FLOR EDWARDS
AUTHOR
ABOUT FLOR
Flor Edwards is an author and lives in Los Angeles, California. By age twelve, Flor had lived in 24 different locations across three continents. Always on the move to escape the Antichrist and in preparation for the Apocalypse in 1993, her nomadic childhood prompted her to pen her memoir Apocalypse Child: A Life in End Times. In her debut memoir, Flor movingly describes her early life growing up with her family and 11 siblings as a member of The Children of God, a controversial religious movement that many describe as an apocalyptic cult.
Growing up, Flor was not allowed to read, write, or have a traditional education. Unable to communicate with anyone outside the group, she spent most of her days in compounds in Southeast Asia caring for younger children in the group, tending to chores, and memorizing scripture. After Father David, the cult’s leader, died in 1994, many of his 12,000 followers were abandoned in a world for which they were unprepared and struggled to adjust to life outside the group. Following Father David’s instructions to move back to the west right before his death, Flor and her family moved to California after a long, cold winter in Chicago where they had spent two years. The cult slowly disbanded. With no money, job, or education, Flor and her family started over in her father’s hometown of California.
Flor attended high school and it was in an English class in college at the age of 17 when she discovered she had a voice and decided to pursue a career as a writer, in part, so she could share her remarkable story with others. After over a decade of catching up on the traditional training she lacked, Flor completed Apocalypse Child and landed an agent in July 2014 who found her a publisher in January 2017. In her debut memoir, Flor attempts to capture her unique life experience and present it to the reader as best as she can in a clear, nonjudgmental way.
In 2011, Flor graduated from California State University-Fullerton with a BA in Print Journalism. Then she earned her MFA in Creative Writing from the University of California, Riverside in 2014. Apocalypse Child: A Life in End Times is set for release by Turner Publishing Company in March 2018. Head over to her Book page to find out more details about the book and its release.
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Author photo by Jasmin Kuhn
Traveling on a train through the countryside of Northern Thailand.
A dirt road in Udon Thani.
PHOTO GALLERY
CHAPTERS 1-4
Ch. 1 “Mom and Dad fell in love and were married at a simple church ceremony on a pleasant day in August.”
Ch. 2 “Mom still has the newspaper clipping with a photo of her looking tired and beautiful in her white hospital gown. She is holding one twin in each arm.”
Ch. 2 “Mom still has the photograph of Dad squatting on the sidewalk at the Paramount Swap Meet in Los Angeles with a guitar on his knee.”
Ch. 3 A family portrait shortly before moving from California to Thailand. I’m the serious one on the far right.
Ch. 3 Right before our departure to Thailand. “Mom spent the evenings sewing us girls matching outfits–turquoise dresses dotted with orange and yellow flowers and had straps that tied over our shoulders.”
Ch. 4 “In the village slums, Thai families huddled together in shacks, the old men hunched over, squatting in the same position for hours on end… Chickens ran freely and tackled each other over food.”
Ch. 4 “Mary Ann found a small play-house made of wood and painted a bright blue, the color of the sky on a clear day.”
Ch. 4 “When we got off the plane I heard the muffled sound of a language I couldn’t understand… “Fa-fat falang,” they’d say, pointing to Tamar and me–“foreigner twins.”