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High Plains Library District Announces 2019 Writer in Residence

(Greeley – April, 2019) – The High Plains Library District (HPLD) and the HPLD Foundation are continuing their commitment to support the local writing community and amplify local voices. Now in its fourth year, the Writer in Residence program will once again provide a local author with the opportunity to share their story.

Laura Brashear was selected by a volunteer panel to serve as the District’s fourth Writer in Residence. Laura will use the nine-month residency to complete a nonfiction project about her husband’s unexpected journey with leukemia and the profound impact their family’s love of horses had on his recovery.

On May 21, 2014, Laura’s husband, Mike, was diagnosed with Acute Promyelocytic Leukemia, a rare and aggressive form of Leukemia. “We were terrified,” Laura remembers. The next eight months were consumed by seven-hour days in the Blood Infusion Center where he received treatments five days a week. “While we were grateful for his road to recovery, it was a tough, emotional road,” says Laura. “Because his cancer was so rare, he didn’t have anyone to talk with about his fears, pain, and expectations.”

“When he was finally cleared to be around horses, he spent hours grooming and talking to them,” Laura shares. “Those moments spent with those creatures helped him endure the long hours spent in chemotherapy. The conversations and touch helped him bear the physical pain.”

Laura’s goal is to let others with the disease know they are not alone and help share the vital role animals can play in the healing process. In addition to bringing awareness to the benefits of animal therapy, Laura hopes to donate some of the proceeds from the work once it is published to the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society.  

Laura is a lifelong resident of Colorado and has lived in the Fort Lupton area for over thirty years, where she and her husband raise their three children and train horses. They live on a farm with cattle, chickens, ducks, three dogs, a cat, and a guinea fowl hen named Kevin.  

She loves the freedom reading and writing allows, from creating characters to conveying life truths. She holds a Master of Fine Arts degree in Creative Writing.  In addition to writing, Brashear shares her knowledge as a Writing Tutor and Adjunct Instructor teaching composition at Aims Community College.

The Writer in Residence program was established by the High Plains Library District Foundation and is funded by community donors. The goal of the program is to support the creative process of one Weld County writer during a nine-month time-period so they may complete a manuscript with the intent to publish. The program is part of the District’s vision to serve as an incubator for the arts and further the mission of connecting communities to information, inspiration and entertainment for life.

 

The HPLD Foundation will be holding a Meet the Resident event with Laura next month. To learn more about Laura and the Writer in Residence program, visit mylibrary.us/writer-in-residence.

 

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The High Plains Library District connects communities to information, inspiration and entertainment for life. HPLD includes libraries in Greeley, Evans, Firestone, Erie, Kersey, Ault, Eaton, Johnstown, Platteville, Hudson, Fort Lupton and Gilcrest.