Laura is a second generation Irish writer from the North East of England. She writes across multiple genres including narrative non-fiction, essays and short stories. She writes a regular Substack called ‘Guess What? Me’ - read it here.
Her work explores memory, grief, social class, how place and identity intersect, being Irish in Britain and the 90s (💖)
In 2023, Laura was the recipient of the Northern Writers Arvon Award. Her work has also been listed for the Life Writing Prize, Penguin WriteNow, the Fish Short Memoir Prize and a Creative Futures Award. Her poetry and non-fiction has been published in Severine and MIROnline.
Laura runs the online gallery Projecting Grief along with photographer Jo Ritchie and facilitates exhibitions and creative workshops centred around grief. She has a particular interest in oral history, and some of her recordings were recently included in the Irish in Britain Look Back to Look Forward 50th anniversary exhibition.
When she had fewer children and more patience, Laura was a secondary school English teacher. She now works as a freelance copywriter and communications-type bod for schools, charities, community groups and other organisations which align with her passions, including Great Run, Paul Hamlyn Foundation and Leeds Irish Health and Homes (💚)
When she’s not working, Laura enjoys Absolute Country, Jarvis Cocker and back-to-back episodes of RuPaul’s Drag Race (💅🏽)