Local Author Day 2015 Program

Local Author Day SATURDAY, OCTOBER 24, 2015 PRINCETON PUBLIC LIBRARY

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 Elizabeth Gardiner For more information about events for writers at Princeton Public Library, visit www.princetonlibrary.org

Workshops and Readings WORKSHOPS

Unlocking the Secret to Mental Toughness for Writers Ed Tseng

9:30 a.m.

10:45 a.m.

Finishing Your Novel: A Four-Pronged Attack Sung J. Woo

READING SCHEDULE 1:15 p.m.

Peter Brav

1:25 p.m.

Sung J. Woo*

1:40 p.m.

Donna Clovis*

1:55 p.m.

K. Edwin Fritz

2:05 p.m.

Sarada Chiruvolu

2:15 p.m.

R. G. Belsky*

2:30 p.m.

Chris Illuminati

2:40 p.m.

Walter Frank

2:50 p.m.

E. A. Hults Elko

3 p.m.

Lisa Begin-Kruysman*

3:15 p.m.

Nicole Avena

3:25 p.m.

Donna & Elena Vona

3:35 p.m.

Mike Morsch

3:45 p.m.

Janet Purcell

*Denotes Featured Author

Featured Authors

LISA BEGINKRUYSMAN

R.G. BELSKY

Lisa Begin-Kruysman is a fine-artist and author of fiction and nonfiction. Her work has been recognized in national writing competitions and often features her favorite topic, the human-canine bond. The stories in her well-received “Something’s Lost and Must be Found” were inspired by the posts published on her popular blog that promotes the National Dog Week Movement. The author is a graduate of the University of Connecticut and worked in human resources at Home Box Office in New York City. These days she derives inspiration while working near “the ‘cric” in Ocean County, N.J., where she resides with her husband and dog, Teddy. Her latest title, “Around the World in 1909” tells the story of Trenton-based Harriet White Fisher, the first woman to motor around the world in a Locomobile.

R.G. Belsky is an author of crime fiction and a journalist in New York City. His new suspense thriller is “Shooting for the Stars.”

It is the latest in a series of books featuring Gil Malloy, a hard-driving newspaper reporter with a penchant for breaking big stories on the front page of the New York Daily News.

The first book in the Gil Malloy series – “The Kennedy Connection” was published in 2014 and an ebook novella titled “The Midnight Hour” came out in February this year. Belsky is a former managing editor at the Daily News and writes about the media from an extensive background in newspapers, magazines and TV/digital news. At the Daily News, he also held the titles of metropolitan editor and deputy national editor. Before that, he was metropolitan editor of the New York Post and news editor at Star magazine. Belsky was most recently the managing editor for news at NBCNews.com. His previous suspense novels include “Playing Dead” and “Loverboy.”

Donna Clovis earned a doctorate in arts and humanities from Teacher’s College, Columbia University. She was awarded the McCloy Fellowship from the American Council on Germany and Harvard University and a Prudential Fellowship from Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism.

The McCloy Fellowship resulted in producing documentary work about Holocaust survivors in Germany, now archived in the Holocaust Museum in Washington, D.C. Clovis was nominated for a Pulitzer Prize for an article on racial profiling and a first-place feature-writing award from the National Association of Black Journalists. She is also the Albert Einstein Education Award winner for achievements that produce a significant improved educational environment. Clovis is currently a professor of gender and race at Marymount Manhattan College in New York.

DR. DONNA CLOVIS

Sung J. Woo’s short stories and essays have appeared in The New York Times, PEN/Guernica, and KoreAm Journal. His debut novel Everything Asian (2009) won the 2010 Asian Pacific American Librarians Association Literature Award (Youth category).

His second novel “Love Love” was recently published. A graduate of Cornell University with an MFA from New York University, he lives in Washington, NJ SUNG J. WOO

Participating Authors Nicole Avena is a research psychologist and neuroscientist who is an expert in the fields of nutrition, diet and addiction. She received a Ph.D. in psychology and neuroscience from Princeton University in 2006, followed by a postdoctoral fellowship at Rockefeller University. Avena holds a faculty position at Mount Sinai School of Medicine in New York. She has published over 70 scholarly journal articles on topics related to diet, nutrition and overeating and has appeared on many television shows. Her work has also been featured in Shape, Women’s Health, The New York Times and other publications. Avena’s new book, “What to Eat When You’re Pregnant,” provides a comprehensive guide for women on what nutrients are key during pregnancy.

Peter Brav, a resident of Princeton for 20 years, is a New York-based lawyer. He has written three novels and numerous short stories and poems.

His work has appeared in Kelsey Review, the U.S. 1 Summer Fiction issue and elsewhere. His plays have been staged and read at Dance Theatre Workshop, Villagers Theatre and the Peddie School.

Mary Ann Cavallaro is a freelance writer and registered nurse. Her articles have appeared in The Princeton Packet, Princeton Magazine, The Nursing Spectrum, and American Vegan. The benefits of vegetarian and vegan food choices are the topic of the lectures she gives at school lunch conferences, supermarkets and hospitals. As an adjunct faculty member, she has taught entrepreneurship at Georgian Court University and St. Francis University. She lives in Princeton with her family including her beloved dog, Mochi.

Sarada Chiruvolu left a pharmaceutical career to pursue a spiritual calling. She set out on a journey that has taken her toward attaining realization of self or enlightenment through many years of deep meditation. She dedicates her time to her family and various philanthropic pursuits. She lives in Princeton.

E.A. Hults Elko

has taught high school English in New Jersey for more than 10 years. She deems her chosen profession a “calling on her life.” She attended The College of New Jersey for both her undergraduate and graduate studies, and holds a master’s degree in educational leadership. She has served on several professional committees and presented enrichment workshops to educators in her school and state. The recipient of both “Teacher of the Year” and “Coach of the Year” during her tenure, she is most proud hearing back from former students and witnessing the success they have achieved in their adult lives.

Mary Fan is a hopeless dreamer whose mind insists on spinning tales of “what if.” As a music major at Princeton (Class of ‘10), she told those stories through compositions. Now, she tells them through books. She is the author of the “Jane Colt” sci-fi trilogy and the co-editor of “Brave New Girls: Tales of Girls and Gadgets,” a young adult sci-fi anthology that aims to inspire young women

to enter science and technology careers. Her books also include the “Flynn Nightsider” series (young adult dystopia/fantasy) and the “Fated Stars” series (young adult high fantasy).

Juliana McIntyre Fenn tells in her book about the innate wisdom of children whom she has known during her 80 years as a native Princetonian, artist, teacher, co-founder and retired head of Princeton Junior School, mother and grandmother. Raised and inspired by her large, diverse family who lived in “The Barracks,” she was tutored as well by the town to venture into a life of inquiry, creativity and discovery. A graduate of Wellesley College and Harvard Graduate School of Education, Juliana attended Cooper Union Art School and the Johnson Atelier to learn the art of figurative sculpture. Her book, “Wisdom at Play,” is a testimony to the creative spiritual dynamic within the learning process that must not be ignored.

Cheryl Filipak has been active in the field of early childhood education since 1993. Recently she earned her Ed. D. degree in educational leadership from Kean University. She is an active member of the SCBWI and national presenter for NAEYC. She believes that a hero is a person who displays extraordinary courage and serves as a model and inspiration for people everywhere. Heroes can be found in your community. too. You just have to know where to look for them.

Walter Frank retired as chief of commercial litigation for the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey to pursue his interest in constitutional law and social history. He has written a number of law review articles on constitutional issues affecting the democratic process. His first book, “Making Sense of the Constitution,” was named as an outstanding university press book by the American Library Association. A 1970 graduate of Columbia Law School, Frank received a B.A. from the University of Pennsylvania and hold a master’s degree in labor law from New York University. In 1986, Frank and his wife moved to Princeton where they raised two children. He served on the Princeton Regional School Board from 1998 to 2001.

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. Today Keith teaches 7th 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 Lawrenceville.

Frank Haggerty is a lifelong Lawrenceville resident and a United States Air Force veteran of the Vietnam War. He is a graduate of Rider University holding BS and MA degrees and is retired from Rutgers University. “With Strings Attached” is his first novel.

Participating Authors James Hockenberry, a career financial executive, has redirected his life to thriller writing with his novel, “Over Here.” Set in 1915-1916, it dramatizes the little known but extensive undeclared war Germany fought against the United States in 1915- ‘16 to stop U.S. shipments to the Allies. The book has received the Florida Authors and Publishers Association’s (FAPA) prestigious silver award (category - historical fiction) in their 2015 contest. It richly depicts the actual times, while foreshadowing disturbing similarities to the contemporary war on terror.

Chris Illuminati is an author, a blogger, a stand-up comic and a pop culture commentator.

Stephen Jankiewicz received a B.A. from Haverford College and a Ph.D. in history from Rutgers. He has taught in the Intellectual Heritage Program at Temple University since 2008. He writes and publishes a variety of fiction mostly fantasy and young adult adventure. He also run a blog on “retro” literature, television, and comics and spends a lot of time writing at Small World Coffee in Princeton.

King A. Kovacs is the owner and founder of Mutual Interest Data Service, Ltd and CEO of Website www.largedividends.com, which is an outgrowth of the company. His forte is researching mutual investments on the Internet. I have written several professional articles on the subject for Ezine Articles.com. He has also written the paperback “Retirement Investments 101: Mutual Funds.”

Debbie Lorynski is the author of a series of children’s books and is also a personal development life coach. Her love for children has given her the inspiration and the opportunity to teach them important life lessons. Her passion and desire is to enrich the lives of future generations.

Steve Mariotti has 34 years experience teaching low-income youth. He is the founder of www.nfte.com and the author of 30 textbooks and workbooks for elementary, high school, junior college and college students on entrepreneurship and career studies.

Jeff Markowitz, penned three amateur sleuth mysteries, then decided to embrace his dark side, which led to the publication of “Death and White Diamonds” in December 2014. This darkly comic thriller has received the Lovey Award for Best Thriller and the David Award for Best Mystery. Jeff is a proud member of the International Thriller Writers and the Mystery Writers of America.

William S. Moody, a longtime program officer and program director with the Rockefeller Brothers Fund in New York City, managed grant-making programs for 40 years in Latin America sub-Saharan Africa, South Africa, the Caribbean, Central and Eastern Europe and in the Western Balkans. He gave particular attention to such principles and practices as those aimed at building trust across ethnic, cultural and other divides and helping empower local people to improve their own lives and communities. Educated at Northwestern, the University of Geneva, University of Michigan Law School and the Institute of European Studies of the Free University of Brussels, Moody is a member of the governing boards of International House New York, Belgian American Educational Foundation, and Woodstock Foundation in Vermont. He has two sons, Scott and John; a daughter, Megan; and four grandchildren. He lives with his wife, Susan, in Princeton.

Mike Morsch is the executive editor/digital news director of Packet Media Group in Princeton. He is a formally trained journalist from the University of Iowa writers school and has 33 years of print and online media experience. The Vinyl Dialogues series began in 2014 with the first book. The second book is “The Vinyl Dialogues Volume II: Dropping the Needle.”

Audra Osorio is a youth services librarian in a public library. She was born and raised in New Jersey. She loves the Garden State, especially the Shore where sand and pine trees meet. She also loves knitting, photography, reading, and Skeeball. She likes organizing meetings, planning parties and doing things people tell her she can’t do. She lives in New Jersey with her husband and furry babies.

“The Swear Jar” is her first novel.

Christina Paul is the award-winning author of The Bradford Series historical romance novels. A mom of three, she is married to her childhood sweetheart and lives with him in Central 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 The Bradford Series as well as several unrelated contemporary romance novels.

Janet Purcell writes a weekly fine arts column and features for The Times of Trenton newspaper and is a regular contributor to DesignNJ magazine. Her feature articles have appeared in Woman’s Day Special Interest Publicaions, Bridal Guide, American Spa and other magazines and travel guides. Her travel stories have often been published in the New York Post, Reiman Publicaions and Princeton Packet Publications. She is also a professional artist with gallery connections in this region.

Participating Authors Thomas Reeder grew up outside Philadelphia, addicted to late night B movies, “Shock Theater” and any silent film that would surface. A lifelong love of all things cinematic led to a BFA in Film at New York’s School of Visual Arts, and an MA in Cinema Studies at New York University. Concurrent with this was an immersion in the written word from a disparate array of authors of mysteries that ran the gamut from Sir Arthur Conan Doyle and S.S. Van Dine, to Mickey Spillane and Lawrence Block. Mr. Reeder’s biography of film producer Ben Pivar – “Stop Yellin’: Ben Pivar and the Horror, Mystery and Action Adventure Films of His Universal B Unit” – was published in 2011, and he has written numerous articles for film and genealogical periodicals. His biography of silent comedy pioneer Henry “Pathé” Lehrman is scheduled for publication in 2016. “Poetic Justice” is his first foray into fiction, inspired in part by his love for Long Beach Island, where he spends his summers. He lives in Hopewell with his family.

Patrick Riccards is a strategist, writer, father, agitator and dreamer.

Author of the award-winning “Dadprovement” book, Patrick speaks around the country on the importance of active, engaged fathers. As an education advocate, he works from his nationally recognized “Eduflack” platform to help improve everything from teacher preparation to reading instruction to student achievement. A former school board chairman for one of the nation’s top school districts, Patrick is currently the chief communications and strategy officer for the Woodrow Wilson National Fellowship Foundation. He lives in Princeton with his wife, Jennifer, son, Michael (age 9), and daughter, Anna (age 8).

Michele Lynn Seigfried is the author of humorous, cozy mystery novels and is also a children’s picture book author/illustrator. She was born and raised in New Jersey. In her mystery novels, she draws from her personal expertise in municipal government; she has served for over 17 years in two municipalities. She holds a bachelor’s degree in communications from the College of New Jersey with a minor in art. Combining her love of writing with art, Michele began writing and illustrating children’s picture books in 2013. She has won several awards for her novels. She is a member of several writers groups and professional organizations.

Mary Ellen Springsteen is a longtime New Jersey resident. She has worked most of her professional career in quality assurance, research and development and compliance divisions of numerous pharmaceutical, clinical research and telecommunications companies. Her roles have included medical diagnostic testing, validations, auditing, technical writing and clinical trial monitoring and extensive communications work. She has completed courses in creative writing, technical writing and writing for children. Her published books to date are “The Universal Donor” and “In The Name Of Beauty.” They are the first two books in a female amateur sleuth mystery series. She is working on her next novel.

Aaron Thayer was born and raised in Princeton and currently resides in Kingston. He graduated in 1998 from SUNY Albany with a BA in English and a minor in film. He is an English teacher at Princeton High School. Thayer calls writing his first love and returned to it three years ago after a long hiatus. He enjoys hiking, mountain biking, and all things aquatic.

Donna Vona is a veteran literacy teacher and mother and her daughter, 11-year-old Elena Vona, is a student at Stuart Country Day School. As a teacher, Donna became concerned with the lack of early literacy skills among her students. After a five-year study of effective early literacy instruction with an international expert, she started a program to simplify the teaching of reading so that parents could help their children with early reading skills. Teach Me To Read Mom!, (teachmetoreadmom.com), was also inspired by then 3-year-old Elena, who wanted to learn to read but was not being taught in preschool.

David Hartson Watson is the author of “Magic Teacher’s Son” (Book One of the Magicians’ Gold series), a young adult fantasy novel published by Pen-L Publishing. Raised in Buffalo, New York, he graduated from Calasanctius School and has degrees from Princeton University, Canisius College, and Buffalo State College. David is a technical specialist at Seton Hall Universit and the organizer of the Woodbridge Science Fiction & Fantasy Writers Meetup. He lives in New Jersey with his wife, their two sons, and two cats.

PUBLISHER Open Door Publications is an independent book publishing company located in Yardley, Pennsylvania. The company has been publishing for 10 years and has more than 35 books on its list.

Princeton Public Library I Sands Library Building I 65 Witherspoon St. 609.924.9529 I www.princetonlibrary.org

Promotional material created by the Princeton Public Library Office of Marketing and Communications is printed on 100 percent recycled paper