BIOGRAPHY
Laurie Halse Anderson was born on October 23, 1961 in Potsdam, New York. Potsdam is a cultural and educational center neighbored by four universities in the country close to the border of Canada. Growing up, Anderson was a good student and well-behaved daughter who embraced her inner, “sandal wearing, granola eating, tree hugging” hippie self. As a child, she disliked English and often challenged her teachers. Once she overcame her literary barriers, she became an avid reader and was steered onto the bath of a writer.
As a teen, she was eager to leave her parents. For her senior year of high school she was a foreign exchange student at Denmark. Of all places, this New York hippie ended up on a pig farm. After 13 months of chores, working on the fields, and caring for farm animals, Anderson returned home in 1979, and she found herself working on a dairy farm while attending Onondaga Community College. Later, she transferred to Georgetown University in 1981. She graduated in 1984 with a degree in Language and Linguistics, but couldn’t find a job to pay off student loans. She wrote for extra cash decided to pass off the safety of a cubicle for the fickle life of a freelance writer. Up to this time, writing had just been a hobby. In the meantime, Anderson fell in love with and married Greg Anderson in 1985. The two began a family with their daughters Stephanie Holcomb and Meredith Lauren. Anderson later divorced and moved back to Mexico, New York with her daughters.
Anderson rekindled an old fire with her childhood sweetheart Scot Larrabee. They married and their family grew to add two more daughters, Jessica and Christian. Now, Anderson and Scot live in the woods, writing, hiking, and enjoying their charming country lives.
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