New for 2024, Succeed2gether's Montclair Literary Festival is excited to showcase these 24 local authors on May 4. All authors live close to or in Montclair and have published books, traditionally or self-published, in the last 18 months. Genres include YA, Children, Memoir, Romance, Fiction, Non-Fiction, Self-Help, and Poetry.
Come and meet the authors, hear about their books, BUY their books, and have them signed by the author. Take a look at the schedule below – we're sure you'll find an author you want to meet!
The Local Authors' Tables are located in front for the First Congregational Church, 40 South Fullterton Ave, Montclair.
10:30 A.M.–12:30 P.M. – CHILDREN & YA
Diane Belinfanti
Local resident and author Diane Belinfanti draws inspiration for her writing from her many years of experience working with children. One of her greatest joys is introducing young people to new worlds and adventures through the magic of words. Recently retired from teaching, Diane continues to create poems and stories for readers of all ages. To date, she has published three picture books, two middle grade novels, and a young adult poetry book. Visit www.storytimekids.com to learn more about the author and her work.
Nadia Khan
Mark Lance
For many years, Mark Lance was a labor reporter for socialist newspapers, filing highly partisan stories from picket lines across the country. The Weber House is his first book. He is currently working on a historical novel about the year 1877. For decades, Lance was an autoworker in Detroit, refinery worker in Texas, and merchant seaman sailing from Great Lakes and East Coast Ports. In between were stints driving a cab in Boston, bartending in Greenwich Village, and as the world’s worst waiter in various cities. He retired from industry as an electrician in New Jersey and currently teaches math in a GED program in New York City.
Mei Li
Mei Li, a Chinese-American children’s book writer and illustrator, infuses her storytelling with a rich tapestry of cultural heritage and personal insight. Mei's work fosters social-emotional learning, reflecting her journey of discovery as a Chinese-American and as a parent in the special needs community.
Melina Macall
Melina Macall's love of reading started when she was very young. Most nights she slept with a book under her pillow. Noddy taught her that everyday life offers adventures all the time. Gerald Durrell introduced her to the amazing world of animals, and a passion to respect and protect them. Instead of becoming a vet, her careers have spanned theater, writing, education, advocacy, and travel. Melina loves playing with words. Inspired by her volunteering experiences at Bluemont Sanctuary she is thrilled to share this incredible place in her debut children’s picture book, Bluemont Tails; Roxy the Hanoverian Horse. Melina lives in Montclair, New Jersey where her family has raised many Seeing Eye dogs including Imari (aka Murray) who is now a permanent family member.
Dan Misdea
Dan Misdea is a cartoonist for The New Yorker. His work has also appeared in Air Mail, Narrative, The Times Luxury and elsewhere. He is the author of the children's book The Light Inside (2023), and co-author of the puzzle book AB@C (2024) with Rob Meyerson. Dan lives and draws in Nutley, New Jersey.
Alana Pedalino
Alana Pedalino has earned recognition from ACES: The Society for Editing, 92NY, the MDDC Press Association, the University of Maryland MFA Program in Creative Writing, and the Lannan Fellows Program. She works in publishing. Her writing has appeared in Bon Appétit, Chicken Soup for the Soul, The Buffalo News, USGBC+, Struggle Mag, Story Monsters Ink and The Aquarian Weekly. Her children's picture book debut, Kenny and the Cookie Lady, is out now. Follow her @APstyle on X.
Stephanie Willing
Stephanie Willing is a writer and award-winning audiobook narrator who hasn’t been able to find good Tex-Mex food since she left her home state. She has an MFA in Writing for Young People from Lesley University. Originally from Texas, Stephanie now lives in Bloomfield, NJ, and she never misses an opportunity to visit the dinosaurs at the Museum of Natural History.
12:45 P.M.–2:45 P.M.
Nancy Burke
Nancy Burke is the author of Only the Women are Burning, If I Could Paint the Moon Black, From the Abuelas’ Window and a new short story collection, Death Cleaning and Other Units of Measure (Apprentice House Press, May, 2024). She holds an MFA in Fiction (Dramatic Writing concentration) from Rutgers’ University, Newark and a BA in Anthropology from Montclair State University. Her short stories have appeared in Pilgrim: A Journal of Catholic Experience, Meat for Tea: The Valley Review. At the Pool was a finalist for the J.F. Powers Award for Short Fiction at Dappled Things Literary Journal. Her screenplay adaptation of Only the Women are Burning won a Finalist recognition from the 2023 Boston Screenplay Competition. She is at work on a musical adaptation of From the Abuelas’ Window. She teaches writing at Montclair State University and New Jersey Institute of Technology and lives in Little Falls, NJ.
Elaine Durbach
Elaine Durbach writes fiction based on the drama and challenges faced by regular people. Her perspective is drawn from a 40-year journalism career that began in South Africa and transitioned to the U.S. via a World Press Institute fellowship. Along the way, she has published two non-fiction books, and two novels, Roundabout and LAF - Life After Felix. A third in the series, Next Steps, is due out in 2024.
Katherine Dykstra
Katherine Dykstra is the author of What Happened to Paula: An Unsolved Death and the Danger of American Girlhood (W.W. Norton), which was on Best Books of Summer lists in the New York Times Book Review, People magazine, and the Chicago Tribune among others. She served as senior nonfiction editor at Guernica for many years and was recently a Writer in Residence at Monmouth University. Her essays have been published in The New York Times Book Review, The Washington Post, Guernica and Poets and Writers among others. She is at work on a novel that takes place in a maternity home in the 1960s.
Melissa Giberson
Melissa Gilberson is the award-winning author of Late Bloomer: Finding My Authentic Self at Midlife (She Writes Press). She has published articles in numerous online and in-print publications, including The Boston Globe, Salon, Kveller, Dorothy Parker’s Ashes, Gay & Lesbian Review, and Writer’s Digest. Her essay, “Art is the Antidote” appears in the anthology: Art In The Time of Unbearable Crisis (June 2022). Melissa, her partner, and their two cats split their time between New Jersey and Provincetown, Massachusetts.
Cathy Greenfeder
Catherine Greenfeder resides in Nutley, New Jersey. She holds a B.A. in English from St. John’s University and a M.A. in Teaching from Montclair State. She taught middle school language arts for over 25 years in New Jersey. She has published five novels. Wildflowers, a western historical romance set along the Oregon Trail, features the adventures and romance of a half Nez Perce and British trail guide and a minister’s daughter. A Kiss Out of Time and A Dance Out of Time are her young adult novels featuring hauntings in Ocean Grove, New Jersey. In Angels Among Us, a psychic artist discovers the truth about what had happened to her parents and is protected by her guardian angel. Soulmates reunite to uncover the mystery surrounding stolen artifacts in Mexico in her award winning book Sacred Fires. She is currently writing two YA books and a memoir.
Herb Grosinger
Herbert Grosinger grew up on the Upper West Side of Manhattan during the 40s and 50s and later took over his family’s bakery business, Grossinger's Home Bakery. He went from stock broker to bakery owner and continued his family’s legacy. He spent many years fighting for the rights of small business owners in New York City. He spends a lot of time in Montclair where his daughter and his two grandchildren live.
Jennifer Poteet
Jennifer Poteet lives in Montclair, NJ, and works for public radio. She is the author of two chapbooks, Sleepwalking Home (Dancing Girl Press, 2017) and Emily Dickinson’s Selfie (Bottlecap Press, 2023.) She is a Pushcart Prize and Nina Riggs Award nominee. Her full-length collection What Comes Back was a finalist for the inaugural Laura Boss Narrative Poetry Award. Jennifer’s poems have appeared in The Cortland Review, Paterson Literary Review, Swwim, The Night Heron Barks, and elsewhere.
Margaret R. Sáraco
Margaret R. Sáraco is the author of two poetry collections, If There Is No Wind and Even the Dog Was Quiet (Human Error Publishing). Twice recognized in the Allen Ginsberg Poetry Contest and nominated for a Pushcart Prize, her short stories and poetry appear in journals and anthologies including Book of Matches, Greening the Earth, Kerning, Ovunque Siamo, The Path, Borderlands, and Poetry X Hunger. She is a poetry editor for Platform Review. She has been featured in video, Instagram, and podcast projects. Non-fiction work includes “Where Feminism Rocks” about the 1990s riot grrrl movement (On the Issues), and her book, The Captive: A Prisoner of its Own Time, reflected on the cultural significance of a 1920s play banned on Broadway for referring to a lesbian character offstage.You can find more info about Margaret here margaretsaraco.com
3:00 P.M.–5:00 P.M.
Laura Carney
Laura Carney is a writer and copy editor in New York. She’s been published by the Washington Post, the Associated Press, The Hill, Runner’s World, People magazine, Guideposts, Good Housekeeping, The Fix, Upworthy, Maria Shriver’s Sunday Paper and other places, and her book My Father’s List: How Living My Dad’s Dreams Set Me Free was published by Post Hill Press in June 2023. Her work as a copy editor has been primarily in magazines, for 20 years, including Good Housekeeping, People, Guideposts, Vanity Fair, and GQ. To talk about her book, Laura has appeared on CBS News Sunday Morning, NPR, the BBC, Tamron Hall, the Drew Barrymore Show, and NBC Nightly News with Lester Holt, among many other TV programs. She has also been covered in the Washington Post (a story that went viral globally), AARP, Maria Shriver’s Sunday Paper, Woman’s Day, the Daily Mail, the New York Post, and Shondaland, among many other publications. My Father’s List was chosen as one of the Best Books of 2023 by Real Simple magazine. She’s @myfatherslist on Instagram and @lac30 on Twitter.
Ted Delgrosso
Ted Delgrosso is a lifelong resident of Belleville, NJ. Activities in summer camp, youth baseball, boy scouts and martial arts and later, a four year tour in the Navy, gave him many ideas for stories. Currently retired after a career at The Home Depot, he writes fiction and science fiction short stories. He is married with two grown children and looks forward to a second career as an author.
Emily Grossman
Emily Grossman, MA, CPRP, NYCPS-P is an award-winning peer life coach, speaker, and author. For the last 15 years, Emily has worked in mental health, beginning her work on the “front lines” as a Peer Specialist, and then transitioning to mental health provider training and systems change work at large organizations such as Rutgers and Columbia University’s Psychiatry Department. She is the author of the book Unlocked: From Psych Hospital to Higher Self, which chronicles her bipolar recovery journey and offer readers 25 keys to recover as well. She has a master’s degree from Columbia University.
Julio C. Roman
Julio C. Roman is an esteemed Latinx LGBTQ advocate, organizational builder, and best-selling author with over two decades of unwavering dedication to LGBTQIA+ communities. His prolific career encompasses championing safe spaces, health equality, and social justice, particularly for those impacted by HIV/AIDS. Julio's expertise lies in Organizational and Leadership Development, Fundraising, HIV Prevention, LGBTQIA+ Advocacy, and Program Development. He is a mentor and collaborator, creating high-impact organizations that inspire and save lives. A trailblazer in LGBTQIA+ advocacy, Julio co-founded two LGBTQIA+ centers in Newark, sharing his public health insights on various platforms, from local to international stages. His fundraising acumen has secured millions for LGBTIQ+ causes. His influential presence extends to Capitol Hill, the United Nations, and notable lists like Insider NJ's “Out 100: The LGBT Power List.”
Rose Staine
Rose Staine was born and raised in NY. Her love for literature grew from a very early age when she was in middle school attending book fairs and buying her first reads from Scholastic News. She spent most of her time as a teenager in libraries. Completing her first novel To Wage War in November of 2023 was her most inspiring accomplishment. It received recognition from literary agents and is currently up for multiple literary awards. Rose is a mother of two who spent her years raising her children. Their love for literature grew from the bedtime stories and tales their mother would implement into their daily lives. As an author her passion grew to dreams. Dreams grew to reality. She has upcoming book projects, and is currently working on novel number three. She enjoys writing, reading, plane watching, star gazing, photography, and attending book clubs.
Phil Stevenson
Phil Stevenson hails from Irvington, New Jersey. As a child, he loved the art of storytelling—whether books, plays, or his personal favorite: films. He grew up in a tight-knit home with both parents and four siblings, whom he loves dearly. After graduating from Irvington High School, Phil attended Montclair State University in New Jersey. Instead of studying his passion for film, he chose to major in another love: history. He earned his bachelor’s degree in 2007 and planned to teach in his hometown before crossing over into local politics. But God stepped in with a bigger and better plan. After a conversation with close friends, Phil decided to write a screenplay. That screenplay morphed into his first novel, Wages of Sin. Currently, Phil is developing a series of interconnected novels in New Jersey, where he lives with his virtuous wife and two intelligent children.
Carol Stone
Carole Stone is Distinguished Professor of English and creative writing, emerita, Montclair State University. She has published five books of poetry among them Traveling with the Dead, Backwaters Press and American Rhapsody, Cavan Kerry Press Her recent work has appeared in Blue Fifth Journal, Slab, and the Bellevue Literary Review. She won three fellowships from The NJ State Council on the Arts and a Fellowship from Hawthornden Writers Retreat, Scotland. Her most recent book, Limited Editions, was published by Cavankerry Press in 2023.
Kerri Sullivan
Kerri Sullivan is a writer, librarian, and the creator of Jersey Collective, a multifaced project about New Jersey. She is the editor of New Jersey Fan Club: Artists & Writers Celebrate the Garden State (Rutgers University Press). Her writing has appeared on McSweeney’s Internet Tendency, Catapult, The Rumpus, NJ Indy, and elsewhere.
