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WINNER, 2017 POETS & WRITERS MAUREEN EGEN WRITERS EXCHANGE AWARDIn 2009, eighty-five-year-old art professor Ludka Zeilonka gets drawn into a political firestorm when her grandson, Tommy, is among a group of gay Massachusetts teachers fired for allegedly silencing Christian kids in high school classrooms. The ensuing battle to reinstate the teachers raises the specter of Ludka's World War II past -- a past she's spent a lifetime trying to forget. Radio host Warren Meck has been leading the Massachusetts campaign to root out anti-religious bias in public schools -- but he believes in working respectfully within the political system, so he's alarmed and offended when his efforts are undermined by someone inciting violent action. Even worse, he fears the culprit is among his inner circle.
About the Author
WINNER, 2017 POETS & WRITERS MAUREEN EGEN WRITERS EXCHANGE AWARD
New England native Joan Dempsey received her MFA degree and teaching certificate in creative writing from Antioch University, Los Angeles.
She was the recipient of a significant research grant from the Elizabeth George Foundation for her work on THIS IS HOW IT BEGINS, a grant that took her to Warsaw for a month (no, she doesn't speak Polish) , and to Washington, D.C. for ten days, to study in the archives at the US Holocaust Memorial Museum.
Her writing has been published in "The Adirondack Review," "Alligator Juniper," "Obsidian: Literature of the African Diaspora", and "Plenitude Magazine," and aired on National Public Radio.
She lives in Maine with her partner and their family of animals. Find her online at www.joandempsey.com.
