Lauren Wolk graduated from Brown University in 1981 with a degree in English and American Literature and a concentration in Creative Writing. Since then she has worked as, among other things, a writer with the Battered Women’s Project of the St. Paul American Indian Center, a senior editor with Nelson Publishing in Toronto, a freelance editor and writer, a magazine feature writer, a high school English and Creative Writing teacher at Sturgis Charter School, Assistant Director of the Cape Cod Writers’ Center, and, from 2007 through 2021, Associate Director at the Cultural Center of Cape Cod.

Wolk has taught poetry and fiction to writers of all ages and abilities. She focuses on the use of keen observation and fresh language; the creation of strong characters, dialogue, and a sense of place; how to get started and how to complete a work; how to be inspired and energized by one’s own work; and the importance of “twoness” in any written work—layers beneath the surface and surprises around the corner, for both writer and reader.

Wolk is also an award-winning poet and a visual artist represented by the Larkin Gallery in Harwich, Massachusetts.

Lauren Wolk is a novelist, poet, visual artist. This site features a sampling of her work and information about her professional and personal life. For information about her novels (all published by Dutton / Penguin Random House) -- Wolf Hollow (2016), Beyond the Bright Sea (2107), Echo Mountain (2020), My Own Lightning (May 3, 2022) -- or her other fiction, please navigate to the Fiction and Etc. pages.


To book a workshop, seminar, reading/presentation, or other author event, please contact Andrea Cruise, Penguin Author Appearance Coordinator, Penguin Young Readers Group, at penguinauthorvisits@gmail.com. For other information, please contact Kaitline Kneafsey at kkneafsey@penguinrandomhouse.com or Shanta Newlin at snewlin@penguinrandomhouse.com