Salon (Marseille). From 2006 to 2022, co-edited the literary journal, READ: A Journal of Inter-Translation with the poet Cole Swensen. She is a member of the bilingual experimental poetry association Double Change. In 2005, she co-founded the nonprofit art organization Tamaas with her husband, writer Omar Berrada.

After living in Paris for over a decade, Riggs returned to New York in 2014. She lives in Brooklyn with Berrada and their two daughters.

Books in English

 * The Nerve Epistle (Roof Books, 2021)
 * Eavesdrop (Chax Press, 2020)
 * Pomme & Granite (1913 Press, 2015) – Winner of the 1913 Press Poetry Prize, 2015.
 * Autobiography of Envelopes (Burning Deck, 2012)
 * 60 Textos (Ugly Duckling Presse, 2010)
 * Waterwork (Chax Press, 2007)
 * Chain of Minuscule Decisions in the Form of a Feeling (Reality Street Editions, 2007)

Books in French

 * Murmurations, trans. by Marie Borel and Jérémy Victor Robert (Éditions Apic, 2021)
 * Chaîne de décisions minuscules dans la forme d'une sensation, trans. by Stéphane Bouquet, Virginie Lalucq, Jérôme Mauche, Eric Suchère, Bénédicte Vilgrain (le bleu du ciel, 2010)
 * 43 post-it, trans. by Françoise Valéry and Marie Borel (Éditions de l'Attente, 2009)
 * 60 textos, trans. by Françoise Valéry (Éditions de l'Attente, 2007)
 * 28 télégrammes, translated by Françoise Valéry (Éditions de l'Attente, 2006)

Literary Criticism

 * Word Sightings: Poetry and Visual Media in Stevens, Bishop, and O'Hara (Routledge, 2002).

Translations

 * Another Room to Live In: 15 Contemporary Arab Poets, co-edited and original translations of poems by Etel Adnan and Souad Labbize (Litmus Press, 2024)
 * Love is Colder than the Lake by Liliane Giraudon, co-translated with Lindsay Turner (Nightboat, 2024)
 * Your Name, Palestine by Olivia Elias, co-translated with Jérémy Victor Robert (World Poetry Books, 2023)
 * TIME by Etel Adnan (Nightboat, 2019) – Winner of the Griffin Poetry Prize and Best Translated Book Award, 2020. Lambda Literary Award Finalist, 2020.
 * Present Participle by Oscarine Bosquet, co-translated by Ellen LeBlond-Schrader (La Presse, 2013)
 * Face Before Against by Isabelle Garron (Litmus Press, 2008)
 * Two Markets, Once Again by Ryoko Sekiguchi (Litmus Press, 2008)
 * Wolftrot by Marie Borel, co-translated with Omar Berrada (Fence Books, 2006)

Filmography

 * Six Lives: A Cinepoem (2016)
 * The Tangier 8 (2009)

Exhibitions

 * The Emotional Earth: Portraits, Salon Du Salon, 2023, Marseille
 * Amulet Sonnets: Sarah Riggs, FiveMyles Gallery, 2019, New York
 * Isibilités: Sarah Riggs, galerie éof, 2006, Paris
 * Portraits of Poets: Sarah Riggs, Berl's Brooklyn Poetry Shop, 2019, New York