About the Book Fest
The MontCo Book Fest’s mission is to encourage community and connection between authors and readers in MontCo, PA, supporting a diverse range of voices. We prioritize local voices, human creativity, and mastery of craft.
Jennifer M. Lane, Co-Chair
Jennifer holds a bachelor’s degree in philosophy with a minor in communications from Barton College and a master’s in liberal arts with a focus on museum studies from the University of Delaware, where she wrote her thesis on the material culture of roadside memorials. She is a member of the Authors Guild, the Historical Novel Society, and the Independent Book Publishers Association. Her first book, Of Metal and Earth, won the 2019 Next Generation Indie Book Award for First Novel. It was also a Finalist in the 2018 IAN Book of the Year Awards in the category of Literary / General Fiction. She chairs her township’s historical commission, and is the founder of the Norristown / Norriton Authors Alliance, an active in-person writing group.
Amber L. Werner, Co-Chair
Fantasy author Amber L. Werner loves to pen epic adventures and cozy romances. Her debut series, The Palisade Trilogy, reflects her lifelong fascination with magic and mythical creatures. She lives in Norristown, Pennsylvania, with her husband and two children, where she continues to dream up new stories. Sign up for her newsletter and receive a free novella. Find the link at amberlwerner.com.
Ashini J. Desai, Committee Member
Ashini J. Desai is a co-founder/editor of Dandelion Revolution Press and while she does not write for a living, she writes to live. Her short stories have been published in the anthologies Not Quite As You Were Told, The Secrets We Keep and Every Breath Alight. Her poems have been published in anthologies Cities, Overplay/Underdone, as well as River Poets Journal, Philadelphia Poets, Thema, plus Asian-American anthologies Word Masala, Yellow as Turmeric, Fragrant as Cloves. Her essays were included in the Nancy Drew Anthology and Labor Pains and Birth Stories. She is on Instagram as @AshiniWrites and more details can be found at DandelionRevolutionPress.com
Paul Popiel, Committee Member
Paul Popiel is a writer, editor and gamer from Delco. His boyhood summer Boy Scout camp was No-BE-BO-SCO, where they filmed the first Friday the 13th movie. He earned his MFA in Writing Popular Fiction from Seton Hill University. When not facilitating The First Writes or The Writers Collective writing groups, he can be found running sessions of D&D or other role-playing games.
Paul has short stories in Fantastic Futures 13, Soul Scream Antholozine: Monstrous Hearts, and Where Legends Walk.
His slasher novel, 13 Acres of Hell: Our Little Corner of the World, is set in Delco (where else) and follows the misadventures of a real estate agent kidnapped by a killer clown.