2023 Author Expo Author

Lara C. Patangan is an award-winning inspirational author and speaker who believes in the power of God's mercy to change lives. She writes for CatholicMom.com, Blessed Is She, Our Sunday Visitor, and St. Augustine Catholic Magazine. She is also an Op-Ed writer for the Florida Times-Union. Knowing God through his mercy has been one of the saving graces of her life, and she firmly believes that no act of kindness is ordinary or insignificant. Her debut book Simple Mercies was a winner of the 2022 Association of Catholic Publishers’ “Excellence in Publishing” Awards in the Inspirational category. Written with humor and insight, Simple Mercies is for anyone who has ever questioned their contribution to the world or struggled with finding God’s purpose for them.

Wanting to commemorate a milestone birthday, Patangan spent a year beginning on her 40th birthday doing acts of service in the community including volunteering at the soup kitchen, Florida State Prison, and the homeless shelter. What she did that year wasn’t as significant as it was soul-changing by realizing the profound impact of simple mercies. Every day in countless ways, the world communicates that we need to do more to measure up or even just keep up. Too many of us feel like we don’t make a difference or that our service is too mundane to matter. Simple Mercies encourages readers to realize that their acts of kindness make a difference in exponential ways and can surprisingly be a source of peace in their own lives.

Patangan grew up in Jacksonville, Florida and graduated from Bishop Kenny High School. She earned her B.S. degree in Public Relations from the University of Florida and spent her career working for various non-profits before becoming a mother of two boys and a freelance writer. Simple Mercies can be ordered on Amazon.com or wherever books are sold.