Haya Leah Molnar

I was born in Bucharest, Romania under Communist rule. By the time I was six years old I was writing poetry and reciting it in front of my classmates, family and friends. Writing has been central in my life ever since.

My parents were Holocaust survivors and hid my Jewish identity from me in order to protect me from anti-Semitism. At age seven and a half I found out about my Jewish identity — and my life changed drastically. "Under a Red Sky" is a memoir about this time period in my life and how my family and I escaped Communism.

I came to America at the age of thirteen and learned English. Even while I was struggling to learn English in middle school, I loved writing essays! My favorite authors as a young girl were Mark Twain, and Alexandre Dumas, père.

As an adult I became a copywriter and later creative director in advertising. I wrote copy for many Fortune 500 companies and won international awards, but I never stopped writing short stories and poetry, and I dreamt of writing and publishing books.

Today I write full time. Ideas for stories and books are always bubbling in my head and I often feel like there's never enough time to write them all down, but I do it just the same. Seeing my first book in print was a life long dream come true. I am especially happy that young people will get to read my book because my dream began when I was very young. I hope if you are reading this, that you will continue to dream and make your dreams happen by persevering and believing in yourself.