Sabine Heinlein Explained

Sabine Heinlein (born 1973) is a German American nonfiction writer and quilter. She is the author of the literary nonfiction book Among Murderers: Life After Prison (University of California Press, 2013) and the investigative book The Orphan Zoo: The Rise and Fall of the Farm at Creedmoor Psychiatric Center (Thought Catalog, 2015 and 2023). Heinlein’s essays, investigative work, and literary nonfiction have appeared in The Guardian, The New York Times, The Paris Review, Psychology Today, The Iowa Review, and many other publications. Her work has been widely anthologized. She is currently a senior staff writer at Wirecutter, the product recommendation site of the New York Times.[1]

Early life and education

Heinlein grew up in Baiersdorf,[2] a small village close to Nuremberg in northern Bavaria. She moved to Hamburg, Germany after high school.[3] There, she earned a master’s degree in art history from Universität Hamburg.[4] After graduation she immigrated to New York City, where she earned a master’s in journalism from New York University.[5] She resides in Queens, NY with her husband.[6]

Publications

Magazines and newspapers

Heinlein’s journalism tackles a wide variety of issues, including homelessness,[7] family dynamics,[8] the death penalty, murder, and incarceration,[9] mental illness,[10] drug addiction, suicide, and the Jewish history of her home town.[11] In her essays, which are part humorous and part gloomy, she reflects on her friendship with prisoners,[12] her love for rabbits,[13] her fear of clowns,[14] her decision to stay childless,[15] and her encounters with Oliver Sacks,[16] among other things.

Books

Heinlein is the author of Among Murderers: Life After Prison (University of California Press, 2013).[17] The book follows three convicted murderers who spent decades in prison as they try to reintegrate into society over the course of two years. On the book’s inside flap, David Samuels described Heinlein and her work as follows: "With this unsentimental yet deeply empathetic look at the lives of ex-cons struggling to make it on the outside, Sabine Heinlein establishes herself as the Orwell of rehabilitation, American-style." Kirkus Review called the book “A deeply compassionate book that poses urgent questions about the end product of imprisonment and the social thirst for vengeance.”[18] The Times Higher Education stated "This book is more than a tribute to the men interviewed: it asks us to test ourselves on our capacity for forgiveness and then to consider penal power’s capacity to destroy the self."[19]

For her book The Orphan Zoo: The Rise and Fall of the Farm at Creedmoor Psychiatric Center (Thought Catalog, 2015)[20] Heinlein spent a year shadowing a group of inpatients and their therapist. The Orphan Zoo recounts the group’s fruitless attempts to save the “Farm,” a dysfunctional rehabilitation program at the notorious Creedmoor Psychiatric Center, while struggling with paranoia and hoarding.[21] [22]

Awards, fellowships, and residencies

Heinlein’s book Among Murderers: Life After Prison received a gold medal from the Independent Publishers Award.[23] Her work has been supported by numerous residency programs and fellowships, including the New York Foundation for the Arts,[24] Yaddo,[25] MacDowell,[26] the Hambidge residency, The King & Spalding Distinguished Fellowship,[27] and the Blue Mountain Center. Heinlein has also received a Richard J. Margolis Award for social justice reporting[28] and a Pushcart Prize.[29]

Anthologies

Quilts

Heinlein is also a quilter.[34] Her quilts mostly feature frolicking animals who often retaliate against humans.[35] In 2020 and 2021, she created a pandemic quilt series, which includes a Zoonotic Disease Quilt,[36] a quilted 10 Plagues book,[37] and an Egyptian Coffin quilt.[38]

Roslyn Bernstein writes in Guernica, “Journalistic writing required Heinlein to be precise, but, inspired by Gee’s Bend quilters in rural Alabama, and by Harriet Powers, a Black quilter from the late 19th century, Heinlein feels the freedom to be imperfect when stitching her quilts.”[39] Heinlein’s textile art, which is made from recycled textiles, has been exhibited nationally, including at the Annmarie Sculpture Garden & Art Center,[40] at Field Projects,[41] and at Pollack Gallery at Monmouth University.[42]

References

  1. News: Heinlein . Sabine . 21 December 2023. Authors - The Wirecutter . The New York Times .
  2. Web site: Heinlein . Sabine . The Restless Ghosts of Baiersdorf . Longreads. 15 March 2017 .
  3. Heinlein . Sabine . November 2014 . Where We Write: New York City Via Bavaria, Germany . Poets & Writers . Poets & Writers . April 30, 2023.
  4. Book: Heinlein, Sabine . Among Murderers; Life After Prison . University of California Press . 2013 . 9780520272859 . Berkeley, CA.
  5. Web site: NYU Journalism Projects Portfolio . April 30, 2023.
  6. Web site: Heinlein . Sabine . October 27, 2022 . Everything I Did to Flood-Proof My Old House . April 30, 2023 . The Wirecutter.
  7. Web site: Heinlein . Sabine . April 1, 2007 . RANT RHAPSODY: Listening to Robinson . April 30, 2023 . The Brooklyn Rail.
  8. Web site: Heinlein . Sabine . October 28, 2014 . Untangling the Knot: My Search for Democracy in the Modern Family . April 30, 2023 . Longreads.
  9. Web site: Heinlein . Sabine . December 10, 2018 . My Brother's Keeper . April 30, 2023 . Pacific Standard Magazine.
  10. Web site: Heinlein . Sabine . March 8, 2016 . Moment of Impact . April 30, 2023 . Psychology Today.
  11. Web site: Heinlein . Sabine . March 15, 2017 . The Restless Ghosts of Baiersdorf . Longreads.
  12. Web site: Heinlein . Sabine . January 19, 2017 . A Prisoner's View of the Trump Administration . April 30, 2023 . LitHub.
  13. Heinlein . Sabine . Spring 2012 . A Portrait Of The Writer As A Rabbit . The Iowa Review . 42 . 1 . 24–32 . 10.17077/0021-065X.7112 . JSTOR. free .
  14. News: Heinlein . Sabine . July 25, 2016 . Send in the Clowns: Trying to Sell a Horrifying Harlequin Collection . The Observer . April 30, 2023.
  15. Web site: Heinlein . Sabine . April 2, 2015 . The Answer Is Never: Rewriting the false narrative of childlessness . April 30, 2023 . Longreads.
  16. Web site: Heinlein . Sabine . August 31, 2015 . Swimming With Oliver Sacks . April 30, 2023 . The Paris Review.
  17. Book: Heinlein, Sabine . Among Murderers: Life After Prison . University of California Press . 2013 . 9780520272859 . Berkeley, CA.
  18. Web site: Among Murderers: Life After Prison (Review) . April 30, 2023 . Kirkus Review.
  19. Web site: Piacentini . Laura . June 6, 2013 . Among Murderers: Life after Prison by Sabine Heinlein (Review) . April 30, 2023 . Times Higher Education.
  20. Book: Heinlein, Sabine . 2014 . The Orphan Zoo: The Rise and Fall of the Farm at Creedmoor Psychiatric Center . April 30, 2023 . Audible.
  21. Web site: Sheehan . Susan . May 17, 1981 . The Patient . April 30, 2023 . New Yorker.
  22. Web site: January 4, 2013 . The Abandoned Creedmoor Psychiatric Center in Queens . Untapped Cities.
  23. Web site: May 28, 2014 . 2014 Independent Publisher Book Awards Results . Independent Publisher.
  24. Web site: Hidalgo . Lara . March 6, 2013 . Meet a NYA Artist: Sabine Heinlein . April 30, 2023 . NYFA.
  25. Web site: Writers . April 30, 2023 . Yaddo.
  26. Web site: Sabine Heinlein . April 30, 2023 . Macdowell.org.
  27. Web site: Distinguished Fellowships + Sponsored residencies . Hambidge.org.
  28. Web site: Past Award Winners . April 30, 2023 . Margolis Award.
  29. Web site: November 1, 2013 . Let's hear it for Bucak, Heinlein, & Patterson! . April 30, 2023 . Iowa Review.
  30. Book: Erlebniswelten: Herstellung und Nutzung touristischer Welten . 2005 . LIT Verlag . 978-3-8258-8485-7 . Wöhler . Karlheinz.
  31. Book: Hamm . Theodore . Pieces of a Decade: Brooklyn Rail Nonfiction 2000-1010 . Cole . Williams . Black Square Editions/Brooklyn Rail . 2010 . 9781934029299.
  32. Web site: Henderson . Bill . 2014 . Pushcart Prize XXXVIII : best of the small presses, 2014 . April 30, 2023 . WorldCat.
  33. Heinlein . Sabine . My Last White Boyfriend and Other Epiphanies . Epiphany.
  34. Web site: Heinlein . Sabine . The Animal Quilter . April 30, 2023 . The Animal Quilter.
  35. Web site: Heinein . Sabine . Nature Against Men . April 30, 2023 . The Animal Quilter.
  36. Web site: Zoonotic Disease Quilt . April 30, 2023 . The Animal Quilter.
  37. Web site: 10 Plagues . April 30, 2023 . The Animal Quilter.
  38. Web site: Egyptian Coffin Quilt . April 30, 2023 . The Animal Quilter.
  39. Web site: Bernstein . Roslyn . January 25, 2021 . Stitching and Writing on the Margin . April 30, 2023 . Guernica.
  40. Web site: FOLKSY: Cultural Traditions & Outside Visions . April 30, 2023 . Anne Marie Sculpture Garden and Arts Center.
  41. Web site: Zoonotic Hex . April 30, 2023 . Field Projects.
  42. Web site: 2021 . The Fine Art of Denim . Pollack Gallery.

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