september, 2025
Event Details
Shaun Hamill
Join us for the launch of The Meditating Mother, a quietly luminous debut collection of short fiction by Laura Kopchick. These stories uncover the uncanny corners of everyday life—where a mother in the NICU might possess healing powers she can’t use on her own child, a neighbor stirs up unexpected feelings, and a suburban couple guards a strange secret that fascinates the neighborhood kids. Full of emotional depth and quiet wonder, Kopchick’s stories reveal how extraordinary our ordinary lives can be.
To celebrate the launch, Laura will be joined in conversation by Shaun Hamill, author of A Cosmology of Monsters and The Dissonance, whose own work similarly navigates the thresholds between the real and the strange. Together, they’ll discuss the inspiration behind these stories, the craft of writing about the uncanny in the everyday, and the role of wonder and vulnerability in fiction.
About the author
Laura Kopchick received an MFA program in Fiction from the University of Michigan, where she won the Hopwood Award and the Roy W. Cowden Award in short fiction. Her fiction has appeared in Santa Monica Review, Pleiades, Potomac Review and others. She currently serves as the Coordinator of Creative Writing at The University of Texas at Arlington where she teaches courses in poetry, fiction, and creative non-fiction.
About the book
The Meditating Mother is a debut collection of short fiction by Laura Kopchick that explores the magic of everyday existence. There’s a mother in the NICU who seems to have healing powers, if only she could use them on her own ailing son. A next door neighbor has a strange ability to stir up new feelings. A curious married couple holds a secret about which the neighborhood kids wonder. In each of Kopchick’s stories, the characters feel alive, real, and full. They remind us how extraordinary ordinary life today can be.
Shaun Hamill received his BA in English from the University of Texas at Arlington and an MFA from the Iowa Writers’ Workshop. His debut novel, A Cosmology of Monsters, was released by Pantheon books in September of 2019. His second novel, The Dissonance, was released by Pantheon Books in 2024.
