In Memory of Piper J. Drake by K. Tempest Bradford

On May 18th, 2026, our dear friend and Writing the Other teacher Lalana Dararutana, who worked with us as Piper J. Drake, passed into the next world after a multi-year fight with cervical cancer. To say that all of us are deeply saddened cannot capture the grief we’re feeling right now. Piper was an extraordinary person full of wisdom and joy and talent and skill. This is a loss we’re all going to feel for the rest of our lives.

I got to know Piper on my first Writing Excuses cruise; it was her first one as an instructor. I was immediately drawn to her vibe and impressed with her writing and teaching skills. She had one of the best laughs, and we laughed together about writing and geeky stuff. After our second WX cruise together, I invited her to create a class for Writing the Other, which soon turned into a wonderful collaboration. She added her craft knowledge and perspective to our existing core classes on character, description, and worldbuilding as well as developing several of her own.

As our alumni can surely attest, Piper was a fantastic teacher whose knowledge matched her compassion. At Writing the Other, we often teach difficult subjects and skills that can be emotionally draining to learn. She navigated those waters so well, both in her teaching and in her own writing, and inspired so many.

Our team also benefited from Piper’s corporate-honed skills of project management and organization. She had that rare talent of being creative while understanding how to make a creative business thrive. We’ve only made it this far due to her guidance and the operational structures she created behind the scenes.

Beyond being an amazing administrator, teacher, and writer, she was also a great friend. As a writer I know it’s a little sus to say there are no words to describe the loss I feel, but that’s where I am. I had some of the best times of my life talking to Piper, visiting her (which I did often… and had trouble leaving each time), traveling with her, and being creative with her. She was often the first person I wanted to tell about the good things in my life, a person I knew I could talk to about difficulties, and someone who was a true safe space for me. All of that barely skims the surface of what she meant to me.

In addition to my own reflections, I asked co-founder Nisi Shawl to share their thoughts:

I knew Piper at first via her friendship with Tempest and latterly via her work with the Writing the Other team. I got to eat with her–always an exciting and educational and delicious time–and I got to hang out with her in her apartment, at Alki Beach, with her husband, with her doglove Corbin, and backgrounded by recordings of favorite dramas and musics.

In my eyes Piper was divine. She was royalty, but of the competent variety. Part of her competence came from her heart’s kindness, part from her amazingly wide experience of like a dozen different sorts of lives, but most of it came from her sensitive and continual awareness of the people surrounding her.

We are those people. We are her community, and we can carry on that kindness and competence and divine curiosity in her name. I’m sure she wanted us to do just that.

Our grief and memories are tiny drops in the ocean of who Piper was and what she meant to her friends, found family, family, and other co-workers. Her obituary, written by her husband Matthew, captures her life beautifully. But, as he said to Tempest, it’s not enough because words aren’t ever enough.

Piper’s legacy here at Writing the Other will live on in the classes she created (some of which will continue to be available). We’ll also be working with her literary estate on other ways to honor her in the near future.

If you would like to honor her memory, Matthew has asked that people make donations in her honor to charities that were important to her:

• Writing the Other
• Coral Gardeners
• Clarion West