Just in time for the gift-giving season, and in honor of National Novel Writing month, we’re bringing together a wonderful crowd of local authors ready to provide you with your next great read. Don’t miss out!

Authors Include:

	Joanne Carota lives outside the Boston area with her husband, Mark, nearby her adult children. She’s a lifelong Massachusetts resident, in part because it has the best seafood in the world. She currently teaches writing at UMass Lowell (2008-present) and holds an MFA from Solstice and an MA in Writing and Literature from Rivier University. In past lives, she worked at M.I.T./Lincoln Lab, Lockheed Martin, and Textron.  The Docks is her debut novel.
	By day, Kameryn James works as a psychotherapist named Alison. About three years ago, she finally made a childhood dream come true and published a few short horror stories in some anthologies under her pen name (Voices from the Gloom, Vol. 1 and Dead Guns Press Book 2: Undead War.) She has also appeared twice in Sirens Call Publications online  magazine. She also helps coordinate the Chelmsford Library Writers’ Group.
	Rick Conti has written a dozen screenplays, a hundred or so sketches and short plays, and a handful of short stories. A Slippery Land was his first novel and he published A Song in the Storm in 2017.  Rick’s love for Haiti began on a 10-day mission trip there in 2000. Suffering from a classic case of “reverse homesickness”, he has returned several times. For eight years, he served as Director of Communications for a nonprofit that helps Haitian women create and maintain their own businesses.
	Glenn Davison is a kite designer, kite builder, workshop leader, author, and flyer.  Glenn has been an invited guest for worldwide kite events in the USA, Canada, India, Taiwan, Colombia, and the Virgin Islands. Glenn is the past chairman of the Kite Education committee for the American Kitefliers Association.  He is President of the club called Kites Over New England and he has appeared in newspapers, magazines, radio, and TV. His book gives a visual explanation of the physics of kites in flight with 125 pictures and illustrations and 65 experiments.
	Carol Gordon Ekster has a Masters degree in reading and language, and has participated in many literature related workshops and courses.  She used picture books for years to read to students to help them understand a new concept or reinforce something they studied, whether it was math, health, social studies, or science.  She didn’t even realize that she was doing the prep work to becoming an author…which is to read, read, and read some more.
	Laura Fedolfi grew up in Chichester, NH. She attended Phillips Exeter Academy and Wesleyan University and then went on to receive a Master’s Degree in Conflict Analysis and Resolution from George Mason University. She has lived for the last 18 years in Chelmsford, MA where she has raised two children. Her series, Revealing Hannah: The Greek Myths, follows the adventures of Hannah Summers as she navigates her first years after college. Imagine trying to sort out work, life and love with the added complication of having your fate entwined with the Greek gods.
	Guntis Goncarovs is an analytical chemist by education and a  historian by interest and   storyteller by passion. Born in Seneca Falls, New York, to Latvian immigrants, Goncarovs spent his early years listening to his parents’ and grandparents’ stories of the old country. He continued a study of Latvia and family  history for over twenty years, and returned to his homeland on several occasions to explore the land which so consumed his attention. Telmenu Saimnieks was Goncarovs’ first published novel, derived from a compilation of the family stories and historical study. He has followed his historical interest with Convergence of Valor and Havana’s Secret.
	In addition to writing,  Sharon Healy-Yang recently retired from her day job as a teacher in the English Department at Worcester State University. She’s a huge fan of films  and books created during the 1930s-50s, with their blend of sharp wit, humor, and dark suspense. That passion inspired her to write Bait and Switch and Letter from a Dead Man, a mystery/romance set in the 1940s and published by Touchpoint Press.
	Since 1999, Rita Kapadia has been inspired by old traditional Parsi cookbooks and her mother’s cooking. She has cooked for family and friends, meticulously writing recipes and taking photographs over the years. The English Parsi Cuisine Cookbook series is a labor of love. The cookbooks began in an effort to maintain our recipes and traditions for the next generation, many of whom have been raised in India.
	Julie Lavender is a heart-winning storyteller, artist, professional musician, and host of a nationally syndicated Jazz radio program, DreamFarm Radio. Her family inhabits a pre-revolutionary era farmhouse in New England that bustles with big personalities and creative energy. In 2019, Lavender released Mrs. Amazing and The Seed, the first in a series of mysterious, witty, fiction – fantasy – science adventures for ages 10-100.
	Andy Mascola is the author of the novels Kissing Oblivion, Animal Control, Paper Bag Revolver, and Who’s Afraid of the Virgin Wolves? among others. He is also a Senior Writer for the music blog Surviving the Golden Age and the host of the PEOPLE ARE THE ENEMY podcast. His most recent book, Now We Have Nothing,  follows the unusual siblings Catherine and Max Howe over hundreds of years into the present-day as they struggle independently for survival and a sense of identity in a world where their secrets could cost them their lives.
	A lifelong runner and sailor, K.D. Mason lives on the New Hampshire seacoast with his wife and his cats, Molly and Jasper. He has two grown children, a son who lives in Las Vegas and a daughter, who has recently moved to California. A lifetime of working in the restaurant business, sailing in the Caribbean and New England as well as hanging out with an active running community has given him a wealth of story ideas.
	Kathleen Murphy grew up in Lexington, MA and graduated from the University of Maine with a degree in Journalism, and has been published in Advancing Women, AskTheExpert, The Huffington Post, i4Business, Money, Readers Digest, Recruiter, and Thrive Global. As founder and CEO of Market Me Too, Murphy is known for radiating enthusiasm, positive energy and her highly creative problem solving and entrepreneurial approach to growing companies. Her marketing career has spanned more than 20 years, and has been focused on technology and start-up companies in a variety of industries.
	Norma Murphy was born and raised in Lowell, Massachusetts, where she lives with her husband. They also own a home in Newbury, New Hampshire, where she does much of her writing. After earning her Bachelor’s Degree in English and her Master’s Degree in Curriculum and Instruction at UMass Lowell, Norma was a teacher for 18 years. The last eight years of her teaching career included teaching the power and joy of writing to middle school students. A Better Life is Norma’s debut novel.
	Stephen O’Connor is a native of Lowell,     Massachusetts, where much of his writing is set. He is the author of Smokestack Lightning, a collection of short stories, and two novels. The first, The Spy in the City of Books is historical   fiction set in Lowell, Mass, and in WWII France. It is based in part on interviews with a former OSS operative who served in Occupied France. The second, The Witch at Rivermouth, has been described as “a cerebral mystery.” Pulitzer Prize-winning author Lucinda Franks called it, “rich, eerie and intriguing.”
	Anna Portillo is a self-taught musician and singer who has been writing songs, short stories, and poetry since childhood. She wrote her first novel, The Realms of Oneira, in 2013.  Anna spent decades exploring different  genres, learning new instruments, creating choral arrangements with multiple harmonies and even dabbled with word games, crosswords, and jingles.  Her style of music is a fusion that can only be    described as original, memorable, and heartfelt. Her books and songs  take melodic twists and turns that will capture your imagination.
	Zachary Watson is a 27 year old math teacher who recently wrote his first book, Ideas Over Coffee. He’s spoken at a TEDx Conference, and loves speaking to students, peers and youth about the philosophies that have allowed him to love the life that he has. He loves sharing his life experience to show students that he doesn’t have it all figured out. He loves speaking about subjects he feels are not covered enough in everyday conversation. He shares videos on YouTube that feature his students, that offer origami tutorials, and that share some of his poetry for the world to judge.