Gabrielle LaFrank is a writer, artist, mental health advocate, and now a graduate of San Jose State. During her time at SJSU, she served as President of the Poets & Writers Coalition and self-published a children’s book about her open adoption titled Born From My Heart. Outside of school and writing, Gabrielle enjoys traveling, lattes, and quality time with her dog, Carter.

Gabrielle Lafrank, 2020

Words have always fascinated me. As a child, I’d repeat a word over and over at different speeds until it didn’t sound like a real word anymore. I dissected each sound into the way my mouth moved when I said it. I rewrote reality inside my young mind, and I’m still discovering bits and pieces of it today.

As a student, I devoured literature: the Roman and Greek classics, the Harlem Renaissance, Steinbeck, anything I could get my hands on, really. Even Shakespeare, whose plays I originally found dry and convoluted, became mind-bogglingly clever after just a few lectures.

I try my best to incorporate what I’ve learned through reading and discussion in everything that I write. I am grateful to have had a versatile education in which I studied both journalism and creative writing at a diverse and innovative school. Though my undergraduate career is over, I’ll never stop looking for new ways to digest and communicate what I learn.

I am Gabrielle LaFrank, the Weaver of Words.