Lauren Rhoades

Lauren is a writer and editor living in Jackson, Mississippi. Originally from Denver, Colorado, Lauren has served with AmeriCorps, started Mississippi's first fermentation company, and helmed the Eudora Welty House & Garden. She is now director of grants at the Mississippi Arts Commission and a host of MPB's The Mississippi Arts Hour. In 2022, Lauren founded Rooted Magazine, an online publication dedicated to telling unfiltered stories about what it means to call Mississippi home. She also hosts a monthly book club with Rooted subscribers, where authors including Harrison Scott Key, Tyriek White, and Katy Simpson Smith have joined to talk about their books. Lauren's essays have been published in the Southwest Review, Phoebe, Salvation South, and elsewhere. She holds an MFA in creative writing from the Mississippi University for Women. Her coming-of-age memoir, Split the Baby, will be published by Belle Point Press in May 2025.