Born, raised and a resident in Illinois for most of her life, Valerie Connelly now lives in Cookeville, Tennessee. She divides her time between publishing, writing, speaking, painting landscapes and waterscapes, and traveling.

An educator and international traveler since her days as a Peace Corps volunteer in Togo, West Africa in 1969, Valerie Connelly taught French language and literature in Illinois from 1974-2005. She holds a MA in French Literature from Northwestern University. In the 1980’s she founded the nonprofit organization, Overseas Alliance, to travel with her students in France to study art, history and architecture, live in French families, and to meet with her most famous friend, then French President François Mitterrand. Every year for five years, M. Mitterrand invited Ms. Connelly and her students to the Elysée Palace for the diplomatic celebrations after the parade down the Champs Elysée on July 14th.

Ms. Connelly has also traveled and worked in other parts of the world. In addition to teaching for two years in West Africa, she wrote the English Language curriculum and helped set up a school in Iran in 1973, prior to the fall of the Shah. She has traveled extensively in Europe. And between teaching responsibilities, she researched and wrote about far-flung parts of the world as a copywriter for a major wholesale luxury tour operator.

Ms. Connelly founded Nightengale Press in July of 2003. By the end of 2008Nightengale Press published more than seventy books with several more coming into print every month. Nightengale Press is now part of Nightengale Media LLC offering its authors a first class website, bookstore, marketing opportunities and more.

Ms. Connelly is also an internet radio talk show host on GLOBAL TALK RADIO, and you can listen to the extensive show archives at www.valerieconnelly.com where she interviews authors from all over the world and industry experts in printing, marketing, writing and publishing. Also, Ms. Connelly’s paintings can be seen at www.valerieconnelly.com and six are currently hung in the Upper Cumberland Arts Alliance Gallery in the T.B. Sutton General Store in Granville, TN. as well as gaining interest in galleries farther away. She is a member of the Art Prowl and the Upper Cumberland Arts Alliance. Her works are available as original paintings and as prints by emailing her at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it .