Girl Scouts Making a Difference

  When Kaitlyn Sorensen and Abigail “Abby” Reasor  became friends at the age of 3, they couldn’t have imagined their friendship might eventually have national significance.  Their Sunday School class at Fairfield Presbyterian Church in Mechanicsville, VA, became...

Recent Happenings

  Several events have taken place since I last posted on this site. I’ve been traveling a great deal, which makes it difficult to post consistently. However, I want to thank three different groups who have been kind enough to invite me to speak. The first one is...

Looking Back on 2012

Several notable events took place in 2012 that I need to update. A book trailer for “Izzy’s Fire” was finalized and added to the banner of this website. Please have a look and be sure to share with your friends. The Summer Language Institute at the...

C-Span Author Interview

My dear nephew, Cris Kelley, has just done me the honor of resurrecting an interview done by C-Span shortly after “Izzy’s Fire” was first published. This is even more meaningful to me because my nephew lives in Germany. I don’t know how he ran...

North Carolina Book Club Visits

One of the great joys of being an author is to hear that book clubs are studying “Izzy’s Fire.” Recently, Daphne Key, of Clayton, NC, called to say that a friend from Richmond, VA (where I live) had suggested her club read “Izzy.” A...

Beginning a New Year

Fresh beginnings are important, but it’s also a time to give credit for the past. Skaiste Aniuliene, Consul General for the Republic of Lithuania in Chicago, invited me to speak several times in November 2010, in accordance with the Lithuanian Parliament’s...

December is a time of rejoicing in all things.

During the process of writing and publishing “Izzy’s Fire,” and then traveling to do presentations over the past 14 years, I have experienced miracles, not the least of which was how I was able to visit Lithuania (twice) and Israel and speak in both...

Fall Always Brings Memories

On November 9, 1997, my life was irrevocably changed. Months earlier I had been asked by Gwen Woolf, an editor at the Free Lance-Star in Fredericksburg, Va, to write a story about the Virginia Holocaust Museum, which had been established in Richmond, Va. I refused...