She was born Ingrid Bernstein in 1935 in Limlingerode/Harz in Germany. She changed her first name to Sarah in order to protest against her father's anti-semitism. She studied biology and literature at the "Johannes R. Becher Institute for Literature" in Leipzig. In 1965, she married the writer Rainer Kirsch. She protested against the East Germany's explusion of Wolf Biermann in 1976. One year later she left the country herself; nevertheless being critical of the west as well. She is mainly know for her poetry, but she also writes prose and translated children's books into German.