Connecting Readers with Finger Lakes Authors

Meet The Authors

Featured Speaker
Kristan Higgins

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.

Featured Speaker
Mary Buckham

USA Today bestselling author Mary Buckham learned to get into and out of trouble at a very early age. Time has added to her opportunities—detained by Israeli intelligence; strip-searched by a Greek border patrol while traveling with a priest, sneaking into Laos. When not personally avoiding nuisances caused by her insatiable curiosity she creates lots of disorder in her two Urban Fantasy series—Alex Noziak and Kelly McAllister as well as her co-authored young adult scifi action-adventure series under the name Micah Caida. In her spare time Mary writes Writing Craft books including, A Writer’s Guide to Active Setting, Writing Active Hooks and Break Into Fiction® co-authored with Dianna Love.

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.

Dorothy has been plagued by stories dancing in her head since before she could read. This began her obsession with writing, and she wrote her first full-length novel at age 15. Since then, she has gone on to publish over a dozen books filled with snappy dialogue, sparkling wit, headstrong women and the men who will do anything to earn their love. She shares her pre- Civil-War home with two loyal dogs, a passel of demanding cats, and the most tolerant and loving husband on the planet.

Angela Cannon-Crothers

I am a naturalist and writer with a rich history of adventure and a passion for life. I have worked at a gold mine in Alaska and fished for halibut on a commercial fishing vessel off its wild coast. I have collected clouds, worked as a Forest Ranger, and soloed in the Boundary Waters Wilderness Canoe Area in the middle of winter. I have a penchant for nature writers and nature philosophers, good poetry, northern landscapes, sustainable living, horses, gardening, and the laughter of children. I believe the science and magic of our natural world are of the same Spirit.
Jeanne has poured her love of travel, particularly Ireland, Celtic lands and ancient mystical sites into her two novels, her series of travel books and her weekly blog. She also gives presentations and is writing her third novel, a sequel to Amidst the Stones, entitled An Accidental Pilgrimage.
Sally Crosiar’s life mission is to influence healthy choices which include a healthy dose of play, stories, wine and dark chocolate! Some of her own best play (because the best play is hard!) has been writing her two novels, Come Back and Home Place because she considers fiction – both reading and writing – the best ‘let’s pretend’ game ever.

Barb Warner Deane

Barb Warner Deane is the award-winning author of four published novels and a public speaker on the topic of American women in WW2. Barb graduated from Cornell University and the University of Connecticut School of Law. Barb, her husband, and family lived in the Chicago area for thirty years, other than two years in Frankfurt, Germany and two years in Shanghai, China, but have recently moved home to the beautiful Finger Lakes area of New York. In addition to writing, Barb is a genealogy buff, loves to read, is a fan of all things Harry Potter, and is crazy for both U.S. and international travel. Now that she and her husband are empty nesters, she’s making plans to expand on her list of having visited 47 states and 42 countries on 6 continents.

Maija DeRoche

In 1967, supported by a stipend, youthful exuberance, and rose-colored glasses, Maija (Lahti) DeRoche came to America from Finland. After retiring from a long career in developmental disabilities, Maija rediscovered her first love: writing. Her essays have been published in “Kuntta” (2019), an anthology about the meaning of “Finnishness.” She also has essays in English in the Canandaigua Writers Blog. Her first novel will be available soon. Parents of two, Maija and her husband enjoy their retirement kayaking and hiking in the beautiful Finger Lakes.

Corky DeYulio

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.

Lori Duffy Foster is a former crime reporter and the award-nominated author of the Lisa Jackson Mystery Series. NEVER LET GO, her debut thriller, released in December from Level Best Books and NO TIME TO BREATHE, book 3 in her series, releases in April. Look for NO STRANGER HERE, another thriller, in December of 2023. An Adirondack native, Lori worked for more than a decade at The Post-Standard in Syracuse, N.Y. She is a graduate of SUNY-Oswego and Binghamton University.

Frances Hansen

Frances Hansen has been a freelance writer for 23 years, writing fiction and nonfiction for magazines, websites, blogs, and syndicated newspapers. She recently published her book, Dancing Under Evergreens, which is a memoir of her husband, affected by PTSD and Agent Orange. The book discusses her how this home-schooling family made it through the caregiving days. She is now a retired nurse and mother of three, with nine grandchildren. Her writings can be found at1pagekeeper.com.
Author Mary Pat Hyland’s works reflect her Irish American ancestry and are set amongst the natural beauty of the Finger Lakes Region of New York State (where her ancestors wisely settled). If you like stories that feature lakeside cottages, wine, gourmet cooking, humor, romance, and a bit of straying into magical realism, you’ll enjoy her novels.

Erin Jensen

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

Linda Laker

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 Mitchell

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

Heidi Nightengale

Heidi Nightengale has been writing and publishing in local, regional and national literary magazines for 30 years. She is the author of two children’s picture books, “What Fragrance is the Moon,” and “Robert’s Red Sweater.” She has been a writer in the schools in three states.

Sally Valentine

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.

Vivian Vande Velde has published 39 books for children and teens. Most of these books are fantasy (including ghost stories–both contemporary and historical settings–as well as fairy tales, stories of dogs who can talk, squirrels who think the world revolves around them, magical glasses, kids caught in one-step-beyond-virtual-reality games, and princesses who need to solve their own problems). She won the Anne Spencer Lindbergh Prize in Children’s Literature for Heir Apparent, the Mystery Writers of America’s Edgar Award for Never Trust a Dead Man, and the Empire State Award for Excellence in Literature for Young People for her body of work.

Our mission is to highlight and promote Finger Lakes authors and foster a deeper connection with readers.