MY FATHER’S LIST BOOK TOUR

Catch Laura on the road as she reads from My Father’s List at bookstores and events around America.

 

september 17, 2026

Denver | Deeds Over Dudes Book Club Author talk and signing with Julie Ragusa’s book club

May–August, 2026

ONLINE | Writing Workshops Teaching an eight-week version of my memoir-writing class, allowing for more writing prompts and advice to students (specific dates TBD)

PAST EVENTS

april 11, 2026

Cape Cod, MA | Cape Cod Writers Center Taught my 2.5-hour class on writing memoir, “On Structure and Style: How to Make Your Memoir Stand Out,” at the renowned Cape Cod Writers Center, partly founded by my favorite author, Kurt Vonnegut, Jr. INFO

October 7–23, 2025

Greensboro, NC | Greensboro Public Library One City, One Book Award Winner for 2025: Festival was August through December, 2025; I was there for a 16-day writer’s residency, participating in 38 author events, which included seven book clubs, vegan cooking classes, talks with local authors, a bucket list resource fair, and panel discussions with NY Times best-selling authors Leigh Ann Henion, Curtis Chin and Zelda Lockhart. While there I hosted a two-week Modern Prairie Do The Thing Bucket List Challenge, citywide, and also curated a film festival of eight films that inspired My Father’s List. In the final event, the City of Greensboro premiered filmmaker Erin Everson’s documentary Found, about the making of my book, My Father’s List.

Highlights: a two-hour interview with a personal hero, Grammy- and Oscar-winning beloved songwriter and Jim Henson collaborator Paul Williams (to promote the film festival, which included The Muppet Movie; story on how I got the interview here); a private dinner with a personal hero, Big Fish author Daniel Wallace; three talks with my good friend, an author and speechwriter to Canadian prime ministers, as well as a longtime friend to the late President Jimmy Carter, Arthur Milnes; a teen group night with a panel of teen moderators, including my niece, Savannah Wilson; and an opening talk moderated by Laura Beth Vietor on books about grief, when I shared the stage with Melanie Brooks and Donna Washington. | INFO
ONE CITY, ONE BOOK AWARD EVENT VIDEOS

august 27, 2025

Albuquerque, NM | SouthWest Writers (workshop lesson with Writers Helping Writers: “My Father’s List: How I Finished My Late Dad’s List of Life Goals and Wrote a Successful Book About It”) | INFO

June 1, 2025

Greenport, NY | Floyd Memorial Library (book presentation with author Jacob Cooper)

April 10, 2025

ONLINE | Writing Workshops (virtual guest speaker with memoirist Melissa Petro’s 12-week memoir class)

March 20, 2025

Millburn, NJ | Millburn High School (author talk with Millburn Writing Club)

october 24, 2024

Hamilton, NJ | Hamilton Farm Golf Club (author presentation for audience of 250, fundraiser for Friends of the Shelter) | INFO

September 25, 2024

New York | American Society of Journalists and Authors (chosen for panel on “Building the Dreaded Book Platform”)

july 25, 2024

Asheville, NC | Malaprop’s Bookstore virtual talk for The Saddest Girl on the Beach (Heather Frese in conversation with Laura Carney)

June 17, 2024

Scarsdale, NY | Scarsdale Public Library (with author Karen DeBonis) | INFO

june 10, 2024

Falls Church, VA | Author talk with middle schoolers at Rachel Carson Middle School

may 21, 2024

Glen Ridge, NJ | Author talk with seniors at Glen Ridge High School

maRch 28, 2024

Reston, VA | Why Not Today? Luncheon (interview with podcaster Leslie Kane)

march 26, 2024

Asheville, NC | Malaprop’s Bookstore off-site event at West Asheville Library (in conversation with Melanie Brooks)

March 9, 2024

Coopersburg, PA | Medina Books and Coffee (author talk and book signing)

January 20, 2024

Asheville, NC | Malaprop’s Bookstore (author signing with Melanie Brooks)

OCTOBER 27, 2023

Newark, DE | University of Delaware (talk with author and professor emeritus Ben Yagoda) | INFO

OCTOBER 11, 2023

Sedona | Sedona Public Library (in conversation with author Kiersten Parsons Hathcock) | INFO

OCTOBER 6, 2023

Santa Fe | Garcia Street Books (talk with author Katie Arnold) | INFO

september 22, 2023

Los Angeles | Zibby’s Bookshop (author talk with Laura Cathcart Robbins)

September 19, 2023

New York | Paragraph Union Square: Workspace for Writers (“Proposal to Print: Writers’ Publication Stories” with Laura Carney—virtual lesson for 50 students) | INFO

August 29, 2023

Seattle | University of Washington Bookstore (in conversation with Steve Fisher, host of the LifeSlices podcast) | INFO

AUGUST 25, 2023

Denver | Tattered Cover Book Store (Westminster) (in conversation with Tom Everson, executive director of Keep Kids Alive Drive 25) | INFO

AUGUST 20, 2023

Woodstock, NY | The Golden Notebook (in conversation with the bookstore’s Drew Broussard) | INFO

AUGUST 11, 2023

Chicago | The Book Cellar (in conversation with radio host, journalist, author and filmmaker Amy Güth) | INFO

JULY 29, 2023

Miami | Books and Books (in conversation with Caroline Gardner, host of the Why We Tri podcast ) | INFO

July 27, 2023

Atlanta | Bookish (in conversation with filmmaker Gerik Gooch)

JULY 26, 2023

Asheville, NC | Malaprop’s Bookstore off-site event at West Asheville Library (in conversation with author Ann Batchelder) | INFO

JULY 22, 2023

Greensboro, NC | Greensboro Bound Literary Festival (in conversation with author James Tate Hill) | INFO

JULY 12, 2023

St. Louis | Left Bank Books (in conversation with journalist and documentarian Jeff Truesdell) | INFO

JULY 6, 2023

Philadelphia | Booked (in conversation with artist Sarah Detweiler Farrugia)

JULY 1, 2023

Bayville, NJ | Miss Mindy’s Homemade Ice Cream (reading and 5K running event) | INFO

JUNE 24, 2023

Wilmington, DE | Barnes & Noble (reading)| INFO

June 18, 2023

Lancaster, PA | Pocket Books Shop (author talk with Jamie Beth Cohen)

JUNE 17, 2023

Baltimore | Atomic Books (with author and gallerist Nicole Shea) | INFO

JUNE 14, 2023

Montclair, NJ | Watchung Booksellers (in conversation with Jim Axelrod of CBS News) | INFO