Carly Coursey

SJSU MLIS '27, Editor & Writer, Neurodiversity Researcher

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about

Carly Coursey (she/they) is a neurodivergent MLIS student, library worker, editor, writer, and parent. Carly has a BA in Creative Writing from Southern New Hampshire University. Published in Palomar College’s Bravura Literary Journal in 2021 for both poetry and prose, she is currently acting as a content editor on SJSU’s Student Research Journal (SRJ). A queer activist and unapologetic cat lady, you can find them somewhere in the shade in San Diego, California.

Memoir in Progress

My current work in progress is a memoir of my life. Growing up as a non-binary and neurodivergent person in both Texas and California, raising my daughter after a divorce, and achieving great success in school after a series of hardships are all themes. I was late-diagnosed with AuDHD and Bipolar 1, C-PTSD, too. Now a library worker on the path to librarianship, there have been many stops along the way.

I’ve had a lot of odd jobs, including haunting at Phobia, a haunted house in Houston, performing at the Texas Renaissance Festival and the Rocky Horror Picture Show cast at the River Oaks. Before I was old enough to drink, I was off to San Diego, California to work on an MMORPG called EverQuest. I was one of the first woman video game designers at Sony Online Entertainment. After burning out, I pivoted and went to massage college and became a Holistic Health Practitioner, and yoga instructor, which I did for 10 years while raising my daughter, below the poverty line.

During this time, I experienced a deep burnout that was really post-partum depression. I experienced a manic episode, psychosis, and wound up in jail for two weeks in San Mateo. It was after this experience that I decided to go back to college to study Creative Writing and Library & Information Science. I spent two years taking care of my mother as she declined and went through hospice. She passed away in March 2022. We had a complicated relationship.

I completed my BA in Creative Writing & English from SNHU in May 2024. I plan to complete an MLIS degree at SJSU, and publish this memoir.