Author: Author's Answer

Marian O’Shea Wernicke is the author of Out of Ireland, her second novel,  which will be published by She Writes Press on April 25, 2023. Her debut novel, Toward That Which Is Beautiful, was published by the same press in 2020, and was a finalist in Literary Fiction and Romance Fiction in the 2021 International Book Awards, as well as a finalist in Multicultural Fiction in the 2021 American Fiction Awards. She is also the author of a memoir about her father, Tom O’Shea:  A Twentieth Century Man. After living and working in Lima, Peru, and Madrid, Spain, Wernicke was a professor of English at Pensacola State College for 25 years. She and her husband are the parents of three wonderful children: Kristin, married to Max Benitez, Tim, married to Sarah Jasinski, and John Wernicke. Marian lives in Austin, Texas, where she is a member of the Writer’s League of Texas. 

Meryl Ain is a writer, author, podcaster, and career educator. The Takeaway Men, her award-winning post-Holocaust debut novel, was published in 2020. Her articles and essays have appeared in numerous publications and she is the author of two nonfiction books. A member of The International Advisory Board for Holocaust Survivor Day, she is the host of the podcast People of the Book, and the founder of the Facebook group “Jews Love To Read!” She holds a BA from Queens College, an MA from Columbia University, and a doctorate in education from Hofstra University. She and her husband, Stewart, a journalist, live in New York. They have three married sons and six grandchildren.

Joan F. Smith is the author of The Other Side of Infinity andThe Half-Orphan’s Handbook, a dance instructor, and a former associate dean of creative writing. She received her MFA in Creative Writing from Emerson College. Joan lives and writes in Massachusetts, where she was the 2021 Writer-in-Residence at the Milton Public Library. When she’s not writing, she’s either wrangling her kids, embarking on a new hobby she will quickly abandon, or listening to podcasts on a run.

Martha Hall Kelly is the New York Times bestselling author of Lilac Girls, Lost Roses, and Sunflower Sisters. She lives in Connecticut, where she spends her days filling legal pads with stories and reading World War II books.

Irena Smith was born in the former Soviet Union and grew up in Moscow in the waning days of the Brezhnev regime; in 1977, her family emigrated from the USSR and sought asylum in the United States as political refugees. She has been published in HIAS@130: 1+30: The Best of myStory, Mama, PhD: Women Write about Motherhood and Academic Life, Literary Mama and Art in the Time of Unbearable Crisis. She has a PhD in comparative literature from UCLA and lives in Palo Alto, California.

Kanchan Bhaskar, an Indian-American, is a first-time author of her memoir Leaving: How I Set Myself Free From an Abusive Marriage. She holds a Master’s Degree in social work and a certificate in life coaching. She is also a certified Business Coach. Being a successful Human Resource professional, her expertise is in training and mentoring. She is a certified advocate, speaker, and coach for victims and survivors of domestic violence. Kanchan lives in Chicago.

Gilah Kahn-Hoffmann moved from Montreal to Jerusalem after studying theater, literature, and communications at McGill University. Starting out as a freelance journalist, translator, writer, and editor, she became a feature writer at The Jerusalem Post and, subsequently, editor of the paper’s youth magazines. Later, during a stint as a writer at the Israel Center for the Treatment of Psychotrauma, she discovered how fulfilling it is to work for the benefit of others and moved to NGO work in East Jerusalem and the developing world. In recent years, she’s come full circle to her first loves and spends her best hours immersed in literary translation.

Patricia Leavy, PhD, is an award-winning, best-selling author. She was formerly Associate Professor of Sociology, Chairperson of Sociology & Criminology, and Founding Director of Gender Studies at Stonehill College. She has published more than forty books; her work has been translated into many languages, and she has received more than forty book honors. She has also received career awards from the New England Sociological Association, the American Creativity Association, the American Educational Research Association, the International Congress of Qualitative Inquiry, and the National Art Education Association. In 2018, she was honored by the National Women’s Hall of Fame and SUNY-New Paltz established the “Patricia Leavy Award for Art and Social Justice.”