The sea and islands have inspired my writing and my art. I grew up in Manhattan, which (hard to believe) is really an island. My neighborhood, Yorkville, was by the East River. Back then most of the buildings were brownstones and children played on the sidewalks. There was a small town feel in the big city, but I longed for the country. I spent summers on Nantucket Island and at a Vermont camp enjoying the wilderness.
I have always loved books, art and nature. My father is a venture capitalist and my mother is a talented painter. Free time was spent reading, drawing and in
museums as much as in playgrounds. I went to The Dalton School and still have close friends from those years. I took elective
creative writing and journalism classes and as many art and science
classes that would fit in my schedule. I was the photography editor of the school newspaper. I spent one summer living in a tent and studying
field biology in Kenya and another summer photo-ID-ing dolphins in the
Gulf of Mexico.
There is no single thread in my life but a web of many interests. I chose Government as my major at Harvard College so I could study environmental policy. I spent my junior year abroad at King’s College London. I learned painting from a mentor artist, Aviva Green, and in art schools (National Academy, Harvard Graduate School of Design, Cambridge Center, Maine College of Art.)
I worked for several environmental organizations and as a manager of an
international student exchange program. I also did a Masters in Political Science at M.I.T. focusing on Science, Technology & Public Policy and American Politics.
In 1997 my husband, Henry Laurence,
accepted a teaching position at Bowdoin College in Maine. It
was quite a shock for a city girl to move to a small town where the
trees outnumbered the people. The winter was something else. When our youngest child started school, I
looked for work that I could do at home in a remote location while
raising my children.
It was with delight that I turned back to my twin
passions of writing and art. How could I not be inspired by the
beautiful coastal landscape? I paint watercolors during the summer in
Maine and on Nantucket Island and write during the school year.
My foray into small town politics inspired my writing. When our Superintendent proposed building a big box elementary school, I organized parents in support of small neighborhood schools. This was going on at the same time as
the trial in Dover, PA on intelligent design, a theory that challenges Darwinian evolution. I fused the two events with a fun fictional story, and this became my novel S.A.D.. Add a handsome lobsterman, pirates and vigilantes, and the tale is as salty and romantic as the islands of Maine.
In 2007-8 I lived in the U.K. while researching a new novel, Not Cricket.
My English husband was on sabbatical at Oxford University. Our teenaged son and tween daughter attended English schools. We even took our dog Stella (below) and my blog along.
It was a fabulous experience, like a year long writer’s retreat. I'm writing Not Cricket now and referencing my blog posts from England.
Sarah Laurence and her dog Stella by Jennifer Mirsky
My children introduced me to the wonderful world of young adult literature that has blossomed since Harry Potter. Fine authors, like Laurie Hals Anderson, inspired me to try writing in this genre. I
drew from my experience growing up in Manhattan to write as u like it. My twelve-year-old daughter helped me make the characters
sound up to date.
Top right corner photo of Sarah Laurence at Bailey Island, Maine by Catherine Ferdinand. Photo of Sarah and her dog Stella by Jennifer Mirsky. All other photos and painting by Sarah Laurence.
