A lifelong dream of being a writer has come true for a Geneva woman who now runs a small publishing house for writers looking for a voice.
Sara Frank, who grew up in Madison and has wanted to be an author since she was 15, published her first book of poetry in 2018 and expanded to help others in 2021.
Frank said that the poetry was an attempt at self-healing after recovering from childhood trauma. She writes under the pseudonym Ravven White.
The publisher, Curious Corvid, grew out of a post he made on his Instagram account looking for authors who wanted to share their stories.
“Now I represent 16 authors from all over the world,” he said.
Frank said he likes to focus on writers outside of the mainstream publishing industry. He said he likes to empower people to tell their stories his way and will help them as needed.
Frank’s Instagram post drew responses from a lot of people.
“I received a surprising number of posts,” he said.
Frank said he has an author in Bedford, another in Pennsylvania, others from across the United States, and several from England.
Many of the authors write about mental health issues, surviving sexual assault, or issues stemming from the challenges facing the LGBTQ community.
“I’m drawn to works of passion,” he said of people who have a story to tell from their own perspective. Frank said that she is not trying to interfere with the telling of the story, but rather she will provide assistance and grammar correction to make sure the story flows and makes sense.
He said there are people who partner with authors to meet those needs.
Frank said he was able to attend what is being described as the biggest literary event this spring in Los Angeles.
“We attended the Los Angeles Times Festival of Books, he said. “We had all our books on display, as well as our literary magazine [Magpie Messenger].”
Frank said that the magazine was started after a discussion with Mark McClish. “He came to me with the idea of starting a magazine,” he said.
The event was held at the University of Southern California. It is estimated that 150,000 people attend the event each year.
Since computers are the driving force in literature these days, you don’t have to live in a major metropolitan area to be successful as an author, Frank said.
“You can leave your mark where you are,” he said.
Frank also recently completed a novel, to be released on Halloween, and has a book signing scheduled for November 12 at 7 pm at Pretty Good Books on Main Avenue in Ashtabula.
Frank describes the book as a story about vampires and humans in a post-apocalyptic dystopian world.
“It’s set after a great war and vampires and humans are fighting for survival,” he said.
The magazine and book can be purchased at www.curiouscorvidpublishing.com and through Amazon.
