Lara Stapleton

Lara Stapleton is the writer of a television series 1850 set in New Orleans before the Civil War, about mixed people, mixed couples, taboo and the color line. She is partnered with producer and co-creator Rachel Watanabe-Batton and producer Djaka Soare. Lara is also the author of the short story collection The Lowest Blue Flame Before Nothing (Aunt Lute, 1998), an Independent Booksellers' Selection, and a Pen Open Book Committee Selection. She edited The Thirdest World (Factory School, 2004) and co-edited Juncture (Soft Skull, 2007). Her work has appeared in dozens of periodicals, including The Los Angeles Review of Books, Ms., Poets and Writers, Glimmer Train, and The Indiana Review. She was born and raised in East Lansing, Michigan. New York City has long been her home. A graduate of NYU's creative writing program, she teaches for Borough of Manhattan Community College of the City University of New York.