Please join SOLA on May 21st to hear author Laura Lane McNeal speak about “The Story Behind DOLLBABY,” her inspiration after Hurricane Katrina and why she wanted to write about New Orleans in a way she felt no had before.

Laura Lane McNeal was born and raised in New Orleans. After receiving two undergraduate degrees from Southern Methodist University, she went on to earn an MBA from Tulane. She spent most of her career in advertising, working for agencies in New York and Dallas, before returning to New Orleans where she became a free-lance writer, magazine editor and decorative artist. The devastation of Hurricane Katrina led her to fulfill her lifelong dream of becoming a writer. Laura presently resides in New Orleans and is married with two sons.

DOLLBABY is a 2014 Goodreads Choice Awards Top Ten Finalist in Historical Fiction, a 2015 SIBA Awards Finalist, A New York Post Must Read, an Indie Next Pick, A SIBA Okra Pick, and a Library Reads Pick, among others. DOLLBABY is her first novel. She has recently completed a second novel that begins on River Road in 1926 that weaves together the lives of two young women whose lives collide during the Great Flood of 1927.