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LaVora's 2008 novel for young people, Taneesha Never Disparaging, was the first juvenile novel published by Wisdom Publications, a leading global publisher of commercial and scholarly titles including those by the Dalai Lama. Award winning artist Floyd Cooper illustrated Taneesha Never Disparaging's cover. 

Taneesha Never Disparaging is a humorous, urban tale of a feisty Buddhist fifth-grader facing her inner weaknesses and challenges at home, school, and on the street. Fans of the book include Teaching Tolerance magazine and the Teaching for Change organization.

LaVora is completing a young adult novel, a picture book, and an interpretive biography chapter book. She also writes health articles for LiveStrong.com and is the coauthor of a health guide  work-in-progress with Linda Bradley, MD, a member of the world-renowned Cleveland Clinic's Board of Govenors.   LaVora contributed to Children’s Writers Guide 2009 and is Marketing Coordinator for the Northern Ohio Society of Children's Book Writers and Illustrators (SCBWI).

LaVora's coauthor, Dr. Linda Bradely, M.D. serves on the Cleveland Clinic's Board of Govenors and has been featured in O and several other magazines.

LaVora's words have been driven, flown, and sailed around the world in brightly colored envelopes because in 1995 she became the first African American to join American Greetings' (AG) card writing staff. At AG, the world's 2nd largest multinational social expression corporation, she earned Creative Excellence Awards in 1999 and 2000 in the categories of "Juvenile and Conventional Writing" and "Concept Innovation."

LaVora has appeared as a guest author on National Public Radio’s Tavis Smiley Show. She has prepared physician presentations for National Medical Association and American Academy of Pediatrics conferences, among others, and edited print calendars with tips for healthy living. She has contributed writing to Illuminations—Expressions of the Personal Spiritual Experience (Celestial Arts; 2006); the Plain Dealer newspaper (Cleveland, Ohio); Catalyst--Ohio, an independent urban school newsmagazine; Living Buddhism magazine; and Gumbo for the Soul—The Recipe for Literacy in the African-American Community (2007), and other publications.  MORE

LaVora currently seeks stories of organ transplant survivors/donors of color for her latest project. Click here for details.
For comments about this website, send email, here. Email LaVora at mlavoraperry @ gmail.com. TOP

Schedule an Author Visit or Workshop	LaVora conducts workshops and author visits for children, teens, and adults on writing and publishing books.

In 2004, LaVora founded Forest Hill Publishing, LLC (FHP). FHP titles include LaVora's children's books, her guide, Successful Self Publishing (2005), LeBron James—King of the Court (2005), a young adult biography by New York author and journalist Beverly Robinson, and the Lebron James--King of the Court, Companion Study Guide by Chicken Soup series author Nancy Gilliam

LaVora has practiced Buddhism as a member of the Soka Gakkai International (SGI) since 1987. She publishes FortuneChildBooks.com, a Buddhist website with articles and information written by her and others.  



Born and raised in Cleveland, Ohio's Mount Pleasant neighborhood, LaVora fell in love with writing in the 4th grade thanks to Mrs. T.--a teacher who was mean to her but who nonetheless provided LaVora and her classmates with many opportunities for creative expression. LaVora attended Cleveland Public Schools through 9th grade and Hathaway Brown School for girls from 10th through 12th grades. 

LaVora is a former actor who has performed on stage and in film in New York City and Europe. She attended Ithaca College (Theatre) and the City College of New York (Education). She graduated from Cleveland State University in 1995 (B.S. in Elementary Education, cum laude). 

LaVora enjoys nature walks and bike rides, skating (ice and roller), reading books, watching movies, and talking about both things, dancing, and learning and growing with her husband and three children. If she's ever stranded on an island with only one kind of food to eat, she hopes it's watermelon.

LaVora lives with her family in Northern Ohio where watermelon's only really good during the summer. She can be seen biking through her neighborhood in all but the most challenging weather. Until recently, to her, the upside of living where she does was that there were no poisonous snakes within 50 miles of her home (except at the zoo)--at least none that she knew of. But in 2009 she became good friends with a snake buff who not only lives minutes away but has employed her son as a reptile-keeper's apprentice...(!). See LaVora's son holding a snake here.