Sarah Bernstein (author)

Sarah Bernstein (born April 23, 1987)^[1] is a Canadian writer and scholar. She was born in Montreal, Quebec, and now lives in Scotland where she teaches literature and creative writing.^[2] She has taught at the universities of Sheffield, Edinburgh and Strathclyde.^[3]

Sarah Bernstein
Born	(1987-04-23) 23 April 1987 (age 38) Montreal, Quebec, Canada
Occupation	Writer and academic
Education	Concordia University University of New Brunswick
Notable works	Study for Obedience
Notable awards	Giller Prize (2023)
Website
davidhigham.co.uk/authors-dh/sarah-bernstein/

Her collection of prose poems Now Comes the Lightning appeared in 2015 and was shortlisted for the Robert Kroetsch Award for Innovative Writing. Her debut novel The Coming Bad Days was published in 2021.^[4] Her next novel, Study for Obedience, was shortlisted for the 2023 Booker Prize^[5][6] and won the 2023 Giller Prize.^[7]

In 2023, Bernstein was named by Granta as one of their twenty Best of Young British Novelists.^[2]

Education

Bernstein earned a combined undergraduate degree in English and Creative Writing from Concordia University before pursuing a Master of Arts at the University of New Brunswick.^[8]

Awards

Year	Title	Award	Category	Result	Ref.
2023	Study for Obedience	Booker Prize	—	Shortlisted	[5][6]
		Giller Prize	—	Won	[7]
2024		Scotland's National Book Awards	Fiction Book of the Year	Shortlisted	[9]
2025		International Dublin Literary Award	—	Longlisted	[10]

Works

Novels

• The Coming Bad Days (2021)
• Study for Obedience (2023)

Poetry

• Now Comes the Lightning (2015)