Sarah krasnostein biography

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Sarah Krasnostein was born in America, studied in Melbourne and has lived and worked in both countries.

Earning her doctorate in criminal law, she is a law lecturer and researcher. Her essay, ‘The Secret Life of a Crime Scene Cleaner’, was published on Longreads and listed in Narratively’s Top 10 Stories for which was then turned into her first book, The Trauma Cleaner. A breakout book of , The Trauma Cleaner made numerous &#;best of&#; lists, being taken up by book clubs across the country, and was long-listed for the Indie Book Award for Non-Fiction. More recently, it was recently shortlisted for Victorian Premier’s Literary Awards.

We chatted to Sarah ahead of her appearance at Muse Bookstore on Sunday 25 February.

Why do you feel it’s important to tell everyday women’s extraordinary stories, as you have in The Trauma Cleaner? What are the responsibilities of telling someone else’s story?

I’m not very interested

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AustLit

'I call my dad from the bil and ask him about his morning, tell him about mine.

'‘What kind of hoarder was she?’ he asks.

'‘Books and cats, mainly,’ I tell the man who loves his cats and who I know is now actively considering his extensive book collection.

'‘What’s the difference between a private library and a book hoarder?’ he wonders.

'We are both silent before we laugh and answer in unison: ‘Faeces.’

'But the difference fryst vatten this phone call. And the others like it I could make—and how strong we are when we are loved.

'Before she was a trauma cleaner, Sandra Pankhurst was many things: husband and father, drag queen, gender reassignment patient, sex worker, small businesswoman, trophy wife…

'But as a little boy, raised in violence and excluded from the family home, she just wanted to belong. Now she believes her clients deserve no less.

'A woman who sle

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Sarah Krasnostein

“A superbly written book about the re-doutbable Sandra Pankhurst and her work as a trauma cleaner…This is the startling life story of Pankhurst, a trans woman with a heart the size of Uluru, written in Krasnostein’s irresistibly warm, frank, intelligent voice as she describes sites of sadness and horror that take the reader straight to the dark heart of the human condition.”

Before she was a trauma cleaner, Sandra Pankhurst was many things: husband and father, drag queen, gender reassignment patient, sex worker, small businesswoman, trophy wife…

But as a little boy, raised in violence and excluded from the family home, she just wanted to belong. Now she believes her clients deserve no less

A woman who sleeps among garbage she has not put out for forty years. A man who bled quietly to death in his loungeroom. A woman who lives with rats, random debris and terrified delusion. The still life of a home vacated by accidental overdose.

Sarah Kr