Lauren W. Westerfield is the author of Depth Control: Essays and Autofictions, a hybrid collection forthcoming in 2025 from Unsolicited Press.

Her essays and poetry have most recently appeared in FENCE, Seneca Review, Willow Springs, Denver Quarterly, Indiana Review, and Ninth Letter. She teaches in the English department at Washington State University, where she serves as the editor-in-chief of Blood Orange Review. She is also the outgoing nonfiction/hybrid editor at Split/Lip Press.

Lauren holds an MFA in Creative Nonfiction from the University of Idaho, and is the recipient of a 2022 Fellowship in Literature from the Idaho Commission on the Arts in support of her second book project-in-progress, Woman House, a memoir in essays exploring epigenetics, illness, artmaking, addiction, autonomy, sexuality, power, and shame. Woman House was a semi-finalist for OSU’s 2024 Non/Fiction Collection Book Prize.

She is currently at work on a third book—part memoir, part autoethnography, part millennial reckoning—about the history and culture of her Northern California home town. She also occasionally paints.

Lauren lives in Spokane, Washington, with her husband and their cat, Lou.

Contact

Email: lauren.westerfield@gmail.com