[Poet Spotlight] Lauren Andrei

Lauren Andrei was born to a viraginous, Filipina woman and a green-thumbed Mexican man. She is fire breathing dragon herself. As a young girl, she jumped into the deep end of the pool and starting drowning but the water did not win. She started combating dream demons nightly and developed quite the hero complex.

In the waking world, she is a part-time Oncology Nurse, artist and burrito huntress! Incidentally, she believes they are serendipitously connected. She also performs on stage, on film, and is a voiceover talent. She was last seen onstage in Stories High XIV in San Francisco, where she played the lead role of Despina and performs often as part of the all-female sketch comedy troupe Granny Cart Gangstas. You can find her in the ocean, if you can find her at all.

I first ran into her work while she was a student of mine at Kearny Street Workshop. I found her pieces often brief but intriguing and imaginative, accomplishing much in just a few lines when she's at her best. I hope many more readers come across her work in the years ahead.

Be sure to get a copy of her debut book Shipwreck Smiles! http://www.blurb.com/b/7032252-shipwreck-smiles It dives into issues of being Mexican-Pinay growing up in America, betrayal, and what its like to be a mermaid on land.