Sarah Mirk

{{Short description|American writer and journalist}}

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| alt = Portrait of a white woman with blonde hair. She is wearing a black beanie and a jean jacket.

| caption = Mirk in 2019

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| nationality = American

| alma mater = Grinnell College

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| occupation = Journalist

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Sarah Shay Mirk (she/they) is an author, zinester,{{Cite web |last=Ketcham |first=Amaris |date=2022-01-12 |title=An Interview with Sarah Mirk |url=https://autobiographix.substack.com/p/an-interview-with-sarah-mirk |access-date=2023-11-16 |website=Autobiographix}} and journalist based in Portland, Oregon, in the United States.

Education

Mirk attended Grinnell College, graduating in 2008.{{Cite web|title=Exactly the Job She Wanted {{!}} Grinnell Magazine|url=https://magazine.grinnell.edu/news/exactly-job-she-wanted|access-date=2020-10-22|website=magazine.grinnell.edu}}

Career

File:Art+Feminism at Alder Commons, Portland, Oregon, March 2022 - 7.jpg, 2022]]

She worked for the Portland Mercury from 2008 to 2013.{{Cite news|url=https://www.portlandmercury.com/authors/796628/sarah-mirk|title=Articles by Sarah Mirk|work=Portland Mercury|language=en|access-date=2018-11-25}} She has also written for Bitch Media.{{cite news|last1=Sabatier|first1=Julie|date=September 10, 2014|title=Navigating Non-Monogamy|publisher=Oregon Public Broadcasting|url=http://www.opb.org/thinkoutloud/segment/navigating-non-monogamy/|access-date=March 5, 2016}} Since 2017 Mirk has been a contributing editor at The Nib.

In 2019, they also undertook the enterprise of making one zine a day,{{cite web |last1=Paul |first1=Constant |title=Sarah Mirk is creating one zine a day, and she's bringing them to Short Run |date=6 November 2019 |url=https://seattlereviewofbooks.com/notes/2019/11/06/sarah-mirk-is-creating-one-zine-a-day-and-she-s-bringing-them-to-short-run/ |publisher=The Seattle Review of Books |access-date=2019-11-09}}{{cite web |last1=Joshua |first1=Amberson |title=Behind the Zines: Sarah Mirk is Making 365 Zines in 365 Days |date=10 April 2019 |url=https://riotfest.org/2019/04/behind-the-zines-sarah-mirk/ |publisher=Riot Fest |access-date=2019-04-10}} and she then compiled a hundred of them in a self-published book, Year of Zines (2020).{{Cite news|last=Kaplan|first=Avery|date=July 4, 2020|title=A Year of Free Comics: The many zines of SARAH MIRK|work=Comics Beat|url=https://www.comicsbeat.com/ayofc-sarah-mirk-zines/|access-date=December 8, 2020}} They make their zines freely available to "anyone, especially teachers and educators".{{Cite web|last=Chamberlain|first=Henry|date=2020-05-23|title=Interview: Sarah Mirk, the World of Zines, and Visual Storytelling|url=https://comicsgrinder.com/2020/05/23/interview-sarah-mirk-the-world-of-zines-and-visual-storytelling/|access-date=2020-12-08|website=Comics Grinder|language=en-US}}

Guantanamo Voices was a New York Times pick for the Best Graphic Novels of 2020.{{cite news |last1=Ed Park and Hillary Chute |title=A New York Times pick for the Best Graphic Novels of 2020 |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2020/12/09/books/review/best-graphic-novels.html |work=The New York Times |date=9 December 2020 |access-date=2020-12-09}} Mirk also teaches a writing class for graduate students at Portland State University's Art + Design program.

Their comics have been featured in The Nib, The New Yorker, Bitch, and NPR.

In 2024, Sarah Mirk faced online criticism after publishing a satirical, "sanitized" version of the handkerchief code.{{Cite web |last=Cramer |first=Jude |title=This “low-key” version of the hanky code completely misses the point |url=https://www.intomore.com/the-internet/controversy/this-low-key-version-of-the-hanky-code-completely-misses-the-point/ |access-date=2024-10-07 |website=INTO |language=en}}

Works

=Articles=

  • {{Cite web|url=https://www.nten.org/article/open-source-feminism-an-intervention-with-wikipedia/|title=Open Source Feminism: An Intervention with Wikipedia|publisher=NTEN: The Nonprofit Technology Enterprise Network|date=March 26, 2014|first=Sarah|last=Mirk}}

=Books=

  • Oregon History Comics (Know Your City, 2012. Small comic books about Oregon history. Available for free for non-commercial purposes on Mirk's official website.){{Cite web|last=Spitaleri|first=Ellen|title=Oregon history gets a little comic twist|url=https://pamplinmedia.com/pt/11-features/23081-oregon-history-gets-a-little-comic-twist|access-date=2020-12-19}}
  • Sex from Scratch: Making Your Own Relationship Rules (Microcosm, 2014)
  • Open Earth (Limerence Press, 2018. A queer sci-fi comic about polyamory, with art by Eva Cabrera and Claudia Aguirre){{Cite journal|last=Dieppa|first=Isabel Sophia|title=Erotic Sci-Fi Graphic Novel "Open Earth" Explores Polyamory In Space|url=https://bust.com/books/195382-open-earth-interview.html|journal=Bust}}
  • Guantanamo Voices: True Accounts from the World’s Most Infamous Prison (Abrams, 2020. Anthology of nonfiction comics){{Cite journal|date=Spring 2020|title=Guantanamo Voices (an excerpt)|url=https://www.worldliteraturetoday.org/2020/spring/guantanamo-voices-excerpt-sarah-mirk-omar-khouri|journal=World Literature Today}}{{Cite news|last=Dueben|first=Alex|date=July 30, 2020|title=Smash Pages Q&A: Sarah Mirk|work=Smash Pages|url=http://smashpages.net/2020/07/30/smash-pages-qa-sarah-mirk/|access-date=December 8, 2020}}{{cite web |last1=Acena |first1=TJ |title=Portland writer Sarah Mirk's new illustrated book delves deep to tell the tales of lives in limbo at the prison built on the War on Terror |url=https://www.orartswatch.org/graphic-voices-of-guantanamo/ |publisher=Oregon ArtsWatch |access-date=26 August 2020}}{{cite web |last1=Lakshmi |first1=Sarah |title=A New Graphic Novel Makes the Stories of Guantánamo Bay Visible |url=https://www.kqed.org/arts/13886086/a-new-graphic-novel-makes-the-stories-of-guantanamo-bay-visible |website=KQED |date=12 September 2020 |access-date=12 September 2020}}{{cite web |last1=Wang |first1=Amy |title=Stories from Guantánamo get compelling comic-style treatment from Portland journalist |date=5 September 2020 |url=https://www.oregonlive.com/books/2020/09/stories-from-guantanamo-get-compelling-comic-style-treatment-from-portland-journalist.html |publisher=The Oregonian/OregonLive |access-date=14 September 2020}}{{cite web |last1=Smith |first1=Suzette |title=This New Graphic Novel Looks at Guantanamo Bay with Clear Eyes and a Sunset Palette |url=https://www.pdxmonthly.com/arts-and-culture/2020/09/this-new-graphic-novel-looks-into-the-darkness-of-guantanamo-bay-with-clear-eyes-and-a-sunset-palette |publisher=Portland Monthly |access-date=2020-09-03}}{{cite web|last1=Sabatier|first1=Julie|date=|title=Portland author Sarah Mirk on 'Guantanamo Voices: True Accounts from the World's Most Infamous Prison'|url=https://www.opb.org/article/2020/09/04/portland-author-sarah-mirk-on-guantanamo-voices-true-accounts-from-the-worlds-most-infamous-prison/|archive-url=|archive-date=|access-date=2020-09-08|website=|publisher=Oregon Public Broadcasting|type=audio interview}}{{cite web |last1=James Amberson |first1=Joshua |title=The Stories We Tell About Guantánamo |date=8 September 2020 |url=https://www.propellerbooks.com/posts/2020/9/8/amberson-mirk-guantanamo |publisher=Propeller Books |access-date=2020-09-08}}{{Cite web|date=2020-09-19|title=4 nuvolette con : Sarah Mirk - autrice di Guantanamo Voices|url=https://www.comixisland.it/2020-09-4-nuvolette-con-sarah-mirk-autrice-di-guantanamo-voices/|access-date=2021-05-28|website=ComixIsland|language=it-IT}}
  • Year of Zines (self-published, 2020)

Interviews

  • Nieman Reports - How comics can enhance reader engagement, bring new audiences to narrative nonfiction.{{cite web |last1=Erin |first1=Polgreen |title=How comics can enhance reader engagement, bring new audiences to narrative nonfiction |url=https://niemanreports.org/articles/the-core-of-story/ |publisher=Nieman Reports |access-date=15 July 2014}}

References

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