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2009







Save the Date!

Sunday, June 14th
1pm - 5pm

Rain or Shine!

@ Paramus Public Library
116 East Century Road
Paramus, NJ 07652


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 Authors


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A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z
Marcie Aboff is a children's writer and author of of over 50 picture books, chapter books, magazine stories, and activity books. She writes for both the trade and educational markets. She also teaches a writing workshop called What's YOUR Story? for students in elementary and middle school. In addition, she conducts seminars at educational conferences for teachers and librarians on Getting Kids Excited About Writing.

Find her on the web at www.marcieaboff.com
Raphael Badagliacca is the author of Father's Day: Encounters with Everyday Life, a collection of 61 non-fiction stories shaped like fiction about his experiences as the father of three children. The NJ Arts Collective transformed the book into a performance that debuted on Father's Day, 2008. A second book, The Yogi Poems and Other Celebrations of Local Baseball, a collection of 25 stories and poems for anyone who loves baseball played at any level, appeared in April, 2009, just in time for the baseball season. Poems written by Mr. Badagliacca will be published in the Spring 2009 issues of The Louisville Review and Sanskrit Literary Arts Magazine.

www.fathersdaybook.com
www.yogipoems.com
Sudipta Bardhan-Quallen never thought she'd grow up to be a writer. She'd thought of being a doctor (but she's afraid of blood), a model (but she likes to eat), the president (but she had a dissolute youth)... so much for childhood dreams. Sudipta is the author of eleven picture books and sixteen nonfiction books for children including The Hog Prince, illustrated by Jason Wolff (Dutton, 2006) and The Mine-o-saur, illustrated by David Clark (Putnam, 2007). Sudipta often visits schools to share her stories, and teaches writing to children and adults. She lives in New Jersey with her family and an imaginary pony named Penny.

Find her on the web at http://www.sudipta.com
Valerie Block is the author of the novels WAS IT SOMETHING I SAID? (SoHo Press, 1998), NONE OF YOUR BUSINESS (Ballantine Books, 2003) and DON'T MAKE A SCENE (Ballantine Books, 2007). She was born and raised in New York City. She received a BA from Barnard College and an MFA in creative writing from Columbia University's School of the Arts. She lives near NYC with her husband, the writer Alexis Romay.

Visit http://www.valerieblock.com
Debra Borden is the author of two novels, LUCKY ME and A LITTLE BIT MARRIED, both published by Random House, and her essays have appeared nationally in The New York Times and Women's Health Magazine. She is a Licensed Clinical Social Worker and through her private practice, Counseling2Go, provides therapy to clients in the privacy of their own home or office. Debra loves to hear from readers and always writes back!

Visit her at www.debraborden.com or www.counseling2go.com.
Linda Bozzo enjoys writing fiction as well as nonfiction for children. Many of her fiction stories are inspired by her love of dance. Her work has been published in several children and adult magazines. Linda is the author of 13 nonfiction books for children and is looking forward to 12 more books being published in 2010. She also enjoys speaking to children at schools and libraries.

For more information about Linda, you can visit her Web site at www.lindabozzo.com.
Ann Burg was introduced early to the music of poetry and beauty of books and has been writing stories and poems since she was a young child. In 2001 she finally decided to persue her writing career full time. Since then she has captured the wonder of Fall and Winter in Autumn Walk and Winter Walk (HarperFestival, 2003). She has also explored her beloved New York State in E is for Empire, A New York State Alphabet (Sleeping Bear Press, 2003), Times Square, A New York State Counting Book (Sleeping Bear Press, 2005), Rebekkah's Journey, (Sleeping Bear Press, 2006) and The New York Reader (Sleeping Bear Press, 2008). Burg's other books include Rookie Readers , Pirate Pickle and the White Balloon and Kate's Surprise. (Scholastic, 2007). All the Broken Pieces (Scholastic Press, 2009) is Ann's first novel.
Marian Calabro is the author of 14 nonfiction history books, including the award-winning "Perilous Journey of the Donner Party." She has written for young readers, adults, and business clients. Currently she is president of CorporateHistory.net, a custom publishing firm. She also leads workshops in creative writing and business writing. Marian is a lifelong resident of northern New Jersey and a graduate of Rutgers College.

Her web sites are www.mariancalabro.com and www.corporatehistory.net.
Author Charles P. Caldes was born in 1950 and lived in Jersey City until 1956. He spent the next 16 years in Ridgefield. He attended Jersey City State and Ramapo Colleges. Charles began writing in 1995 and has published 10 books to date - all but one are railroads of New Jersey titles. Jersey City's Journal Square is his first non railroad book. For the past seven years, Charles has been an employee of the Bergen County Prosecutors Office.
Michelle Cameron's The Fruit of Her Hands: the Story of Shira of Ashkenaz is forthcoming by Simon & Schuster's Pocket Books in September 2009. The novel is based on the life of the author's thirteenth-century ancestor, Meir ben Baruch of Rothenberg, a renowned Jewish scholar of medieval Europe.

Michelle's first full-length novel in verse, In the Shadow of the Globe, was published by Lit Pot Press, Inc., in late 2003. It was named as the Shakespeare Theatre of New Jersey's 2003-4 Winter Book Selection. In addition, it has become a performance piece in various venues, including the Stella Adler Studio of Acting's Shakespeare Benefit for Broadway Cares/Equity Fights Aids.

You can learn more about Michelle on her web site, www.michelle-cameron.com
Teresa Carson's first book, Elegy for the Floater, was published by CavanKerry Press in 2008. She is currently putting the finishing touches on her second book, The Congress of Human Oddities, about a sideshow traveling through Ohio during the Civil War. Teresa, also a playwright, worked with director Shirley Kaplan and adapted this second book into a full length play, Mister V.'s Congress of Human Oddities, which was produced at Sarah Lawrence College as part of the Theatre Department's spring 2009 season. Teresa grew up in Hudson County, New Jersey and continues to live there with her husband, John.

Visit http://www.teresacarson.com
New York Times and USA Today best-selling author Mary Jane Clark writes what she knows. Since her emergence on the media-thriller scene in 1998, Mary Jane has been praised for her ability to use insider knowledge of the television news business to create action and intrigue in her novels. And an insider, she is. Mary Jane spent three decades at CBS News' New York City headquarters where she began her career as a desk assistant after graduating with degrees in journalism and political science from the University of Rhode Island.... and became a producer and writer. She is the author of twelve novels, including It Only Takes a Moment, Do You Want to Know a Secret?, Do You Promise Not to Tell?, Let Me Whisper in Your Ear, Close to You, Nobody Knows, Nowhere to Run, Hide Yourself Away, Dancing in the Dark, Lights Out Tonight, When Day Breaks, and It Only Takes a Moment. Her newest book, Dying for Mercy, will be published in July 2009

Visit www.maryjaneclark.com.
Caron Lee Cohen, the author of over a dozen playful picture books, grew up in a town near Boston where there was a jungle between two houses at the top of her street. By day she'd leap the jungle ledges with one friend or another, or occasionally a lion cub. By night she'd peer out her bedroom window at the stars, wondering about unknowable things, or making up stories. Her college major was philosophy; she has masters' degrees from Columbia, Teachers College, and has worked in schools and agencies. Caron loves living in New York City where skyscrapers, museums, three libraries and her granddaughter are all within leaping distance. She still peers at the stars for story inspiration.
Author Jeffrey Cohen worships at the church of the Marx Brothers, and hopes to convert more recruits with his own writing.

A devoted movie nut and comedy fanatic, Cohen began his career writing screenplays—which haven't been produced. Yet. But that led to his conceiving and writing the Aaron Tucker Mystery series, the Double Feature Mystery series, with It Happened One Knife picking up where Some Like It Hot-Buttered left off.

A former newspaper reporter and trade magazine editor, Cohen has been a freelance reporter and writer since 1985, and has written for The New York Times, Entertainment Weekly, USA Weekend, Writer's Digest and American Baby, among many others. He teaches screenwriting at Drexel University and has lectured on raising a child with an autism-spectrum disorder.

He began the Double Feature series as a way of marrying his love of classic comedy movies with his talent for mystery plotting and character development. The series revolves around a New Jersey movie house that shows only comedies—one classic and one contemporary each week.

Cohen's work has been developed by Jim Henson Productions, CBS, Gross-Weston Productions and others. He has been nominated for a Lefty Award (funniest mystery of the year) for Some Like It Hot-Buttered, and for a Gumshoe Award and a Maxwell Award for As Dog Is My Witness.

He’s currently awaiting the release of the third book in the series, titled A Night at the Operation.

Meredith Cole directed feature films and wrote screenplays before writing mysteries. She won the St. Martin's/Malice Domestic Best First Traditional Mystery competition. Her first novel, POSED FOR MURDER, was published by St. Martin's Minotaur in February 2009. She is a member of the board of the Mystery Writers of America/NY chapter.

Visit http://www.culturecurrent.com/cole/.
Dr. Virginia Cornue is a writer and cultural anthropologist who teaches part time at Rutgers University. Her world areas are women and China. Dr. Cornue is the former director of the National Organization for Women-NYC and Newark Emergency Services for Families. She writes a daily blog for Baby Boomers www.vaboomer.com and co-founded www.thimbleberrypress.com in 2007. The 2006 return visit to China with her daughter who was adopted while Cornue was doing doctoral research in the mid-90s China inspired her book, The Dragon's Daughters Return and Vol. I of Little Friends Around the World, Xiaopengyoumen, a cultural coloring book. Both are currently available at the www.thimbleberrypress.com website. Xiaopengyoumen is in downloadable versions and out in print in May 2009. She is at work on two novels and a series of leveled reader biographies of ordinary inspiring people.
Jane Cosco is a middle school teacher who in November 2003 started Operation Goody Bag. She was inspired to movitate the children and the community from a woman asking for help on a radio program she would listen to after school. The plea was that with 2003 Federal budget cuts there would be fewer holiday supplies for our troops! Thus Operation Goody Bag was born!

Visit Mrs. Cosco's OGB website at www.operationgoodybag.org
C. J. Critt is an actress, director, poet, playwright, and performance artist. She has appeared on Broadway stages, local radio programs, and in national television commercials. Listeners know Critt by her smooth, polished voice and spirited performances. Critics praise the strength and vitality she brings to a wide variety of characters. She is most noted for her work on Janet Evanovich audiobooks.
Don Dahler is the author of A Tight Lie (St. Martin's Minotaur) a mystery novel set in the world of professional golf and the first installment in a series of mysteries featuring the same characters. Dahler is also an award-winning broadcast journalist who anchors the noon and 6pm newscasts on CBS-2. Prior to returning to local news in 2007, Dahler was a network news correspondent with ABC-News.

Visit http://www.dondahler.com
Lisa Dale writes both literary fiction and contemporary women's fiction/romance novels. She worked at a New York literary agency before earning her MFA from Fairleigh Dickinson University. A former assistant editor of The Literary Review and nominee for Best New American Voices and the Pushcart Prize, her writing appears in many literary magazines, such as Fourth Genre, Flyway, Fugue, Sou'wester, The Southeast Review, The MacGuffin, Many Mountains Moving, and more. Her first novel, Simple Wishes, debuted with Grand Central Publishing, and a second book, It Happened One Night, is due in November 2009.

Visit www.lisadalebooks.com.
Steve Doocy is the Emmy Award-winning host of Fox & Friends, America's number one cable morning news program. Mr. Doocy has worked in the news and entertainment divisions of NBC, CBS, and Fox. For many years he was the Times Square reporter on the legendary Dick Clark "Rockin' New Years Eve" program. Steve's television work has been honored by the National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences; the Associated Press and Sigma Delta Chi, the Society of Professional Journalists.

Mr. Doocy is married to Kathy Gerrity Doocy, formerly a host at ESPN, and they have three children. The Doocys live just outside New York City.
Ellen Dreyer is the author of numerous books for young readers, including THE GLOW STONE, a Bank Street College of Education Best Book of the Year, SPEECHLESS IN NEW YORK, and A BAND OF BRAVE MEN: THE STORY OF THE 54TH MASSACHUSETTS REGIMENT. She is also a freelance children's book editor. Ellen lives in Maplewood, New Jersey.

Visit www.ellendreyer.com.
Peggy Ehrhart received a BA in English from the University of Portland, moved to San Francisco, just like several thousand other people who had gotten word that San Francisco was the happening place to be. Amid many enjoyable distractions, she managed to get an MA in English from San Francisco State, then headed off to University of Illinois for a Ph.D. in Medieval Literature. Her first college teaching job after grad school brought her to the New York City area, where she has happily remained ever since. Besides Sweet Man Is Gone, whose title is taken from a Muddy Waters song, and the academic projects, Peggy has published stories, essays, and translations in print media and online.

Visit http://www.peggyehrhart.com
Betsy Franco Feeney is an award-winning illustrator whose work has been described as "meticulously detailed with rare humor and imagination" (Kirkus Reviews). Illustrator of ten children's book and co-author of one, her great love of children's books has been brought vividly to life in front of the appreciative eyes of students in numerous elementary schools. Betsy's compelling school programs have been widely praised by educators, combining several disciplines in the pursuit of creative learning.

Visit her webpage for more information: http://www.puddlejumppress.com/Site_3/SchoolProgramsByBFF.html
Ruchama King Feuerman is the author of the novel "Seven Blessings" (St. Martin's Press). Her comic matchmaking plots and depiction of small worlds which reflect universal truths prompted Kirkus Review to dub her the Jewish Jane Austen. Her stories and essays have appeared in the New York Times and other publications. She received a Christopher Isherwood Fellowship for Fiction in 2007, and a New Jersey State Council on the Arts Fellowship for Fiction in 2009, for a novel-in-progress. Ruchama leads writing workshops all over the metropolitan area.

Visit www.writetogether.typepad.com
Tony Fradkin has been an Art Director in children's publishing for more than twenty years. During his tenure, he has designed and overseen the development of hundreds of children’s books for such clients as Disney and Fisher Price. He studied at New York City's School of Visual Arts as well as Parson's School of Design, where he also taught. Along with his art directing experience, he has visited numerous elementary schools to demonstrate the process of designing a book - from choosing appropriate art or illustrator, to editing a book's art work, to combining its text with its illustrations in layout form, to turning print-ready pages into a printed book.

Michael Freeman is a national columnist for CBSSports.com. He has previously worked for the Florida Times-Union, New York Times, Washington Post, Boston Globe and Dallas Morning News. Freeman is the author of three other books including Bloody Sundays, which was a New York Times notable book. He is also the author of Jim Brown: The Fierce Life of an American Hero, a finalist for best biography in the 2007 NAACP Image Awards. In 2006 he became one of only a handful of writers ever to win three Associated Press Sports Editors top-ten writing awards in one year. He lives with his wife and dog in New Jersey.
Shelley Freydont is the author of the Katie McDonald Sudoku mystery series and Lindy Haggerty mystery series and as well as several romance novels under the pseudonym Gemma Bruce. A former professional dancer and choreographer, she most recently worked on the films, Mona Lisa Smile and the The Game Plan. Shelley is past president of Sisters-in-Crime, NY, NJ, CN and a member of Mystery Writers of America, Liberty States Fiction Writers, and Romance Writers of America.
Debra Galant, a suburban satirist, wrote the Jersey column of The New York Times for five years before starting the New Jersey news and entertainment website, Baristanet.com, in 2004. Baristanet, which has been visited 3.8 million times, was named the #1 placeblog in America in January, 2007. Galant's first novel, RATTLED (St. Martin's Press, 2006), was both a BookSense pick and a New York Times Editors' Choice. Her second novel, FEAR AND YOGA IN NEW JERSEY, was published by St. Martin's in March, 2008.
Vince Gargiulo is a born-and-raised Bergen County resident. He grew up in Cliffside Park, just a short distance from the famed Palisades Amusement Park. As the founder and executive director of the Palisades Amusement Park Historical Society, Vince Gargiulo began the extensive research of the New Jersey resort in 1991. With the cooperation of hundreds of residents, employees, and executives of the Park, Mr. Gargiulo has compiled the most comprehensive history of the Park ever written, Palisades Amusement Park: A Century of Fond Memories. The book was published in 1995 by Rutgers University Press and became the fastest selling book in the publisher's history. In 1998, he wrote and co-produced the PBS documentary, Palisades Amusement Park: A Century of Fond Memories for public television. Today, Vince is the webmaster for www.palisadespark.com, where the Park's memories are kept alive for future generations.
Sondra Gash grew up in Paterson, New Jersey and graduated from the University of Pennsylvania. Her book of poems, Silk Elegy, (CavanKerry Press, Ltd., 2002) was chosen as a finalist for the 2003 national Paterson Poetry Prize. It tells the story of a young girl from an immigrant family whose life is disrupted by her mother's mental illness. Weaving a piece of American history, it is set in Paterson, NJ, the silk capital of the country during the turbulent years of the early 20th century. In July 2006 Gash gave a reading and workshop for teachers at Ellis Island on how to use creative writing to tell narrative stories related to immigrant experience. A featured reader and teacher at the Dodge Poetry Festival in Waterloo, NJ, she has taught writing skills at Rutgers University and coordinated the poetry program at the Women's Resource Center in Summit, NJ. Presently, she is at work on a novel. The mother of two grown daughters, she lives in Tewksbury, NJ. with her husband, Ira Gash.

Visit http://www.upne.com/0-9707186-1-6.html
Frieda Gates went from only illustrating to being the author/ illustrator of several children's books, including the bestselling How to Write, Illustrate & Design Children's Books. Her children's books are: Foot & Feet, Easy to Make Puppets, Easy to Make Costumes (Babbling Bookworm Award), Easy to Make Monster Masks and Disguises, Easy to Make American Indian Crafts, all published in hard cover by Harvey House, a Division of EM Hale Company. These books were also published in soft cover by Prentice Hall, Inc. Glove, Mitten & Sock Puppets, Ghouls and Monsters, and North American Indian Masks, were published by Walker & Company, with Glove, Mitten & Sock Puppets, published in soft cover by Scholastic. Owl Eyes (Children's Book Council Award), was published by Lothrop, Lee & Shepard Books, and Johnny Appleseed, by Mercury Press. As initiator for the Society of Children's Book Writers & Illustrators Illustrator's Conference, she has been director for the past twenty-four years. She is also a recipient of the SCBWI Member of the Year Award. With her daughter, Tris Gates-Bonarius, she has written a children's musical being considered for production in Europe. Her latest venture, a historical novel; Sawney Beane: The abduction of Elspeth Cumming, published by Cambridge House, has been opted for film.
Jack Getze spent nine years as a reporter for the Los Angeles Times, a total of twelve years covering national business and economic issues for the Times, the L.A. Herald-Examiner, and the London Times. Getze later sold stocks and bonds for a regional securities firm on the New Jersey Shore. BIG MONEY, published by Hilliard & Harris, is the second installment in his Austin Carr Mystery Series. BIG NUMBERS, the first, debuted in January, 2007.

Visit www.jackgetze.com.
Allison Gilbert is the author of Always Too Soon: Voices of Support for Those Who Have Lost Both Parents (Seal Press, 2006) and is co-editor of Covering Catastrophe: Broadcast Journalists Report September 11 (Bonus Books, 2002). She has written for numerous newspapers and magazines including The New York Times, and is now a frequent contributor to The Huffington Post. Her latest book, Always Too Soon, sparked the nationwide creation of Parentless Parents, a network of parents who have experienced the loss of their own mothers and fathers. Allison is also a public speaker addressing grief, recovery from loss, and the bonds that hold families together.

Visit http://www.allisongilbert.com
Chris Grabenstein did improvisational comedy in New York City with Bruce Willis before James Patterson hired him to write advertising copy. He is the author of the John Ceepak mysteries TILT A WHIRL (Anthony Award), MAD MOUSE, WHACK A MOLE, HELL HOLE, and MIND SCRAMBLER (June, 2009); the thrillers SLAY RIDE and HELL FOR THE HOLIDAYS; and the Middle Grades chillers THE CROSSROADS (nominated for the Best YA Agatha Award) and THE HANGING HILL (August, 2009). His dog Fred has even better credits: Fred starred on Broadway in Chitty Chitty Bang Bang.

Visit www.chrisgrabenstein.com
Brenda Greene is the author of Get the Interview Every Time: Fortune 500 Hiring Professionals Tips for Winning Cover Letters and Resumes (Kaplan, 2004); You've Got the Interview ...Now What? (Kaplan, 2005) and the recently revised and expanded Get the Interview Every Time: Proven Resume and Cover Letter Strategies from Fortune 500 Hiring Professionals (Kaplan, 2008); she is also a coauthor of The Business Style Handbook: An A-to-Z Guide for Writing on the Job with Tips from Communications Experts at the Fortune 500 and a coauthor of America's Girl, a biography about Gertrude Ederle, which will be published by St. Martin's Press August 4, 2009.
Lauren Grodstein is the author of THE BEST OF ANIMALS, a short story collection, and REPRODUCTION IS THE FLAW OF LOVE, a novel. Her novel A FRIEND OF THE FAMILY, set in Bergen County, New Jersey, will be published by Algonquin this September. Her fiction has been translated into several languages, and her essays and stories have been published in The New York Times, The Ontario Review, and several anthologies. She is an assistant professor of English at Rutgers-Camden, where she helps administer the MFA program in creative writing.

Visit www.laurengrodstein.com
Joan Cusack Handler first poetry collection, Glorious, debuted in 2003 and its companion CD in 2007. Her second book, The Red Canoe: Love in its Making, a verse memoir, explores the anatomy of a marriage and appeared in Fall 2008. Her third book, yet unpublished, Confessions of Joan the Tall is a memoir written the voice of Joan, an Irish Catholic girl of 12 living in the Bronx in 1954. Handler's poems have appeared in The Boston Review, The New York Times, Poetry East, Seattle Review, and Southern Humanities Review and have received The Sampler Award from The Boston Review and five Pushcart nominations. In her "other lives", Handler is an essayist, creative writing teacher, psychologist in clinical practice and the publisher and senior editor of CavanKerry Press, a not for profit literary press that serves both art and community. Handler lives in Fort Lee, New Jersey and East Hampton, New York with her husband, Alan, a retired psychologist and learning center owner/director. They have one son, David, 28, a composer, violinist and violist, and co-founder of (Le) Poisson Rouge, a music and art venue located at the site of the former Village Gate in NYC.

For more information, visit www.joancusackhandler.com and www.cavankerrypress.org.
Joshua Henkin is the author of the novel MATRIMONY (Pantheon, 2007, Vintage, 2008), which was named a New York Times Notable Book, a Book Sense Highlight Pick of the Year, and a Borders Original Voices Selection. He is also the author of the novel SWIMMING ACROSS THE HUDSON, which was named a Los Angeles Times notable book. His short stories have been published in Glimmer Train, Ploughshares, The Southern Review, The Yale Review, Triquarterly, DoubleTake, The North American Review, The New England Review, Boulevard, and elsewhere.
Carol Hoenig is a fulltime freelance writer and publishing consultant. Her novel, WITHOUT GRACE, has been awarded the Silver Medal for Book of the Year 2005 by ForeWord Magazine and given First Place for Fiction by the DIY Book Festival. Jada Press and the New York Book Festival also gave her novel honorable mention. Her book THE AUTHOR's GUIDE TO PLANNING BOOK EVENTS was named finalist by USA Book and Reader Views and given the Gold medal by ForeWord Magazine for Book of the Year in the category of writing. Carol's essays, articles, book reviews and short stories appear in a wide number of publications. Carol blogs for The Huffington Post at http://www.huffingtonpost.com/carol-hoenig/ covering politics, culture, the publishing industry and the writing life.

For more information, visit www.carolhoenig.com
Roxanne Hoffman worked on Wall Street and now answers a patient hotline for a major New York home healthcare provider. Her poetry has recently appeared in Amaze: The Cinquain Journal, Danse Macabre, Hospital Drive, Liquid Imagination, Lucid Rhythms, MOBIUS The Poetry Magazine, Shofar Literary Review, and Word Slaw. Her writing been anthologized in The Bandana Republic: A Literary Anthology By Gang Members And Their Affiliates (Soft Skull Press) and in Love after 70 (Wising Up Press) both released in 2008. Her vampire poetry can be heard during the 2005 independent film, Love and The Vampire, directed by David Gold and starring Rick Poli. Her live spokenword performances have been aired on cable (Poetry Thin Air, The Art House Show), 20 with interviews on UHF-TV (The New Yorkers) and WKCR 89.9 FM NY (Art Waves), and most recently podcast on the internet on IndieFeed: Performance Poetry. She owns the small press, POETS WEAR PRADA.

Visit her press site at http://poetswearpradanj.home.att.net
Ken Isaacson has practiced law for almost thirty years. He graduated from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and earned his law degree at Columbia Law School. His legal career began on Wall Street, and today he is in-house general counsel to an international transportation company.
His first novel, Silent Counsel, was a No. 2 Amazon Hot New Release in Legal Thrillers, and spent an entire month on Amazon's list of Bestselling Legal Thrillers with only two titles ahead of it-John Grisham's The Appeal and Harper Lee's To Kill a Mockingbird. With his upcoming book, Death Benefit, Ken begins a series featuring third year law student Elliot Lerner.

Ken lives in New Jersey and takes his dog to work with him every day. Except when he rides his Harley.
Marcia Ivans author of Over Easy tells the story of her life's journey in her no frills poetry. She began writing poetry over twenty five years ago. Her first book, Yesterday, a Collection of Thoughts, was published in 1981 and reissued in 2003. As her writing gained momentum, she found herself sharing both her written words and the healing process of creating them. Ms. Ivans is a board member of Women Who Write Inc. of Morris County. In 2004, she began hosting Poetry and Pastries, a bimonthly open poetry reading at Cafe Beethoven in Chatham. Her work has appeared in Goldfinch, Compassionate Friends, Out and About, Interregnum among others. She has also been a guest lecturer at The College of Saint Elizabeth and Essex County College.

Visit www.mivans.com
Melissa Iwai received her BFA in Illustration from Art Center College of Design in Pasadena, CA. Now she's a Brooklynite and has illustrated many picture books. Melissa's books include Green as a Bean, Night Shift Daddy, Gramps and the Fire Dragon, Chanukah Lights Everywhere, The Beeman, Big Bad Wolf, B is for Bulldozer, Snuggle Mountain, Good Night Engines, and The Great Stroller Adventure. Her book, Toolbox Twins, was include on the 2007 Best Childrens Books of the Year list as well as the 2007 Kansas State Reading Circle Recommended List.

For more information, visit http://www.melissaiwai.com
Susie Lee Jin is a children's writer and illustrator. She also runs her company Susie Studio, licensing her art on family-friendly products. Clients include Bebop Books, Scholastic, Pearson, Harvest House Publishers, and Piggy Toes Press. Susie is represented in the children's publishing market by WendyLynn & Co. She lives in New Jersey with her husband Paul, a jungle of houseplants, and their big fish Oscar. When not working, Susie enjoys baking brownies for her pals and being a bookworm
Brenda Janowitz, A native New Yorker, Brenda Janowitz has had a flair for all things dramatic since she played the title role in her third grade production of Really Rosie. When asked by her grandmother if the experience made her want to be an actress when she grew up, Brenda responded, "An actress? No. A writer, maybe." After graduating from Cornell, she attended Hofstra Law School, where she was a member of the Law Review and won the Law Review Writing Competition. Brenda is the author of JACK WITH A TWIST (Engaging your adversary and other things they don't teach you in law school) and SCOT ON THE ROCKS (How I survived my ex-boyfriend's wedding with my dignity ever so slightly intact), as well as the short story BASED ON A TRUE STORY.

You can learn more about Brenda at www.brendajanowitz.com.
Irene Kelly grew up in Morristown, New Jersey and graduated from New York University with a fine arts degree in 1980. Her life as an author and illustrator of children's books is not that different from her childhood ~ She still reads and writes a lot, and spends tons of time outside. When she's not working on her books, she loves to visit schools and talk with kids about creating books. She and her family live in New Jersey.

Visit http://irenekellybooks.com/
Bob Krech is a teacher and writer who has lived and worked in Scotland, Saudi Arabia, and various exotic places throughout New Jersey. He has written more than 25 books for teachers through Scholastic Professional Books. His first YA novel, REBOUND (Marshall Cavendish, 2006) was a 2007 ALA Best Book for Young Adults. He lives in Lawrenceville, NJ with his wife, Karen and two teenage children, Andrew and Faith.

Visit www.bobkrech.com
Marie Lamba is author of the young adult novel What I Meant... (Random House), which Publishers Weekly dubbed "an impressive debut." She has also completed two more YA novels, including one titled Drawn about a Jersey teen artist who, through her drawings, starts channeling one very hot ghost. Now residing in Doylestown, PA, Marie grew up in Wyckoff (her maiden name is Marie Busterna), and spent countless hours reading stacks and stacks of books checked out from the Wyckoff Public Library. She's excited to be visiting her home county for this festival and hopes some old friends from Wyckoff and Ramapo High School will say hi!

Website: www.marielamba.com
Margie Latrella and Carolyn Strimike are cardiac nurse practitioners specializing in the prevention of heart disease and stroke and co-founders of Heartstrong, LLC. They have over 40 years of nursing experience in Cardiology between them. The main goal of their work is to counsel, motivate and empower women to adopt healthy lifestyle choices! They have lectured extensively throughout the United States on topics relating to heart disease. They have both been recognized by the American Heart Association and the Women's Heart Foundation for their work in the field of women and heart disease. Their book "Take Charge: A Woman's Guide to a Healthier Heart" is a concise guide that any woman can read through within a day and carry with them as a quick reference guide.

Visit them on the web at http://www.heart-strong.com and http://heartstrong.wordpress.com.
Wendy Lee is a graduate of Stanford University and New York University's Creative Writing Program. She worked for two years in China as a volunteer English teacher and now lives in New York City. Happy Family is her first novel. When asked about how the idea for Happy Family came to be: "I'd been reading a lot of articles about the adoption of baby girls from China, and one parent's comment in particular stood out for me. They said one of the reasons they adopted from China was that, unlike adopting a child in the U.S., there was no chance of the mother coming back to take the child away. So I got to thinking, What if someone did take away the child? Families are already such complicated things that I could imagine a situation like that being a potential tinderbox."

Visit http://www.wendyleebooks.com
Ed Lin is the author of Waylaid. Published by Kaya in 2002, Waylaid was universally praised in a broad range of publications including Booklist, Asianweek and Playboy. Waylaid was named to Booklist's Editors Choice 2002 list and also won the Members' Choice Award from the Asian American Writers Workshop in 2003. This Is a Bust, Lin's second novel, was published by Kaya in December 2007 to a pre-publication starred review in Booklist. Ed Lin lives in New York with his wife, actress Cindy Cheung.

Visit www.edlinforpresident.com
Judith Lindbergh's debut novel, The Thrall's Tale, tells the story of three women in the first Viking Age settlements in 10th century Greenland. Selected as a Booksense Pick and a Borders Original Voices selection, The Thrall's Tale has been called "historical fiction at its best" by The Philadelphia Inquirer and praised by Pulitzer Prize winners Geraldine Brooks and Robert Olen Butler. Her upcoming novel, Pasture of Heaven, follows a nomad woman warrior on the Central Asian steppes in the 5th century BCE. Ms. Lindbergh's short fiction, essays, articles and photography have appeared in numerous magazines and journals, including Archaeology Magazine, The World & I, Scandinavian Review, and in conjunction with the Smithsonian's exhibition Vikings: The North Atlantic Saga.

For more information, go to www.judithlindbergh.com
Julie Maloney is the founder/director of WOMEN READING ALOUD, a non-profit 501(c)(3) organization dedicated to promoting women writers. She is a trained workshop leader in the Amherst Writers and Artists Method and leads an ongoing workshop series each fall and spring. Julie orchestrates Writing Wellness Days in the winter and summer to include yoga and writing. She is a regular columnist covering women in the arts for the magazine, SilkPurse Women. She is also the founder and creative designer for MANGO. Visit www.mangopress.net to view stationery, writing journals and books. Her book of poems, Private Landscape, is an intimate look into the heart of a woman who traveled through cancer. She holds a B.A. in English and an MFA from the University of North Carolina at Greensboro. Julie is a former dancer, choreographer and artistic director of the Julie Maloney Dance Company. She is the recipient of several grants from the New Jersey State Council on the Arts.

Please visit www.womenreadingaloud.org.
In March 2005, Harcourt Inc. published Alfred C. Martino's debut novel, Pinned, a coming-of-age tale that follows two high school seniors as they embark on the most important winter of their lives in a quest for the New Jersey high school wrestling championship. This July, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt will publish his second novel, Over The End Line.

In his day job, Alfred is the co-founder and president of Listen & Live Audio, an independent audiobook publishing company located in Union City (NJ). Listen & Live Audio has published over 300 titles. The company has worked with some of the finest narrators in the audiobook industry, including Burt Reynolds, Penn Jillette (Penn & Teller) and Frank Muller. The company has won 2 Odyssey Honor Awards, 4 Audie Awards and numerous Publishers Weekly 'Listen Up' Awards.

Alphie McCourt is the youngest of four brothers, and isn't as famous a writer as his two older brothers, Frank and Malachi McCourt. In fact, until recently, he wasn't a writer at all. He was a restauranteur and then a building manager in New York City. But he's got the same talent for memoir as his more celebrated siblings. He's just come out with a memoir of growing up in Limerick, Ireland and, after emigrating, his life here in the U.S. A LONG STONE'S THROW contains wry observations of both cultures, passages of great lyricism and darker observations of poverty and injustice in his native land.
Ellen Meister is the author of two novels, The Smart One and Secret Confessions of the Applewood PTA, as well as numerous short stories. In addition to writing, she served as editor for an online literary magazine and now does public speaking about her books and related issues. She writes, she swears, she sings, she dances ... all from the front seat of her minivan. Ellen lives on Long Island with her husband and three children. Her third novel, The Silver Line, will be published by Putnam in 2010.

For more information, go to ellenmeister.com
Jennifer J. Merz is an award-winning children's author/illustrator from Allendale, New Jersey. Her creative process begins with rough sketches torn from brown paper and ends with intricate, full-color collages. Jennifer enjoys making collage illustrations the old-fashioned way: with cut and torn papers, fabrics, trims, gouache, and plenty of glue. Jennifer received a BA in Studio Art from Marymount College, and an MA in Art Education from the College of New Rochelle. She earned K-6 Teachers' Certification before working in Textiles, where she created designs for the Domestics Markets. She has studied Children's Illustration at the School of Visual Arts, Parsons, and in numerous workshops. Her first picture book, That Dancin' Dolly, received the IRA/CBC Children's Choice Award. She is a member of the SCBWI, the Author's Guild, and CBIG. Jennifer is available for author visits.

She invites you to see more of her work at www.jennifermerz.com.
DeLauné Michel was raised in South Louisiana in a literary family that includes her uncle André Dubus ("In the Bedroom"); and her cousin James Lee Burke (bestselling mystery author). She has worked as an actor in theater, film, and television. The first two stories Michel wrote won recognition by the Thomas Wolfe Short Fiction Award, and later work won the Pacificus Foundation Literary Award. She has performed her nonfiction work on NPR. She founding producer of Spoken Interludes, a critically-acclaimed reading series in LA and New York. In 2001, Ms. Michel made it a non-profit arts organization through which she has developed, has taught in, and continues to run out-reach writing programs for at-risk teenagers. Her first novel, Aftermath of Dreaming, was published by William Morrow in 2006. She lives in Westchester County, New York with her husband and two sons. Ms. Michel is currently working on her third novel.
Denise Dowling Mortensen is an award-winning children's book author and a freelance copyeditor and proofreader. She works from her home in Chatham, NJ. She is the author of three books: Good Night Engines (Clarion, 2003); Ohio Thunder (Clarion, 2006); Wake Up Engines (Clarion, 2007); and the forthcoming Bug Patrol (Clarion) to be released in 2010. As the mother of five children, Denise began writing to fill a void in her life after her four oldest children were in school all day and her youngest child took naps. She enjoys writing short, concise lyrical poetry aimed at a younger audience. She holds a degree in Journalism from St. Bonaventure University and is a member of the Society of Children's Book Writers and Illustrators.

For more information about Denise, visit her website at www.denisemortensen.com
Lisa Mullarkey taught at Liberty Corner School in Basking Ridge, NJ for nineteen years before recently deciding to stay home and write full-time. Her first chapter books series, Katharine the Almost Great, was published in January by Magic Wagon. Her first book, Splashing by the Shore, is a fun activity book that contains beachy science experiments, crafts, jokes, party ideas, and recipes. She has several forthcoming books. Lisa loves visiting schools to talk to students about writing and reading and has presented her workshop, The Reluctant Reader: Squash the Resistance to dozens of libraries throughout NJ.

Stop by and visit her website at www.lisamullarkey.com.
William Neumann is a commercial photographer in New York City. Since 1985 he has made portraits of hundreds of business leaders, celebrities and politicians. He continuously documents the beauty of the Borough of Rutherford and it's evolving history. His images have been used in numerous borough calendars, brochures, posters, etc. He has produced guided tours of Rutherford, Paterson, and New York City. He is past chairman of Rutherford's Historic Preservation Commission and serves on other New Jersey historic committees including Bergen County's Historic Preservation Advisory Board. He is also a member of the Board of Directors for Paterson Habitat for Humanity.

William Neumann is the author of Rutherford: A Brief History, published by History Press in 2008. This is the first stand alone comprehensive history of the Borough of Rutherford and features many original images from the author.

Visit http://www.neumannphoto.com/
Brad Parks' debut novel, a mystery/thriller titled FACES OF THE GONE, is due out from St. Martin's Press this December. A recently escaped newspaper reporter, Brad spent a dozen years covering news and sports for The Washington Post and The (Newark, N.J.) Star-Ledger. His work has been recognized by the Associated Press Sports Editors, the National Headliner Awards, the National Association of Black Journalists and others. Most recently, he won the New Jersey Press Association's enterprise award for a four-part series on the 40th Anniversary of the Newark Riots. A Phi Beta Kappa graduate of Dartmouth College, he lives with his wife, Melissa, and two young children.
Mickey Pearlman is the author of WHAT TO READ, THE ESSENTIAL GUIDE FOR READING GROUP MEMBERS AND OTHER BOOK LOVERS (HarperCollins, 15 printings); LISTEN TO THEIR VOICES (Houghton Mifflin)and the co-author of A VOICE OF ONE'S OWN (w/ Katherine Usher Henderson), (Houghton); TILLIE OLSEN (w/ Abby H.P. Werlock) (Twayne)

She is the editor of American Women Writing Fiction: Memory, Identity, Family, Space (Ky.);Mother Puzzles: Daughters and Mothers in Contemporary American Literature (Greenwood); The Anna Book: Searching for Anna in Literary History (Greenwood); Canadian Women Writing Fiction (Mississippi);Between Friends (Houghton Mifflin); A Place Called Home (St. Martin's);A Few Thousand Words About Love (Griffin)

Mickey Pearlman was born in Miami Beach, Florida and has lived in New York, Vienna, Berlin, Tel Aviv and Prague, all of which were "too far from Shea Stadium." ("Go, Mets !") She now considers herself a devoted New Jerseyan.

Visit her website at www.mickeypearlman.com
Susan Beth Pfeffer is the author of 75 books for children and young adults. Among her award winning titles are Kid Power, About David, and The Year Without Michael. Most recently, her New York Times bestselling novel Life As We Knew It (Harcourt 2006) was the One Book New Jersey 2009 Teen Selection and the winner of the 2009 Garden State Teen Book Award for fiction, grades 6-8. Ms. Pfeffer is current working on This World We Live In, which continues both the story of Miranda, from Life As We Knew It, and Alex, from the companion novel the dead and the gone.

Visit http://susanbethpfeffer.blogspot.com
Stefanie Pintoff won the annual St. Martin's Minotaur/Mystery Writers of America First Crime Novel contest in 2008. Her novel, In the Shadow of Gotham, is the first in a historical mystery series where early criminal science meets the dark side of old New York. The foundation for In the Shadow of Gotham began when, after graduating from Duke University, Stefanie moved to New York City to attend the Columbia University School of Law. Her studies at Columbia not only prompted her academic pursuit of the intersection of law, ethics and criminology, they also led to her love affair with New York City (not to mention that she met her husband in her first class on her very first day of law school).

Visit http://www.stefaniepintoff.com
Ed Rand--writing as E. J. Rand--may be the only author writing about a senior citizen married couple who are amateur sleuths. "They live in my house in Teaneck," he says, "and much of the action takes place in Fort Lee." Rand says he can't write a murder mystery without a deep love story pouring out, and the combination has proven intriguing for readers as well as industry experts. His Reluctant Sleuth Mystery series has won awards from the publisher (Parsippany-based Deadly Ink Press), an international book award contest (the 2008 Next Generation New Indie Book Awards), and the Mystery Writers of America (in March, 2009, for his fourth novel, DARK SEA).

Visit www.ejrand.com.
Cindy Mauro Reisenauer's children's picture book, Emerita, is about love of family and was inspired by the relationship she had with her maternal grandmother who she affectionately called Mama. Emerita is about love of family. It has been recognized with Honorable Mention awards in the Children's Picture Book Category from The International Latino Book Award,

The New York Book Festival, the Hollywood Book Awards and Second Place in the DIY Book Festival Award. Born in New York City Cindy has called Rockland County home since she was a child. A member of the Society of Children's Book Writers and Illustrators (SCBWI) she is a Visual Arts Educator with a Masters Degree in Multicultural Education. Cindy shares her love of art with her students in Suffern, New York. She lives with her husband Richard, a Bergen County native, and their sons in the Hudson River Valley.
Susanna Rich is author of Television Daddy and The Drive Home (Finishing Line Press), the 2008 Featured Poet of Darkling Literary Magazine, a Fulbright Fellow in Creative Writing, and baseball poet for the Emmy-Award winning documentary Cobb Field. She tours the staged, one-woman, audience-interactive poetry experience Television Daddy, and is in production for Shakespeare's *itches (opening in 2010). Professor of English and Distinguished Teacher at Kean University in New Jersey, Susanna teaches such courses as Emily Dickinson, William Blake, Writing Poetry, Poetry and the Poetic Experience, and 20th Century American Women Poets.

For more information, visit http://www.susannarich.com
Joey Rizzolo Joey Rizzolo is a Middle School student and lives in a suburban town less than 10 miles from New York City. His hometown suffered many losses as a result of the terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center. As a result, he had a dream to organize a Freedom Walk to remember September 11 and Vetereans, past and present. His journey started in the corridors of his school, followed him to meetings with local and county government officials and interviews with local television and radio stations and even a guest appearance on Fox and Friends.
Edel Rodriguez was born in 1971 in Havana, Cuba. He received a B.F.A. in Painting from Pratt Institute in 1994 and an M.F.A. from Hunter College in 1998. Using a variety of materials, his work ranges from conceptual to portraiture and landscape. His work has been featured in Print's 1998 New Visual Artists Annual and on the cover of the 2004 Communication Arts Illustration Annual. It has also been regularly selected to appear in the pages of Communication Arts, American Illustration, Society of Publication Designers, and The Society of Illustrators Annuals. He is also the recipient of both a Gold and a Silver Medal for editorial illustration from the Society of Illustrators. He has illustrated three children's books, "Mama does the Mambo", "Oye Celia", a biopic about Celia Cruz, and "Float Like a Butterfly", a story about Cassius Clay. A stamp he created for the United States Postal Service was released in the Summer of 2005.

Visit http://www.illoz.com/edel/.
Alexis Romay received a Master of Arts in Spanish Language and Literature from the City University of New York. His novel Salidas de emergencia has been published in Spanish (2007) and Italian editions (2007). His book of poetry Los culpables was published in Spain by Editorial Linkgua (2008). He is a contributor to Encuentro en la red and Letralia, Tierra de Letras, as well as to the quarterlies Encuentro de la Cultura Cubana, Caleta and Letras Libres . He has translated into Spanish the novel Flight to Freedom, by Ana Veciana-Suarez, and, into English, the novel Al norte del infierno, by Miguel Correa Mujica. With Enrique Del Risco, he has written lyrics for Paquito D'Rivera's operetta Cecilio Valdes, Rey de La Habana.

He writes daily about Cuba, literature and other topics in his blog: Belascoain y Neptuno at belascoainyneptuno.blogspot.com.
Saralee Rosenberg began her writing career co-authoring books on personal finance and relocation with her husband, Lee Rosenberg, a Certified Financial Planner. Their collaboration produced among others, 50 FABULOUS PLACES TO RETIRE IN AMERICA and 50 FABULOUS PLACES TO RAISE A FAMILY. On her own, Saralee has written the following novels: A LITTLE HELP FROM ABOVE, CLAIRE VOYANT and FATE AND MS. FORTUNE (all published by AvonBooks). Her latest novel, DEAR NEIGHBOR, DROP DEAD, released in July 2008, is a hilarious, heart stopping romp over fences and defenses that takes on hormones and hunger, family feuds and fidelity, and a harrowing journey that spills the truth about an unplanned pregnancy and a miracle during the Holocaust that altered the fates of next door neighbors forever. It begs the question, what did you do to deserve living next to a crazy woman? Sometimes it's worth finding out. Saralee is a graduate of Indiana University and lives on Long Island with her husband and three children.

Visit http://www.saraleerosenberg.com
Della Rowland is the author of some 40 published books for children Pre-K - 8 that include everything from picture books to biography to fiction to the 13-book Clue Jr Mystery series (Scholastic) to educational materials. She has also made many mortgage payments writing coloring and activity books. She has visited more than a hundred schools in NJ, NY, and PA with her author program that offers a slide presentation and various writing workshops for fiction, poetry, and mystery writing, as well as mini-residencies from 3 to 5 days. For 10 years she has been an Artist-in-Residence teaching writing at six elementary schools in the Union City, NJ, district, working with the same children all year. Born in Indiana, she moved to New York City to be a poet, and wound up paying the rent as an editor at Ms. and Real Estate (Time, Inc ) magazines, and three book publishers including Scholastic Publishing. In 1991 she married a man with three small children to use as research sources for her books. The kids have grown and gone, and she and her husband, a book designer, still live in Rutherford, NJ with a cat and a turtle. They recently collaborated on a picture book on the 1969 Woodstock Festival, a good indication of her ability to write anything.
Vicky Rubin is the author and illustrator of Ralphie and the Swamp Baby and the author of The Three Swingin' Pigs. She has a master's in art education from the University of Massachusetts at Amherst. Like her characters, she enjoys swamps and all-night diners.

Visit http://www.vickyrubin.com
Charles Salzberg is a New York based freelance writer whose work has appeared in Esquire, New York magazine, GQ, the New York Times Book Review and other newspapers and periodicals. He is the author of a number of non-fiction books, including From Set Shot to Slam Dunk, An Oral History of the NBA, The Mad Fisherman (Charlie Moore,) and Soupy Sez: My Zany Life and Times (Soupy Sales.) He has taught at the S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications at Syracuse University and the Sarah Lawrence Writing Center. He now teaches writing at the Writer's Voice, and the New York Writers Workshop, where he is a Founding Member.His novel, Swann's Last Song, was published in the fall of 2008.

Visit www.charlessalzberg.com
Pamela Redmond Satran is the author of five novels, all published by Simon & Schuster: The Man I Should Have Married, Babes in Captivity, Younger, Suburbanistas, and The Home for Wayward Supermodels. She is also the coauthor, with Linda Rosenkrantz, of nine best-selling baby name guides, including Cool Names for Babies and The Baby Name Bible, which they have developed into a website called nameberry.com. Satran turned her blog, How Not To Act Old, into a book coming out from Harper Collins in August. She cowrites The Glamour List column for Glamour and Back to the Ranch for Park Place, a New Jersey Monthly publication, and writes for The New York Times, The Huffington Post, and More. She lives with her family in Montclair, where she is the founder of the 800-member Montclair Editors & Writers (MEWS) group.

Visit www.pamelaredmondsatran.com
Robert Schneck is the author of The President's Vampire and regular contributor to Fortean Times and Fate Magazine. He is also the Director of the White Crow Society, a group which aims to educate and help those that have witnessed or experienced paranormal or anomalous phenomena. He is currently working on a book for Paraview which draws together unusual tales from American history. Robert Damon Schneck currently resides in Northern New Jersey.

Visit http://historianofthestage.com/.
Corey Rosen Schwartz attended Brown University and has a Masters in Deaf Education from Gallaudet. She lives in Warren, NJ and spends a lot of afternoons at playgrounds with her three-year-old daughter, Jordan, and two-year-old son, Josh. Corey has no free time, but if she did, she would spend it scuba diving!

Visit http://hopplop.com/.
Carolyn Strimike and Margie Latrella are cardiac nurse practitioners specializing in the prevention of heart disease and stroke and co-founders of Heartstrong, LLC. They have over 40 years of nursing experience in Cardiology between them. The main goal of their work is to counsel, motivate and empower women to adopt healthy lifestyle choices! They have lectured extensively throughout the United States on topics relating to heart disease. They have both been recognized by the American Heart Association and the Women's Heart Foundation for their work in the field of women and heart disease. Their book "Take Charge: A Woman's Guide to a Healthier Heart" is a concise guide that any woman can read through within a day and carry with them as a quick reference guide.

Visit them on the web at http://www.heart-strong.com and http://heartstrong.wordpress.com.
Mary Ederle Ward is the niece of Gertrude "Trudy" Ederle. Her Aunt Trudy was always a part of her life growing up in NY. In her Aunt's later years, Mary assisted Trudy in maintaining her independence when Trudy resided in Flushing ,NY. and for the last 4 years of her life when Trudy lived at Christain Healthcare Center in Wyckoff, NJ. Over the years Trudy shared many stories with Mary about her Channel swim and her life in general. While Trudy always hoped to write her own biography, circumstances seemed to get in the way. It was Mary's hope that her Aunt's story would finally be written. Much of the information in "America's Girls" comes from personal stories Trudy shared with Mary over the years, as well as Trudy's personal archives and memoir. Mary Ederle Ward lives in Glen Rock ,NJ with her husband and three children and works as a physical therapist at Valley Hospital in NJ.
E. F. Watkins E. F. Watkins specializes in paranormal suspense, and has published five novels with Amber Quill Press. Her first, DANCE WITH THE DRAGON, received a 2004 EPPIE as Best Horror Novel. Her third, BLACK FLOWERS, was a Finalist for both the 2006 EPPIEs and the 2007 Indie Excellence Book Awards. Her other books include the romantic mystery RIDE A DANCING HORSE (as .Eileen Watkins.) and the paranormal thrillers PARAGON and DANU.S CHILDREN. She also is a member of the Garden State Horror Writers, Sisters in Crime, Mystery Writers of America and Broad Universe.

For more background, visit www.efwatkins.com.
Cynthia Weill is trained as an educator and art historian and has lived and worked in Asia, Europe, South America and the Caribbean. She has always been fascinated by folk art and for many years worked with artisans to help them promote their work. Her books, Ten Mice for Tet (Chronicle 2004) ABeCedarios (Cinco Puntos 2007) and Opuestos (Cinco Puntos 2007) use crafts such as embroidery and wood carving from Vietnam and Mexico for their illustrations.

Cindy holds masters degrees from the University of Pennsylvania and Wesleyan and is a doctoral candidate at Teachers College Columbia University.
Monica Wellington was born in London and lived in Germany and Switzerland and traveled a lot before moving back to the United States when she was seven. Her early childhood has had a big influence on her books. The idea for one of her first picture books, "All My Little Ducklings," came from a German song that she remembers singing as she went to the lake to feed the ducks. She has written and illustrated more than 30 picture books for young children.

Wellington went to the University of Michigan School of Art and studied pottery, painting and printmaking, Afterwards, she returned to Europe for several years, living in London, working in an antique porcelain gallery and at a museum and traveling to Spain, France, and Italy. In 1981 she moved to New York City and became a freelance artist. She worked in a pottery studio during the day and took classes at night at the School of Visual Arts (SVA). One of her teachers, Bruce Degen, helped her enormously to get a portfolio ready to show publishers, and one of the pictures in her portfolio - a class assignment illustration for the poem "Who Is Tapping at My Window?" by A.G.Deming - grew into her first book, which was published in 1988. She has been writing and illustrating children's books ever since.

Wellington teaches a course in writing and illustrating children's books at SVA. Her books include Riki's Birdhouse, Truck Drive Tom, Zinnia's Flower Garden, Mr. Cookie Baker and Pizza at Sally's. She lives in New York City, and has a teenage daughter.

Visit www.monicawellington.com
David White was born in 1979. He is a winner and multiple-time nominee for the Derringer Award for best short story and was shortlisted for the 2005 StorySouth Million Writers Award. He has contributed to many anthologies and collections, including The Adventure of the Missing Detective and Damn Nead Dead. His debut novel, When One Man Dies, was published in 2007 and is shortlisted for the Strand Magazine Critics Award (Best First Novel) and the Shamus Award (Best First Novel). His second novel The Evil That Men Do is out now. He lives in New Jersey.

Visit www.davewhitenovels.com
Jack Wiler was raised in Wenonah, in southern New Jersey. He has lived for the past 25 years in Hudson County with a brief layover in Wenonah four years ago. He has been a manager for a blood distribution center, managed a senior citizen's lunch program, and sold weightlifting supplies. For most of his life he has worked in pest control and currently works with Acme Exterminating in New York City. He has been published in a number of little magazines, primarily Long Shot Magazine. He worked with the Geraldine Dodge Foundation in New Jersey as a visiting poet in the schools. For six years he was the editor of the late, great, Long Shot Magazine. He has read his work extensively in New York and New Jersey. He was a Festival Poet this fall at the Geraldine R Dodge Festival of Poetry. His work has been anthologized in Aloud, the anthology of the Nuyorican Poets Cafe, the Outlaw Poetry Anthology from Thundermouth Press, Bum Rush the Page and most recently The Breath of Parted Lips II from Cavankerry Press. His book, I Have No Clue, was published by Long Shot in November of 1996. His second book, Fun Being Me, was published in September, 2006 by Cavankerry Press. Bob Holman recently named it one of the ten best books of poetry in 2006 on bout.com. Aside from his poetry he publishes an on-going blog about growing up in South Jersey in the 60's.

Visit www.jackwiler.com.
S. Michael Wilson is an author, editor, and screenwriter with over fifteen years of experience in the film and television industry. A film fanatic since childhood, he has written over a dozen screenplays, one of which recently gained interest from several film producers after being declared a finalist of the PhillyPitch! presentation at this year's Philadelphia Film Convention. He is also the coauthor of a blog dedicated to his unnatural love of bad films, This Movie Sucks!, at boothreviews.blogspot.com.

His first book, Monster Rally, is a collection of essays and articles covering a wide variety of science fiction and horror films, from classic cinema to obscure cult oddities. His next book, Starring Bela Lugosi, is an examination of several Bela Lugosi films and the classic works of literature they were adapted from. It is expected to be available this summer.

You can find more information about S. Michael Wilson and his current projects at www.smichaelwilson.com and scottsbookshelf.blogspot.com.
Gerald Arthur Winter is a native of Springfield Gardens in Queens, NYC, but spent most of his life in New Jersey where he attended Ramapo High School and Rutgers University, and now lives at the Jersey shore, which he believes is just one small step from heaven. Member of the Authors Guild since 1975, some notable items include Hemingway's Trunk (www.hemingwaystrunk.com), Letters in Blood (www.lettersinblood.com), the Lost Book of Annabella (www.atlasbooks.com) and The Morning Calm.

George Witte is the author of two collections of poems, Deniability (2009) and The Apparitioners (2005), both of which are available from Orchises Press. His poems have been published widely in periodicals, including The Atlantic, The New York Times, Ploughshares, Poetry , and Virginia Quarterly Review, and reprinted in the Best American Poetry 2007 anthology. A native of Madison, New Jersey and a resident of Ridgewood, he works as the editor in chief of St. Martin's Press.

Please visit http://www.georgewitte.net for more information.
Sung J. Woo's short stories and essays have appeared in The New York Times, McSweeney's, and KoreAm Journal. His debut novel, *Everything Asian (2009)*, has received praises from Publisher's Weekly, Kirkus Reviews, and Booklist. His short story "Limits" was an Editor's Choice winner in Carve Magazine's 2008 Raymond Carver Short Story Contest. His short film was an audience choice screening of the NYC Downtown Short Film Festival 2008. A graduate of Cornell University with an MFA from New York University, he lives in Washington, New Jersey.

You can learn more at his website, www.sungjwoo.com.
Barbara Worton is the author of Too Tall Alice, her first children's book, and Bedtime Stories: The short, long and tall tales of a sleepwriter, her collection of fanciful stories for sleepy grown-ups. Her story, "London Calling," is featured in Memories of John Lennon, edited by Yoko Ono. The play she co-wrote with Linda Dini Jenkins, If I'm Talking, Why Aren't You Listening?, has been staged in New York, Boston, and Rutherford and received outstanding reviews. Barbara is also the publisher and executive editor of Great Little Books LLC.

Visit www.greatlittlebooksllc.com
Kevin Woyce - Grew up in East Rutherford, NJ, the oldest of 15 siblings -- yes, 15, that's not a typo. He now live a few miles from there in Lyndhurst, NJ with my his wife Carin and their miniature schnauzer. He started selling his pictures online in 2006 and published Jersey Shore Facts & Photos in 2007 and Hudson River Lighthouses & History in 2009. His current projects include researching, writing, and photographing his next book about the Connecticut coast. You can find his photo prints and magnets at his Web Store and on Etsy.

Visit www.kevinwoyce.com
Karen Romano Young is the author of more than twenty acclaimed children's books, including fiction and nonfiction. Recently she has begun illustrating her own books, notably 2007's Across the Wide Ocean: the Why, and Where of Navigation for Humans and Animals at Sea, and the graphic novel Doodlebug, coming in 2010. Karen does education and outreach for the ocean research Extreme project, work that has sent her to the bottom of the ocean in the tiny submersible Alvin. Recent accomplishments including finishing a four-book series of science project books for National Geographic, seeing her third child off to college, and learning to scuba dive - with a giant green moray eel for company!

Visit www.karenromanoyoung.com

          

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