Kristan Higgins is the New York Times, USA TODAY, Wall Street Journal and Publishers
Weekly bestselling author of 19 novels, which have been translated into more than two dozen languages and sold millions of copies worldwide. Her books have received dozens of awards and accolades, including starred reviews from Kirkus, The New York Journal of Books, Publishers Weekly, Library Journal , People and Booklist. Her books regularly appear on the lists for best novels of the year. Kristan is also a cohost of the Crappy Friends podcast, which discusses the often complex dynamics of female friendships, with her friend and fellow writer, Joss Dey.
The proud descendant of a butcher and a laundress, Kristan lives in Connecticut with her heroic firefighter husband. They own several badly behaved pets and are often visited by their entertaining and long-lashed children.
Laurie Gifford Adams, a proud resident of the Finger Lakes of Western New York, is a Jill of all
trades. She’s a teacher, an author, an event coordinator, and above all else, a hopeless
romantic and dreamer of big things. To her recent writing credit, she has 8 published novels, a
co-written full-length musical, and multiple articles for Country, Country Extra and Farm and
Ranch Living. The wife of one, mother of two, grandmother to one, and pseudo mom to four cats and two
horses, she leads a very busy life on her farmette in Upstate NY.
Corky DeYulio is in his 36th year as an educator.
Through the years, he has been an English and Physical. Education teacher, Dean of Discipline, Athletic Director, coach and fitness instructor in schools, colleges, and the prison system.
He has received many accolades, including Teacher of the Year and Coach of the Year in his school district.
Before he became an educator, he was an editor, sportswriter, and photographer for various newspapers.
He is also a certified personal trainer.
Marci Diehl has been an essayist, humor writer, editor, and features writer for local, regional, and national magazines since 1980. Her first novel, What You Don’t Know Now, was published in 2014, and she keeps telling herself she’s working on a second. There isn’t a thing about the Finger Lakes she doesn’t love.
Erin A. Jensen is the Amazon international bestselling author of the Dream Waters series, and the stand-alone novel Benevolent. Her debut novel was awarded the bronze medal for fantasy fiction in the 2018 Readers’ Favorite Book Awards and received honorable mention in the 2018 Writer’s Digest Self-Published e-book Awards. She lives in upstate New York with her husband and two sons, and is currently working on a new novel—with a whole new cast of characters—set in the same world as the Dream Waters series.
Visit her website at erinajensen.com
I’m a retired public health nurse who cared for the folks in Steuben County, NY for thirty plus years.
After retirement I had so many stories I just had to write them down.
I love engaging with my friends, the Southerntier Lit Chicks ( my book club) and all of the FLARE authors. Western NY is my home.
Paul Mitchel lives in Middlesex, NY in the heart of the Finger Lakes Region. Since retiring as a Nurse Practitioner in 2018 he has been able to start his second career writing. He has self-published one novel, Mountains Can Move and plans to publish a second in 2022. He and his wife Joan share their hillside home with a small herd of alpacas. Joan spins and weaves their fleece into beautiful and warm clothing. As a lifelong resident of the Finger Lakes, Paul enjoys the fruit of vine the many area wineries produce. He is an accomplished photographer and enjoys all things outdoors. His blog with essays and short stories can be found at www.eastthillviews.com
Sally Valentine is a native Rochesterian who has been both a student and a teacher in the Rochester City School District. Over the years she has enjoyed many day trips to places in the Finger Lakes. These ranged from family get-togethers at Roseland Park when she was a kid to wine tasting tours as an adult. Two special days were the weddings of her daughters, one at Casa Larga and the other in Watkins Glen.
Ms. Valentine is the author of a series of books for mid-grade children, each set in a different Rochester landmark. She is now working on the 7th book in the series which will be set in Mt. Hope Cemetery. She is also the author of an award-winning book of poems entitled There Are No Buffalo in Buffalo. Each poem is about a different place in New York State. The poems are accompanied by color collage illustrations created by her sister-in-law, Suzanne Valentine.