About

My name is Laura Alary and I write stories that make us bigger on the inside.

What does that mean?

It means my books make you think. Wonder. Ask big questions. Maybe understand other people a bit better. Some of them are serious. Some are funny. Most are a bit of both. But they all aim to stretch minds and hearts.

Sometimes people ask me how I come up with my ideas. I wish I could say that I am particularly clever or imaginative. But the truth is, the ideas are already out there. My job is simply to pay attention and discover them.

When I was little, every time I went for a walk I came home with my pockets bulging, filled with little treasures I had picked up along the way: sea glass, stones, shells, acorns, fool’s gold, or anything else that caught my eye.

Being a writer is a bit like that.

Wherever I go I am on the lookout for things that strike me as intriguing or beautiful. I look, listen, read, wonder, and ask a lot of questions. When I come across something that interests or excites me, I write it down in a notebook (I have shelves full of them). Out of this collection of bits and pieces come some of my best ideas for stories.

Over the years I have done a variety of things, including studying Classics, earning a Ph.D., teaching music at a Montessori school, and raising three curious and creative children. Nowadays I work in a library, where I am happily surrounded by books all the time!

[I handle books more gently these days]

Because I am interested in so many things, my books cover a lot of territory too, including science, mythology, stories from the bible, and biographies of people (like Maria Mitchell and Cecilia Payne) who have  used their powers of observation and imagination to understand the world around them—and the universe beyond them.

What all my books have in common is a sense of curiosity, compassion, wonder, and delight in this amazing cosmos we share.

I hope you enjoy my stories.

[Artwork by Sue Todd from Mira and the Big Story]