LauraVan Wormer

-Grew up in Darien, CT a commuter town outside NYC
-Graduated high school 1974 (THE CLASS OF '74)
-Graduated Syracuse U 1978.
-Started at Doubleday as secretary and worked way up to editor.
-1984 Stopped drinking.
-1985 Left to pursue my own writing, supporting myself by creating coffee-table books with the creators of DYNASTY, DALLAS & KNOTS LANDING
1988 My first novel RIVERSIDE DRIVE published, followed by 13 more.

2015 on my way to the airport to fly out to see Betty White, a drunk driver went through a highway tunnel the wrong way and hit me head on. I recovered eventually but had a lot of trouble writing again.

2024 at my 50th high school reunion no one could hear me (the accident had damaged my vocal chords) Came home frustrated, saying I wish I could have stood up at the reunion and make everyone listen to a story a had written (which I always did in high school, interrupting parties). My other half said, "Why don’t you write them a story and read it to them as a podcast so they can hear you?"

I loved the idea and started the story of THE CLASS OF '74 on what had been our first day of high school, September 8, 1971. It is essentially a narrative soap opera about teenage life before cellphones and while it is fiction – in weekly episodes of 30+ minutes with cliff-hanger endings – my classmates recognize “Brighton” as Fairfield Country in CT and get a real kick out of it.
But Rich, imagine how surprised I was to find out people I DIDN’T know had started listening to THE CLASS OF ’74, too (!-and from all over the world!), intrigued by the time and American suburban culture.

It took me 25 episodes to understand I had been given the gift of being able to write again, only in a different medium. It feels like a cross between writing old time radio and doing a bookstore reading. Well, whatever it IS, I love writing THE CLASS OF ’74, can plainly see my listeners are the nicest people in America, and I think we should just go on forever. We started Season 2 on February 14th