new book

Shadow Notes

Clara Montague didn't even want to come home. Her mother, Constance Montague never liked her--or listened to her--but now they have to get along or they will both end up in jail or dead.

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Works


Daughter of the Sky

Poetry
FutureCycle Press
2022

The poems in Laurel Peterson's "Daughter of Sky" soar to the limits of space, sparkling with gorgeous language and images, and they plunge into the deepest depths of doubt and loss.

The Fallen

Mystery
Woodhall Press
2021

Clara Montague is having dreams again, the kind that should steer her away from trouble but always lead her to it.

Shadow Notes

Mystery
Woodhall Press
2021

Clara Montague didn't even want to come home. Her mother, Constance Montague never liked her--or listened to her--but now they have to get along or they will both end up in jail or dead.

Do You Expect Your Art To Answer?

Poetry
FutureCycle Press
2017

"Do You Expect Your Art to Answer?" is a collection of ekphrastic poems that explores the world of art and our relationship to it.

That's The Way The Music Sounds

Poetry
Finishing Line Press
2008

“Laurel Peterson stands at the ‘edge of the world’ not far from a casually harsh God who enjoys ‘golf afternoons’ as all hell is breaking loose around Him. She puts up with it by writing rings around him, sledgehammer poems wrapped in velvet, poems of confession and affirmation. That’s the Way the Music Sounds is an eclectic array of poems that are fashioned from flesh and reach the ear in quite a new voice to contemporary poetry, a voice as true and lasting as bone.” –Dan Masterson

(Re)Interpretations: The Shapes of Justice in Women’s Experience

Sociology
Cambridge Scholars Publishing
2009

“Patriarchal institutions govern all aspects of women's lives: their minds, their bodies, and their souls. Additionally, they govern the ways in which women are perceived by others and the ways in which women perceive themselves. (Re) Interpretations: The Shapes of Justice in Women's Experience, is a collection of essays on language, religion, war, sex trafficking, and medicine the patriarchal structures that form the basis of western society and, thus, are in many ways inherently unjust.”

Poems

by Laurel Peterson

Sun Flies

What We Are

PocketWatch

Press


"During her yearlong tenure as Norwalk’s first poet laureate, Laurel Peterson will work to disseminate poetry in Norwalk’s public sphere. Her first project, a selection of poems to be displayed on Norwalk busses, will go on display this month." –The Hour

"Laurel Peterson, an author and poet, is Norwalk’s first poet laureate — one of only a handful in the state. For the next year, she will work to foster a love and appreciation of poetry among the city's residents and visitors" –Westport News

About Me


Laurel S. Peterson is a Professor of English at Norwalk Community College. Her poetry has been published in many small literary journals. She has two poetry chapbooks: That’s the Way the Music Sounds, from Finishing Line Press (2009) and Talking to the Mirror from The Last Automat Press (2010). She also co-edited a collection of essays on women’s justice titled (Re)Interpretations: The Shapes of Justice in Women’s Experience (2009). Her mystery novel, Shadow Notes, was released by Barking Rain Press (May 2016). A full length collection of poetry, Do You Expect Your Art to Answer You? was released by Futurecycle Press in 2017. She served as poet laureate of Norwalk, CT from April 2016 – April 2019.

One eighth grade afternoon, the bully on the bus was worse than usual. I came home and wrote a story of revenge in my journal. What satisfaction to leave her bleeding (on paper, of course!) on the playground. Thus was born my career as a mystery writer. In college, I majored in psychology, fascinated by what motivates us (or doesn’t). Why did that girl down the hall only write notes to her mother and rarely talk to her? Why did one kid in a family act like a goody two-shoes, while an older brother or sister did drugs and flunked out? Why was the rich girl with all the family connections bulimic? Why did people attend a religious school only to flout all its rules? After college, I tested the waters in advertising, catering, retail, and sales, salting away character details in my journals, and in lousy short stories. Then, I did an MFA and entered the world of academic politics, where I currently reside, writing poetry and mysteries, and grading papers.

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