Local Author Day is an annual gathering of talented writers in the Greater Princeton Area. Local Author Day is organized for Princeton Public Library by staff members Janie Hermann and Shelly Hawk. For more information about events for writers at Princeton Public Library, visit www.princetonlibrary.org
This booklet was edited and designed by Tim Quinn, commmunications director of Princeton Public Library.
Events READINGS 1:15 p.m.
Nikki Stern
1:25 p.m.
Edmund Keeley
1:35 p.m.
Richard Smith*
1:50 p.m.
Christina Paul
2 p.m.
Sam Daley-Harris
2:10 p.m.
Mary Fan*
2:25 p.m.
J.C. Vogard
2:35 p.m.
Mary Ann Raccosta
2:45 p.m.
Sophie Glovier
2:55 p.m.
Matt Ziselman*
3:10 p.m.
Veronica Foldes Frame
3:20 p.m.
Jon McGoran*
3:30 p.m.
Tracey D. Syphax
*Denotes Featured Authors
WO R K S HO P 10 a.m.
The Ins and Outs of Writing Groups led by K. Edwin Fitz
Featured Authors Mary Fan calls herself a hopeless dreamer, whose mind insists on spinning tales of “what if.” As a music major in college, she told those stories through compositions. Now she tells them through books. “Synthetic Illusions” (2014), published by Red Adept Publishing, follows “Artificial Absolutes” (2013), the well received debut of the Jane Colt science fiction series. The first book in her Young Adult dystopian fantasy series, “Flynn Nightsider” (under contract with Glass House Press) will be released this summer. Mary has a B.A. in music from Princeton University. When she’s not scheming to create new worlds, she enjoys kickboxing, opera singing and blogging about everything having to do with books.
Jon McGoran is the author of “Drift,” an ecological thriller about genetically engineered food, and its sequel, “Deadout,” due in August, both from Forge Books. He is the author of numerous short stories, and, writing as D. H. Dublin, is the author of the forensic crime thrillers “Body Trace,” “Blood Poison,” and “Freezer Burn.” He has been writing about food and sustainability for 20 years as communications director at Weavers Way Co-op and editor of The Shuttle, and as editor-in-chief at Grid magazine. He is a member of the Mystery Writers Association, the International Crimewriters Association, and the International Thriller Writers, and a founding member of the Philadelphia Liars Club, a group of published authors dedicated to promotion, networking, and service work.
Richard D. Smith is a Rocky Hill resident and Montgomery Township native, for whom Princeton has always been “The Town.” His previous books include “Images of America: Princeton” and “Can’t You Hear Me Callin’: The Life of Bill Monroe, Father of Bluegrass.” His articles have appeared in The New York Times, Washington Post, Bloomberg Magazine, Bluegrass Unlimited, Princeton Packet and the U.S. 1 Newspaper. He has a bachelor’s degree in mass communications from Emerson College and is a member of the Historical Society of Princeton.
Matt Ziselman grew up in Long Island, N.Y. By the time he was 25, he had worked as a stock boy, cab driver, landscaper, movie theater manager, nightclub promoter, garbage man, stagehand and other assorted, deeply unfulfilling occupations. In other words, Matt was destined for advertising. First as a copywriter, and later as a creative rirector, Matt has been involved in marketing some of the world’s leading brands, where his work has won numerous industry awards. When he’s not placed in the awkward position of having to refer to himself in the third person, Matt lives in New Jersey where he tries to keep three Dachshunds, a 13-year-old daughter and one wife blissfully happy, but not necessarily in that order.
More Authors A romantic at heart, Maria K. Alexander spent hours as a young girl getting lost in, and wishing to be one of the heroines in, the stories she read. Books gave her the ability to go to another world where she loved meeting new characters, learning about their problems, and watching them fall in love. When not writing, Maria loves to read, bake, downhill ski, visit the beach, and watch romantic comedies. She lives in New Jersey with her husband and children, and writes between juggling a full-time job and her kids’ busy schedules. John D. Balian was born to parents of no education or means in a remote village in Anatolia near Diyarbekir, a historic Armenian city now in Eastern Turkey. Despite personal tragedy in his early life, he eventually reached the land of opportunity because of his own fighting spirit and the help and kindness of strangers. He attended Columbia University on a full scholarship and received a medical degree from Tufts University School of Medicine. After a medical residency and fellowship, Dr. Balian worked for the United States Food and Drug Administration prior to moving into the healthcare industry. He currently is a senior executive of a U.S.based global corporation. A transformational leader in his field with numerous accomplishments and innovations, Dr. Balian was recently elected to serve on the Board of Directors of the Armenian Center of Columbia University. He is widely published in varied trade journals. David A. Beardsley is the author of “This Ideal in the West” and “The Ideal of Beauty and Other Essays,” which look at the timeless principles of the Platonic tradition and their relevance for people in the 21st century. He teaches at the Osher Lifelong Learning Institute at Rutgers, and wrote and directed the video “Emerson: The Ideal in America.” Robert D. Richardson Jr., Bancroft Prize-winner and Emerson biographer has said of him, “Not a mere thinker, Beardsley is Man Thinking; this is who Emerson called for in ‘The American Scholar.’ This is a deeply personal and deeply exciting book.” Sam Daley-Harris founded the anti-poverty lobby RESULTS in 1980, the Microcredit Summit Campaign in 1995 and the Center for Citizen Empowerment and Transformation in 2012. He began coaching Citizens Climate Lobby three months before its launch in 2007. Daley-Harris’ work has been at the center of three global movements: child survival, micro-finance, and climate change. A 20th anniversary edition of “Reclaiming Our Democracy: Healing the Break between People and Government” was published in September, 2013. It includes two new chapters, a new introduction and a new foreword by Nobel Peace Prize laureate Muhammad Yunus. Terri Halbreich David was raised in Queens, N.Y., and attended the State University of New York. Now living in New Jersey, David first pursued an M.S.W. from Rutgers University and then received her doctorate in psychology from New York University in 1986. Retired from professional practice, she lives with her husband, Michael, also a psychologist, in Princeton. Lisa Dekis (formerly Wasko) was born in 1960 in Trenton and has many memories of her childhood there. She graduated from Rider College in1999 and Rosemont College in 2005 with a master’s degree in English Literature. Although she says she can hardly add, she works in a finance department for a major pharmaceutical
company. “Frankie’s Angel” is her first self-published novella. She hopes that the book reaches children of all ages who have suffered a loss, and she hopes it can bring a modicum of comfort. Painted artwork displayed in the book is by artist Heather Murray. Laura Dunham teaches and writes about Christian spirituality. A former college professor and ordained minister, she has published six books, most recently “Path of the Purified Heart: The Spiritual Journey as Transformation” (Cascade Books, 2012). The founder of Friends of Christ School for Christian Spirituality in Chapel Hill, N.C., Laura recently returned to New Jersey. She leads workshops, retreats, guides the Ignatian Exercises, and is at work on a book about Mary. A Benedictine oblate, she is affiliated with St. Benedict’s Monastery in Minnesota. Her husband, Alden (PU ‘53), is a former Princeton Dean of Admission. Kevin Finn’s career began as a television news and sports writer, just six months after graduating high school. He’s also authored more than a dozen screenplays, served as a mentor for the American Film Institute’s Writer’s Workshop Program, taught screenwriting and is a freelance script consultant. He produced the 2012 documentary, “Setting the Stage: Behind the Scenes with the Pirates of Penzance” and is now producing his first two feature films. “Forward to Camelot” (co-authored with Susan Sloate) is his first novel. His second novel, “Banners Over Brooklyn,” will be released in 2015. Born in Hungary, Veronica Foldes Frame survived the war, Nazi atrocities and the Russian occupation before fleeing with her young son and becoming a United States citizen. In New York City, she earned her BS at Hunter College and her MSW at NYU. She was a family counselor for years and ended her professional career as a school social worker. Veronica started to write her book, “On Whom I Have Mercy,” while employed and completed it upon her retirement from the NYC Board of Education in 1991. Presently, Veronica is working on her memoir covering 90 years of her life with all its tragedies, challenges, opportunities and fulfillment. K. Edwin Fritz entered this world on Halloween. The year, 1974, was the same as when Stephen Edwin King published his first novel. Keith prefers to think neither the date nor their middle names were a coincidence. Keith teaches seventh grade Language Arts and writes to his heart’s content during his spare time. The best of these moments are nearly always by moonlight. The worst of them are also by moonlight. Keith lives with his wife, Corina, in Hillsborough. Sophie Glovier is a local author, publisher and environmentalist whose passion is connecting people with the natural world around us. A daily walker and observer of nature she serves on the board of the Stony Brook Millstone Watershed Association and Sustainable Princeton. All profits from the sales of her books are donated to local environmental groups including D&R Greenway Land Trust and the Stony Brook Millstone Watershed Association. Andrew Goldstein is a high school senior and soon-to-be college freshman who has written one book and decided it would be a good idea to write another one on top of doing college stuff. He has worked for SIKIDS, co-hosted two Internet radio shows, and is a lifelong Jets fan. While most people save weekend homework for
More Authors Sunday nights, he insists on doing it before then because he considers football Sundays to be his “office hours.” Laura Matson Hahn has spent her life focused on words and the sociology of human behavior and spirituality. She spent the first 20 years of her career in organizational communication, specializing in change and strategy. During the next 10, she continued as a communications consultant and wrote freelance articles for periodicals, taught creative writing and began “The Heart Code.” She lives in New Hope, Pa., with her husband and dogs, where she markets the self-published book and is beginning work on the next one in the series. Copywriter and blogger Terri Huggins is the author of the e-book “100 Things You Should Always Say – Dream Catcher Edition,” a guide to the power of positive thinking and creating your own happiness. Her other e-books include “100 Things You Should Never Say – Bridal Edition” and “100 Things You Should Never Say – Wedding Edition.” A former Army brat, Christine Hughes moved quite often. She spent much of her time losing herself in books and creating stories about many of the people she met. Falling in love with literature was easy for her and she majored in English while attending college in New Jersey. Not sure where her love of reading and writing fit, she became a middle school English teacher. After nine years of teaching others to appreciate literature, she decided to take the plunge and write her first novel. Now at home focusing on making writing her new career, she spends her time creating characters and plot points instead of grading papers. Maria Imbalzano is a matrimonial lawyer in Lawrenceville where she not only uses her law degree to navigate her clients through the court system, but her psychology degree to guide them through their personal struggles. While writing motions, legal memoranda, and briefs is fascinating, it pales in comparison to creating memorable characters and taking them on their emotional journeys. In addition to practicing law and writing fiction, Maria enjoys spending time with her husband and two daughters either at home or at the Jersey Shore. Edmund Leroy Keeley, author, translator, educator, critic, and administrator; was born in Damascus, Syria. He was a Fulbright Scholar and a Woodrow Wilson Fellow, and went on to receive a Doctorate in Comparative Literature from Oxford University. Keeley spent his academic career at Princeton University, holding directorships in the Creative Arts Program, the Creative Writing and Theatre Program, and the Creative Writing Program. In addition, he served as president of the Modern Greek Studies Association, vice-president of the Poetry Society of America, and president of PEN American Center. A chemical engineer and graduate of MIT and NYU, Michael Kesler is the author of “Shards of War: Fleeing To & From Uzbekistan,” the story of his and his sister’s travels and life in the Soviet Union during Word War II. He is also the author of “Hurdles: When Cancer Strikes a Family” and the editor and publisher of “Grit: A Pediatrician’s Odyssey from a Soviet Camp to Harvard,” written by his late wife Regina Kesler.
Among the contributors to “Naked, and You Clothed Me” and “Hungry and You Fed Me,” compilations of homilies by 25 contributing authors, is editor and publisher Deacon Jim Knipper, who serves at St. Paul’s Roman Catholic Church in Princeton. Knipper is CEO of J. Knipper and Company Inc., which provides a variety of services to the healthcare industry. He is also a member of the board of trustees for Georgian Court University and a former member of the Board of Trustees for the University for Scranton. He’s also a trustee at the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception in Washington, D.C. Another contributor is Rev. Dr. David A. Davis who is senior pastor of Nassau Presbyterian Church in Princeton. His academic work has focused on preaching as a corporate act and the active role of the listener. Dave is a regular contributor to The Huffington Post, various journals in the discipline of preaching, and has published a collection of his sermons, “A Kingdom We Can Taste: Sermons for the Church Year.” Proceeds of these books go to charities local to the Princeton area. Zach Lichtmann is an American author and poet. He resides in New Jersey and has been rumored to sneak into university lecture halls from Temple to Harvard. He curses the idea that sleep hasn’t yet been cured because he says it’s the only reason to not be writing or adventuring. Lichtmann is adept at engaging a wide audience of readers as well as workshop participants, and his writing never fails to deliver. Poetry by Lichtmann has been published in literary reviews and magazines in New Jersey and Pennsylvania, and his newest Young Adult novel, “Dynamo,” is available for purchase. When not writing about his favorite sport, Cris Maloney is the Chief Technology Officer for Princeton’s Callaway Henderson Sotheby’s International Realty. He runs youth field hockey programs in Princeton and is a play-by-play field hockey announcer at the college and international level. He teaches field hockey umpiring at Mercer County Community College and authored the book “JUMP IN! A Beginner’s Guide to Field Hockey Umpiring,” which is published by and available from USA Field Hockey. He has begun work on his third book, “Setting the Foundation for Competitive Field Hockey: The Sky’s The Limit.” It will be released this summer. Christina Paul, winner in the romance category of the 2013 Next Generation Indie Book Awards, is married to her childhood sweetheart and lives with him and their three children in New Jersey. She loves escaping into the written world of her characters and enjoys watching the stories unfold as she writes, letting it surprise her as it does her readers. Christina is currently working on the next installment in her Bradford series as well as several unrelated stories. Judy Petsonk has written a historical novel, “Queen of the Jews,” about Queen Salome Alexandra (Shalom-Zion), the charismatic leader who ruled Judea in the first century BCE. She has also written two non-fiction books: “The Intermarriage Handbook: A Guide for Jews and Christians” (William Morrow/Quill, co-author Jim Remsen), in print for 23 years; and “Taking Judaism Personally: Creating a Meaningful Spiritual Life” (The Free Press/Simon & Schuster. Judy has been extensively interviewed by the secular and Jewish press, has appeared on television and radio, and has spoken at numerous venues throughout the United States.
More Authors New York Times and USA Today best-selling author Caridad Pineiro is a Jersey girl who just wants to write, travel, and spend more time with family and friends. She is the author of more than 40 novels/novellas and loves romance novels, super heroes, TV and cooking. Caridad writes dark and sexy romantic suspense and paranormal romances for those who live to love on the edge. Her sweet, but still naughty, side Charity Pineiro, writes contemporary romances packed with emotion and humor. Open Door Publications will be represented by Lorette Pruden, author of “Formerly Corporate: Mindset Shifts for Success in Your Own Business” and Jodi O’Donnell-Ames, author of “The Stars That Shine,” a children’s book. MaryAnn Raccosta is the first-time author of “The Survivor, The Hero & The Angel...,” a personal memoir recognized by Kirkus Review as “a notable, inspirational story of hardship and survival.” After working in advertising production for 20 years, MaryAnn forfeited her career to care for her two ill sons. During this time, her journal entries became a manuscript, a passion for writing emerged and the memoir evolved. Raccosta holds a BA in communication design from Kutztown University. Raccosta is an active participant in various ministries at the Church of Saint Ann in Lawrenceville and speaks locally of her life story and the importance of commitment, hope and love. She is a strong advocate for specialneeds children. MaryAnn resides in Lawrenceville. Her first fiction novel is due out in 2015. Rodney Richards is the author of “Episodes: A Poetic Memoir,” an account of his ongoing struggle with bipolar disease. According to Amazon, Rodney’s been a mediocre pool player for almost 50 years. Pepsi, word puzzles, and Dunkin coffee, together with his unique religion, are other loves — after his exceptional family. Retired from a distinguished career in NJ State government as a technical writer and contracting manager, writing prose is now his passion. A community volunteer in Hamilton Township, where he lives with his patient wife of 42 years, Rod is just an average American, with personal ups and social challenges like everyone. New Jersey author S.J. Seymour’s books include “Slim Target,” a tale of international surveillance; and “Finer Spirits,” the story of a history professor and an aspiring artist who navigate a perilous path in their efforts to find the truth behind what happened to their spouses. In addition to writing romantic mysteries, Seymour blogs about “under-reported current events and social injustice” and also about investments. She also enjoys making and selling jewelry. Nikki Stern writes political, social and cultural commentary with what NPR host Kurt Andersen has described as “even-keeled grace, tolerance and common sense.” “Because I Say So: Moral Authority’s Dangerous Appeal” details her experiences as a 9/11 widow in the context of our culture’s attraction to moral certainty. “Hope in Small Doses,” which Psychology Today has called “an intelligent book,” explores the possibility of hope that accepts and even thrives in times of uncertainty. Nikki’s essays also appear in “Beyond Zuccotti Park” and the forthcoming “A Global Chorus.” She has written for the New York Times, Newsweek, USA Today,
Humanist Magazine, Princeton Magazine, and online at Salon, TruthOut, Talking Writing and Punchnell and has been a guest on NPR’s “All Things Considered” and CBS “Sunday Morning,” among others. Tracey D. Syphax is the author of “From the Block to the Boardroom,” his autobiography that chronicles his ascent from a street lifestyle to becoming an award-winning multi-millionaire entrepreneur. Syphax was educated in the Trenton Public School system and received his diploma in 1980. He later attended Mercer County Vocational Technical School. He is an ex-offender who has spent his 19-year career in business as a strong advocate for ending mass incarceration by using proper re-entry tools and entrepreneurship. Among other accomplishments, he is the first African American to receive the Princeton Regional Chamber of Commerce’s Entrepreneur of the Year Award (2011). He resides in Trenton’s West Ward with his wife of 28 years Margaret Syphax. He has a daughter Trachell, a son Marquis and two granddaughters Brooklyn and Sanaa. Brian Tucker lives in West Trenton, and works as a project manager for a large Philadelphia-based human services non-profit. When he is not riding his recumbent bike along the Delaware Canal, he is active in various religious organizations. A member of String of Pearls, a Jewish Reconstructionist Congregation in Princeton, he is an advocate for interfaith dialogue and cooperation among faith communities. He is also a member of The Guild for Spiritual Guidance, a multi-faith community and training program that teaches the art of spiritual direction and compassionate listening. J.C. Vogard is the nom de plume of two co-authors and dear friends who have been cavorting around New Jersey together for the last quarter century. Their first creative venture, AstroBotanics, a mind, body, spirit and herbal consulting company, was the inspiration for “Tiffany Blues” and the “Martini Munrow Mystery” series. J. has a master’s degree in geography from Rutgers University and had a career in natural resources. She spends her time (when not writing mysteries) designing native wildflower gardens and helping others discover the joys of nature. She lives in Flemington with her husband and two sons. C. has a degree in sociology from Douglass College of Rutgers University. After a career in public administration and human resources, she has been a holistic practitioner, astrologer, Reiki Master Teacher and Feng Shui consultant for many years. When she’s not writing mysteries, she’s also a wedding minister who creates unique and meaningful ceremonies. C. lives in Hillsborough with her husband and son. Born in Pennsylvania, and educated at Harvard where he specialized in English Literature, Nicholas Wolf studied creative writing with playwright Lillian Hellman, poet Edwin Honig, and novelist John Hawkes. His recent book, “Americans: In Their Own Words” consists of interviews with Americans who often go unnoticed and unnamed, who fly under the radar. He has an earlier book of poetry “Lost and Found,” and is featured in the poetry collection Grace Notes.