Join the Initiative on Race and Reslience in exploring the writer's craft with Lauren Francis-Sharma, the 2026 Artist-in-Residence in the Notre Dame Initiative on Race and Resilience She is an award-winning and acclaimed author and the assistant director of the Bread Loaf Writer's Conference.
A book sale and signing will follow. Light refereshments will be served.
Lauren Francis-Sharma, a Pushcart nominated writer, is the author of Book of the Little Axe, a 2020 finalist for the Hurston/Wright Award in Fiction. Her critically acclaimed first novel, ‘Til the Well Runs Dry was awarded the Honor Fiction Prize by the Black Caucus of the ALA. Her third novel, Casualties of Truth, a finalist for the 2025 Caricon Prize, has been named a “Best Book to Read” by NPR, and was inspired by her time at South Africa’s Truth and Reconciliation Commision’s Amnesty Hearings. Lauren has written the new introduction to the latest edition of the classic South African novel, Cry, the Beloved Country, and is co-editor of the 2026 anthology, Welcome to the Mountain: A Portable Bread Loaf Writers’ Conference. She is the Assistant Director of Bread Loaf Writers’ Conference, serves as Awards Chair for the PEN/Faulkner Foundation, and is a graduate of the MFA Program for Writers at Warren Wilson College, the University of Michigan Law School, and the University of Pennsylvania.