Rosalyn Kaplus says that approaching her septuagenarian decade she has transformed from a night-owl to an early birder. A former art teacher in Miami’s inner city, then volunteer guardian ad litem advocate in dependency court, she has always been a keen observer and copious note-taker. Now, as a first-time published author, her creativity has turned to crafting compelling stories, memoir and fiction, long and short, painting with words; a lot less messy, she says, than acrylic and the real life drama of her reports for the justice system.

Her short story 37-It Was Heaven is based on an obituary, one of John Dufresne’s favorite inspirations for quirky characters, irony and the ultimate denouement.