About Sarah Ratliff
Hi! I’m Sarah Ratliff and I am a writer, editor, publisher, and organic farmer living in Puerto Rico. As a Multiracial woman of Black, Japanese, and white descent, I have long explored the intersection of identity, race, and belonging—both personally and professionally.
When I co-created Being Biracial: Where Our Secret Worlds Collide with Bryony Sutherland, back in 2015, we had no idea how deeply it would resonate. What started as a small anthology project that extended conversations already in progress about identity, belonging, and what it means to exist between racial and cultural worlds turned into something neither of us could have imagined.
Now, nearly 10 years later, I’m returning with Volume II, this time as the sole author and editor. But the mission is the same: to amplify authentic, nuanced voices about the Multiracial experience.
This new volume explores how identity unfolds within Multiracial families—where even those who share blood may experience race in very different ways. Some siblings navigate identity together; others diverge. Parents may understand their children’s identities—or struggle to relate to them. These are the kinds of stories I’m looking to include: reflective, real, and rooted in lived experience.
I’ve written about race and identity for years, but I’ve also lived it—deeply. This work is both personal and collective, and I’m honored to keep holding space for it.
The first Being Biracial was an anthology that brought together 26 stories from across the globe to examine the complexities of Biracial and Multiracial identity. My deeply personal essay “Criminal Mistakes” detailed how I came to identify as Black—and the tension this created within my own family.
People have asked me which essay I liked the most. Although mine was the longest, I loved them all equally. I could analyze each one, but in truth they’re all amazing.
For pure proactive and shock value, Mark White’s “Nigger, Nigger Pull the Trigger!” continues to stand out, not just for its title, but because he didn’t hold back.
I have thought about this book Bryony and I put together a lot over the years. I am proud of what we accomplished and the accolades it received. Bryony had written and published many books (mostly with traditional publishers). I had not.
Up until 2014 (when we began this collaboration), I had ghostwritten 10 books, but Being Biracial was the first book that would have my own name on it. This is why my essay was as long as it was. I felt I had more to prove than Bryony, who remains a sought after editor and writer.
Being Biracial, and the praise it received, gave me the confidence to begin pitching publications to submit personal essays and more journalistic style articles. I spent the next 10 years pitching and writing, pitching and writing, and I am proud of my portfolio. Being Biracial led me to more ghostwriting projects, so it was, I guess, my spring board.
Over these last 10 years, I have thought a lot about writing a second anthology. Would it be a followup to Being Biracial or an entirely different topic?
I decided it should be a reboot of Being Biracial because I realized that I personally had more to say on the topic. How I identify racially is the same as it was 10 years ago, but because of some major shifts both personally and beyond–the devastation of Hurricane Maria on my beloved Puerto Rico, the pandemic and subsequent losses of many family and friends, my brother’s passing at a young age and becoming an English teacher at a local Waldorf school–its importance in my life has shifted.
As I looked back on my life the last 10 years, I decided it was time to share these views in a follow-up anthology.
Bryony and I both decided I should go it alone. So here I am…
At the moment, I’m calling the sequel
Being Biracial: Where Our Secret Worlds Collide
Volume II: Being Biracial: Exploring Identity Within Multiracial Families
Want to share your story in Volume 2? Submit your essay idea.
Being Biracial: Volume 2 is shifting the lens inward to examine how Biracial and Multiracial identity are shaped (and sometimes fractured) within families. From sibling dissonance to generational differences, this new volume explores how people raised under one roof can still come to radically different understandings of race.
Of note: my eldest brother, Nicholas, has committed to share his views growing up in the same Multiracial home. This should be interesting! He and I don’t identify the same. In fact, our late brother, Ben (who passed away at the age of 59 in 2023), also didn’t identify the same way as I do or that Nicholas does. This was part of the impetus for Being Biracial Volume II. How could three siblings in the same Multiracial home mature to identify differently from one another?
Here are my brothers and me as teenagers. Ben is in the back, Nicolas is in the middle and that’s me on the far right.
In addition to writing Being Biracial Volume II, I own Mo’ Betta Digital, where I help authors bring their stories to life—from ghostwriting and editing to full-service publishing.
I also co-own Mayani Farms in Utuado, Puerto Rico, where my husband and I grow rare tropical fruit trees and sustainable bamboo, and help newcomers build sustainable homesteads.
My writing has been featured in Blavity, The Village Voice, USC’s Center for Health Journalism, Great School Voices, Entrepreneur Magazine, Cannabis & Tech Today, Merry Jane, Civil Eats, Suit & Artist, and other outlets that amplify underrepresented voices.
Thank you for going on this journey with me. See you on the other side of the completion of Being Biracial: Where Our Secret Worlds Collide
Volume II: Being Biracial: Exploring Identity Within Multiracial Families