How did ‘granny’ become the byword for dimness? That’s so wrong
Some of the grandmothers I know are a surgeon, a judge and professors, while many others belong to the English literary canon
Sarah Moss
A collection of articles by Sarah Moss
Eating disorders in later life: Some of my peers have had teenage weight levels for decades
In fact, a locally-made, organic doughnut might well be better than green beans grown with scarce water in Namibia and air-freighted in plastic wrap
I’m a Brexit-era ‘citizen of nowhere’, trying to settle in Ireland
If I have a family tradition, it’s moving, being an outsider, starting again
I was taught to avoid the ‘trap’ of cooking but I take pleasure in domestic life
I long for ways of thinking and writing and cooking that admit in the most serious and simple way, food is love
I had my kids in my mid-20s, which was unheard of among women of my class and generation
I’m making friends who are much younger and much older than me, because many women of my age are still ferociously juggling work and childcare and not free for coffee or a film
Men are deemed more masculine for taking up more space, women more feminine for taking up less
Binary categories hurt everyone, especially those whose natures or physiques are non-compliant
Only mothers who find recognition in professional life seem to be guilty of ‘having it all’
Society considers mums suspected of working by choice to be playing a zero-sum game where career ambition comes at the cost of motherly love
Some say you’re not a writer if you’re not willing to sacrifice your family to your art. Not me
Sarah Moss: Writers have the same responsibilities to family, friends and community as everyone else
Being English in Ireland, I often sense I’m being too frank
An English person in Ireland speaks with eight centuries of history gesticulating over her shoulder
I’m a university professor but I’ve never been greatly invested in my own kids’ grades
It’s hard to see how training students to concentrate on their own fear of inadequacy and desire to beat their neighbour is likely to open paths out of the death spiral of climate change and capitalism.
It was only after moving to Ireland from England that I had deep conversations about emigration
It was only after moving to Ireland that I had deep conversations about emigration with Irish friends who’d moved to England
As a teenage girl in the 1990s there was a level of harassment that I hope is unthinkable now
I’m a parent, tolerating worry is in the job description, and so is the gradual handover of physical safety from parent to child
My friend’s effortless joyful incompetence sets an example that’s difficult to match
It’s an interesting challenge to start something without the aim of mastering it
I’m not against HRT but are we once again medicating women for being angry?
It is horribly regressive to say that all women lose their minds in midlife. Did you know that men have hormones too?
My Good Bright Wolf by Sarah Moss: A bleak, often brilliant personal history
The desire to be worthy, or the fear of not being worthy enough, is explored in this moving memoir
Friends said that I’d ‘let’ my hair go grey. That’s not what happened
It’s interesting to think about the difference between ‘letting go’ and ‘letting yourself go’
Changing your mind is more interesting and more useful than changing your body
Fennel, yellow and yoga: Liking food or colours or activities I once disliked reminds me that preferences aren’t fixed
I do the same thing and expect different results, but thinking reality remains the same is sheer fantasy
Time continues to pass, the world of next time is not the same as the world of last time for anything we do
If you’ve read the literary canon, you know how to think like a bourgeois white man
Part of the work of art is to allow us glimpse worlds we don’t inhabit, or see worlds we inhabit through others’ eyes
Sarah Moss: Until recently, I assumed everyone had infinite worlds of light, sound, scent, taste and touch in their heads
It was a surprise to find other people had such different experiences of being conscious
The problem isn’t me and my sourdough and my kale. Access to nourishing food should be a right
We have accepted the baseline that what we all deserve is highly processed food
Sarah Moss: I find the phrase ‘first world problems’ deeply objectionable
It suggests that humans live on different planets, determined by economic conditions, which lets us off many hooks we would have to discuss if we accepted that all global resources are inequitably shared
I fly too much and I feel guilty about it, but I keep doing it
On a burning planet with limited resources, we need more international understanding, more curiosity about other lives in other places
I’ve always been suspicious of writers’ block. Nurses don’t get nurses’ block
There is a time to count and a time to be counted; the work is to know when that time comes
The man I met while out running thought I was wrong not to track my miles
Counting time and distance when I run would quickly turn joy to punishment
I don’t use social media and of course I sometimes wonder if the cost is worth the benefit
It’s mostly comfortable for me to be away from my phone because I don’t use social media, which means that probably not much has changed since I last looked
You’re so brave, people say, to cycle in Dublin
The danger is in the interaction of drivers and cyclists, almost exclusively to the disadvantage and sometimes to the death of the cyclist
My teacher told my parents I was ‘retarded’. My grandmother taught me to read
Letting contradictions sit with you makes life more interesting, opens up the world a bit more
Sarah Moss: Irish dog-walkers are kinder than English dog-walkers
Sarah Moss: I know several men whose terror is just as deep and abject as my own but they lost their permission to be scared when they started primary school
Sarah Moss: As a bike-riding vegetarian feminist I can see why people might disagree with everything I think
Sarah Moss: Naturally I have views, mostly of the sort you’d probably expect from a bike-riding vegetarian feminist academic, but I’m certain about very few of them
Why do I knit? I’m not patient, knitting helps me to wait, takes the edge off agitation
I wouldn’t have the time, people say, usually while they sit beside me with hands at rest or on their phones
The Paper Lantern: Timely and considered account of a country in crisis
Book review: Will Burns’s novel highlights inequalities and issues of modern society
The best books of 2021 so far: Novels, memoirs, short stories and more
Authors and critics choose the books that have moved and impressed them this year
Sarah Moss: Exiting Britain, arriving in Ireland
I remembered why we were leaving England every time I read the news, every time the nation stood on doorsteps and clapped
Some mother’s son: A beautiful, memorable novel about love and neglect
Book review: Hanne Ørstavik brings us remarkably close to her characters in such a short time
Sarah Moss: Brexit and Heaney’s bog bodies
Author’s novel Ghost Wall attempts to skewer English penchant for nostalgic writing
The Familiars review: Trials and tribulations in a bewitching debut novel
Dark arts and a dark patriarchy in 17th-century Lancashire from Stacey Halls
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