About

SV Bertrand is a writer living in Brooklyn. A native French speaker, she was born and grew up in Montreal. Her stories and poems have appeared in Peregrine JournalEpiphanyCleaver Magazine, Alexandria Quarterly, and December magazine, among others. She received a Pushcart Special Mention in 2018 for her fiction and was a finalist for the 2019 Jeff Marks Memorial Poetry Prize. She has degrees in Communication and Literature, Political Sciences, and a MA in Cultural Anthropology from Princeton University. She is the co-founding editor of the literary journal Cagibi and currently teaches memoir and creative writing at The Writers Studio in NYC.

 

Publications

FICTION

One of Them Epiphany Fall 2016 (Pushcart Special Mention 2018). Read here

From North Dakota to Manitoba Cleaver Magazine December 2017

Tell Me If It Hurts Chaleur Magazine July 2018 Read here

The Garbage Strike Peregrine Volume XXXII Fall 2018 (print)

The Moonshine Rat Del Sol Review #14 Spring 2007

POETRY

Before All That Penultimate Peanut December 2017

The F Train Woman Chaleur Magazine July 2018 Read here

Barely Unscathed Silver Needle Press “Poem of the Week” May 2018

The Shortcut Alexandria Quarterly Fall 2018 (online and print)

Spring, Interrupted December Volume 30.1 May 2019 (print)

ANTHOLOGY

The Writers Studio at 30 Epiphany Editions 2017 (print)

KUDOS

Special Mention in Fiction, Pushcart Prize 2018

Finalist, 2019 Clay Reynold Novella Prize, Texas Review Press

Finalist, 2019 Jeff Marks Memorial Poetry Prize

Nominations, Pushcart Prize 2019 / 2020

Semi-finalist, “End of Summer Poem Contest” Alexandria Quarterly Sept 2018

Nomination, 2017 PEN / Robert J. Dau Short Story Prize for Emerging Writers

Finalist, “Very Short Story” Contest Glimmer Train 2017

Honorable Mention, “Family Matters” Contest Glimmer Train 2017

 

Teaching

ONGOING

Advanced Memoir Workshop at The Writers Studio   begins 4/15/ 2021 (Closed)

Memoir Workshop at The Writers Studio   begins 4/28/2021  Register here

Brooklyn Level 1 Fiction & Poetry Workshop at The Writers Studio. Next class TBD.

For editorial consultations, individual tutorials or semi-private sessions, please contact me.

TESTIMONIALS

“Sylvie, I agree with what others have said, that your teaching and critiques have been enormously insightful. What was most helpful to me from your critiques was how you so intuitively zeroed in on my struggle to make my narrator more visible to the reader and more obvious in her voice. I would never have seen this without your comments.

As a therapist, I have learned to stay out of the fray in order to be objective and, I hope, helpful to my clients as a knowledgeable outsider without bias. This clearly is not the same assignment as that of a narrator!!  It is taking a lot of effort to “put myself back in”, so to speak. (In truth, I am an extrovert and prefer being a more “relational” therapist where the therapist acknowledges the space between herself and the client, not just focusing on the client’s experience in a vacuum.)

Nevertheless, your feedback, Sylvie, has opened up a whole new horizon for me to consider in my writing and also personally. […]  Thank you.” –  Katharine

“I’ll be sending in my last assignment soon, but I wanted to take a moment to thank you for you many thoughtful and useful critique suggestions.  This is my first online class.  Each assignment taught me things that I have been able to incorporate into my memoir work.  Even these few classes have been immediately helpful. I spent a lifetime writing expository prose. Everything was objective. Everything I wrote was stripped of emotion, no color, no sound.  Writing dialogue is very new to me.  I am learning […] Take care. With Gratitude,” – Mike G.

“Sylvie: Thank you so much for mentoring this class. Your explanations of and insights into the six authors was so helpful and well done. Your critiques were spot on, constructive and gentle. My first writing class ever. My daughter enrolled me as a Christmas present. Thanks to you i was totally engaged and had lots of fun. Thanks and best wishes” – Steve

“Sylvie: thank you for a wonderful class. I truly enjoyed all the excerpts and models you selected and I found the format instructive and challenging.  I most enjoyed your positive and constructive feedback and that of my classmates. A wonderful experience that exceeded my expectations for an online class. Thank you and all my wonderful classmates. I look forward to reading your books in the future! ” – Celia R.

“…And thank you most sincerely for creating such and incredible safe space for all of us to be so open and free with our writing and sharing of our stories.  For me it has been such a gift.” – Toni

“I have been taking an amazing Memoir Workshop with the Writer’s Studio in NYC. The workshop has really advanced my process and although this workshop is in NYC they also offer classes/workshops online and occasionally in “the Hudson Valley”. My current teacher is Sylvie Bertrand and her September workshop will be online.” – Angela T.

“I wanted to put on record my gratitude for your stewardship of the class I attended. It was an eminently enjoyable workshop and I feel I’ve markedly improved as a writer because of it.” – Brendan.

News & Events

 UPCOMING

CAGIBI Writing Retreat 2021 in Provence, France – September 26 to October 3

PAST

April 11, 2021 @ 7pm ~ The Writers Studio Faculty Reading (view here)

April 5, 2020 @ 5pm ~ The Writers Studio Reading Series, Zinc Bar -> CANCELLED

Feb 4, 2020 ~ Cagibi Reads! Halyard Bar, 6-8 pm.

July 21, 2019 ~ The Writers Studio Hudson Valley Reading at the Spotty Dog Books & Ale, Hudson NY.

June 25, 2019 ~ Cagibi Print Issue 2019 Launch Party & Reading at KGB, NYC.

May 5, 2019 ~ The Writers Studio Reading Series,  Zinc Bar, NYC. Media available here.

October 18-21 2018 ~ Cagibi Hudson Valley Writing Retreat 

photo Epiphany Reading Dec 16 copy 3