Sharon Short, Author
  • Home
  • About
    • Behind the Scenes FAQ
  • Books (as Sharon)
    • My One Square Inch of Alaska
    • Josie Toadfern Stain-Busting Mysteries
    • Sanity Check
    • Patricia Delaney eGumshoe Mysteries
  • Books (as Jess)
  • Stories & Essays
  • For Writers
  • Contact

Talking with Judith Fertig, Author of The Cake Therapist

6/2/2015

1 Comment

 
Picture
NOTE: This originally appeared in my Literary Life column for the Dayton Daily News on May 31, 2015.

An award-winning cookbook author with local ties to the Dayton/Cincinnati region has put a taste of our area into her debut novel.

Judith Fertig (
www.judithfertig.com) grew up in Reading just outside of Cincinnati and was the first in her family to go to college. She attended Wittenberg University in Springfield, and there studied English, graduating with a B.A. in 1972.

“I still remember how much I cherished the treat of my mom and dad coming to whisk me away and come to Dayton to have dinner at the Pine Club,” Judith says. “Though I loved my classes at Wittenberg, it was definitely a treat to get away from cafeteria food and savor an excellent meal.”

She says her time at Wittenberg taught her how to be a fast writer, and then revise deeply, and that has been a big boon to her career as a writer, especially when creating articles on tight deadlines.

Before delving into that career, however, Judith taught high school English after graduation, married, earned her M.A. in Humanities from Ohio State University in 1981 and eventually settled in Kansas City with her family.  

Her love of excellent food led her to become...


Picture
...a food writer and a cookbook author. Her food and lifestyle writing has appeared in more than a dozen publications, including Bon Appétit, Saveur, and the New York Times. Judith attended Ecole de Cuisine La Varenne in Paris and the Graduate Summer Workshop at the University of Iowa Writers’ Workshop. She teaches cooking classes across the country, and has taught at Dorothy Lane Market’s School of Cooking.

“When I get a chance, I go back to the Pine Club,” Judith says. “I still see and savor it as a little piece of heaven!”

Her most recent cookbooks are “BBQ Bistro” and “Bake Happy.”

But she is extra excited to talk about her debut novel, “The Cake Therapist,” which features a talented pastry chef who moves back to her small Midwestern hometown when her personal life in New York City falls apart. There, she opens a bakery, but she also has a secret talent—“tasting” feelings in the creations she bakes for people. In other words, the story—and the protagonist—has many layers.

“My hometown was industrial,” Judith says. “It’s been fascinating to observe the changes on visits back from industrial to brown fields to reinventing itself. Now Reading is a wedding district for the area! It fascinates me to think about people and characters reinventing themselves, so it seemed perfect to set my novel in my hometown which has also reinvented itself.”

Learn more about Judith’s work, including her cookbooks, at www.judithfertig.com.

1 Comment
www.topaperwritingservices.com/review-essayshark-com link
1/12/2020 03:03:42 am

When you are passionate about something and you have succeeded through it, you need to share the story on how you have managed to be on top! I am sure that Judith Fertig has a lot of inspiring stories to share to us, that's why I am willing to read "The Cake Therapist", the book that she wrote! I am so much willing to read the book because I am gaining some interest with the games and it will surely help me understand the whole process of doing it!

Reply



Leave a Reply.

    Categories

    All
    Books I Love
    Creativity
    Cross Training For Writers
    Literary Life
    Movies
    My One Square Inch Of Alaska
    Pie
    Recipe
    Sanity Check
    Screenwriting
    Waxing Philosophical

    Sharon Short...

    ...is  a novelist, columnist, workshop director, instructor, and a pie enthusiast. As such, she blogs about the literary life, life in general, and pie. Definitely, pie.

    As Jess Montgomery, she writes historical mysteries.

    Archives

    January 2018
    August 2017
    June 2016
    May 2016
    August 2015
    June 2015
    March 2015
    January 2015
    December 2014
    November 2014
    October 2014
    August 2014
    May 2014
    April 2014
    March 2014
    February 2014
    January 2014
    December 2013
    November 2013
    October 2013
    September 2013
    August 2013
    July 2013
    June 2013
    December 2012

    RSS Feed

Proudly powered by Weebly
Photo used under Creative Commons from GabboT