Fiction is grounded in the humanity of ordinary people. As a writer—as a storyteller—I aspire to be the purveyor of our human experiences. I construct imperfect characters with rich inner lives, whose emotions are ultimately a source of power rather than shame, and whose greatest struggles and triumphs are those that happen within.
I weave tragedy and resilience into my work, contrast the light with the dark, balance the levity with the serious, and give my characters the emotional weight they need to step off the page into our own world. I want my characters to be as flawed and vulnerable as we all are and try to capture emotional truth, as raw as it may be. I draw inspiration from stories and histories that demand full, unwavering attention on the majesty and tragedy of who we are, a notion that is both static and ever-fluctuating. I love examining and exploring the ebb and flow of where we’ve been and where we’re going.
My goal as an author is to continue creating characters and stories that subvert expectations, challenge assumptions, and explore the nuances of what makes us who we are.
Zoe Howard is a recent graduate of New York University, where she earned her MFA in Musical Theatre Writing. She is a graduate of Agnes Scott College, with a B.A. in both English literature-creative writing and history. Her creative and academic work has been published in The Onyx Review, the Voices & Visions literary journal, and fresh.ink. In 2016, her one-act play Obsessive Compulsive Destruction was a finalist in the Georgia-wide 44th Annual Writers’ Festival Contest. In 2022, her short play Midnight Mirage was performed in the Downtown Urban Arts Festival and placed third in their short play competition, and her short musical The Story of a Daughter, written with Matthew Nassida, was performed at the Irvington Theater’s Arts Incubator Short Play Fest in 2023.