Reminders (Emmich) - Author Bio

Author Bio
• Birth—1978-79
• Raised—Manalapan, New Jersey, USA
• Education—B.A., Rutgers University
• Currently—lives in Jersey City, New Jersey


Dubbed a "Renaissance Man" by the New York Post, Val Emmich is a writer, singer-songwriter, actor, and now, with his 2017 The Reminders, a novelist. Raised in Manalapan, New Jersey, Emmich attended Rutgers University. Today, he lives with his wife and children in Jersey City, New Jersey.

Music
Emmich has been writing music since he was 15, and he signed his first record deal after graduating from Rutgers. Since then, he has released more than a dozen albums and toured the country several times over. Newark's Star-Ledger referred to him as "one of the finest songwriters in the Garden State, [and] also one of the most prolific."

Acting
Emmich has also been acting since he was 18 with recurring roles on Vinyl, The Big C, and Ugly Betty. He has also played Liz Lemon's "coffee-boy" on 30 Rock.

Writing
As he told NJ.com, Emmich had talked about writing a novel for so long it became a "running joke" among his friends:

I started writing long-form fiction in 2007, that's when I started my first novel, and it's been ten years of struggle. I wrote two other novels that weren't any good and didn't get me an agent or anywhere, and in 2013, I began this one — my third try. Then I got an agent in 2015 and it's finally being published in 2017, so it feels like a solid decade of "I WANNA WRITE A BOOK."

That book, of course, is his debut, The Reminders, the story of a gifted 10-year-old girl and her collaboration with a 30-year-old actor struggling with grief. The novel has been well reviewed and optioned for film. (Adapted from various online sources, including the author's website. Retrieved 6/13/2017.)