Author Bio: Laura Zaylea

Laura Zaylea is an Assistant Professor of Media Studies and Production at Temple University in Philadelphia, PA. Her creative practice centers on video and text-based new media storytelling. Her recent works include the interactive novel Closer Than Rust (interwoven fictional stories about navigating queer identities in the rural American South) and the locative media project Speak2MeInCode (an illicit romance revealed through the guise of a grammar book). In 2013, Zaylea attended the writing residency In(ter)ventions: Literary Practice at the Edge at the BANFF Center in Alberta, Canada. Her screenplays have been awarded by the Atlanta International Film Festival and the University Film and Video Association. She has co-written/directed one independent feature film, Hold The Sun (2009), and several short films including Flower Fall (2007), Lydia Li (2004-2006), and Camouflage Pink (2002). More about her work can be found at www.LauraZaylea.com