Profile

Laura Shovan is a Pushcart Prize-nominated poet and the author of the middle grade novels The Last Fifth Grade of Emerson Elementary, Takedown, and A Place at the Table, co-authored with Saadia Faruqi.

Laura’s books have been Junior Library Guild and PJ Our Way Selections, NCTE and Sydney Taylor Notables, a Bank Street Best Children’s Book of the Year, and included in the ALA’s Amelia Bloomer Project (now known as Rise: A Feminist Book Project). A former literary magazine editor, Laura’s poetry for children and adults has been widely published in anthologies and journals. She is a longtime poet-in-the-schools for the Maryland State Arts Council.

Education

MAT – English | Montclair State University

BFA – Dramatic Writing | NYU, Tisch (Founder’s Scholar, Honors Graduate)

Jasmine Warga

Faculty, MFA in WCYA

Tom Birdseye

Faculty Emeritus, MFA in WCYA

Corey Ann Haydu

Faculty, MFA in WCYA

Melanie Crowder

Faculty, MFA in WCYA

Emily X.R. Pan

Faculty, MFA in WCYA

Varian Johnson

Faculty, MFA in WCYA