ABOUT
Laura
In 2021, I graduated with an MFA degree in Creative Writing from the Rainier Writing Workshop, a three-year low-residency MFA program at Pacific Lutheran University in Tacoma, Washington. In that program, I completed two manuscripts tied to my exploration into how my grandmother and her two sisters survived the Armenian Genocide. My critical paper explores how authors write into silence, the private silence of untold stories and the public silence of suppressed stories. In my creative thesis, a hybrid memoir, family photographs, primary documents, and historical fact intersect with memories and speculation to create a personal story within the larger public archive.
WORK IN PROGRESS
Matilda’s Silence: The Search For My Armenian Family’s Story
My grandmother Matilda Haigazn survived the Armenian Genocide of 1915-1923, which took one and a half million Armenian lives, men, women, and children. Matilda rarely spoke of her experiences and the family she left behind in Turkey. Not knowing what happened has always haunted me. This manuscript is my investigative journey to find my extended family and their story, including the historical context in which their lives took place.
Blog
REMEMBER YOUR TRAINING
When, not if, you get tossed out of your boat in a rapid on a river, don’t panic. Hang onto the boat if you can, and with or without the boat, assume the floating lounge chair position: feet up, knees bent, and head back. Ride out the rapid and then, in calmer water,...
Chuckanut Writers Conference
From the opening address by Sonora Jah—The Writer in Uncertain Times—to the closing address by Omar El Akkad—Lies of Our Own Making: The Obligations of Literature in a Politically Fractured Age—my hometown writing conference contained immense ideas, blood-pumping...
SHOTPOUCH
A wash of pink spreads across the lavender sky. The apple orchard grays into view. Soon Shotpouch Creek will surface, rippled in white. But first something new: bits of darkness darting through the air. It’s too early for the robins that will dot the meadow feeling...