My name is Sarah Melotte, and I am a geographer and journalist whose work focuses on rural America.

As an editor at the Daily Yonder, an independent newsroom published by the Center for Rural Strategies, I partner with writers who are committed to telling nuanced stories about rural inequality and other issues often misunderstood by national media. 

In my own reporting, I pursue stories that examine healthcare access, economic outcomes, and the ways that the Trump administration reshaped policy in ways that disproportionately harm rural communities. My approach to journalism seeks to blend human stories with data-driven analysis. I also produce the Rural Index, a biweekly newsletter featuring a map or graphic about rural America. In 2022, I graduated from the University of Colorado Denver with a master’s degree in applied geography and geospatial science. 

Outside of my 9-to-5 job in journalism, I write creative nonfiction that weaves reporting, literary analysis, and scholarship with personal narrative. I’m working on a book about people who say they’ve seen mountain lions east of the Mississippi River, where they have supposedly been extinct for more than a century. The project braids memoir and reporting, studying obsession, faith, and the American wilderness. You can keep up with my creative endeavors on my Substack, Threshold.

I live in western North Carolina with my two cats, Plop and Flannery O’Connor. I have an unusually high tolerance for boredom, which I consider my favorite writerly asset. 

I have received support from the Frank Allen Field Reporting Grant from the Institute for Journalism and Natural Resources.

I have also participated in several writing workshops, including programs at the Hindman Settlement School, the Orion Environmental Writers’ Workshop, and the Great Smokies Writing Program.