Discover new books on Goodreads

See if your friends have read any of Colette Sartor's books

50 ratings | 17 reviews | avg rating:4.78

Colette’s Year In Books

Colette’s 2025 Year in Books

Take a look at Colette’s Year in Books, including some fun facts about their reading.

Go to Colette’s 2025 Year in Books

Colette Sartor’s Followers (15)

Colette’s Bookshelves

to-read (42)
currently-reading (142)
read (102)
did-not-finish (0)

Colette’s Friends (236)

Claudia Gilbert

1,415 books | 113 friends

Amy

1,695 books | 649 friends

David Anderson

3,844 books | 1,701 friends

Deb Spera

97 books | 175 friends

Michelle

160 books | 759 friends

R. O.

4,577 books | 243 friends

Rebecca

143 books | 367 friends

Toni Johnson

327 books | 346 friends

More friends…

Colette Sartor

Goodreads Author

Website

https://colettesartor.com

Twitter

colettesartor

Genre

Fiction

Member Since

July 2011

edit data

Colette Sartor grew up a nice, New Jersey Italian girl looking to escape the trajectory expected from nice, New Jersey Italian girls: marriage, three-kid minimum, Sunday mass followed by a sit-down dinner for the entire extended family that she alone would cook, serve, and clean up. After fleeing to Los Angeles to be an entertainment lawyer, she found herself disappointed by the Southern California beaches (not nearly as pretty as the Jersey shore) and by lawyering (which sucked), so she quit her job after a few years (okay, eight) and started writing fiction.

Colette’s linked short story collection Once Removed (University of Georgia Press) won the Flannery O’Connor Award for Short Fiction, the NYC Big Book Award for Short Story Collections Colette Sartor grew up a nice, New Jersey Italian girl looking to escape the trajectory expected from nice, New Jersey Italian girls: marriage, three-kid minimum, Sunday mass followed by a sit-down dinner for the entire extended family that she alone would cook, serve, and clean up. After fleeing to Los Angeles to be an entertainment lawyer, she found herself disappointed by the Southern California beaches (not nearly as pretty as the Jersey shore) and by lawyering (which sucked), so she quit her job after a few years (okay, eight) and started writing fiction.

Colette’s linked short story collection Once Removed (University of Georgia Press) won the Flannery O’Connor Award for Short Fiction, the NYC Big Book Award for Short Story Collections, the IAN Best Book of the Year Award for Outstanding Short Story Collection, the National Indie Excellence Juror’s Choice Award, and the National Indie Excellence Award for Short Story Collection.

Her work has appeared in The Chicago Tribune,Kenyon Review Online, Slice Magazine, Carve Magazine, The Rumpus, Hello Giggles, Prairie Schooner, Colorado Review, Harvard Review, and elsewhere. Among other places, her work has been anthologized in Short Stories from Printers Row, The Press 53 Open Awards Anthology, and Law and Disorder: Stories of Conflict and Crime. Her other awards include a Writers@Work Fiction Prize, a Fugue Prose Award, a Glenna Luschei Prairie Schooner Award, a Reynolds Price Short Fiction Award, a Press 53 Open Award, and a Truman Capote fellowship from the Iowa Writers’ Workshop, where she completed her MFA. She also is an alumna of the Community of Writers, Sewanee Writers’ Conference, the Ragdale Foundation Residency, and Tin House Summer Workshops.

Colette has taught writing for almost 20 years and currently teaches at UCLA Extension Writers’ Program and Los Angeles Writers’ House as well as privately. As a freelance editor, she has edited numerous fiction and nonfiction projects, including a creative writing textbook, and she served as senior fiction editor for the prize-winning Pif Magazine.

She also cohosts the Literary Roadhouse Bookclub podcast. In addition, she is the Executive Director of The CineStory Foundation, a nonprofit mentoring organization for emerging TV writers and screenwriters. She still lives in Los Angeles with her husband, son, and very large German Shepherd Dog who has yet to outgrow his destructo-boy instincts, and she never wants to practice law again. ...more

Learn more
Ask the Author

To ask Colette Sartor questions, please sign up.

Combine Editions
Colette Sartor’s books

Average rating: 4.71 · 65 ratings · 24 reviews · 1 distinct work • Similar authors

Once Removed: Stories (Flannery O'Connor Award for Short Fiction)
by

Colette Sartor (Goodreads Author),

Lee Abbott (Editor)

4.71 avg rating — 65 ratings — 2 editions

Rate this book

Clear rating

1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars

* Note: these are all the books on Goodreads for this author. To add more, click here.

Colette is Currently Reading

Colette is currently reading

The Vanishing Place

by Zoe Rankin (Goodreads Author)

bookshelves: currently-reading

Rate this book

Clear rating

1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars

Jul 25, 2026 01:50PM

Colette is currently reading

The Impossible Thing

by Belinda Bauer (Goodreads Author)

bookshelves: currently-reading

Rate this book

Clear rating

1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars

Jul 25, 2026 01:48PM

Colette is currently reading

Aspects of the Novel

by E.M. Forster

bookshelves: currently-reading

Rate this book

Clear rating

1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars

Jun 21, 2026 12:55PM

rss
Colette’s Recent Updates

Colette is currently reading The Vanishing Place by Zoe Rankin (Goodreads Author)	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
Jul 25, 2026 01:50PM · like · preview book See a Problem? We’d love your help. Let us know what’s wrong with this preview of The Vanishing Place by Zoe Rankin. Problem: Details (if other): Thanks for telling us about the problem. Not the book you’re looking for? Preview — The Vanishing Place by Zoe Rankin <iframe sandbox id="wrongBookKindlePreviewScreen">
Colette is currently reading The Impossible Thing by Belinda Bauer (Goodreads Author)	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
Jul 25, 2026 01:48PM · like · preview book See a Problem? We’d love your help. Let us know what’s wrong with this preview of The Impossible Thing by Belinda Bauer. Problem: Details (if other): Thanks for telling us about the problem. Not the book you’re looking for? Preview — The Impossible Thing by Belinda Bauer <iframe sandbox id="wrongBookKindlePreviewScreen">
Colette finished reading Helpless: A Novel by Jessica Knoll (Goodreads Author)	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
Jul 17, 2026 03:12PM · like · preview book See a Problem? We’d love your help. Let us know what’s wrong with this preview of Helpless by Jessica Knoll. Problem: Details (if other): Thanks for telling us about the problem. Not the book you’re looking for? Preview — Helpless by Jessica Knoll <iframe sandbox id="wrongBookKindlePreviewScreen">
Colette is currently reading Helpless: A Novel by Jessica Knoll (Goodreads Author)	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
Jul 14, 2026 01:43PM · like · preview book See a Problem? We’d love your help. Let us know what’s wrong with this preview of Helpless by Jessica Knoll. Problem: Details (if other): Thanks for telling us about the problem. Not the book you’re looking for? Preview — Helpless by Jessica Knoll <iframe sandbox id="wrongBookKindlePreviewScreen">
Colette is currently reading Aspects of the Novel by E.M. Forster	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
Jun 21, 2026 12:55PM · like · preview book See a Problem? We’d love your help. Let us know what’s wrong with this preview of Aspects of the Novel by E.M. Forster. Problem: Details (if other): Thanks for telling us about the problem. Not the book you’re looking for? Preview — Aspects of the Novel by E.M. Forster <iframe sandbox id="wrongBookKindlePreviewScreen">
Colette finished reading The Calamity Club by Kathryn Stockett (Goodreads Author)	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
May 31, 2026 03:01PM · like · preview book See a Problem? We’d love your help. Let us know what’s wrong with this preview of The Calamity Club by Kathryn Stockett. Problem: Details (if other): Thanks for telling us about the problem. Not the book you’re looking for? Preview — The Calamity Club by Kathryn Stockett <iframe sandbox id="wrongBookKindlePreviewScreen">
Colette is currently reading The Calamity Club by Kathryn Stockett (Goodreads Author)	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
May 23, 2026 06:07PM · like · preview book See a Problem? We’d love your help. Let us know what’s wrong with this preview of The Calamity Club by Kathryn Stockett. Problem: Details (if other): Thanks for telling us about the problem. Not the book you’re looking for? Preview — The Calamity Club by Kathryn Stockett <iframe sandbox id="wrongBookKindlePreviewScreen">
Colette is currently reading Steering The Craft: A Twenty-First-Century Guide to Sailing the Sea of Story by Ursula K. Le Guin	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
May 21, 2026 10:39AM · like · preview book See a Problem? We’d love your help. Let us know what’s wrong with this preview of Steering The Craft by Ursula K. Le Guin. Problem: Details (if other): Thanks for telling us about the problem. Not the book you’re looking for? Preview — Steering The Craft by Ursula K. Le Guin <iframe sandbox id="wrongBookKindlePreviewScreen">
Colette is currently reading I Would Die If I Were You: Notes on Art and Truth-Telling by Emily Black	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
May 20, 2026 11:45AM · like · preview book See a Problem? We’d love your help. Let us know what’s wrong with this preview of I Would Die If I Were You by Emily Black. Problem: Details (if other): Thanks for telling us about the problem. Not the book you’re looking for? Preview — I Would Die If I Were You by Emily Black <iframe sandbox id="wrongBookKindlePreviewScreen">
Colette finished reading The Nothing Man by Catherine Ryan Howard (Goodreads Author)	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
May 19, 2026 11:51AM · like · preview book See a Problem? We’d love your help. Let us know what’s wrong with this preview of The Nothing Man by Catherine Ryan Howard. Problem: Details (if other): Thanks for telling us about the problem. Not the book you’re looking for? Preview — The Nothing Man by Catherine Ryan Howard <iframe sandbox id="wrongBookKindlePreviewScreen">

More of Colette's books…

Colette’s Quotes

“Kill your darlings, kill your darlings, even when it breaks your egocentric little scribbler’s heart, kill your darlings.”
― Stephen King, On Writing: A Memoir of the Craft

tags: darlings, deleting, editing, kill, revising, writing

834 likes

Colette’s Friend Comments

No comments have been added yet.

Colette Sartor’s Followers (15)

Colette Sartor

Goodreads Author

rssColette’s Recent Updates

See a Problem?

Preview — The Vanishing Place by Zoe Rankin

See a Problem?

Preview — The Impossible Thing by Belinda Bauer

See a Problem?

Preview — Helpless by Jessica Knoll

See a Problem?

Preview — Helpless by Jessica Knoll

See a Problem?

Preview — Aspects of the Novel by E.M. Forster

See a Problem?

Preview — The Calamity Club by Kathryn Stockett

See a Problem?

Preview — The Calamity Club by Kathryn Stockett

See a Problem?

Preview — Steering The Craft by Ursula K. Le Guin

See a Problem?

Preview — I Would Die If I Were You by Emily Black

See a Problem?

Preview — The Nothing Man by Catherine Ryan Howard

rss
Colette’s Recent Updates