Hayley Lazzari is an author and poet. The poems in the forthcoming Ele-Mental, her first published collection, were written over the course of the several months Lazzari spent in various psychiatric facilities receiving treatment for mental illness. Lazzari feels that writing is when she can reveal her most authentic self and hopes through reading her work, others can feel something real.
Lazzari received her bachelor’s degree in Middle Eastern and Islamic Studies, Russian and Eurasian Studies, and German form Colgate University. Since then, she has worked as a risk and fraud investigator for Binance.US. She is returning to school this fall to earn a PHD in Science and Technology Studies at Virginia Tech.
Lazzari has always had a voracious appetite for books and wrote for her high school literary journal. She hopes readers of her work are able to find some element of themselves in her work and feel less alone. She also wants to bring more awareness of mental health and let people know things do get better. She drafts most of her work outside of her apartment as she feels there is no creative flow there and must always have coffee while writing. She credits much of her success to her roommates, Collin and Alex, as well as her best friend Michelle, who have been her biggest supporters through the hardest years of her life.
Lazzari lives in Brooklyn, New York with her roommates, and her dog, Bex (who is her whole heart). When not writing, she likes to read, do crosswords (“I am a proud cruciverbalist”) and play puzzle games. She also enjoys going to the gym and walking her dog.