It's the end of another month at Odyssey, which means one thing- time to announce our featured writer for July! We've had several amazing writers join our summer program this year. Using our response button feature, they carry on our mission of sparking positive, productive conversations in a polarized world.

This month, we're excited to honor Sara Ashton- poet, entertainment reviewer, and writing inspiration to us all. She contributes to Odyssey all the way from England! Read on to hear her story.

If you're interested in becoming a writer, email us! You’ll get to choose your own topics and write one article a week. Your work will be featured on our homepage and in our weekly Overheard on Odyssey newsletter. Plus, for your first 10 articles, you’ll be compensated by HQ at $10/article.

I first joined The Odyssey team all the way back in 2018, feels like a lifetime ago! And I slipped away from it for a while but gladly came back to it this year and this time, as a response writer.

It has been such an amazing feeling being able to connect with other peoples stories and ideas, having this platform to share with other talent is such an immersive and wonderful experience.

Being an English & Creative Writing graduate who has a huge passion for poetry has also paid off writing for The Odyssey, as I have been privileged enough to be able to show my work to the world - and I couldn’t be more thankful for the wonderful team for letting me have the opportunity to showcase my work to the world.

When choosing an article to respond to, if I’m not writing poetry — I pick the one that speaks to me the most. I go from there, read the article a few times and get to work on my article. It is great to have structure, whilst also having some sort of flexibility in this role. Though, I always ensure my articles are sent in the same time every week.

The Odyssey has helped me improve my confidence as a writer, and I am so thankful for the opportunities I have been given so far, I look forward to the rest of this journey!