Lessons from My Teachers: From Preschool to the Present

by Sarah Ruhl

Overview

Notes From Your Bookseller

A celebration and rumination on the lasting impact teachers of all kinds have -- from in the classroom to the workplace and beyond. This universal tale of tutelage is an inspiration for all.

An inspiring collection of “pristine, perfect” (Elizabeth Strout) essays on the life-altering bonds between teacher and student and the timeless wisdom imparted both inside and outside the classroom—from critically acclaimed author, MacArthur genius, two-time Pulitzer Prize finalist, and Tony Award–nominated playwright and author, Sarah Ruhl.

Based on her popular class at Yale, this “tender and profound” (Booklist) essay collection from one of our greatest living playwrights and teachers, Sarah Ruhl, is a testament to the singular impact of teachers across every stage of our lives. Anchored in stories both personal and universal, drawing on Sarah’s experiences with her parents and children, with schoolteachers, creative influences, and beyond, Lessons from My Teachers is a “a true tribute to those who teach... [that] masterfully captures the ineffable essence of all that passes between teacher and student” (Sharon Salzberg).

Perfect for sharing with loved ones and role models alike and meant for marking important seasons and milestones, Lessons from My Teachers is a collection “told by a master storyteller...Anyone who learns and teaches will find affirmation in this book.” (Kirkus Reviews).

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781668034965
Publisher:	S&S/ Marysue Rucci Books
Publication date:	05/06/2025
Pages:	240
Product dimensions:	5.40(w) x 7.90(h) x 1.10(d)

About the Author

Sarah Ruhl is a playwright, essayist, and poet. Her fifteen plays include In the Next Room (or the Vibrator Play), The Clean House, and Eurydice. She has been a two-time Pulitzer Prize finalist, a Tony Award nominee, and the recipient of the MacArthur “genius” Fellowship. Her plays have been produced on- and off-Broadway, around the country, internationally, and have been translated into many languages. Her book 100 Essays I Don’t Have Time to Write was a New York Times Notable Book. Her other books include Smile: A Memoir, Letters from Max, with Max Ritvo, and 44 Poems for You. The Dreams I’ll Dream Tonight is her debut picture book. She has received the Steinberg Playwright Award, the Samuel French Award, the Feminist Press Under 40 Award, the National Theater Conference Person of the Year Award, the Susan Smith Blackburn Prize, a Whiting Award, a Lily Award, and a PEN/Laura Pels International Foundation for Theater Award for mid-career playwrights. She teaches at the Yale School of Drama, and she lives in Brooklyn with her husband, Tony Charuvastra, who is a child psychiatrist, and their three children. You can read more about her work at SarahRuhlPlaywright.com.

Editorial Reviews

Lessons From My Teachers is a timely and lively reminder of what we owe teachers... [Ruhl] celebrates teaching in the broadest sense—those subtle moments of shared truth that can occur anywhere.”—Danny Heitman, Christian Science Monitor

“Ruhl tracks the way life continually presents to us opportunities to become more impassioned scholars of the human comedy... The moral is to say hello to the familiar stranger, to write that note of gratitude and to appreciate that teaching and learning are a lot closer to love than we’ve been led to believe.” —Los Angeles Times

“Lessons from My Teachers is a tender, thoughtful, humorous slice of the wisdom gained from years of teaching and being taught.” —Shelf Awareness

“Funny and sad, tender and profound, this collection celebrates the bonds between teachers of all kinds and their students. Best savored slowly, [Lessons from My Teachers] is a touching collection that readers will appreciate.” —Booklist

“[Ruhl] shows us how even the smallest moment can instruct, how a child can teach a parent, and how true creativity demands a willingness to learn. This is a memoir of brief anecdotes, told by a master storyteller... Anyone who learns and teaches will find affirmation in this book.” —Kirkus Reviews

“A true tribute to those who teach, Ruhl’s Lessons from My Teachers masterfully captures the ineffable essence of all that passes between teacher and student, offering a beautiful depiction of the transformation possible within the teacher-student relationship.”
—Sharon Salzberg, author of Lovingkindness and Real Life



"The gardener or a cranky neighbor, the local falafel man or the family dog, even a monster film executive—almost anybody can be a teacher for those who seek to learn. Such is the central lesson of Lessons, an inspiring collection that might be called an autobiography were it not for the fact that the teller of each tale is never the center of the story. Or, rather, she is the center but not as an individual exactly, but as a welcoming and collective being who happens to bear the name of Sarah Ruhl."

—Lewis Hyde, author of The Gift and A Primer for Forgetting

“Pristine, perfect. These Short essays contain multitudes of truthful lessons for anyone who is wondering about Life—and how to move through it. A really lovely book.” —Elizabeth Strout, Pulitzer Prize winning author of Olive Kitteridge and Tell Me Everything

From the Publisher

2025-04-17
Those who can, teach.

For playwright Ruhl, life has been a history of teachers. From her parents, through her kindergarten and school years, through college and graduate school, to professional life, Ruhl learns from everyone. She shows us how even the smallest moment can instruct, how a child can teach a parent, and how true creativity demands a willingness to learn. This is a memoir of brief anecdotes, told by a master storyteller. “Every Saturday, when I was a child, my father would take me to breakfast at Walker Brothers Pancake House, a place out of time in the suburbs of Chicago, full of stained glass and massive Dutch pancakes. My father taught me a new word every week. The ritual was holy to me. He would tell me the etymology, along with the word, so I could remember it.” In college, she meets a great Classicist, and he remains a presence in her life: “someone who opened his home to his students; someone who thought the ancients had something compelling to tell us about how to live life now, how to face grief now. On a stone building on campus, these words are etched: ‘Speak to the past and it shall teach thee.’” Eventually, Ruhl learns the greatest lesson: that we must, in the end, become our own best teachers—that what we learn from others is not content, knowledge, facts, or frameworks but a way of living. “I think that the best teachers secretly choose to keep teaching because they want to learn their whole lives long—and they know teaching is their best chance of learning.” Anyone who learns and teaches will find affirmation in this book.

An elevating memoir of lifelong learning, told by a playwright who makes the past come back to life.

Kirkus Reviews