Laurie Lawlor

author • educator • often found in nature

Laurie Lawlor

Laurie Lawlor author

events

Upcoming Events

Sat­ur­day, April 5, 2025, 2:00 to 3:00 pm
Hoff­man Estates Pub­lic Library
1550 Has­sell Road
Hoff­man Estates, IL 60169
(847) 923‑3455

Reg­is­tra­tion open to teens and adults. (Find event on April cal­en­dar. Click on event to register.)

Inspir­ing Gar­den­ers and Cel­e­brat­ing Earth Day
Book Dis­cus­sion with Evanston Author Lau­rie Lawlor
about a Com­mu­ni­ty Envi­ron­men­tal Suc­cess Story

Restor­ing Prairie, Woods, and Pond:
How a Small Trail Can Make a Big Difference

Hear the inspir­ing true sto­ry of how vol­un­teers in a small Wis­con­sin town restored a for­got­ten wilder­ness by remov­ing lit­ter and inva­sive plants, cut­ting buck­thorn, and plant­i­ng natives, cre­at­ing a nat­ur­al habi­tat that’s an out­door class­room for chil­dren and a beloved nature walk for the whole com­mu­ni­ty. Copies of Restor­ing Prairie, Woods, and Pond will be avail­able for sale.

Restoring Prairie, Woods, and Pond

Thurs­day, August 28, 2025
12:00 noon ET
Erie Canal Muse­um
318 Erie Boule­vard Street, Syra­cuse, New York

Deep­er Dive pre­sen­ta­tion on Many Voic­es: Build­ing Erie, the Canal That Changed America

Many Voices Building Erie the Canal that Changed America

Sat­ur­day, Sep­tem­ber 13, 2025
3:00 pm CT
The Book Stall
811 Elm Street, Win­net­ka, Illinois

We’re hav­ing a Pub­li­ca­tion Party!

for Many Voic­es: Build­ing Erie, the Canal That Changed America

Many Voices Building Erie the Canal that Changed America

Past Events

Fri­day and Sat­ur­day,
July 19 — 20, 2024
9:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. CT
North­west­ern Uni­ver­si­ty Sum­mer Writ­ers’ Con­fer­ence
North­west­ern | School of Pro­fes­sion­al Stud­ies
Online Con­fer­ence
Tuition and Registration

Since its incep­tion in 2004, the con­fer­ence has offered a vari­ety of pro­gram­ming for writ­ers of all gen­res and back­grounds. This year’s atten­dees have the unique oppor­tu­ni­ty to learn from award-win­ning authors on how to uncov­er the heart of a sto­ry, use nature to make sense of the world, tease uni­ver­sal insights from per­son­al expe­ri­ences, and nav­i­gate the com­plex­i­ties of flash­backs. The con­fer­ence fea­tures a vari­ety of spe­cial­ized work­shops on flash fic­tion, imag­i­na­tive trav­el writ­ing, and char­ac­ter devel­op­ment. Par­tic­i­pants can also receive pro tips on pub­lish­ing as prac­tice and how to embrace the con­cept of ‘good enough.’ For those seek­ing per­son­al­ized feed­back, indi­vid­ual man­u­script con­sul­ta­tions with con­fer­ence fac­ul­ty are available.

Northwestern Summer Writers' Conference

Lau­rie Lawlor’s Work­shop
Breath­ing Life into Young Adult Fic­tion Char­ac­ters
2:00 to 3:00 p.m. CT

Change is at the heart of young adult fic­tion — some of the most path-break­ing books pub­lished today. This gen­er­a­tive work­shop will pro­vide tools to cre­ate believ­able, engag­ing YA char­ac­ters, whether you’re con­sid­er­ing a new project or dig­ging deep­er into a nov­el-in-progress. Dur­ing our time togeth­er, we will also look at pub­lished short char­ac­ter excerpts from best­selling and clas­sic YA fic­tion and dis­cuss the poten­tial for “crossover” between YA and adult readers.

Sat­ur­day, July 13, 2024
2:00 p.m. to 3:00 p.m.
Wood­stock Pub­lic Library
414 W. Judd Street
Wood­stock, IL
Reg­is­ter online or give them a call: 815–338-0542
For all ages

Woodstock Public Library

Lawlor will share the true sto­ry behind an envi­ron­men­tal suc­cess sto­ry in Eagle, Wis­con­sin, where com­mu­ni­ty vol­un­teers trans­formed a sev­en-acre garbage dump into an out­door class­room and habi­tat for prairie, wet­land, and wood­land plants and ani­mals. Lawlor’s non­fic­tion book with full col­or pho­tographs, Restor­ing Prairie, Woods, and Pond: How a Small Trail Can Make a Big Dif­fer­ence, will be avail­able for sale and auto­graph­ing. Com­pli­men­ta­ry native seed pack­ets and book­marks will be offered.

Sat­ur­day, July 13, 2024
11:00 a.m. to 12:00 noon
Wood­stock Pub­lic Library
414 W. Judd Street
Wood­stock, IL
Reg­is­ter online or give them a call: 815–338-0542
For all ages

Join us as we kick-off the library’s efforts to restore the sur­round­ing land­scape with native plants, with this won­der­ful oppor­tu­ni­ty to hear award-win­ning author Lau­rie Lawlor share insights about her illus­trat­ed non­fic­tion pic­ture book, Fear­less World Trav­el­er: Adven­tures of Mar­i­anne North, Botan­i­cal Artist.

Sat­ur­day, May 11, 2024
10:00 a.m. to 12:00 noon
Con­ser­va­tion Chron­i­cles,
read­ing Rachel Car­son and Her
Book that Changed the World
Hart­land Marsh Pre­serve
Wauke­sha Coun­ty
Land Con­ser­van­cy

Conservation Chronicles

April 30, 2024
Cul­mi­nat­ing Event
Pewau­kee Pub­lic School Sys­tem, WI
Dis­cussing What Music!
With school musi­cal event

What Music

April 17, 2024
Win­net­ka Gar­den Club
Win­net­ka, IL
Restor­ing Prairie, Woods, and Pond dis­cus­sion
(I will have books avail­able for sale.)

Restoring Prairie, Woods, and Pond

April 15–19, 2024
Class­room vis­its with retired Chica­go Sym­pho­ny musi­cian
Pewau­kee, WI
to dis­cuss What Music!
(local inde­pen­dent book­store pro­vid­ing books)

What Music

Fri­day, March 15, 2024
12:15 p.m. to 1 p.m.
lun­cheon 2:15 to 3:15
auto­graph­ing
Illi­nois Read­ing Coun­cil Con­fer­ence
Illi­nois Reads Author Lun­cheon
Grand Ball­room at Wyn­d­ham Hotel
Spring­field, IL
(Anderson’s Book­shops pro­vid­ing books)

Sat­ur­day, Feb­ru­ary 24, 2024
8:00 am to 12:00 noon
Anderson’s Book­shop
Children’s Lit­er­a­ture Break­fast
Bobak’s Events
6440 Dou­ble Eagle Dr.
Woodridge, IL

Anderson's Children's Literature Breakfast

Mon­day, Feb­ru­ary 12, 2024
7:00 to 8:00 pm
Valen­tine to Earth pre­sen­ta­tion
Restor­ing Prairie, Woods, and Pond: How a Small Trail Can Make a Big Dif­fer­ence
Glen­view Pub­lic Library
Com­mu­ni­ty Room East
1930 Glen­view Road
Glen­view, IL 60025
(847) 901‑5942

Restoring Prairie, Woods, and Pond
The Book Stall
Greener Glenview

(Spon­sored by Green­er Glen­view, with The Book Stall pro­vid­ing books)

Hear the inspir­ing true sto­ry of how vol­un­teers in a small Wis­con­sin town restored a for­got­ten wilder­ness by remov­ing lit­ter and inva­sive plants, cut­ting buck­thorn, and plant­i­ng natives, cre­at­ing a nat­ur­al habi­tat that’s an out­door class­room for chil­dren and a beloved nature walk for the whole com­mu­ni­ty. Copies of Restor­ing Prairie, Woods, and Pond will be avail­able for sale and sign­ing cour­tesy of The Book Stall in Win­net­ka. Co-spon­sored by Green­er Glenview.

Sat­ur­day, Feb­ru­ary 3, 2024
10:00 am to 2:00 pm
Illi­nois Reads Book Fes­ti­val
West­mont High School
909 N. Oak­wood Dr.
West­mont, IL
(Anderson’s Book­shops pro­vid­ing books)

Illinois Reads logo
Anderson's Bookshops

Sat­ur­day, Jan­u­ary 20, 2024
11:30 am to 2:00 pm
Read-a-Thon
iRead Kick Off Event
High­land Park Library
494 Lau­rel Ave.
High­land Park, IL
(The Book Stall pro­vid­ing books)

The Book Stall

What MusicSat­ur­day, Decem­ber 9, 2023
10:30 am to 11:30 am CT
An “Ode to Joy”
The Book Stall, 811 Elm Street, Win­net­ka, IL – 847–446-8880

For the won­der­ful read­ers and music lovers in your life! cel­e­brat­ing the book, What Music! The Fifty-Year Friend­ship Between Beethoven and Nan­nette Stre­ich­er, Who Built His Pianos. Ms. Lawlor mas­ter­ful­ly uses for­got­ten his­tor­i­cal let­ters, a glos­sary, and rich back mat­ter on both friends’ lives and art to intro­duce read­ers to the man behind the music and the woman who built his pianos.

Lawlor deft­ly depicts how these two fas­ci­nat­ing friends — a com­pos­er with hear­ing loss and a woman who became an inno­v­a­tive piano mak­er in a time that dis­cour­aged female entre­pre­neur­ship — ought the odds and worked togeth­er in per­fect harmony.

Ms. Lawlor will be hap­py to sign her book fol­low­ing the sto­ry time! Great for kids ages 6 to 9 as well as the musi­cal­ly inclined of all ages.

JFK Teachers Conference

Sup­port­ed by the John F. Kennedy Library Foun­da­tion. See pho­tos from this event.

Laurie Lawlor at The Book Stall on July 10 2023

The Book Stall
Mon­day, July 10, 2023, 6:30 pm
811 Elm Street, Win­net­ka, Illinois

Amid so much dire cli­mate change news, won­der­ing what you can do to make a dif­fer­ence to help save the plan­et? Lau­rie Lawlor will dis­cuss her new non­fic­tion book with read­ers age 10 and up, Restor­ing Prairie, Woods, and Pond How a Small Trail Can Make a Big Dif­fer­ence.

Inspir­ing envi­ron­men­tal suc­cess sto­ry tells how a small town with few resources comes togeth­er to restore nature and cre­ate a valu­able resource for the entire community.

This event for adults and chil­dren is co-spon­sored by Go Green Reads. The mis­sion of Go Green Win­net­ka is to raise aware­ness regard­ing sus­tain­abil­i­ty and inspire schools, gov­ern­men­tal units, orga­ni­za­tions, busi­ness­es, and indi­vid­u­als to take action tar­get­ing cli­mate change, waste, and sus­tain­able raw materials.

Amer­i­can Library Asso­ci­a­tion Annu­al Con­fer­ence 2023
Chica­go, Illinois

Mon­day, June 26, 2023, 11:30 a.m. to 12 p.m. 
Chap­ter One Stage, Con­ven­tion Cen­ter
Auto­graph­ing Restor­ing Prairie, Woods, and Pond: How a Small Trail Can Make a Big Difference

Amer­i­can Library Asso­ci­a­tion Annu­al Con­fer­ence 2023
Chica­go, Illinois

Mon­day, June 26, 2023, 12:30 to 1:20 p.m. 
Chap­ter One Stage, Con­ven­tion Cen­ter
Pan­el Pre­sen­ter for Pro­gram:
“Sav­ing Plan­et Earth:
Intro­duc­ing The Books for a Bet­ter Earth Col­lec­tion”
Host­ed by Mary Cash,VP and Edi­tor In Chief, 
Hol­i­day House Pub­lish­ing, Inc.

Laurie Lawlor Book Launch Celebration

Soci­ety of Mid­land Authors Award Cer­e­mo­ny
Children’s Read­ing Round Table / Children’s Non­fic­tion Award
Tues­day, May 10, 2022, 6:00 pm cash bar, 7:00 pm din­ner
Cliff Dwellers Club, 200 S. Michi­gan Ave., 22nd floor, Chica­go, Illinois

Car­ol Marin, co-direc­tor of the DePaul Cen­ter for Jour­nal­ism Integri­ty & Excel­lence and NBC5’s for­mer polit­i­cal edi­tor, will emcee the awards ban­quet. The keynote speak­er will be Urbana nov­el­ist and short-sto­ry author Jean Thomp­son, a pro­fes­sor emeri­ta at the Uni­ver­si­ty of Illi­nois Urbana-Cham­paign who served as a judge in the adult fic­tion category.

Suzanne Slade will be giv­en the award for June Almei­da, Virus Detec­tive!: The Woman Who Dis­cov­ered the First Human Coro­n­avirus (Sleep­ing Bear Press). I am delight­ed to receive an Hon­or for Fear­less World Trav­el­er: Adven­tures of Mar­i­anne North, Botan­i­cal Artist (Hol­i­day House) and Kao Kalia Yang will receive an hon­or for Yang War­riors (Uni­ver­si­ty of Min­neso­ta Press). 
 

MA/MFA Grad­u­ate & Fac­ul­ty Vir­tu­al Autumn Read­ing
Thurs­day, Nov 11, 2021, 7:00 to 8:15 pm

Join us for a vir­tu­al read­ing fea­tur­ing three alum­ni and two fac­ul­ty mem­bers of our grad­u­ate cre­ative writ­ing pro­gram: Fei Sun, Eri­ka Carey, Jen­nifer Com­panik, Lau­rie Lawlor, and Juan Martinez.
 
Rep­re­sen­ta­tives of the Chica­go Lit­er­ary Hall of Fame will also join us to dis­cuss their upcom­ing events and their orga­ni­za­tion’s mission.
 
The read­ing begins at 7:00 pm Cen­tral Time and is free. Please mes­sage us for the Zoom link on our Face­book event page.
 

Sto­ry­book Stroll with Lau­rie Lawlor
fea­tur­ing Big Tree Down!
Fri­day, Sept 24, 2021, 8:00 am,
to Sat­ur­day, Sept 25, 2021, 5:00 pm
Start at the Eagle Munic­i­pal Build­ing, fol­low the signs through the Eagle Nature Trail to read along with the sto­ry, end­ing at the Eagle Ele­men­tary School.
Host­ed by the Alice Bak­er Pub­lic Library
Eagle, WI (262) 594‑2800

* ! * Enter a draw­ing in the Library from Sept 20–24 for a chance to win a signed copy of Big Tree Down!

* ! * Meet me, Lau­rie Lawlor, on the trail Fri­day, Sept 24, from 1:00 to 3:00 pm and from 5:30 to 6:30 pm at the Trail Pho­to Con­test Reception.

Storybook Stroll

Bed­time Sto­ry with Lau­rie Lawlor
Fear­less World Trav­el­er: Adven­tures of Mar­i­anne North
Vir­tu­al on Zoom
Fri­day, May 14, 2021, 7:00 pm
Welles­ley Books, Welles­ley, MA

Rea­dathon Kick-off with Lau­rie Lawlor
Fear­less World Trav­el­er: Adven­tures of Mar­i­anne North
Vir­tu­al Author Vis­it
Mon­day, April 26, 2021, 4:00 pm
Edi­son School, Chica­go, IL

Readathon 2021
Rea­dathon Kick-Off Event, a fundrais­er for Edi­son School

Boo­gie Down Sto­ry­time with Lau­rie Lawlor
Fear­less World Trav­el­er: Adven­tures of Mar­i­anne North
Vir­tu­al – Zoom
Sat­ur­day, April 17, 2021, 10:00 am ET
The Bronx, New York City

Boogie Down with Laurie Lawlor
Boo­gie Down sto­ry­time with Boo­gie Down Books.