MOLLY LANZAROTTA

CREATIVE STATEMENT

At a public rally in Copley Square, Boston in 2017, I encountered a medical student in a lab coat holding up a protest sign reading “SCIENCE IS REAL.” Rising climate change denialism and anti-science rhetoric were the focus of the rally. Even so, I was shocked by the sign. Had it really come to this? In this post-pandemic, “post-truth” era, with vaccine misinformation, distrust of experts, and the evidence of climate disruption a daily reality, I’ve been writing poetry and prose that plumb this disorienting disconnect between fact and perception. It is a theme that has been emerging as I explore the nexus of imagery and realism, knowledge and imagination, perceived reality and natural processes.

BIOGRAPHY

Molly Lanzarotta won the 2024 London Independent Story Prize for flash fiction and second prize for the 2023 Moth Nature Writing Prize. Her work has appeared or is forthcoming in publications including The Rumpus, The Irish Times, Notre Dame Review, Columbia Journal, About Place, Terrain.org, Cimarron Review, Carolina Quarterly, Southeast Review, and anthologies for the LISP Prize, the Lascaux Prize, and the Bath Flash Fiction Prize. She is grateful for support from fellowships and grants, including those from Edith Wharton Writing Residency, Millay Arts, and the city of Boston's Mayor's Office of Arts and Culture.