I don’t need a smartwatch to tell me how rested I am when I wake up
On waking, maybe look at the sky, kiss your partner, say your prayers, think about what to wear or cook today
Sarah Moss
A collection of articles by Sarah Moss
For seven years, I slept four or five hours a night, rarely for longer than an hour at a time
I’m okay on not much sleep but I was tired. I drove with the windows open and taught my classes standing up
Sarah Moss: A reader tried to needle me by scoffing at knitting - I was intrigued
Knitting and sewing are rarely done for profit, but that doesn’t make these arts and crafts trivial
Sarah Moss: I cycle to central Dublin several times a week. I’m a hypocrite not allowing my teenager to do the same
Now I can think about everything I enjoy about Dublin, almost all the way home, instead of worrying about getting home alive
I’d rather be in Connemara than anywhere tropical, wearing wellies and a woolly hat
A northern aesthetic feels like truth in a way that no more conventional paradise ever could, a fact encapsulated in pebbles
English was never pure or logical. Policing how other people speak is pointless and unattractive
If you resonate with these words, especially if you literally resonate with them, please don’t tell me
The prize for everyday sexism on the high street goes to hairdressing salons
Sarah Moss: The men I know have much more demanding haircuts than the one I want, so why am I being charged a fortune?
Every piece of clothing I buy is matched by a parting: one in, one out. It focuses the mind
Clothes well made by fairly paid people out of good quality fabric are not cheap, nor should they be
Jewellery might not always leave us with a clear conscience but it’s fun, and pleasure is not trivial
Sparkle is not a necessity for survival but aesthetic delight is part of what makes us human
People trying to sell diets enrage me on good days. On bad days I feel inadequate
We keep coming back for more, hoping for rules that will allow us to feel okay about inhabiting ordinary bodies in a culture committed to anxiety and hierarchy
Women are safer on the streets and men are safer at home, despite the stories we tell ourselves
Fear is determined by storytelling more than by data, and women have been taught to fear being outside for centuries
Here’s why you should never set ‘reading goals’ in an effort of grim self-improvement
The idea that reading is innately virtuous, other than religious material, is modern
I navigate new places without the internet because I believe in getting lost
I am convinced that way-finding without a phone schools us to pay attention in a way that we lose when we merge with a blue dot on a screen
There’s a clear difference between those who grew up taking photos of themselves and those of us who didn’t
Unlike the generation which has grown up with mobile phone cameras, when I am photographed I look awkward, wooden, smiling like someone who just wants this to stop now
If we really wanted to be good and healthy in 2025, we’d resolve to pester our politicians
Childhood rickets is back in Britain – and it’s not because ill-health is the logical outcome of poor choices
Fiction to look out for in 2025: From Eimear McBride to Ben Okri
Emma Donoghue, Joseph O’Connor and Colum McCann are just some of the big names with new books coming out in 2025. Here’s our pick of fiction for the year ahead
Christmas - and the perfect family life it represents - is an oppressive fantasy
Most families have someone missing even if the table is holly-decked and groaning
Assisted dying: Do we understand it properly?
I’ve seen the slow loss of dignity and the increase of pain that mark the last years of lives drawn out by healthcare in modern society
We should stop moving so fast. Resist where you can. Hold space to grow and digest
We should stop moving so fast. Resist where you can. Hold space to grow and digest
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
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
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