Orphaned at age sixteen, Frances Tepper put herself through the University of Southern California, graduating Phi Beta Kappa, magna cum laude. She married her high school sweetheart and returned to her home state, New York, raising children and working for 4-H as a program assistant. In 1992 Fran embarked on a career that would become her passion for the next twenty years: Executive Director of the Monroe County Fair and Manager of the Fair Association’s events center. During that time she published many columns and essays in local newspapers—and in the fair industry publication Fairs and Expos—about the life of the fair, writing with her trademark candor, insight, and humor. She was eventually elected president of the New York State Association of Agricultural Fairs as well as president of the Henrietta Chamber of Commerce, which even named her Business Person of the Year in 2000. Fran retired after twenty years, but “fair fever” is still in her blood, and she can detect the aroma of fried dough from blocks away. She currently lives in Pittsford, New York with her husband. She has three grown children and six grandchildren and loves reading (often a book a day), traveling, video poker, and everything Outlander.