Devon Trevarrow Flaherty is an author in Durham, North Carolina. She grew up in metro-Detroit in an enormous extended family and was an artist as soon as she could hold a crayon. She put together her first book–with packing tape, cardboard and wrapping paper–in her aunt’s magical bedroom full of bookshelves and a roll-top desk. In fourth grade she won a Young Laureate for the book she wrote about the death of her closest sibling and was pushed further toward her inevitable literary future by an enthusiastic and supportive teacher (Mrs. Anne Sullivan) who let Devon sing her science reports and limerick her way through schooling. In junior high, she lost a Farmers Bureau poetry competition to a little girl who seems like quite a neat lady, now, on Facebook. In college, she rebounded with local awards for her poetry, a stint as editor-in-chief of the literary magazine Parnassus at her alma mater in Indiana, and almost received honors for her philosophy thesis, “The Obligation of Affluence.” She was an assistant editor for The Gale Group before she relocated to Durham and became a mom and a freelance editor/writer/researcher, for a time with QSR Magazine.

Devon loves writing and hopes to keep bringing you novels, blogs, poems, short stories, and essays until well after she should have retired as anything else. In 2021, she finished seven years of homeschooling and teaching at a local co-op, and now spends her time between writing, blogging, editing, and looking for an agent/publication. (She is also interested in a part-time job as a bookseller.) She’s also a mother of teens and a dog, and a devoted wife, and her hobbies include singing, reading, painting, yoga, hiking, crafting, cooking, baking, traveling, aerobics, paddleboarding, making videos, photography, and enjoying food.

In 2013, Flaherty self-published her first novel (using her indie publishing house, Owl and Zebra Press), Benevolent, which is available widely for purchase on the internet (and at some bookstores and libraries) in paperback and e-book. The book won recognition with Indie Reader (as an Approved Book), and Reader’s Favorite (Five Star Review). In 2015, she self-published (again with Owl and Zebra) a fantasy novel, The Night of One Hundred Thieves, which was short-listed for the Manly Wade Wellman Award for speculative fiction in 2016. Shortly after, she found herself thrown headlong into homeschooling and stopped acting as the owner of Owl and Zebra Press, reluctantly placing her career on the back burner. As a full-time homeschool educator, Devon chipped away (on many Wednesday nights at Cocoa Cinnamon and the occasional writing residency) on the next novels, short stories, and essays. In 2020, she put the “THE END” on The Family Elephant’s Jewels, and after getting some agent feedback, is back in revisions. In 2022, she closed up her home school and is back to writing full-time. Another “THE END” happened late in 2022 and one in March of 2023, so editing, (marinating,) writing, and publication-seeking is happening in earnest. She is in six book clubs, three writing groups, has some short story publications under her belt, and is a big fan of residencies and now conferences (where she has been awarded fellowships, etc.). Devon maintains her blog, The Starving Artist, at devontrevarrowflaherty.com.

To find out why she is “The Starving Artist,” see the first two blog posts here and especially here.

Find her elsewhere online on Facebook, Instagram, Goodreads, and AuthorCentral.