Contemporary Authors

PERSONAL

Born December 15, 1990.

EDUCATION:

University of Georgia, B.A.; New School, M.F.A.

ADDRESS

• Home - Atlanta, GA.

CAREER

Writer, novelist, editor, and publishing consultant.

WRITINGS

• Girl out of Water (young adult novel), Sourcebooks Fire (Naperville, IL), 2017

SIDELIGHTS

Laura Silverman is a writer, editor, publishing consultant, and novelist living in Atlanta, Georgia. She is the owner of an editing service in Atlanta, where she works with unpublished writers and novelists to improve their manuscripts and shape their work into publishable form. She holds degrees in English and advertising from the University of Georgia and an M.F.A. in writing for children from the New School.

Silverman is also an advocate and supporter for individuals who suffer from the effects of chronic pain. As a person with an undiagnosed condition that causes her a debilitating level of chronic pain, Silverman knows the physical and mental trouble that can result. In an essay on the website Buzzfeed, she described how her condition started right after her twenty-first birthday, while she was still a student at the University of Georgia. At first her doctors thought it was fibromyalgia, but as the condition worsened, that diagnoses was abandoned. After years of testing, hospitalizations, and medical examinations, her doctors still don’t know what her condition is.

In an interview on the website Adventures in YA Publishing, Silverman stated that she must “write in short bursts because typing hurts my hands and sitting up hurts my back and chest. I used to be able to get seven or eight hours of writing done in a day. Now, on a ‘good’ pain day, I can maybe get two to three hours in if I dedicate my full day to writing” with frequent breaks. Despite her pain, Silverman persists as a writer and editorial consultant, determined to make the most of her talents and skills.

Girl out of Water is Silverman’s debut novel, and concerns Anise, a seventeen-year-old surfer girl living in Santa Cruz, California. She has a pleasant and relatively stable life with her father and friends, especially long-term best friend Eric, who may be turning into something more serious than just a friend. As Anise and her friends look forward to their last summer before college, a family disaster disrupts everyone’s plans. Anise’s aunt has been seriously injured in a car accident, and she and her father must move to Nebraska to care for her aunt and her children. In landlocked Nebraska, there will be no surfing, and Anise will literally be a girl out of water. Family responsibilities must take precedence, and she leaves California.

In Nebraska, however, she meets skateboarder Lincoln, a young black man whose skaeboarding skills aren’t affected by the fact that he’s missing an arm. Gradually, Anise and Lincoln become good friends, with Lincoln teaching her to skateboard. An increasing maturity also enfolds Anise as she recognizes her responsibility to her aunt and cousins and begins to feel compassion for both her father and her aunt. With Lincoln’s patience and help, she begins to realize that she can make her home wherever she wants and adapt to situations as needed.

Silverman “realistically captures Anise’s love for her surfing life and the terrible sacrifice she makes” when she has to leave it behind to tend to a greater responsibility, noted Booklist reviewer Diane Colson. A Kirkus Reviews writer called Girl out of Water a “quick summer read to reassure teens who worry about college or blooming where they’re planted.”

BIOCRIT

PERIODICALS

• Booklist, April 15, 2017, Diane Colson, review of Girl out of Water, p. 50.

• Kirkus Reviews, March 1, 2017, review of Girl out of Water.

ONLINE

• Adventures in YA Publishing, http://www.adventuresinyapublishing.com/ (May 5, 2017), interview with Laura Silverman.

• Laura Silverman Website, https://www.laurasilvermanwrites.com (February 19, 2018).