Laverne Zabielski
Laverne Zabielski has been writing and designing fabric for over forty years. She received her MFA in Writing from Spalding University in 2004. Her poems and stories have been published in numerous journals. She feels an urgency to write what she has experienced. When she shares about parenting, death by suicide, or addiction, people say she has courage. She says, “It’s strange that sharing what is real is perceived as courageous. I believe it’s necessary.”
Featured Book
Disbelief
With an economy of words, Laverne Zabielski has written a piercing and profound twentieth century life story filled with pleasure, pain, and ultimately, a naive and surviving faith in the transformative powers of meaning and forgiveness found through poetry and art. Centering on disbelief as refuge from the unbearable, the poet’s writerly techniques navigate moments evocative, haunting and ecstatic with a sophistication that lingers with the reader long after the reading is done. She seeks to create meaning and understanding in the unknown. And pursue a life of standing back and letting another’s unfold. Sharing what is real is not only courageous, it is necessary.
Meet Laverne Zabielski and get a copy of their book at the 2026 Kentucky Book Festival, Saturday, November 7, 2026, at Joseph-Beth Booksellers.