About Laurel

Laurel Schmidt is a lifelong educator, art lover, and writer. She's the author of four non-fiction books on art, learning, and brain development. She taught for decades in Los Angeles, working her way up from kindergarten through middle school and loving every minute. Then it was time for something new. She graduated to being a principal and then district director, all the while doing professional development around the country. But she also had the great fortune to have a parallel career combining her two loves—art and learning.

She's a nationally recognized expert who has helped thousands of docents and museum educators master the art of leading dynamic inquiry-based conversations that have museum visitors and students longing for more. She's worked with the major museums in Los Angeles and New York, including the Met, MoMA, and the Guggenheim.

But back to writing---her lifelong passion. Laurel believes that the secret to longevity is continual growth, so she decided to try her hand at fiction. How To Be Dead—A Love Story is her first novel. She lives with her writer husband, Durnford King, in Santa Monica, California. Next life---Paris.