Karen Winters Schwartz

Karen Winters Schwartz was born and raised in Mansfield, Ohio. She wrote her first truly good story at age seven. Her second-grade teacher, Mrs. Schneider, publicly and falsely accused her of plagiarism. She did not write again for forty years. In-between, she moved to Columbus, Ohio, where she spent thirteen years of her life pursuing a seemingly endless education at Ohio State University. She received her undergraduate degree in microbiology, her Master of Science in Immunology, and a Doctorate in Optometry. Winters Schwartz met her future husband, Paul, at a student optometric conference in Chicago. They were both slightly drunk and it was love at first sight. They married in 1987, moved to Central New York, and bought a house on the shores of Otisco Lake — the “pinky finger” of the Finger Lakes. There they began their lives together, their careers as optometrists, and raised two daughters, who are off to change the world — hopefully in a good way. Winters Schwartz is an active board member of NAMI Syracuse (National Alliance on Mental Illness) and an advocate for mental illness awareness. This is her debut novel.