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Janie DeVos is a native of Coral Gables, Florida. She attended Florida State University, then worked in the advertising industry for over a decade, including radio, cable television, public relations and advertising firms. Though her career changed over the years, one thing didn’t – her love of writing. She began writing in earnest in 2000, when she started her freelance writing company, Rainy Day Creations, and began composing verses for several greeting card companies, which she continues to do today.

Ms. DeVos entered How High Can You Fly?, in a national poetry contest, where it received a third place award. She was then invited by River Road Press to have the poem made into a children’s book, and was paired up with illustrator Renee Regent from Boston, MA. Their combined efforts resulted in the hard-cover picture book, How High Can You Fly?, which is now available in major bookstores, and is also found in libraries and schools throughout the United States and abroad.

In 2003, Ms. DeVos teamed up with Ms. Nancy Marsh, a South Florida art teacher, to create a second hard-cover children’s picture book; The Path Winds Home. Both books grabbed the attention of a New York publisher, East End Publishing, and in 2006 Ms. DeVos and East End joined forces to began work on her third and best-selling book to date; Barthello’s Wing. Scholastic Books was interested in including Barthello’s Wing in their American, and North American Book Fairs, and asked that it be produced in soft-cover. It was, and to date it has sold over 80,000 copies from its debut in January, 2007.

Ms. DeVos has made numerous appearances in bookstores, including Barnes and Noble, Waldenbooks, Borders Books, Malaprops, Books and Books, and many others. She carved a niche for herself within the Broward and Miami-Dade public and private school systems and libraries, doing extensive work with special needs classes, as well as working with children with normal learning functions. Ms. DeVos was one of three authors selected to visit numerous libraries as part of Border’s Books and Children Services of Broward County’s after school programming, which targets at-risk children. In 2006, she was invited by The Miami International Book Fair committee to be a visiting author at selected inner-city schools as part of M.I.B.F.’s special events programming, and was asked to be the authors’ liaison on Reading Across Broward’s steering committee for their 25th Anniversary Festival. As a part of Reading Across Broward’s Meet the Author series, Ms. DeVos was broadcast through BECON Broadcasting into Broward schools in an interactive teleconference program. She was also the keynote speaker for the Title One and Head Start Programs’ end of the year banquet and awards ceremony in Miami, Florida.

Using animals as the main characters in her books, Ms. DeVos guides her readers through gentle and loving life lessons about acceptance and tolerance towards others, and the importance of recognizing the special gifts that we each possess. She hopes that her stories will help improve children’s self-esteem, as well as promote cultural diversity by building bridges through understanding and appreciation of others.

Look for Ms. DeVos' new book, The Shopkeeper's Bear, illustrated byRebecca Evans, set to make its debut in late autumn. She lives outside of Asheville, NC in the Blue Ridge Mountains.

Please contact Ms. DeVos at: [email protected];
Phone: 828-766-6035 (office) or 467-9654 (cell)

Janie DeVos is a native of Coral Gables, Florida. She attended Florida State University, then worked in the advertising industry for over a decade, including radio, cable television, public relations and advertising firms. Though her career changed over the years, one thing didn’t – her love of writing. She began writing in earnest in 2000, when she started her ... More