Sarah Rosenson, "Fan Fiction on the Book of Genesis: A Guide to Close Reading of and Creative Writing on the Bible" (Cherry Orchard Books, 2026)

Can creative writing become a form of biblical interpretation?

That is the provocative question at the heart of my conversation with Sarah Rosenson about her new book, Fan Fiction on the Book of Genesis: A Guide to Close Reading of and Creative Writing on the Bible (Cherry Orchard Books, 2026). 

The modern phenomenon of fan fiction involves readers writing

creative pieces that answer questions left open in favorite works of

literature. This also describes the ancient tradition of midrash, where

readers write stories filling in gaps in the Bible. In Fan Fiction on the Book of Genesis

Sarah Rosenson discusses the questions left open in the first book of

the Bible, and every chapter includes questions for the characters in

the stories, which can serve as prompts for conversations or creative

writing.

Rosenson argues that careful reading reveals narrative gaps:

characters whose motivations remain unexplained, conversations that