Laura Carnes Williams grew up five houses from a public library and could often be seen lugging bags of books down the street. 

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She's been a waitress, a cocktail server at Tavern on the Green, a barista, an ICU nurse, an open heart surgical nurse, a  middle school nurse, a health teacher, and a professional tutor.

 

Her body of work encompasses many genres: short fiction, poetry, personal essays, and she has several novels-in-process (both YA/Adult). She has an affinity for speculative worlds, underdogs and eccentrics, off-kilter humor and acrobatic turns of phrase. She likes it when things get a little weird.

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Her writing is inspired by Roald Dahl, Lorrie Moore, Karen Thompson Walker, Jenny Offill, and Kevin Wilson (to name a few).

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Her favorite authors are Toni Morrison and John Steinbeck. 

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Contemporary authors she admires include Yaa Gyasi, Peter Ho Davies, and Madeline Miller.  

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Her favorite literary character is Scarlet O'Hara from Margaret Mitchell's Gone with the Wind.

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She loves Richard Russo's small towns.

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Her favorite book from childhood is Where the Red Fern Grows by Wilson Rawls. She wrote him a fan letter in sixth grade and he wrote back.  

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For more about Laura Carnes Williams, please check out her BIO.