Lyndsay Faye Farber (1998)

Lyndsay Faye accomplished so much in her life.  In her own words she was always interested in acting, but in light of her career as an author, it’s more accurate to say she was always interested in telling stories.  In her youth she would write plays and costume her little brother Johnny and then direct the plays.  Lyndsay was a very active student while attending R.A. Long.  She was Co-President of the Art Club and French Club, Class Historian in 1998, maintained a 4.0 GPA and was Co-Valedictorian of her senior class.  She was the first three year Stage Manager (sophomore to senior) of Mainstage Theatre under Dana Brown.  She was the first student to ever direct a full Mainstage Theatre season production (Arsenic and Old Lace, 1998).  She starred in “The Diary of Anne Frank” as Anne Frank, and the “The Fantasticks” as Luisa.  She again excelled at Notre Dame de Namur University, graduating Summa Cum Laude in 2002, with a double major in both Theatre (Performance) and English Literature.  Lyndsay was editor of “The Bohemian” campus literary magazine, class Treasurer and coordinator of the Notre Dame campus Writing Center for five (including after graduation).  She participated in all three mainstage production each year at Notre Dame, both acting and Production sides, for a total of 12 shows and also worked full-time as a waitress for all four Years.  Lyndsay worked throughout the Bay Area at award-winning theatre companies, San Francisco Shakespeare Festival, California Shakespeare Theater, Pacific Repertory Theatre and the Tony award-winning San Francisco Mime Troupe.  She played Portia in “Julius Caesar”, “The Waitress in Working” by Stephen Schwartz, Florence in “Chess”, and many Other classical and musical roles.  In August 2004, she originated the role of Lavinia DePlessy in the world premiere of Broadway composer Andrew Lippa’s “A Little Princess” at TheaterWorks in Mountain View, California.  During a lapse in theatrical roles Lyndsay decided to try her hand at story telling and authored her first book a novel entitled “Dust and Shadow” (Simon and Schuster, 2008) and followed by “The Gods of Gotham” (G.P. Putnam, 2013).  The Gods of Gotham was voted one Publishers Weekly’s Top Ten Mystery/Thrillers of the Year, one of Kirkus Reviews’ Ten Best Crime Novels of the Year, one of Gillian Flynns Recommendations for the Season, on Today, Edgar R. Award Nominee for Best Novel and winner of American Library Association Reading List Award for Best Mystery.  Her book “Seven for a Secret” has also been highly acclaimed and received many awards.  She has written several short stories and essays that have appeared in magazines and collections.  Lyndsay has been a speaker at the New York Public Library, American Library Association, UCLA, Key West Literary Festival, Theakston Old Peculier Crime Fest and many more locales.  She served 3 years a mentor to a high school student through the nationally acclaimed Girls Write Now program, and served 2 years as a judge of Edgar Awards categories (Best Short Story and Best Ya).  Lyndsay is the creator and host of the annual, “Daintiest Thing Under a Bonnet” Charity Ball, which has raised $16,000.00 for the Wounded Warrior Project in three short Years.  She has received many additional honors and invitations to societies for authors and has written several short stories and novels, all of which are too numerous to name.  Lyndsay married her high school sweetheart, Gabriel Lehner in 1999, they live in Queens, NY with their two cats Grendel and Prufrock.  Her parent John and Victoria, still live in Longview and her brother Jack graduated in 2000 from R.A. Long.