“Once your daughter leaves your body, she will inevitably continue to leave you until she has a daughter of her own to love the same amount.”
Lara Ehrlich, the current author in residence at Connecticut College, explores motherhood, femininity, and the complicated, heavy lives of girls and women through her writing.
Ehlich is the latest in the revolving cycle of temporary untenured writers in residence, following longtime writer in residence Blanche Boyd’s retirement in 2022 which The College Voice has covered previously. Since Boyd’s retirement, the College has had now four professors in four years: Professor Courtney Sender and Professor Renee Branum were both visiting assistant professors who left after a year and Director of College Writing Summer West covered as the temporary writer in residence until Ehlich’s hiring as the author in residence. At the College, the Writer in Residence position is specifically dedicated to teaching creative prose fiction classes. Additionally, the position often requires the writer in residence to advise students on senior creative writing honors thesis.
After attending Boston University for her undergraduate degree, Ehrlich received her master’s degree in humanities from the University of Chicago. Despite always wanting to be an author, allowing that to be the driving force of her academic career, Ehrlich found herself challenged with the uncertainty of making a living in the field of writing. So, she began working in museums, theaters, and non-profit organizations, where she could express her passions in writing in smaller but significant enough ways. She later became the editor for Bostonia, the alumni magazine at Boston University, writing and supervising articles ranging from the inner workings of hotels to tracing the origins of autism through neuroscience. Ehrlich then made her way into teaching, working at literary organizations across the country and became a first-year writing professor at the University of Connecticut before coming to Connecticut College to serve as Assistant Dean of Fellowships Advising at Connecticut College.
Today, Lara Ehrlich is the author of award-winning Animal Wife, along with her new novel, Bind Me Tighter Still. Animal Wife is a collection of short stories regarding women’s physical and mythological transformations, while Bind Me Tighter Still is based on Hans Christian Andersen’s Little Mermaid as she explored the story of a siren who found herself restless in the sea and traded her tail for legs. She then married the first man she met and gave birth to a daughter and yet, it did not solve her restlessness.
When writing the novel, Ehrlich was living in Boston, commuting an hour and a half both ways to work each day. Although the novel is not a story commenting on her personal story, Ehrlich shared that it depicts her rage when realizing the broken system surrounding motherhood as she was unable to be a creative and a mother simultaneously.
Transformation is a highlighted motif across both of Ehrlich’s pieces as she explored the constant evolution of women’s bodies, age, and their roles in societies. During an interview with The College Voice, she shared that her books often portray her worst fears as a woman and a mother regarding the inability to control the painful, violent aspect of physical and emotional change. However, her pieces are also a nod to the beauty of change through the lens of mythological transformation, as she discusses that change is an indicator that we are humans and alive.
In relation to transformation, Ehrlich hopes to overturn narratives of femininity, especially those that enforce aspects of the patriarchy. She referenced Roxxanne Gay’s article regarding unlikeable women characters, typically ones that are focused on being something other than a mother, and remarked how all of these aspects in unlikeable women are celebrated in men. She attempts to write characters that are ‘unlikeable’ or rather, authentic as their actions are not driven for shock value, but instead ones that come deeply from the character; a space where likeability should not equal quality.
Early in her writing career, Lara Ehrlich pulled inspiration from Edgar Allen Poe, Ray Bradbury, William Faulkner, Ernest Hemingway, and other classic authors. However, when in college, she noticed the pattern of“old, dead, white men” and began to read more widely, immersing herself with female writers such as Lida Davis, Karen Russell, and Amy Bender.
The female perspective is one that cannot be mimicked by anyone but those who have the shared experience of the pain and joy of what it means to be a woman. Ehrlich addresses this in her writing through her focus on transformation, along with motherhood, which is something near to her. After giving birth to her first daughter, who is now nine years old, her writing shifted as not necessarily being directly about her relationship with her child but rather her own capacity to shape a human in the modern world.
Challenges naturally arose in Ehrlich’s career. After graduating from the University of Chicago, she attempted to get a novel that she had been working on for eight years published, but it was rejected over 30 times, and it was never published. Ehrlich shares the inevitable heartbreak that every author experiences but explains the importance of wanting to follow the path enough to continue writing. She advises individuals who are struggling with something similar to know why they want to publish and what drives them to sustain a career that is not always financially stable.
Ehrlich expresses the value in becoming a part of the literary community for those interested in the humanities in order to meet other writers and keep the momentum going. Meeting other aspiring writers is not about necessarily finding ideas or an agent, but rather finding a place where work is valued and both successes and failures are appreciated. Ehrlich’s focus at Connecticut College is to support students who are interested in writing to build a literary community at the college level. She wants to invite anyone who is interested in creative writing to reach out to her to make connections and hear feedback. Through her writing and mentorship, Lara Ehrlich continues to explore transformation – not just in her writing, but in the lives of those she teaches, helping a new generation of writers find their voices regarding the beauty and fragility of womanhood.
