Connecting Readers with Finger Lakes Authors

Peeking Behind the Wizard’s Curtain

Who are the wizards working the levers behind the F.L.A.R.E. curtain? Well, wonder no more! Introducing your F.L.A.R.E. team.

Laurie Gifford Adams. F.L.A.R.E. is the brainchild of author Laurie Gifford Adams. Laurie has published multiple YA books including the well-traveled volume Finding Atticus, and two collaborations with Scott Driscoll, a member of the Connecticut Capitol police force, that focus on keeping our young people safe in the virtual landscape. Her most recent book, Pawprints in the Snow, is a fictionalized middle-grades story about Noelle the Cat and how she came to be part of the family. Her first foray into writing for adults, Attic Letters, is an historical fiction inspired by a crate of letters that she found at an estate sale.

She currently works in alumni relations at Keuka College, teaches creative writing, and lives with her husband, Mollie the dog, a houseful of cats, and two horses. You can often find her visiting classrooms where she shares her love of writing and reading with young people.

Brooke Baker. Brooke is a freelance editor and college writing instructor. She is currently working on her first book, a memoir/creative nonfiction family history that traces the roots of her dirt-farmer ancestors as she tries to make sense of her own generation’s stories.

Brooke is married to a really nice guy, has a kid in college, a smelly hound, 3 housecats, and an ever-changing assortment of feral cats who wander by for meals and headrubs. You can regularly find her planning her next trip.

Liz Reeve. Liz lived in Birmingham, England for 36 years where she worked first as a social worker and then was thrilled to land at The Royal Birmingham Conservatoire music college.

During her time in England, she sang with an all-female a cappella group, and even today she can be found singing and dancing in her kitchen while she enjoys her passion of cooking. She loves animals of all sorts, and recently has taken great delight in birdwatching and is excited to expand her knowledge about our feathered friends. In the summer she loves nothing more than sitting under the shade of a big tree with a cup of tea in her hand. Her life is rounded out by her wonderfully vivacious daughter, Emma, who also relocated to the States from England.

Liz is the steady hand on the rudder of the FLARE ship. An avid reader, Liz is the
one who reminds us to get back on track when we start to lean one way or another.

Martha Jerrim. Martha is the author, with her late mother Nancy Axinn, of Foothills of the Himalayas, about Axinn’s work in Nepal. She is currently working on Tears for Biafra, about her family’s time in Nigeria in the 1970’s.

In addition to asking the hard questions when it’s time to plan FLARE events, Martha is our spreadsheet queen who keeps all the chaos organized. If you ask nicely, she’ll share pictures of her three grandbabies who live in Arizona. In her free time, she bakes, watches movies, and dreams of returning to Germany.