Valerie Lane

Work Samples

Home (October 2024)

My house is surrounded by trees. Spruce, maple, pine, oak. Trees that morph into bronzed renditions of red, yellow, and orange when the days become shorter in autumn, then burst back to life with all the verdant richness that is expected of them when daylight extends in the spring. Stepping outside at the break of dawn I’m greeted by the sun shining on their branches, intensifying the smell of morning. Dew glistens, padding the ground. Its wetness both absorbs and reverberates sound, making everything calm and bright. Birds sing their songs because they are birds, and that is their duty, their instinct, their soul. Fresh crisp air ripples over what little skin I have exposed, encouraging me to pull my robe a bit tighter around the shoulders, clutch my coffee a little closer.

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About the Artist

Written by Gail Obenreder

Writing had always been something Valerie Lane wanted to master, but it was “an untapped talent until I was in my late twenties.” In 2025, she began working on her first long-form work about the concept of home. “Part memoir, part journalistic exploration,” it mirrors a difficult year in her life that also “fueled my writing.”

Lane’s family has a long Delaware history, and she hopes to explore and write about her ancestry here. She grew up in Bear, the oldest of three sisters, and has lived in the First State all her life, except for attending Pennsylvania’s West Chester University as an undergraduate. She earned a master’s degree in Urban Affairs and Public Policy from the University of Delaware and worked there for many years after graduation.

Lane has always been creative, something her mother instilled in all three sisters. She learned to crochet as a youngster and then picked up knitting, something that connects her and her sister and which she still practices daily. As children, in the summertime the three sisters excitedly gathered items for crafting, and she graduated from Cab Calloway School of the Arts as a dancer and choreographer.

Lane has always been “a voracious reader,” influenced early on by Emily Bronte’s Wuthering Heights. The only student in her class to read the entire book, she was struck that “no one gets what they want in the story.” She also credits J.K. Rowling’s Harry Potter series with helping to shape her taste, along with writers like Elizabeth Gilbert, Louisa May Alcott, and Jane Austen. A Women’s Studies major in college, Lane realizes that authors like Audre Lorde, Adrianne Rich, and Virginia Woolf were “influential in shaping how I saw the world.” Writer Cheryl Strayed is her “number one inspiration” today, and Lane values the lessons learned and encouragement she received in Strayed’s 2024 in-person workshop.

In high school she enjoyed writing, but the practice was never encouraged. It wasn’t until she was a working adult that she “realized writing was an undiscovered love … thrilled [now] to have that direction and passion.” For Lane, “developing your skills as a writer involves developing your individual perspective on life.” You must be “a bit of a philosopher, while also studying craft like a scientist,” and then allow yourself to be “as creative and innovative and original” as possible.

“It never feels like I have enough time to write,” and Lane finds it a challenge to harness ideas that “come to me at the most inopportune of times.” She works full-time and teaches yoga evenings and weekends, but she’s learning to make her writing practice a habitual part of daily life. For her, writing “has the same effect as working in the yard. There’s a strong sense of accomplishment and exhaustion when the day or weekend is over.”

Lane begins each day with a workout of some sort, and her passion for knitting continues unabated. She and her sister travel to yarn festivals, trade patterns, and “take our hobby very seriously.” Her Delaware license plate says KNIT, and “I get a lot of inquiries about it!”

The Fellowship was “truly a lifeline after the worst year of my life,” a time when Lane had lost confidence in her writing. When she received the Division’s email, she thought it was a mistake. But “it was real, and I’m deeply, deeply grateful.” She plans to spend the year building her practice and working on the first draft of a memoir, knowing that the Award “will change me as a writer in positive ways, something I truly needed.”