Biography:
Laura Frater is a PhD student and MFA poetry student. She studies Tribal Law and Federal Indian Law, including Public Law 280, with a focus on missing people cases on and around reservation land in the United States. Her dissertation will examine how literary devices might serve as a way of explicating this particular legal landscape.
Laura is currently an investigative reporter for missing and murdered Indigenous people (MMIP) cold cases. She is a former contributor to the Two Rivers Tribune, the weekly newspaper of the Hoopa Valley. Laura is the creator of The Vanishing Point and Floodlights podcasts (launching summer 2024). Both shows cover MMIP cases.
Born and raised in Scotland, she completed her BA and AKC at King’s College London and her MA at Iona College, New York. She loves to dance ballet and plays traditional Scottish music on the violin.
Research Interests
Tribal Law; Federal Indian Law; Public Law 280; Representations of Missing People (specifically missing and murdered Indigenous people); True Crime
Education
B.A., English Language and Literature, King's College London, 2013
A.K.C., Theology, Philosophy and Ethics, King's College London, 2013
M.A. English Literature, Iona College, 2018
Publications
"WHO KILLED TERRI LYNN MCCLOSKEY?" Two Rivers Tribune, March 2023.
"LAURIE GRAY and KADIJAH BRITTON- Domestic Violence Awareness Month." Two Rivers Tribune, October 2022.
"BARBARA JEAN MCCNEIL - Still Unsolved." Two Rivers Tribune, August 2022.
"NICK VIGIL - Someone's going to say something eventually: Still Missing." Two Rivers Tribune, July 2022.
"VIRGIL BUSSELL JR. - If people know something, they need to come forward: Still Missing." Two Rivers Tribune, June 2022.
"ANGELA MCCONNELL - Change is coming: Still Unsolved." Two Rivers Tribune, May 2022.
"SUMI JUAN - Will they talk when they need to?: Still Missing." Two Rivers Tribune, April 2022.
“ANDREA CHICK WHITE - It’s time for her to come home: Still Missing.” Two Rivers Tribune, April 2022.
At the Final Verse of "Tell Out My Soul." LitStream Magazine, August 2021.
"Poetry Makes Something Happen." The Museum Review, March 2020.
"Why ISIS Should Be Called Daesh: Reflections on Religion and Terrorism." Review of talk in ISLAMiCommentary, November 2014.
“About Time” by Eva Hoffman. Royal Society of Literature Annual Review, January 2012.
Awards
The Deirdre Hackett Endowment Award, June 2022
Humboldt Journalism Project Grant, May 2022
UC Davis Provost's Fellowship, September 2020- September 2021