Laurie Edwards is an award winning writer, editor, and writing instructor. Her first book, Life Disrupted: Getting Real About Chronic Illness in Your Twenties and Thirties (Bloomsbury USA), was named one of 2008’s Best Consumer Health Books by Library Journal, and Publisher’s Weekly called her “wise, generous, and a terrific storyteller.”

Her second book, In The Kingdom of the Sick: A Social History of Chronic Illness in America, came out in 2013. Booklist gave it a starred review, calling it “An indispensable book for anyone with or concerned about chronic disease, and everyone interested in the health professions,” and named it a 2013 Editor’s Choice for Adult Books.

Laurie has been published in the New York Times, Boston Globe, Boston Globe Magazine, Glamour, and many other outlets. She is also a contributor to Cognoscenti, the Ideas and Opinion page of WBUR, Boston’s NPR station. You can read more of her published essays and articles here.

She has also appeared as a guest on Fresh Air with Terry Gross, The Today Show with Maria Shriver, and many other radio and Internet programs. She’s an advocate for young adults with chronic illness, and is a frequent speaker at academic and literary conferences, virtual conferences, webinars, and other venues. In 2009, she was invited to participate in a round-table discussion about health care with President Bill Clinton at the Clinton Foundation. She’s particularly interested in patient engagement, patient advocacy, gender and pain, and chronic illness and public health.

Laurie has a BA from Georgetown University and an MFA from Emerson College, where she won the departmental award for Nonfiction writing. She is a Teaching Professor in the Writing Program at Northeastern University, specializing in writing for the health sciences, writing in the sciences, writing to heal, and online writing instruction. Please see her curriculum vitae for further details.

She lives with her husband, daughter, and rescue dog outside of Boston, MA.