Lauren Kirshner is the author of Where We Have to Go, a novel published by McClelland & Stewart, and called "a very strong original debut" by The Globe and Mail and "evocative and compelling” by Quill and Quire.The story of a girl's coming-of-age in 1990s Toronto, Where We Have to Go is forthcoming in German and Dutch translation. In 2009 Lauren was named "Best Emerging Author" by NOW.

Lauren’s short stories, arts reviews, and poetry have appeared in newspapers and literary journals such as The Globe and Mail,The Toronto Star, Now, The Hart House Review, and Exile. Her creative non- fiction chapter “Twenty Poems for Claudia” was published in the paper documentary I Live Here (Pantheon in 2008). You can read more about her writing here.

Lauren is a graduate of The University of Toronto’s Masters of English in the Field of Creative Writing, where she was mentored by Margaret Atwood. In 2009, Lauren created Sister Writes, a creative writing workshop for marginalized women in Toronto's downtown west end.

Lauren was born in Toronto, where she continues to live and write. She is currently at work on her second novel.