Fran Hawthorne

For 30 years, Fran Hawthorne built a cross-country career as a journalist and award-winning nonfiction author, specializing in health care, finance, and the nexus of business and social activism. But all that was a detour.

She tried to publish her first novel in middle school. (She did not succeed.) After struggling to fit fiction into her spare time, she finally published two novels that have won or been a finalist for nine awards--and now her third, HER DAUGHTER, is newly out (from Black Rose Writing). Kirkus Reviews praised the book as "a deep dive into the pain of separation and hope for reconciliation conveyed with grace, realism, and empathy," and The Federalist magazine says: "Not since 'Anna Karenina' has a work of fiction dealt so squarely and deftly with the subject [of parental alienation] until Fran Hawthorne's HER DAUGHTER."

In Fran's nonfiction life, her book "Ethical Chic" was named one of the best books of 2012 by Library Journal. Her work has appeared in The New York Times, BusinessWeek, Newsday, the New York Journal of Books, and many other publications. When she's not writing or running, she volunteers at the New York Historical museum, at her local park, and on political campaigns.