Dr. Sarah Zeiser has a BA in Medieval Studies from Smith College and an AM and PhD in Celtic Languages & Literatures and Medieval Studies from Harvard University, where she is currently an Associate of the Department of Celtic and Manager of Special Projects in the Office of the Vice Provost for Advances in Learning (VPAL). While writing her dissertation “Latinity, Manuscripts, and the Rhetoric of Conquest in Late-Eleventh-Century Wales,” she held fellowships at the Institute of Historical Research at the University of London and the Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study.
Dr. Zeiser writes projects of both an academic and creative tilt, employing her skills in careful archival work and deep character study to produce both new research in the fields of Celtic and manuscript studies, as well as award-winning works of creative fiction.
Upcoming academic publications include “The ‘Lament’ of Rhygyfarch ap Sulien and its Manuscript Context,” in Medieval Wales and the Medieval World: Context & Approaches, Knowledge & Exchange (Brepols, 2025) and “A Note on the Dating of the Latin Poem ‘Trucidare Saxones,’” in Imagination and Innovation in Medieval Celtic Literatures, eds. Helen Fulton and Georgia Henley (University of Wales Press, 2025).
Dr. Zeiser’s speculative screenplay AQUITAINE, about 12th-century queen of France and England Eleanor of Aquitaine, won the Gold Prize for TV Pilot-Drama in the PAGE Awards, and earned her an Honorable Mention in the NewEnglandFilm.com Fellowship for a place at the Stowe Story Labs in Stowe, Vermont.
Her second pilot, AWAY WITH THE FAIRIES, about the aftermath of the death of Bridget Cleary, a woman accused of being a fairy in 19th-century Ireland, won the NewEnglandFilm.com Fellowship to attend the Stowe Story Labs Narrative Retreat in Connemara, Ireland.
Dr. Zeiser was the Co-Director of the Boston Harvardwood Writers Program for five years, and was awarded the HARVY Award (Harvardwood Volunteer of the Year) for her service. She has been a Module Leader in the Jeff Sagansky Harvardwood TV Writers Program and also has provided script coverage for the Stowe Story Labs.
Sarah Zeiser 