Southern Light, Oxford, Mississippi

EILEEN SAINT LAUREN was born in Hattiesburg and raised in the once two red-light town, Petal, Mississippi. She is an award-winning photo journalist and news and feature writer who worked early in her career as a commentator for Nebraska Public Radio and at Smith College Art Museum. After graduating from Jones College in Ellisville, Mississippi, with an Associate of Arts degree majoring in Journalism, she continued her education at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln where she received a Bachelor of Arts Degree majoring in English. She then continued on with her education in creative writing at The Washington Center, Newman University's, Milton Center, Duke University, the University of Massachusetts Amherst, and the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. She divides her writing time between Chapel Hill, North Carolina, and Madison, Mississippi.