Writer & Essayist

BRITTANY SIRLIN

Where cultural identity, motherhood,
and female experience meet memory.

Read the Story Playing Dead

About the writer

Writer. Essayist. New Yorker.

Brittany Sirlin is a writer and educator based in New York City. Her work traces the intersections of Jewish identity, motherhood, and female experience — the places where memory is made and the stories we inherit shape the ones we tell.

Her debut piece, Playing Dead, appears in Our Magical Pandemic: Stories of Love and Whimsy in Lockdown (Stone Tiger Books, 2023), edited by Jeff Ourvan. Essays have been published in Kveller, Mutha Magazine, Screamin' Mamas, The Writing Disorder, and On Being Jewish Now.

She is currently at work on her first novel and teaches middle school English in New York City.

Based in New York City
Education Penn State · Hofstra
Currently Querying agents
Publications 8 & counting
Brittany Sirlin on the cover of Screamin' Mamas magazine
Brittany Sirlin, close portrait

Debut publication

Our Magical Pandemic

Stories of Love and Whimsy in Lockdown

"Playing Dead" by Brittany Sirlin

Edited by Jeff Ourvan  ·  Stone Tiger Books  ·  March 2023

"Bursting with heart, dynamic energy, and unbounded creativity."
— Indies Today  ★★★★★

"A creative and eclectic anthology that captures the spirit of our time."
— Independent Book Review

"Dynamic energy and unbounded creativity — a remarkable collection."
— Indies Today  ★★★★★

Get the Book  →

Featured Story  ·  The Writing Disorder  ·  2025

Wind Chime Café

Nostalgia, she concluded, was a menace and a waste of energy.

A multi-generational family story told in five voices over a single morning. Four adult sisters gather at their childhood home to pack it up before a sale — each grappling privately with what she hopes to take with her, and what leaving truly means. Tender, wry, and beautifully observed, the story explores love, grief, and the invisible threads that hold a family together.

Read the story  →

Featured Essay  ·  On Being Jewish Now  ·  December 2025

We Left Bondi
Just Before
the Massacre

Insisting on joy — not because danger has disappeared, but because joy is still possible.

A family departs Bondi Beach minutes before tragedy strikes. A meditation on Jewish identity, safety, and the fierce choice to celebrate in the face of fear.

Read the essay  →

Selected
Work

All publications

  1. On Being Jewish Now We Left Bondi Just Before the Massacre
    2025
  2. The Writing Disorder Wind Chime Café
    2025
  3. Kveller How We Made Jewish Learning Joyful for Our Neurodivergent Son
    2025
  4. Kveller I Can't Replicate the Yiddish-Infused Stories of My Childhood, But I Can Try
    2024
  5. Kveller My Bubbe Lived in Her Memories. But Not on Shabbat.
    2024
  6. Kveller The Beauty and Power of Jewish Naming Traditions
    2024
  7. Mutha Magazine Are You Nervous?
    2023
  8. Our Magical Pandemic, Stone Tiger Books Playing Dead
    2023

Get in touch

Let's talk.

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