Author Laura Moriarty wasn’t born in Kansas, but that doesn’t stop her from calling the Sunflower State “home.”
Moriarty, the critically acclaimed author of “The Center of Everything” spoke to Baker University creative writing students Oct. 18 about her newest book “The Rest of Her Life.”
“The sophomore book is supposed to be the hardest,” Moriarty said of her new book. “But I really flew through it.”
Students in some of Instructor of English Marti Mihalyi’s classes were encouraged to attend the event after reading Moriarty’s work.
“I remember the first time I met Laura Moriarty,” Mihalyi said. “I remember thinking what a natural teacher she is.”
Senior Kelly Ochs, who is part of Mihalyi’s fiction writing class, said she enjoyed Moriarty’s reading because she was down-to-earth.
“She was really animated and relatable,” she said. “She didn’t talk down to us. She talked to us like we were on the same level.”
Growing up, Moriarty said she moved around a lot because her father was a Marine, but when she moved to Kansas to earn her master’s degree in social work at the University of Kansas, she fell in love with the landscape and the people.
“I guess I started writing in 1991 when I was writing my first short story as an undergrad at KU,” Moriarty said. “I stayed up all night writing and when I was done I was really proud of what I’d written.”
Since her time at KU, Moriarty has been the recipient of the George Bennett Fellowship for Creative Writing at Phillips Exeter Academy. Moriarty said this award more or less paid for her to write the first novel.
After finishing “The Center of Everything” Moriarty said she did a book tour.
“I like talking to thoughtful readers,” she said of her college visits. “It’s so gratifying to speak to students who have read my books and are more engaged.”
One reason Moriarty said she agreed to come speak to Baker students is because Mihalyi said her students had been reading the author’s books.
“I have a rule,” Moriarty said. “If students have read my work, I’ll come.”
Mihalyi said she loves introducing students to Moriarty’s work because of her writing style.
“Laura Moriarty is a fine writer,” she said. “She is a writer whose books I have not been able to put down. She is also a wonderful human being.”