L.M. Browning
L.M. Browning (She/they) is a writer, publisher, and advocate whose work spans over two decades and fourteen titles. They are the founder of Wayfarer Magazine and Wayfarer Books, independent platforms committed to amplifying voices from the margins. Browning’s literary contributions have earned six Pushcart Prize nominations, the Gold Nautilus Medal for Poetry, multiple Foreword Review Book Awards, and the Nautilus Silver Medal in 2022. Their innovative approach to publishing led to two terms on the Board of Directors for the Independent Book Publishers Association, a TEDx talk at Yale University, and a degree from Harvard University through grant programs. A lifelong advocate for mental health, trans rights, and radical authenticity, Browning stepped into national conversations following their 2018 TEDx Talk on trauma, creativity, and survival.
In 2022, Browning retired from writing.
nonfiction
Drive Through the Night
A Poetic Memoir on Taming, Reclaming & Becoming Wild
second edition Trade paperback, ebook / feb 2026 / signed edition
“A laconic, beautiful, and deeply insightful”
–Kirkus Reviews
Following the release of their micro-memoir, To Lose the Madness, and the TEDx Talk at Yale University based on their life, Browning returns from a six-year poetic silence with, Drive through the Night. The map of these poems traces the poet’s journey of overcoming and re-becoming while set against the iconic backdrop of the American Southwest. In Drive Through the Night, we follow the trail of an orphan-turned-vagabond who left behind the white picket fence for the open range and open road.
Also Available on Amazon – US & Global > B&N > Bookshop.org > Apple > Walmart > Target > Waterstones > Betterworld Books > In Your Local Bookstore
“Browning uses poetry and photography to detail their evolution from a socialized prisoner of expectations to a reclaimed, authentic self.” —Foreword Review
“A quiet yet fierce rebirth of the wounded spirit.” —James Crews, Poet and Editor of The Path to Kindness
“Exquisitely delicate and lyrical…their magnum opus.” —Caitlin Garvey, author of The Mourning Report
“Breathtaking vulnerability.” —Will Falk, author of How Dams Fall
Nonfiction
To Lose the Madness
Field Notes on Trauma, Loss and Radical Authenticity
Second edition Trade paperback, ebook / feb 2026 / SIGNED / afterword by connor wolfe
“In this spellbinding book, poet and novelist Browning spares no detail in telling the story of their descent into profound grief as one loss piled upon another. Though small, this effective and plainspoken memoir is densely packed with tales of harrowing experiences that require emotional, intellectual, and spiritual investments on the part of the reader. Browning’s journey of recovery will be of help to anyone looking for courage in difficult times.”
–Publishers Weekly
- memoir / personal essay / lgbtqia+
- mental health / grief / miscarriage
- Essay / Travel / Southwest
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Also Available on Amazon – US & Global > B&N > Bookshop.org > Apple > Walmart > Target > Waterstones > Betterworld Books > In Your Local Bookstore
“Browning brings us inside the disoriented unfolding of a life taking new shape after trauma. This is not a ‘tie a neat bow around it’ trauma and recovery story with a too-simple happy ending, but a messy, honest look at a life that will never be the same.”
–Narratively
“Impressively candid and articulate, extraordinarily honest and insightful, exceptionally well written, organized and presented, To Lose the Madness is an inherently compelling read. Thoughtful and thought-provoking from first page to last, To Lose the Madness is unreservedly recommended for personal reading lists, as well as community and academic library collections.”
–Midwest Book Review
“Browning’s essay explores the confluence of natural and interior landscapes in a manner both beautiful and searing.”
–Foreword Reviews
YA Historical Fiction
The Castoff Children
A NOVEL
10th Anniversary edition Trade paperback, ebook / feb 2026 / signed edition
The year is 1850. Boston is changing fast. Factories rise, old certainties crumble, and the poor pay the price. In frozen streets and back alleys, twelve castoff children band together, building a family out of hunger, grit, and borrowed warmth. Haunted by unanswered questions and the grief of who they have lost, they fight to survive hostile gangs, hard prejudice, and a winter that seems determined to finish them. But just as the cold closes in, something begins to shift. A strange chain of mercy, coincidence, or providence makes them wonder if they are as abandoned as they have always believed.
- historical fiction for young adults
- teen & young adult alternative family fiction
- fiction about emigration, immigration & refugees for young adults
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Also Available on Amazon – US & Global > B&N > Bookshop.org > Apple > Walmart > Target > Waterstones > Betterworld Books > In Your Local Bookstore
“The Castoff Children is a lovely story of hope and the power of dreams and friendship….”
–Tomm Moore, Writer & Director of Academy Award nominated films The Secret of Kells and Song of the Sea
“Browning takes us into a Dickensian world of children whose blood bond with family has been broken by the cruel circumstances of mid-19th-century life. The Castoff Children is a timely reminder of all those who have been abandoned early in life, in today’s world as well as in the past.”
–George Harrar, author of Reunion at Red Paint Bay
Wayfarer Books is based in the San Juan Mountains near Mesa Verde, on the lands of the Ancestral Pueblo, the Southern Ute, the Weenuche (Mountain Ute), the Diné (Navajo), and the San Juan Southern Paiute Tribe. We honor the generations of Indigenous communities who have stewarded these lands for thousands of years. We acknowledge that this place was taken through genocide, colonization, and displacement. We respect the Indigenous peoples who remain here, both past and present. As one concrete act of accountability, we are launching 1% Given Back. Beginning in 2026, we will give 1% of Wayfarer’s net profits directly to the Indigenous nations on whose lands we are based, in support of sovereignty, Indigenous futures, and wealth redistribution. We do this in the belief that acknowledgment should move beyond words and into tangible practice.