Lashanna Lawler is an artist, poet, actress, portrait model and photographer. She received her B.A. in English Literature and Theater Studies with a concentration in Film Studies from Swarthmore College. She has studied painting and drawing at Fleisher Art Memorial in Philadelphia, The Art Students League in New York City and The Cleveland Museum of Art. She is an avid gardener who enjoys practicing her craft in her home studio and on location. She lives and works in Cleveland, OH.

I met Lashanna Lawler when she stopped by my table at Loganberry Books’ Author Alley during the Larchmere Festival in Shaker Heights this summer. She struck me as someone with a powerful creative spirit, and I’m thrilled to have her as the inaugural reader in my People Who Aren’t Me Reading My Poetry Project. Enjoy her interpretation and the image she shared—a detail from her painting "Feathers." My husband, Cris, recorded her reading over the phone.

Read more about "Killing Songbirds the Compassionate Way" in this review of Local Extinctions by Heather Lang in The Volta Blog.