Laura (Laurie) Deutsch, a longtime Great Neck resident, will be launching her book, Writing from the Senses, on the East Coast at the Book Revue in Huntington, on Oct. 16 at 7 p.m. with a discussion, reading and a Q&A. The public is invited. Recently published by Shambhala Publications, Inc. (Writing Down the Bones, etc.), Deutsch’s new book helps writers tap into an endless source of engaging material, using their senses as prompts. It contains personal essays and memoir from Deutsch’s years in New York and abroad, as well as instruction and writing exercises.
Deutsch graduated from Great Neck South in 1964, daughter of Dr. Enoch and Edith Deutsch of Lake Success. Editor-in-chief of The Southerner, Great Neck South’s newspaper, she graduated from Bryn Mawr College and the University of Chicago Law School. Her studies included a year in Europe and a year in Mexico as a Fulbright Scholar. Deursch’s brother, Daniel, and sister, Margery, also graduated from Great Neck South.
Deutsch has been living in the San Francisco Bay Area since 1972. A writer, editor, writing coach, and teacher, her personal essays, features, travel and humor pieces have appeared in the Los Angeles Times, San Francisco Chronicle, San Francisco magazine, MORE magazine, Time Out, Eating Well, a travel book published by Simon & Schuster, and other publications. Her writing has been anthologized in many collections, including Travel Stories from Around the Globe, Best Women’s Travel Writing, and Leave the Lipstick, Take the Iguana (lead essay in a collection published by Traveler’s Tales). Her commentary has aired on public radio.
Deutsch leads writing workshops from Tassajara to Tuscany, has taught writing at the University of California at Berkeley, San Francisco State University, Tassajara Zen Mountain Center, Green Gulch Farm Zen Center, in southwest France and Arezzo, Italy. Her coaching clients from around the world have been published in top-tier magazines, newspapers, anthologies and other media.
Before specializing in writing and teaching, she served as an attorney, law professor, and law clerk for Justice Anthony Kennedy, when he sat on the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals.
Deutsch has more than 20 year’s experience in marketing and public relations, including a year as a senior account executive with Ketchum Public Relations, and five years as Director of Marketing and Communications for McCutchen, Doyle, Brown & Enersen (now Bingham Mccutchen), one of the world’s largest law firms. She has been a media consultant to major corporations and law firms, including Davis Polk & Wardwell, Gibson Dunn and Crutcher, Pacific Gas & Electric Co, and AT&T, as well as individual artists and small businesses.