Lauren D. Woods, originally from the Dallas area, now lives and writes in Washington, DC, where she was a 2024 Washington, DC Arts and Humanities Fellow for Fiction. Her first book, The Grown-Up Game of Make-Believe, won the 2024 Autumn House Press Fiction Prize and her writing has appeared in the top ten spotlighted stories in The Best Small Fictions, as well as The Antioch Review, The Normal School, Passages North, Hayden’s Ferry Review, Red Rock Review, Southern Humanities Review, and Lunch Ticket, among others. Lauren works in consulting and lives with her husband, four children, two cats, and a guinea pig.

"An imaginative collection about the joy and sorrow of growing up. Woods’ tender and resonant debut features 28 pieces of short and micro fiction. Imbued with magic and the absurd, these stories explore the ways that childhood wonder informs our lives."—Kirkus Reviews "The collection’s freshness stems from its remarkable playfulness. Woods frequently employs magical realism, and the collection includes micro stories, faux quizzes, and how-to guides alongside lengthier works of psychological realism. Because these stories are often humorous, Woods broaches weighty subjects like gender and bullying with impressive levity."—Necessary Fiction "For me, the key to Woods’s collection—what makes it so harrowing and compelling—is the way the characters in these stories are painfully aware of how close they are to being characters in other stories. Narratives are threatened by an undertow of counterfactuals. Present timelines are haunted by aborted futures. Lives teeter on the verge of becoming afterlives."—The Adroit Journal  "The Great Grown-Up Game of Make-Believe is one of those rare collections you want to press into a friend’s hands the moment you finish it."—Washington City Paper "The delight I took in these stories’ dips into surreality was matched by my delight at Woods’ experimentation with form; like a kid playing new games, Woods plays gleefully with traditional storytelling techniques."—Pittsburgh Review of Books "What is consistent is the author’s unique voice and her knack for approaching each story from a distinct and surprising perspective. . . . The variety is impressive, engaging, and provocative. I found myself compelled to read story after story, in part to discover what storytelling twist the author had in store for me next."—Literary Mama “Beautifully strange and incredibly satisfying, The Great Grown-Up Game of Make-Believe is a collection that manages to surprise at every turn. The writing is bright and propulsive. There are twists, turns, and the occasional shock. But most of all, there is kindness in these pages. A terrific warmth emanates here. It is a rare thing to find stories so full of hope. I very much enjoyed them.”—Kristen Arnett, author of Stop Me If You've Heard This One“These are haunted fictions, full of strange and delightful things, and I lost myself in them deliciously for hours, for days.”—Amber Sparks, author of And I Do Not Forgive You “The Great Grown-Up Game of Make-Believe is a revelation—a meticulously crafted, showstopping collection that will inspire and move you in equal measure. Read this book with a few essentials: a bag of tissues for the tears it will evoke, a notebook to capture the thoughts it will spark, and a bookmark to save your place as you pause to marvel at Woods’s exceptional prose.”—Tope Folarin, author of A Particular Kind of Black Man

Lauren D. Woods, originally from the Dallas area, now lives and writes in Washington, DC, where she was a 2024 Washington, DC Arts and Humanities Fellow for Fiction. Her first book, The Grown-Up Game of Make-Believe, won the 2024 Autumn House Press Fiction Prize and her writing has appeared in the top ten spotlighted stories in The Best Small Fictions, as well as The Antioch Review, The Normal School, Passages North, Hayden’s Ferry Review, Red Rock Review, Southern Humanities Review, and Lunch Ticket, among others. Lauren works in consulting and lives with her husband, four children, two cats, and a guinea pig.

"An imaginative collection about the joy and sorrow of growing up. Woods’ tender and resonant debut features 28 pieces of short and micro fiction. Imbued with magic and the absurd, these stories explore the ways that childhood wonder informs our lives."—Kirkus Reviews "The collection’s freshness stems from its remarkable playfulness. Woods frequently employs magical realism, and the collection includes micro stories, faux quizzes, and how-to guides alongside lengthier works of psychological realism. Because these stories are often humorous, Woods broaches weighty subjects like gender and bullying with impressive levity."—Necessary Fiction "For me, the key to Woods’s collection—what makes it so harrowing and compelling—is the way the characters in these stories are painfully aware of how close they are to being characters in other stories. Narratives are threatened by an undertow of counterfactuals. Present timelines are haunted by aborted futures. Lives teeter on the verge of becoming afterlives."—The Adroit Journal  "The Great Grown-Up Game of Make-Believe is one of those rare collections you want to press into a friend’s hands the moment you finish it."—Washington City Paper "The delight I took in these stories’ dips into surreality was matched by my delight at Woods’ experimentation with form; like a kid playing new games, Woods plays gleefully with traditional storytelling techniques."—Pittsburgh Review of Books "What is consistent is the author’s unique voice and her knack for approaching each story from a distinct and surprising perspective. . . . The variety is impressive, engaging, and provocative. I found myself compelled to read story after story, in part to discover what storytelling twist the author had in store for me next."—Literary Mama “Beautifully strange and incredibly satisfying, The Great Grown-Up Game of Make-Believe is a collection that manages to surprise at every turn. The writing is bright and propulsive. There are twists, turns, and the occasional shock. But most of all, there is kindness in these pages. A terrific warmth emanates here. It is a rare thing to find stories so full of hope. I very much enjoyed them.”—Kristen Arnett, author of Stop Me If You've Heard This One“These are haunted fictions, full of strange and delightful things, and I lost myself in them deliciously for hours, for days.”—Amber Sparks, author of And I Do Not Forgive You “The Great Grown-Up Game of Make-Believe is a revelation—a meticulously crafted, showstopping collection that will inspire and move you in equal measure. Read this book with a few essentials: a bag of tissues for the tears it will evoke, a notebook to capture the thoughts it will spark, and a bookmark to save your place as you pause to marvel at Woods’s exceptional prose.”—Tope Folarin, author of A Particular Kind of Black Man

Lauren D. Woods, originally from the Dallas area, now lives and writes in Washington, DC, where she was a 2024 Washington, DC Arts and Humanities Fellow for Fiction. Her first book, The Grown-Up Game of Make-Believe, won the 2024 Autumn House Press Fiction Prize and her writing has appeared in the top ten spotlighted stories in The Best Small Fictions, as well as The Antioch Review, The Normal School, Passages North, Hayden’s Ferry Review, Red Rock Review, Southern Humanities Review, and Lunch Ticket, among others. Lauren works in consulting and lives with her husband, four children, two cats, and a guinea pig.

"An imaginative collection about the joy and sorrow of growing up. Woods’ tender and resonant debut features 28 pieces of short and micro fiction. Imbued with magic and the absurd, these stories explore the ways that childhood wonder informs our lives."—Kirkus Reviews "The collection’s freshness stems from its remarkable playfulness. Woods frequently employs magical realism, and the collection includes micro stories, faux quizzes, and how-to guides alongside lengthier works of psychological realism. Because these stories are often humorous, Woods broaches weighty subjects like gender and bullying with impressive levity."—Necessary Fiction "For me, the key to Woods’s collection—what makes it so harrowing and compelling—is the way the characters in these stories are painfully aware of how close they are to being characters in other stories. Narratives are threatened by an undertow of counterfactuals. Present timelines are haunted by aborted futures. Lives teeter on the verge of becoming afterlives."—The Adroit Journal  "The Great Grown-Up Game of Make-Believe is one of those rare collections you want to press into a friend’s hands the moment you finish it."—Washington City Paper "The delight I took in these stories’ dips into surreality was matched by my delight at Woods’ experimentation with form; like a kid playing new games, Woods plays gleefully with traditional storytelling techniques."—Pittsburgh Review of Books "What is consistent is the author’s unique voice and her knack for approaching each story from a distinct and surprising perspective. . . . The variety is impressive, engaging, and provocative. I found myself compelled to read story after story, in part to discover what storytelling twist the author had in store for me next."—Literary Mama “Beautifully strange and incredibly satisfying, The Great Grown-Up Game of Make-Believe is a collection that manages to surprise at every turn. The writing is bright and propulsive. There are twists, turns, and the occasional shock. But most of all, there is kindness in these pages. A terrific warmth emanates here. It is a rare thing to find stories so full of hope. I very much enjoyed them.”—Kristen Arnett, author of Stop Me If You've Heard This One“These are haunted fictions, full of strange and delightful things, and I lost myself in them deliciously for hours, for days.”—Amber Sparks, author of And I Do Not Forgive You “The Great Grown-Up Game of Make-Believe is a revelation—a meticulously crafted, showstopping collection that will inspire and move you in equal measure. Read this book with a few essentials: a bag of tissues for the tears it will evoke, a notebook to capture the thoughts it will spark, and a bookmark to save your place as you pause to marvel at Woods’s exceptional prose.”—Tope Folarin, author of A Particular Kind of Black Man