Sara C. Rolater
(scrola)
writer/artist/educator
(she/they)
Sara C. Rolater is a graduate of Rice University and received their MFA in fiction from the University of Houston, where they served as an assistant editor in fiction for Gulf Coast and where they have taught composition, literature, and creative writing since 2011. They have taught creative writing for Inprint, Writespace, Writers in the Schools, and Grackle & Grackle, written for Citysearch Houston and offcite.org, and been a fellow at the Writing Immersion Retreat in Bali and at the Byrdcliffe Artist in Residence program in Woodstock, New York. Their work has appeared in Ghost Town, Gulf Coast, and Our Space: Shorts and Poetry from the Houston Community.
They have been a consultant in the Creative Writing Department at the Kinder High School for the Performing and Visual Arts since 2014, teaching introductory and advanced fiction workshops as well as electives in creative nonfiction, journalism, collage, clothing, horror writing, music writing, world-building, Disney texts, and musicals, with their posts as well as their students' posts on these subjects available on the blog the pva creative writing review. They have completed the visual art hybrid project The Corrections in Collage, the hybrid genre nonfiction-memoir The Stephen King of Rock 'n' Roll and other related Stephen King studies derived from their blog Long Live the King (including one based on their article "The Disneyization of Stephen King" in the Journal of American Culture), and the queer YA horror-thriller novel Nuns Are Hot Right Now. They have experimented with daily collage practice at flattenthemintoaset.com.
English Lecturer and Graduate Teaching Fellow Supervisor, University of Houston (2011/2018-present)
Creative Writing Consultant, Kinder High School for the Performing and Visual Arts (2014-present)
contact: scrola@gmail.com
Instagram: @correctionsincollage
"...I recently won YoungArts with distinction in the short story category! ... you were one of my biggest guides in figuring out what I wanted to do with writing and how. You've deeply influenced how I approach thinking about fiction (and collage) as a craft, and I really can't communicate how much I appreciated the level material and structure you gave me to learn and mess with. ... the piece I submitted to YoungArts was one I actually workshopped in your class last year. ... Your workshop's critique helped me refine it, and I'm just generally very excited for this opportunity."
-Mar Bradley, HSPVA class of '23
"Before going to [writing] camp, my only writing 'teachers' (English teachers, mostly) were people that said my interest in writing was a fun hobby, but couldn't be pursued as anything other than that. I am honored to say that you changed all of that. You sat me down and put me through what was my first workshop/critique/class presentation and I realized that writing was so much more than what I'd been told it was. ... my first class with you blew a few more doors just straight down. For the first time in my life, I was able to engage in a thoughtful and intricate discussion that set the tone for how I would think about my creative work for the years to come.
When I think of people that inspire me and my writing, you are always high up on the list that pops into my head (if not the first!). Through the things you have taught me, I have learned to become confident in my abilities both as a writer and a person. ...
(PS I think your collage shirts are wicked as hell please never stop wearing them)"
-Rey Cooper, HSPVA class of '23
"The highlight of my day at ‘PVA was always your fiction class. ... Thank you for your patience and for accepting me into your fiction class! It completely changed my life.
... you introduced me to the magic of analysis. I had always been a book lover, but I had never known that authors wrote 'secret messages' beyond literal sentences before taking your class. It felt like you brought color to the previously black-and-white TV that turned itself on while I read a story."
-Laura Mercado, HSPVA class of '19
"Sara C. Rolater is honestly such a bro. In addition to being an undeniably brilliant writer and teacher, she's such an effortlessly cool person. She's the most insightful workshopper I've ever met in my LIFE, but beyond that she really sees the potential in people and is so good at bringing that out. Like, her interactions with her kids aren't like some teachers where she feels so far removed. Instead, she really relates and is real with everybody. She'll just level with you, and so kids who are a mess in other classes really produce some great stuff in her class. Not to mention, her lessons really are helpful and informative, and every piece of writing she's ever shown us is something that I've gone on to really enjoy and come back to. She's a cool teacher not in the way that she's actively trying to impress or be friends with her students. Instead, she's like this funny, vaguely unimpressed figure whom everyone really looks up to, so it really makes you feel good if she laughs at something you said or likes your work or whatever. ... She's really, really great. Shout out to Scrola."
-from the HSPVA Compliments Facebook page, October 4, 2016
"Thank you so much for this successful semester in your asynchronous class! I also took your ENGL 1301 in-person class last semester, which was also my first semester as a college student. Your class and the messages you push your students to understand through your teaching methods have left a lasting impact on me. Thank you for being such a great and considerate professor! ... as a professor, you made the class very inclusive, participating, and respectful! English was always an interesting subject for me, but it wasn’t until I took your class that I was able to build my skills further and deep dive into topics of my choice."
-Catherine Hernandez, University of Houston hybrid student in ENGL 1301 fall 2022, online student in ENGL 1302 Spring 2023
"Thank you so much for the material covered in English 1301! In high school, I was never good at essays and any advice given to me by my English teachers throughout my four years of high school was ambiguous and inconsistent from year to year. I began to dislike English and writing in general since each time I wrote my essays and completed APMC questions I would receive poor grades, which made me frustrated. However, after this semester of English, my confidence in my writing skills has increased and although my writing skills still have a long way to go, your course has still had an amazing impact on me nonetheless."
-Nikolas Draca, University of Houston online student in ENGL 1301 Fall 2022, online student in ENGL 1302 Spring 2023
