Laken Brooks is a current English graduate student at the University of Florida. Originally from the mountains of North Carolina, Brooks earned a BA in English Literature with a minor in Gender in Text from Emory & Henry College before she accepted a Fulbright grant to teach at the University of Szczecin in 2017/2018. Currently, Brooks is a Harrison Middleton Fellowship in Ideas winner and a Young People For fellow. Brooks studies gender/sexuality, educational pedagogy, and diversity representation in the publishing industry.