Falcone, L(ucy) M. 1951-

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FALCONE, L(ucy) M. 1951-

Personal

Born January 10, 1951, in Toronto, Ontario, Canada; daughter of Antonio (a public works department employee) and Maria Donata (a homemaker; maiden name, Zita) Falcone. Education: University of Toronto, B.A., 1973, Teacher's College, primary specialist certification, 1974. Politics: Liberal. Religion: "Truth."

Addresses

Home— 177-30th St., Toronto, Ontario M8W 3C6, Canada. Agent— Writers' House, 21 West 26th St., New York, NY 10010. E-mail— [email protected].

Career

Screenwriter, children's book author, and producer. Formerly worked as a teacher and private investigator.

Member

Writers Guild of Canada, Canadian Society of Children's Authors, Illustrators, and Performers, Canadian Writers Union.

Awards, Honors

Hart House Award for best short story, 1981, for "Solitaire"; Bronze Award for Best Television Pilot, Houston International Film & Television Festival, 1982, for Choir Practice.

Writings

The Mysterious Mummer, Kids Can Press (Toronto, Ontario, Canada), 2003.

Walking with the Dead, Kids Can Press (Toronto, Ontario, Canada), 2005.

TELEVISION SCRIPTS

"Happy Birthday Mom!," The Littlest Hobo, CTV, 1983.

(And producer) Choir Practice (pilot), 1991.

"The Curse," The New Monkees!, Columbia Broadcast System, Inc. (CBS), 1991.

"Room for Rent," Are You Afraid of the Dark?, Nickelodeon, 1994.

"The Unfinished Painting," Are You Afraid of the Dark?, Nickelodeon, 1995.

OTHER

Contributor to screenplay The Decision, Tiempo Productions, 1984.

Work in Progress

Adapting The Mysterious Mummer into a feature film; writing the supernatural thriller The Devil, the Banshee, and Me.

Sidelights

Toronto-based author L. M. Falcone is a former television writer for such series as The Littlest Hobo, The New Monkees!, and the hugely popular pre-teen series Are You Afraid of the Dark? She spent ten years writing for television and film in Los Angeles before returning to her native Canada. Falcone is a former teacher who resigned early in her career to pursue writing. "My soul would have shriveled up and died, if I hadn't," she told Something about the Author. Among her writing projects for young readers, Falcone is the author of The Mysterious Mummer and Walking with the Dead, both novels for middle-grade readers.

In addition to writing, Falcone has worked as a private investigator for the Acadia Investigation Bureau, catered for the cast and crew of the television series The Golden Girls, and once applied for a job as a fish plucker.

Falcone loves to travel when researching a new project; she explained that she has lived in an Amish community in Pennsylvania; in an 1860s-era cottage in New Brunswick (with no phone, no car, no TV); and on a sheep farm in England, in the very village where Robin Hood lived! Her advice to aspiring authors is surprising for a former television scriptwriter: "Turn off that darn TV and start living! Stories are everywhere but you'll find them only if you're open to receiving them."