Truth and Lies
Panel Discussion
Monday, March 29, 2021 @ 7:30 p.m.
Great mystery and suspense novels are about more than a puzzling crime. They leave the reader feeling as if they’ve visited a unique world the author has created. Authors liberally sprinkle bits of their own lives and experience into their fiction, but how? Why?
This virtual, interactive conversation will explore the way authors integrate both truth and lies into their books in order to make sure the reader finds them impossible to put down.
Michelle Cameron
Monday, February 8, 2021 @ 7:30 p.m.
New Jersey author Michelle Cameron will discuss researching her recent novel of historical fiction, Beyond the Ghetto Gates, including several surprises that advanced the plotline. Q & A session to follow. An ebook version of Beyond the Ghetto Gates is available on hoopla digital, and print copies are on order.
Michelle Cameron is a director of The Writers Circle, an NJ-based organization that offers creative writing programs to children, teens, and adults, and the author of works of historical fiction and poetry: Beyond the Ghetto Gates (She Writes Press, 2020), The Fruit of Her Hands: The Story of Shira of Ashkenaz (Pocket, 2009), and In the Shadow of the Globe (Lit Pot Press, 2003). Visit her website for more information https://michelle-cameron.com.
Alex Bernstein
Tuesday, October 13, 2020 @ 7:30 p.m.
New Jersey author Alex Bernstein will present a discussion of his writing process. Q & A session to follow. An eBook version of Miserable Love Stories is available on hoopla digital.
Alex Bernstein is the award-winning author of Miserable Adventure Stories, Miserable Holiday Stories, and Plrknib. His work has appeared at McSweeney’s, NewPopLit, The Big Jewel, The American Bystander, Yankee Pot Roast, Swink, Litro, Back Hair Advocate, Corvus, BluePrintReview, Hobo Pancakes, Gi60, The Rumpus, The Legendary, MonkeyBicycle, and PopImage, among numerous others.
Maisy Card
Thursday, September 17, 2020 @ 7:30 p.m.
Maisy Card, author of These Ghosts Are Family, will present a discussion of her writing process. Q & A session to follow. An eBook version of These Ghosts Are Family is available on eLibraryNJ,
Maisy Card is a writer and a public librarian. Her writing has appeared in Lenny Letter, School Library Journal, Agni, Sycamore Review, Liars’ League NYC, and Ampersand Review. Her work has been nominated for a Pushcart Prize.
Maisy was born in St. Catherine, Jamaica, but was raised in Jamaica, New York. She earned an MLIS from Rutgers University and a BA in English and American Studies from Wesleyan University. These Ghosts Are Family is her first novel.
Mary Kay Andrews
Thursday, August 20, 2020 @ 7:30 p.m.
Mary Kay Andrews will present a discussion of her writing process. Q & A session to follow. Andrews is the New York Times bestselling author of 27 novels (including Hello, Summer; Sunset Beach; and Savannah Blues), and one cookbook, The Beach House Cookbook. Several titles are available as ebooks and electronic audiobooks through the eLibraryNJ and Hoopla Digital services.
A native of St. Petersburg, Florida, she earned a B.A. in journalism from The University of Georgia. After a 14-year career working as a reporter at newspapers including The Savannah Morning News, The Marietta Journal, and The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, where she spent the final ten years of her career, she left journalism in 1991 to write fiction.
Her first novel, Every Crooked Nanny, was published in 1992 by HarperCollins. She went on to write ten critically acclaimed mysteries under her real name, Kathy Hogan Trocheck. In 2002, she assumed the pen name Mary Kay Andrews with the publication of Savannah Blues. In 2006, Hissy Fit became her first New York Times bestseller, followed by twelve more New York Times, USA Today and Publisher’s Weekly bestsellers. To date, her novels have been published in German, Italian, Polish, Slovenian, Hungarian, Dutch, Czech and Japanese.
Miriam Parker
Wednesday, August 12, 2020 @ 7:30 p.m. (UPDATE: Rescheduled from August 5.)
Miriam Parker, author of The Shortest Way Home, will present a discussion of her writing process. Q & A session to follow.
Miriam Parker has worked in book publishing for over sixteen years, and is currently the Associate Publisher of Ecco. She has an MFA in Creative Writing from UNC Wilmington and a BA in English from Columbia University. Her short stories have been published in The Florida Review and Fourteen Hills, and she was a finalist for the AWP Intro Journals Prize in Fiction in 2008. She currently lives in Brooklyn with her spaniel, Leopold Bloom. The Shortest Way Home is her first novel.
Jeff Cohen
Monday, June 15, 2020 @ 7:30 p.m.
Middlesex County resident and author Jeff Cohen will present a discussion of his writing process, focusing specifically on creating characters that readers care about. This will be followed by a participant Q & A. Three of Jeff's titles are available through Hoopla in both audio and ebook formats: As Dog is my Witness, A Farewell to Legs, and For Whom the Minivan Rolls.
Jeff Cohen is the nom de plume for Jeffrey Cohen, writer of intentionally funny murder mysteries in the Double Feature and Aaron Tucker series. As E.J. Copperman he writes the Haunted Guesthouse mystery series, the Agent to the Paws series, the Mysterious Detective series and now collaborates with himself on the Samuel Hoenig Asperger’s Mystery series.