Carrie Laben grew up in western New York on a small dairy farm. After stints in Ithaca and Brooklyn, New York, they earned their MFA at the University of Montana in scenic Missoula. They now live in Queens.

Honors and Awards

Brush Creek Residency, 2019
MacDowell Fellow, 2018
Shirley Jackson Award (Short Story Division), 2017
Duke Center for Documentary Studies Documentary Essay Prize, 2017
Anne LaBastille Memorial Writing Residency, 2015
Nominee, AWP Intro Journals Project, 2013
Bertha Morton Fellow 2012-13
Nominee, Shirley Jackson Award (Short Story Division), 2008
First Place, Cayuga Lake Watershed Network Essay Contest (Adult Division), 2005
Fourth Place, Charles Lathrop Pack Foundation Essay Contest, 1997