Jerome author Zushka Biros announced her book signing tour, which will begin in the Valley of the Sun in late July.
“Troubled by my past and seeking a new life, I suddenly found myself homeless and meandering through the heart of the Midwest,” Biros said of the premise of her book, “The Secret Butterfly Trail.” “From New Mexico I traveled to Michigan to live with my son and his family. With nothing but a bike and a backpack, I made my way following the trails of southwestern Michigan. Two thousand miles away, my ex-husband’s suicide drove me into the winter of my deep despair. Reconsidering the choices I had made in my life, I did what was for me, the unthinkable. I traveled back to my hometown in New England, which I had left 21 years earlier. On a quest to find a final resting spot for my ex-husband’s ashes, I found more. In death, he led me back home to face what I had run from in the first place — myself. This is a story of death and rebirth, of despair and hope, the journey of my lifetime.”
Meet Biros and hear about her story at {9} The Gallery, 1229 Grand Ave. in Phoenix, during the Phoenix First Friday Art Walk on Friday, Aug. 4, from 6 to 10 p.m.
Half of the proceeds from the evening will go to support gallery owner Laura Dragon, who is fighting cancer.
Local coffee shops, book stores, cafes and a few surprise venues will be hosting Biros during her Phoenix-area tour starting in late July. The summer tour will continue from Phoenix to Southern Arizona, beginning with Bisbee, and making its way back north to the Sedona and Jerome area by the end of August.
Biros was born in Bridgeport, Conn., in 1965, and grew up in Bethel, Conn. The eldest of three children, she graduated from Bethel High School in 1983, and worked during her early adult life as a paralegal for various law firms in Waterbury, Conn. She married her high school sweetheart in 1985 and they had two children, a daughter and a son.
Biros’ life changed in 1989 when they decided to move to Arizona. During their 16 years of marriage, Biros dealt with her husband’s alcoholism and drug addiction, which resulted in a turbulent divorce in 2001 and his eventual suicide in 2009.
An avid journal writer since age 7, she eventually began to write professionally, beginning with “God Knocked Me Off My Bike,” published in May 2010. A second book, “The Secret Butterfly Trail,” was released in November 2013, and forms the basis for a series of stories titled “An Ordinary Life,” the succeeding books anticipated for release in late 2017.
An author of numerous blogs, essays and short stories, Biros is a freelance writer and model, and enjoys a simple life of hiking, yoga and belly dancing. She lives and blogs in Jerome.
“‘The Secret Butterfly Trail’ is a raw and heartwarming look into one woman’s search for meaning and purpose in a deeply troubled life, in the same page-turning fashion as Elizabeth Gilbert’s ‘Eat Pray Love,’ and Cheryl Strayed’s ‘Wild.’” — Don Kirchner, author of “A Matter of Time”
