I’m Lauren Oster, a freelance writer. I was born in Los Angeles, grew up in southern California, earned an English degree from Stanford, and moved to New York City, a town I will leave horizontally if ever. I’ve written for mainstream outlets like The New York Times and Smithsonian Magazine as well as independent print magazines like Mushroom People and Broccoli, and my cover story for Catnip (“Do Robot Cats Dream of Wireless Mice?”) was longlisted for The Best American Science and Nature Writing 2024. I’ve volunteered at The New York Public Library, The Wild Bird Fund, Housing Works Bookstore Cafe, the Lower East Side Film Festival, and the Tribeca Film Festival. I live on the Lower East Side with my husband and our two cats.