Lauren Donsky-Levine was born in Far Rockaway, New York, a small, middleclass enclave a short train ride away from the city and an even shorter walk to the many beaches running up and down the Atlantic coastline where naturally her summers were spent.

After graduating from high school and a family move to Woodmere, New York, she did a stint at a two-year college upstate and walked away with a culinary degree soon discovering that while working in a restaurant was a passion, it was also very hard work.

Over the next twenty years she traveled, moved around a bit—Mexico, Miami and California—while accruing a plethora of professional hats, a house, a husband, a dog and two children along the way.

It was also during those years that Lauren’s writing life began. (Even though according to her mother, she was writing before she even walked, telling stories with a twig in the dirt).  She started out small. Publishing poetry, contributing to a dining out column in a local magazine, things she could handle while still working full-time and raising a family alone. But once her children had grown, Lauren returned to all those stories waiting to be told.

THE BAD GIRL, her debut novella, is set in New York City at the tail end of the Vietnam War. Her quirky and offbeat narrative renders a captivating portrait of relationships, of betrayals and forgiveness and tells us that by accepting ourselves, we find the courage to change what we can, and brave those storms we can’t.

Lauren currently lives in South Florida with her family, and when the moment avails itself, she can be found at her laptop, writing.  So she says.