Neighborhood native Sara Staggs’ first book, Uncontrollable, debuted last week, May 25.
The novel follows the life of a high-powered civil rights attorney living with epilepsy, a condition Staggs understands too well.
A Greenhill School alumnus, Staggs tells us she grew up in a neighborhood near Northhaven Road and St. Michaels Drive. She practiced civil rights litigation for several years before turning to writing.
Her semi-autobiographical first novel is based on her experiences with balancing career and family goals with the realities of an unpredictable neurological disorder characterized by repeated seizures. Uncontrollable is “a compelling story that tackles complex themes with sensitivity and nuance” according to Pacific Book Review.
Staggs loves to write fiction, both adult contemporary and YA, says her promotional materials — she is both an epilepsy advocate and an LGBTQ+ advocate. She writes a blog series that covers epilepsy, LGBTQ+ concerns, writing and publishing tips.
The mother of two has had two brain surgeries to help control her severe seizures and lives with a device in her brain that is supposed to calm things when it detects a seizure is coming. For both her character and herself, not getting epileptic seizures under control could be fatal, as she explained in an interview on a local news show in Portland, where she resides today.
Due to her seizures, Staggs says she had to give up her dream career of being a civil litigator fighting for the rights of the disenfranchised. After leaving her law practice, she began writing for literary journals and media outlets such as the Huffington Post, often using a pen name.
In addition to entertaining her reader, she hopes the book will raise awareness and smash the stigma around epilepsy, and increase understanding of other themes — such as mental health, relationships and womanhood — she touches on in the story, she told KGW8.
Coming up in our neighborhood, Staggs has an appearance at Interabang books June 9 and Barnes and Nobel June 10.
