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Laura Gill

@laurachildsgill

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Author: WHAT A HOUSE CAN HOLD, Oct 2026 / also: teacher, chit-chatter living in Miami, FL.

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ABOUT THE BOOK
“Writers only know how to begin,” Laura Childs Gill declares in one of her many attempts to trace the origin of the desires that upended her comfortable life. Did it begin when she asked B. to get a beer? Or was the impulse inherited along her paternal side, a lineage of writers who’d also fallen in love outside of marriage — who’d also always been leaving?

In What a House Can Hold, Gill’s meditative essays take form around her inability to neatly narrativize her domestic and creative crises. Visiting the houses of Dickinson, Faulkner, and Fitzgerald, driving through the Florida Keys with her father, the Mojave Desert with her mother, and the American South alone, Gill searches for answers to her questions about how one leaves, and builds, a home. At once about the loss of a previous self and the acceptance of a new one, What a House Can Hold contends with, and exemplifies, what happens when the structures designed to contain us—marriages, homes, habits, self-mythologies—no longer can.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Laura Childs Gill is an author and teacher living in Miami, Florida. Her essays have been published in AGNI, The Los Angeles Review, West Branch, Washington Square Review, and Electric Literature, amongst others.

Claim a copy now and we’ll get it to you before the official release in October! 🍂

autofocusbooks.com by @laurachildsgill

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4 months ago

@nic.mijares took so many wonderful, professional pictures of me, but this one best captures how I feel about launching a book (in just 6 months!!!): delighted, confused, overwhelmed, excited and a bit bewildered. what follows is a series of photos I took while on my first ever now-you’re-editing-a-book-for-real date; I gave myself a whole day off work to wander the city, go to some of my favorite places with my edits, and take photos: totally normal, right? (🫠) taken in Panther Coffee by @laurachildsgill

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6 months ago

Official (and officially beaming with joy!): can’t wait to work with @autofocusbooks to get this book in your hands (!!!) by @laurachildsgill

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9 months ago

A PHILLY FANTASY THAT WAS REAL! Reading with @kayciehall and chatting with @wheaton3000 was an absolute dream and being able to read from my book in a city with so many of my absolute favorite people in the world was just the best.

I was reminded of some truths: I adore writers and the people who adore them, the team at @autofocusbooks is the best, @kayciehall ‘s book is brilliant, Philly bars are top notch, I need readers and can barely see, my friends are excellent hosts and smart as hell, fall is absolutely the best season, and I’m drawn to dumpsters and trash removal (essay forthcoming jkjk). by @laurachildsgill

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6 days ago

they say “kill your darlings,” but what if you make a piece with your darling and take it out of the book and place it in a dream journal? grateful to @el_diagram for accepting and publishing this piece born from all my authors houses visits — in this one, Hemingway’s house becomes what I’ve always dreamed of becoming: an advice columnist! then, Ben made it real. pics include the darling (📷 @lawelch ), the visit to Key West w my dad, and some of what Hemingway’s house has to say about fragility by @laurachildsgill

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14 days ago

MY BOOK ARRIVED AND ITS SO VERY FRAGILE AND SO AM I (squealing on the inside and all caps on the outside and some photos of things and words that came to me as I repeat and repeat and repeat to handle all things with care — thank you @wheaton3000 and the @autofocusbooks team for making this a reality — !!!) by @laurachildsgill

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16 days ago

PHILLY! Join us in two weeks! @wheaton3000 , @kayciehall and I will be chatting debut essay collections in the city where I rented my first ever apartment with @katiebmiller — we hosted many theme parties, danced hard in our basement, worked various jobs, and biked everywhere. I grew to love a city I was very sad to leave — (swipe for our first ever invite to one of our epic parties — I dug deep📷!) — by @laurachildsgill

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21 days ago

5 years ago: blending family and constructing home in a home under construction on the coat tails of ever-present covid while becoming enamored with various things (not least of which the Mars rover!) thinking I could wear a jumpsuit (can’t) and keeping to a small radius // read about some of it in (less than!!!) 5 weeks! working on more about it for the next batch of essays, too! by @laurachildsgill

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a month ago

Join us to celebrate the newest essay collections from Autofocus Books, both debuts, by Laura Childs Gill and Kaycie Hall.

The event features readings & conversations between the authors and their editor/publisher, Michael Wheaton, about the process—from drafting to publication to promotion—of writing one’s own life. Plus time to party! by @laurachildsgill

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a month ago

6 - ish* years ago I moved into my first ever apartment in Miami (shout out @wespearce ) and set up shop and a life and took lots of photos of reflections and tried to learn Miami; I got shingles, had my first photography show (shout out @norfolklibraryct ), had wonderful visitors, who were guideposts and caretakers (for another post), subbed at a school for a bit and then became a full-time tutor for another bit, wrote when I could, bought some furniture, and kept losing stuff in the sand // 6 weeks to read all about it!

*turns out I’m a year off - so what was 7 in my last post was 8 and what is 6 is 7 and on and on and on…! ⏱️ by @laurachildsgill

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a month ago

7 years ago I moved to Miami and bounced around airbnbs and the beach and wrote where I could and photographed when I could; in 7 weeks, you’ll (I hope!) get to read all (or some!) about how I ended up here and what it was like and how I lost many important items while taking photographs on the beach (worth it).

In the meantime, I’ll keep sharing little memories from the process — hope you like ‘em! by @laurachildsgill

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a month ago

summer with a camera that changed its own settings / i’m sure that’s a metaphor for something! by @laurachildsgill

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2 months ago