Laura Maylene Walter

Fiction Writer

Cleveland, OH
Ohio US

Author's Bio

Laura Maylene Walter is the author of the novel Body of Stars (Dutton, 2021), an Ohioana Book Awards Finalist and a UK Booksellers Association Fiction Book of the Month selection. Her work has appeared in Poets & Writers, Kenyon Review, The Sun, Ninth Letter, Slate, Literary Hub, The Masters Review, Horse Girls (Harper Perennial, 2021), and elsewhere. She has received grants, fellowships, or residencies from Sewanee, Yaddo, Tin House, the Ohio Arts Council, the Barbara Deming Memorial Fund, VCCA, the Chautauqua Institution, the Ohioana Library Association, and Art Omi: Writers. She was a founding editor of Literary Cleveland’s Gordon Square Review, and she is currently the Ohio Center for the Book Fellow at Cleveland Public Library, where she hosts Page Count, a literary podcast.

Literary agent: 
Erin Harris, Folio

Publications & Prizes

Books:
Body of Stars (Dutton, 2021)
,
Living Arrangements (BkMk Press-UMKC, 2011)
Prizes won: 
  • Walter E. Dakin Fellow, Sewanee Writers’ Conference, 2023.
  • Grantee, Barbara Deming Memorial Fund, 2022.
  • Individual Excellence Award, Ohio Arts Council, 2022.
  • Fiction Book of the Month, UK Booksellers Association, for Body of Stars. March 2021.
  • Devine Summer Fellowship, Bowling Green State University, 2015.
  • National Gold Award, 2012 Independent Publisher Book Awards (IPPY Awards), for Living Arrangements.
  • Walter Rumsey Marvin Grant, Ohioana Library Association, 2011.
  • G.S. Sharat Chandra Prize for Short Fiction, 2010.
  • Sophie Kerr Prize, Washington College, 2003

More Information

Gives readings: 
Yes
Travels for readings: 
Yes
Prefers to work with: 
Adults, At Risk Youth, Homelessness, Illness/Wellness, Incarcerated Individuals, Mental Health, Naturalists/Environmentalists, Seniors, Teenagers
Fluent in: 
English
Please note: All information in the Directory is provided by the listed writers or their representatives.
Last update: Apr 22, 2025