Laura Blake

Laura Blake is a Birmingham-based writer and editor of British and Jamaican heritage. For the last ten years, she has worked as the managing editor for a magazine publishing house, and she holds an MA in Literary Studies from Aberystwyth University.

Laura’s short stories have been shortlisted for a number of short story prizes, including the Floella Benjamin Trophy (2019), the London Independent Short Story Prize (2020), the Leicester Writes Short Story Prize (2020), and the George Floyd Short Story Competition (2020). She has also had stories published in Scottish Arts Trust’s 2020 anthology and Reflex Fiction’s 2020 anthology.

Laura’s 2021 story, ‘Home is not Here’, was shortlisted for the 4th Estate and Guardian 4thWrite Short Story Prize. Focusing on an elderly woman caught up in the Windrush Scandal, the story provided the foundation for HOMEBIRD, her debut novel.