Back to basics: Sarah L. Kaufman on Verb Your Enthusiasm

In this episode of The Writing Life Podcast, award-winning writer Sarah L. Kaufman discusses mastering the art of the verb and transforming your writing with language, grammar, and style. Sarah L. Kaufman is a Pulitzer Prize-winning critic, an award-winning author and a writing teacher. As the Washington Post’s chief dance critic she wrote about the arts, entertainment, and society for 27 years. Her work has also appeared in the New York Times, Wall Street Journal, New York Review of Books and Boston Globe, among others. Sarah’s latest book, Verb Your Enthusiasm, is a clarion call for all of us to get back to basics: to mean what we say and say what we mean. Sarah sat down with non-fiction writer Dan Richards to share her research and findings on how powerful verbs drive great storytelling. Their conversation explores the nine categories of language, why protecting human creativity matters in the age of AI, and how expressive language helps writers connect more deeply with readers.