Laurie Lathem

Laurie Lathem is a prize-winning writer of fiction, essays and plays. She is also a teacher and an independent producer. She was recently awarded a 2026 Trout Lily fellowship at the Vermont Studio Center where she will be completing a collection of short stories.

Her short story “Dildo Story” won third place in the Plentitudes Journal 2025 Fiction Award. Her other work has appeared in cream city review, About Place Journal, StandUp2Cancer and others.

Laurie’s most recent play This is How We Come Alive had a reading at the Vineyard Theater in New York City starring Jessica Hecht, Calvin Leon Jones and Alicia Pilgrim. It was directed by Danilo Gambini. Colman Domingo says of the play: “Laurie Lathem is a stunning playwright, and This is How We Come Alive is a brilliant, moving play that perfectly captures the losses, both personal and global, that we all felt during the darkest days of the pandemic and the hope that eventually got us through.”

Laurie offers workshops, writing retreats and manuscript consults. She has taught at Stanford University Continuing Studies Program, the Highways Performance Space and in house at Pixar Animation Studios as well as independently.

In her previous lives, Laurie worked as an actor in film, TV and stage, and helmed the education programs at Berkeley Rep and Tectonic Theater Project, as well as serving as the Artistic Director of the Virginia Avenue Project. She taught solo performance at Highways Performance Space and was the director of the acclaimed solo show Old Man in a Baseball Cap by Fred Rochlin which had productions at the La Jolla Playhouse and Actors’ Theatre of Louisville among others.

Laurie is a recent alumna of the Bread Loaf Writers’ Conference and the Kenyon Review Writers’ Workshop. As a producer, she has several TV and film projects in development.