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M. LaVora Perry's children's book biography titled PEACEBUILDERS: Daisaku Ikeda & Josei Toda, Buddhist Leaders launches March 16, 2010. It's the story of how meeting a good teacher changed a young man, and how that young man set out to change the world.  Peacebuilders includes a timeline with history facts.

LaVora currently seeks stories of organ transplant survivors/donors of color for her latest project. Click here for details.

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. 

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 the co-author of a non-fiction work-in-progress with Linda Bradley, MD. She is also a contributor to Children’s Writers Guide 2009 and the Marketing Coordinator for the Northern Ohio Society of Children's Book Writers and Illustrators (SCBWI). 

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

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.

LaVora conducts workshops for children, teens, and adults on writing and publishing books.

	Schedule an Author Visit or Workshop
Email LaVora at mlavoraperry @ gmail.com.  <><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><> My photo on this page was taken by my wonderful niece, Kourtnie at my wonderful nephew P.J.s wedding to my wonderful daughter-in-law, Tasha. The legs on my website logo are from a painting I created a few years back--"Ten Thousand Years." The painting was inspired by a dream I had when I was 14. -LaVora