who I am
I am a writer and graduate student currently residing in Oklahoma. I moved here from Michigan in 2023 to begin my MFA in Creative Writing, which is at this time nearly complete. In 2026-2028, I’ll be working on an MS in Pure Mathematics. After that, who knows? Maybe I’ll have a book published by then!
My work
I write mostly literary fiction, but I have also dabbled in memoir essays and poetry. I have a few short pieces published (see Publications for more information), but I’m a novelist at heart. Themes I often explore in my work include trauma, resilience, dysfunctional family structures, religious deconstruction, invisible disabilities, and the bittersweet space between hope and acceptance (yes, I pulled most of that straight from my bio–I was proud of that list!).
You can check out my current Works In Progress here. Right now, I’m revising one book–Walk–and about to start drafting another while I put Walk aside for a little bit. I’ve been working on Walk nonstop for the last year and a half, so I know it’s time to give it some breathing room. I don’t have a working title for my next book right now, or even a very good outline, but I’m going to discover the story as I write. I’ll offer a small bit of information though: Chapter 1 of this next book is published as a short story (titled “Seven”) in Nerve To Write. If you read that story and you’re interested in Leah’s journey, come back around in a few years and see if I ever managed to write this thing!
What I’m about
Any demand to “keep politics out of your writing” is a red flag. Everything is political, but especially writing. So let me be clear what I’m about: self-determination and freedom from oppression for all. I am an anti-capitalist, anti-imperialist, anti-racist, socialist antifa girl. Though I was raised conservative and desperately under-educated on important issues for most of my life, I seek to undo that programming in little ways every day. I am also a lifelong learner, and while I try to stay educated, I’m aware of the limitations of my knowledge and understanding.
I hope that my values are always represented in my writing. In Walk, I explore a lot of the religious programming I experienced myself growing up from the perspective of a deeply flawed character. In my next book, I’ll be writing from the perspective of a disabled character (who is disabled in the same ways that I am) with a disabled audience in mind. I aim to use my platform responsibly, but I also know that I have a lot to learn. Mentioning my values here invites accountability.
Rachel Drouillard 