Frank L. Finale is a distinguished former educator and acclaimed writer who has accrued 55 years in his fields of interest. At the inception of his career, he served as a teacher at Toms River Regional School District in New Jersey, holding the position from 1964 until his retirement from teaching in 2002. Interested in writing from a young age, he has also served Jersey Shore Publications as a writer since 1996. Since the formative years of his life, he has always wanted to express in words the experiences he witnessed, desiring to express them in a different light than what was conventional. Enjoying and playing with the sounds and meanings of words, he also found great pleasure in surrounding himself with like-minded individuals whose imagination was not stifled. Attending college during the early part of his career, he received a Bachelor of Education from The Ohio State University in 1964. Deciding to take one year off to focus on writing poetry, he got his first poem published by a poetry magazine, Epos, in 1966. Continuing his studies at Fairleigh Dickinson University, he earned a Master of Arts in human development in 1976. Desiring to work with children because their imaginations were not subdued, he avoided being drafted into the Vietnam War due to his position as a teacher.
The author of numerous books and editor, co-editor and editor-in-chief of several publications, he notably founded the Without Halos Magazine and served as the author of a children’s book series, “A Gull’s Story,” which sold more than 10,000 copies. He also wrote three volumes of “To the Shore Once More,” the first volume of which sold over 17,000 copies. Well-known throughout the Jersey Shore, from which he derives his inspiration due to the beauty and charm of the area, the first volume of “To the Shore Once More” won a Barnes & Noble bookselling content to see which books could sell the most copies in a one-month period.
To remain abreast of developments in the industry, Mr. Finale maintains affiliation with the National Education Association, the Academy of American Poets, the New Jersey Education Association and the Ocean County Poets Collective, where he was a founding member. Previously, he was the poetry editor of “The New Renaissance” from 1996 to 2012 and served as co-editor of two anthologies, “Under a Gull’s Wing: Poems and Photographs of the Jersey Shore” in 1996 and “The Poets of New Jersey: From Colonial to Contemporary” in 2005.
As a testament to his profound success, Mr. Finale has received myriad accolades and honors. Nominated for the Pushcart Press Prize on numerous occasions, he was named Teacher of the Year in 2002 and was honored with an Exemplary Service Award from the International Literacy Association and Ocean County Reading Council in 1993. Furthermore, he received a President’s Scholarship Award from The Ohio State University in 1963, which he cites as a career highlight, and an athletic scholarship to Baylor University during his undergraduate studies. The proud father of three sons and grandfather of five grandchildren, Mr. Finale enjoys reading, watching films, seeing comedians, and listening to music in his spare time.
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