By Caroline Cluiss
Laura McBride never planned on becoming an author. She had dreamed about it as a child, but always assumed it wouldn’t work out. When a publisher was interested in her work after a four month writing sabbatical, McBride was shocked.
On Wednesday morning, bestselling author Laura McBride spoke to students as part of the Richardson Reads One Book program. Last May, students were selected to read McBride’s book, We Are Called to Rise, and given the opportunity to meet her and ask questions. This was McBride’s first time to speak with high schoolers about her book.
“What I was really struck by was how thoughtful the questions I got were and how carefully students had read it,” McBride said. “And this is always true, we imagine that high school students are younger than they are or know less than they do.”
The book covers heavy topics including PTSD and police brutality. For students like junior Samantha Sturgeon, the novel has a deeper connection.
“I thought the book was really well written and inspiring, but also sad,” Sturgeon said. “I have a lot of family in the military so it’s sad to read about PTSD and how it affects so many lives.”
McBride got the idea for the central conflict from a news article that made an impact on her.
“I remember the story very well, it was very troubling and upsetting,” McBride said. “I used it as a springboard for inventing a story and the people that would have been involved in it.”
McBride was working to get her doctorate degree when the legislature shut down the program she was in. This gave her extra time and she decided to use it to begin writing.
“By 50, I knew that life would slip past you so I spent a month at this artist’s residency program where I was writing every waking hour,” McBride said. “I knew what a rare opportunity it was to have that kind of time.”
The Richardson Reads One Book program began in 2004 to encourage reading in the community.
“I enjoyed reading the book but listening to McBride speak made me love it even more,” junior Anna Maupin said. “Listening to her speak about her book and writing process reenergized my existing love for art.”
Many of the students enjoyed reading McBride’s book, listening to her speak and talking with her afterwards.
“The way she writes her book, it connects to mothers, it connects to children, and it connects to soldiers, it really connects to a lot of people,” senior Douglas Garbutt said. “I think it’s rare for a book to do that.”