Alumni Profile: Laura J. Roberts, MFACW ’16

Laura J. Roberts was in fourth grade when she first wrote a story that made her classmates laugh, telling them about an army of ants that marched into their classroom. After obtaining her Master of Fine Arts in Creative Writing at Chatham University, she did it again at a residency at Eden Hall with a tale about an opossum funeral.

“I ended up with this thesis full of talking animals, and one of them was an opossum named Eugene,” she said. “He had died, and all the other animals gathered at his funeral. Of course, the joke was that they had gathered for his funeral four or five times before.”

“That’s the one that I’m most known for, and I’ve actually been sent opossums in the mail,” she said.  

Laura, a writer living in her native West Virginia, has a knack for fusing stories drawn from real life with an absurd humor. Some of her writing delves into her family life, her home in Wheeling, and her animals. 

A humorous essay collection that featured stories from her own life interwoven with fantastical scenes of talking animals won her a “Most Innovative Thesis” award when she obtained her MFA.

She first came to Chatham after seeing an advertisement for the University’s creative writing program. As a stay-at-home mom who loved spending time in West Virginia’s mountains and hollows, she was enticed by the program’s focus on nature writing and the idea that she would be able to obtain a graduate degree online.

“I suppose it was a serendipitous moment, or a moment when the universe is trying to send you a message,” she said. “Within two days, I filled out an application and never thought to look at any other school. 

“I knew how to write. I was born with it,” she said. “What I learned was to fine tune. I learned how to write humor, I learned how to edit myself, I learned how to critique. I learned how to receive critique.”

Despite the program being virtual, one of the most impactful parts of her time at Chatham was the bonds she formed with fellow writers during two 10-day residencies. A stay at Eden Hall was particularly impactful because of its rural setting.

“It’s the most perfect place to have a writing retreat,” she said. “You’re so close to everything that you need. You’re right there in an urban area, but you’re not. And there’s goldfinches, and there’s bluebirds, and there’s deer, and you can disappear into the woods. It’s wonderful.”

Since graduating, she’s had her byline in several publications, including Wonderful West Virginia, a magazine she’d dreamed about being published in since she was a child. After a few years of freelancing, she started working as a research writer at West Virginia University, where she interviews and writes about researchers discovering new things in her home state.

Going to school at Chatham University ended up being crucial to pushing Laura’s writing career and craft to the next level. The place-based writing emphasized by her program became a major reason she was able to reconnect with West Virginia as she found new ways to explore and celebrate the state through her writing.

“I fell in love with West Virginia all over again in a way I had never known it,” Laura said. “It became such a huge part of my identity, not just to stay in my home state, but to be taught the tools to write about my state and to try to share the importance of place and convey why West Virginia – this backwards, poor, addicted state – is truly so absolutely wonderful and so meaningful.”

“I was able to get this education and apply it to the place that I live as I was rediscovering it,” she said.

Curious about creative writing at Chatham? We offer an undergraduate BFA, minor, integrated degree program, and a low-residency and campus-based MFA in Creative Writing program, as well as a non-degree certificate in travel writing."

Mick Stinelli is a Writer and Digital Content Specialist at Chatham University. His writing has previously appeared in the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette and 90.5 WESA, and he has a B.A. in Broadcast Production and Media Management from Point Park University. Mick, a native of western Pennsylvania, spends his free time watching movies and playing music.