I’m Laura Premack, a writer, historian, artist, educator and coach. Born and raised in New England, I now make my home in the northwest of England with my husband, two children, and big white dog.

After growing up in Massachusetts, I earned a BA in History at Wesleyan University; worked for the Appalachian Mountain Club; taught school in Arizona; bicycled the Pacific Coast; waitressed in the Hamptons; and earned an EdM at Harvard. After a spell doing wilderness therapy for adjudicated youth in Utah, I taught middle school in San Francisco; studied Zen at Tassajara Zen Mountain Center; and completed an MA and PhD in Global History at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

Many years in academia followed, which included winning fellowships from the Fulbright, Andrew W Mellon and Gerda Henkel Foundations; researching in Nigeria, Brazil, the UK and the US; and holding appointments and affiliations at University College Ibadan, the State University of Rio de Janeiro, Bowdoin College and Keene State College. My final academic job was as permanent Lecturer in Global Religion and Politics at Lancaster University

I left academia in 2019. Since then, I’ve studied for my RHS Level 2 in Practical Horticulture at Holehird Gardens; completed coaching training; become certified as a meditation teacher; taught myself to weave; won a Developing Your Creative Practice grant from Arts Council England; and signed with literary agent Ludo Cinelli of Eve White in London. Together we’ve sold a book proposal to American and British publishers.

I’m now hard at work writing Botanica and running my coaching practice, while my looms languish temporarily and the comfrey takes over the wildflower patch in my back garden.

Creativity
Looking for the way that hasn’t been done before. Making what does not yet exist.

Curiosity
Wondering, learning, and seeking new understanding.