Bio
Laura Barber is an author of both women's fiction and memoir. She is seeking an agent for her women's fiction novel The Record, which was chosen as a finalist in the 2022 Pacific Northwest Writing Association literary contest. She has also written a memoir called Guts about her struggles with Crohn's disease and how she used writing to heal herself.
She has published an assortment of free-lance articles, columns, and poems for various publications in Missouri, Colorado, and Washington, including Wrist magazine in Tacoma and the website The Daily Vonnegut. She led a session called “How to Praise and Give Feedback to Promote a Growth Mindset” at the 2022 Northwest Association of Independent Schools conference. She also presented “A Fast and Easy Way for Teachers of Any Subject to Mark Papers for Grammar” at the 2019 NWAIS conference and a session on writing as healing at the 2016 NWAIS conference. She is a member of the Pacific Northwest Writers Association and Women's Fiction Writers Association, and she has been a reader for the Pacific Northwest Writers Association Mainstream Literary Contest for four years. She taught high school English at Annie Wright Schools, a boarding school in Tacoma, Washington, for many years, where she also led the after-school creative writing group Annie Writers and sometimes taught writing to heal.
Laura double-majored in English (with an emphasis in creative writing) and art history at the University of Missouri-Columbia, where she also earned a Master's of Education in Secondary English Curriculum and Instruction as well as certification. In addition, Laura earned an MA in English literature at Washington University in St. Louis.
She received an excellent report from her gastroenterologist at her most recent checkup.
Publications
"Crohn's is Hard to Spell and Harder to Understand," featured on OstomyConnection, Oct 2015
"Unhappy Anniversaries," featured on CrohnsNews, Aug 2015
"Kurt Vonnegut Saved Me" (essay and interview), The Daily Vonnegut, Feb 2015
"Wright Park in Fall, After a Poetry Reading" (poem), Wrist, Apr 2013
"Sleep Demons" (poem), Western Pathfinder Magazine, Spring 2004 (as Laura Uthe)
Guest columnist for "Opinion Shaper," Chesterfield Journal, 1997 (as Laura Uthe)
"Creature Comfort" (feature article), St. Louis, Sept/Oct 1996 (as Laura Uthe)
"Refuge for the Past" (feature article), St. Louis Life, Feb 1995 (as Laura Uthe)
"Observation of an Amputation" (feature article), Columbia Missourian Weekend Magazine, Oct 1994 (as Laura Uthe)
"The 'Professional' Wardrobe" (cover article), St. Louis Seen, Sept 1994 (as Laura Uthe)
"Totally Teapot" (article), St. Louis Home, Sept 1994 (as Laura Uthe)
"Doggie Delights for the Dragging Dog Days" (article), St. Louis Home, Aug 1994 (as Laura Uthe)
"The Wednesday Inquirer" (article), St. Louis Seen, Aug 1994 (as Laura Uthe)
"Tastin' Away in Margaritaville" (article), St. Louis Seen, Aug 1994 (as Laura Uthe)
"The Way We Were, The Way It Was" (article), St. Louis Seen, June 1994 (as Laura Uthe)
"School of Courtesy and Manners" (feature article), stir, Fall 1993 (as Laura Uthe)