RCLS Local Authors: Rockland County

Marian Armstrong’s life changed profoundly when her brother Michael was killed in the attack on the World Trade Center on September 11, 2001. Her book, Musings of a Mystery Sibling, is an award-winning fictional account that is drawn from her real-life experiences with sibling loss. The book received an Honorable Mention Award from Writer’s Digest and was praised as “an elevated reading experience.” A native of New York City, Armstrong now resides in Piermont, New York.

Bethany Ball's first novel, What to do about the Solomons, is a hilarious multigenerational family saga set in Israel, New York, and Los Angeles that explores the secrets and gossip-filled lives of the members of a kibbutz community.

D.M. Barr draws from her background in public relations, marketing, and real estate for her first novel Expired Listings, a sexy, satiric tale of suspense. She lives in Rockland County. To read more about Barr, visit Punctuated Publishing.

George C. Chesbro is an author of detective fiction. His most notable works feature Dr. Robert "Mongo" Frederickson. Chesbro lived in Nyack, NY.

B.L. Cope is an author who writes in many genres, including: thrillers/suspense, ancestral-historical, romance, Children's literature, and mysteries.

Chelle Cordero writes romance and suspense novels.

JG Faherty (born January 27, 1961) is an American author who writes in the Horror, Science Fiction, and Dark Fantasy genres. Faherty was born in Olean, New York. He moved to Stony Point, New York at the age of four, and resided there on and off until moving to Garnerville in 2011.

Laura Marie Henion writes romance and supsense novels. She lives in Stony Point.

Mary Beth Keane was named one of the National Book Foundation’s 5 under 35 in 2011. She is the author of The Walking People and is set to release the book, Fever, about Typhoid Mary in 2013.

Kathleen Kubik is the author of The Autumn of Her Years. She lives in West Nyack.

James McBride is the author of the novels Miracle at St. Anna and Song Yet Sung. His memoir The Color of Water, is considered an American classic

Novelist, short story writer, and playwright. Carson McCullers lived in South Nyack from 1945 until her death in 1967.

David Means is the author of A Quick Kiss of Redemption and The Secret Goldfish. His stories have appeared in The New Yorker, Harper's, Esquire, The O. Henry Prize Stories, and The Best American Short Stories. He lives in Nyack, New York, and teaches at Vassar College.

A Nobel and Pulitzer Prize-winning novelist. Her best known works include The Bluest Eye, The Song of Solomon, and Beloved.

Mya O’Malley was born and raised in the suburbs of New York City, where she currently lives with her husband, daughter and three step-daughters. The family also consists of two boxers; Destiny and Dolce and a ragdoll cat named Colby. Mya earned an undergraduate degree in special education and a graduate degree in reading and literacy. She works as a special education teacher and enjoys making a difference in the lives of her students.

Bill Owen is an author, radio personality, and trivia enthusiast. He lives in Valley Cottage.

Jim Shooter is a comic book writer, editor, and publisher. He lives in Nyack.

Shalom Auslander is the author of Foreskin’s Lament and the novel Hope: A Tragedy. He is also a frequent contributor to This American Life. He grew up in Monsey.

Christine Baker is a writer and an expert on the subject of women's basketball.

Andres Batista is a poet who writes in the Spanish language. He lives in Suffern, NY.

A major figure in the back-to-land and self-sufficiency movements. His School of Living was located in Rockland County.

Local actress Ellen Burstyn wrote a memoir in 2006.

Mark Dery is a cultural critic who writes about media, technology, and pop culture.

Photo copyright Mark Dery; all rights reserved. Photo: Jorge Madrigal.

Barry Fixlery is a Vietnam veteran and Bardonia resident who wrote about his experience as a U.S. Marine during the Siege of Khe Sanh.

Betty Friedan resided in Palisades when she wrote The Feminine Mystique, a work which sparked the second-wave of American feminism.

A journalist and retired editorial writer, Arthur Gunther III writes about Rockland County history.

Joan Gussow is an author, professor, environmentalist and gardener. She and her husband Alan were pioneers in the locavore food movement.

Mark lives in Nyack and serves on the Nyack Library Board of Trustees. He is Professor of English at Pace University in Manhattan, where he has taught since 1984, and holds a PhD from Nottingham University, UK. Since 1987, he has run Pace University Press, a small publisher of books and scholarly journals in the social sciences and humanities. He is a widely-published writer and editor whose work has appeared in the New York Times Book Review, the Times Higher Education Supplement, Modern Fiction Studies, and American Book Review.

Elaine Freed Lindenblatt, a daughter of Red Apple Rest founder Reuben Freed is an editor and writer. Her essays and articles, on topics ranging from slice-of-life to the Holocaust, have appeared widely in the Middletown Times Herald Record and other Hudson Valley newspapers. Elaine calls Stop at the Red Apple Rest " the book I had to write." With the current media wave of nostalgia, including Catskills nostalgia, the book resonates not only with Red Apple alumni but with those new to the topic as well.

Craig Long is Rockland County's Historian, as well as the author of two books about Suffern.

A three-time Tony Award-winning writer. Thomas Meehan grew up in Suffern.

Margot Mifflin is an author, journalist, and professor who writes about women, art, and contemporary culture.

Comedian, actor, and author.

Angelo Parra is an award-winning playwright and the author of Playwriting for Dummies.

Christine Potter is a poet who lives in Rockland County.

Journalist and memoirist.

Marty Schupak is the President of Youth Sports Club and the creator of many DVDs and books about coaching youth baseball.

West Nyack resident James F. Simon, dean emeritus of New York Law School, and still a professor there - is author of seven books on American history, law, and politics.
(photo credit - Marcia L. Simon)

Bernhard Storch, after fleeing the German invasion, ended up in a Soviet Labor camp, and later enlisted in the Polish division during WWII. He is active in local veterans' groups and Holocaust memorial organizations.

Tina Traster writes about Valley Cottage in her blog Burb Blurb.

Daniel Wolff lives in Upper Nyack. His new book, How Lincoln Learned to Read: Twelve Great Americans and the Educations that Made Them, was an editor’s choice at the Chicago Tribune, received a starred review from Kirkus calling it “a riveting, original examination of education inside and outside the classroom,” and was hailed by The Christian Science Monitor as “a terrific book… rich and thought-provoking.” His other work includes 4th of July/Asbury Park: A History of the Promised Land, Grammy nominated liner notes for The Complete Sam Cooke and the Soul Stirrers cd, and producer credits on the forthcoming Jonathan Demme documentary about New Orleans, Right to Return.

The Haders co-authored and illustrated dozens of books for children. The Haders lived in Grandview, NY.

Shari Maurer is a YA author that lives in Rockland County.

Donna McDine is a multiple award-winning children's author: Honorable Mention in the 77th and two Honorable Mentions in the 78th Annual Writer’s Digest Writing Competitions, A Sandy Grave ~ Story Monster Approved and Beach Book Festival Honorable Mention 2014, The Golden Pathway ~ Literary Classics Silver Award & Seal of Approval Recipient Picture Book Early Reader, Readers Favorite 2012 International Book Awards Honorable Mention, Global eBook Awards Finalist Children’s Picture Book Fiction, and Preditors & Editors Readers Poll 2010 Top Ten Children’s Books.

Her interest in ocean life resulted in writing and publishing A Sandy Grave (January 2014). Other books by McDine, Powder Monkey (May 2013), Hockey Agony (January 2013), The Golden Pathway (August 2010), and Dee and Deb Off They Go ~ Kindergarten First Day Jitters (December 2015). She writes and moms from her home in the historical hamlet, Tappan, NY. McDine is a member of the Society of Children’s Book Writers & Illustrators.
Visit: www.donnamcdine.com.

Slade Morrison coauthored several children's books with his mother, Toni Morrison.

Laurence Pringle grew up in western New York, roaming woods and fields, exploring ponds and creeks. These boyhood experiences led him to earn degrees in wildlife conservation at Cornell University and the University of Massachusetts. The Chicago Tribune has called him "one of America's top nonfiction writers for young readers." He has written over 100 books. He lives in West Nyack.

Elizabeth Sayles is a well-known illustrator of children's books. She lives in Valley Cottage.

Timothy Tocher is a children's author and frequent contributor to Cricket Magazine. Many of his books are sports, fiction.

Sarah Weeks has written more than fifty picture books and novels for children and young adults including the best selling novel, So B. It.