It is with deep sadness that we announce the passing of beloved colleague and exceptional author Laura Fish at the age of 60. Our heartfelt sympathy goes out to her family and friends.
Dr. Laura Fish joined the Centre for Literary and Intermedial Crossings at Vrije Universiteit Brussel as a writer-in-residence in the Spring of 2023. During her time at VUB she discussed her second novel Strange Music with the students of Prof. dr. Elisabeth Bekers’s MA course on Black British Women Writers. In this neo-slave narrative she revisits Elizabeth Barrett Browning’s famous abolitionist poem ‘The Runaway Slave at Pilgrim’s Point’ (1848) from the perspectives of a Jamaican field worker (Sheba), a mixed-race housemaid (Kaydia) and the Victorian poet herself. As part of VUB’s WeKonekt.week in March 2023, members of the VUB community and the general public were fortunate to hear Laura read from her novel-in-progress Lying Perfectly Still at the Pépite Blues bookshop in Brussels. Set in Eswatini (former Swaziland), the novel tells the story of Koliwe, a young woman of mixed heritage, and her morally ambiguous experiences in aid and development work. Laura’s thoughtful answers to the audience’s questions were included in a longer interview that was published in the Journal for Literary and Intermedial Crossings later in the year. While in Brussels, Laura also directed a highly-rated creative writing workshop on the theme of “Writing Back” for budding local writers and VUB students.
As Assistant Professor of Creative Writing at Northumbria University and a Fellow of the Iowa International Writers' Programme, and in the many projects and conferences in which she participated, Laura fostered dialogues between cultures and inspired narratives that uncovered silenced histories and reimagined the past. Laura passed away only a couple of weeks before her third novel Lying Perfectly Still was due to be launched at Newcastle’s city library. (Her partner Michael Wilde has set up a fundraising page for the Swaziland Charitable Trust in Laura’s name; donations can be made here.) With the posthumous publication of the novel, Fly on the Wall Press ensures that Laura’s “voice of great literary quality, integrity and generosity” continues to resonate. Laura will live on in her writing and in the fond memories we have of her.
“A few distant stars twinkling. Old stars. Old dreams. She knew them, reached for them in ancient hills floating in infinity. […] The past and future felt so far; she wanted to hold each moment as though it were the last and wished she could share this forever. Easy time. Evening time. Time to spare. […] Bitter sweet wood smoke, shadows tall in darkness, kind hearts and laughter welcoming the night.” (Laura Fish, Flight of Black Swans, p. 171)
Tribute by Elisabeth Bekers & Katrijn Van den Bossche
Images: ©Jean Cosyn 2023
