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Please join me in The Locher Room to meet three talented authors with three distinct stories to share.

Melissa Braverman's new book Notes From A Single Gal In The City – Reflections On Dating & Mating is inspired by her popular blog, SingleGalNYC. The book offers insights about today's dating culture as well as advice geared towards singles 30+ for navigating it. Hailed by fans of her SingleGalNYC blog as New York’s real-life Carrie Bradshaw, Melissa has been through it all. From online dating disasters and the trials of texting to cheeky old flames, her stories will strike a chord with anyone juggling modern mores and a desire to meet someone special. With an optimistic tone, Notes From A Single Gal In The City illustrates how the journey to finding love is as important as the destination.

Dr. Ziva Bakman-Flamhaft's memoir War Widow: How the Six Day War Changed my Life is a story about a young girl born in Tel Aviv, Israel. Her childhood years were marked by my mother’s severe recurrent depression. Like other children she blamed herself for her mother’s illness. Nothing original about that. Like many more children around the world, she grew up in times of war. Like other women, she fell madly in love with a man too popular among the opposite sex and got married young in spite of doubting her decision. Again, nothing unusual. Like other women she suffered two miscarriages: a girl, who was too small to survive after twenty-two weeks of pregnancy, and a boy who lived for thirty-six hours after twenty-six weeks of pregnancy. Years later technology would have him survive. Ziva went through a corrective procedure, and was "as good as new," planning another pregnancy.

Becoming a young war widow is not extraordinary either. But, seeing your husband burnt beyond recognition and hearing his deafening last breaths, your body succumbing because of the shock, suffering a near death experience, being medically abused in the hospital where you stay while trying desperately to save your pregnancy, losing your unborn child after your husband's death and blaming yourself for depriving your in-laws of the grandchild they wanted so badly, is not an ordinary tale.

Dr. Ziva Bakman-Flamhaft is a lecturer in Political Science at Queens College/CUNY, a Fulbright scholar, and a writer and a memoirist. Dr. Bakman-Flamhaft has appeared in numerous academic conferences in the US and abroad and has been a guest lecturer and a speaker in other forums, including radio and TV.

Ben Levin is an autistic young adult with a passion for writing. His first young adult novel, “In The Hole,” is out now.

In “In The Hole,” nine-year-old David Kimball finds his safe and secure world unexpectedly unraveling after discovering his father has lost the family restaurant business, and subsequently their home. Forced to live in a borrowed car until it too is lost, David, together with his parents and sister, Julia, desperately seek shelter. After finding temporary housing in a decrepit inn, together with other individuals facing homelessness, David struggles to maintain a sense of normalcy even as his family faces the challenges and trauma of being homeless. Over time, through hard work and the support of their family and community, David searches for the inner strength and outward skills needed to help his family triumph over their dire circumstances. Will David and his family make it out of the hole?

Ben is a true inspiration to all around him. He says that “Autism is not a curse – it is a gift.

Original Airdate: 9/1/2021