Nicole Fratrich

Nicole recalls that her very first story was a poorly illustrated book about lemonade from Kindergarten. As she grew, she continued to scribble stories in notebooks and illustrate the characters. Her drawings never improved, but her writing took flight! By 8th grade, she was well on her way to a prolific writing career. In 2013, she won the “My Favorite Teacher” essay contest sponsored by her local Barnes & Noble. Shortly after, she won several first and second prizes for her poetry in the Ligonier Valley Writers’ Student Poetry Contest. In her teenage years, she found more local fame by contributing several chapters to an annual Christmas story serial sponsored by the Johnstown Tribune-Democrat newspaper.

As high school came to an end, Nicole’s path as an incoming English major was clear. She attended Saint Vincent College (SVC), where she earned a certificate to teach secondary English and learned plenty of tips on writing poetry and creative nonfiction. During her time at SVC, she had the privilege to serve as the vice president and, later, president of the SVC Writers’ Club. She also served as a secretary and staff member on the school’s literary magazine committee, where she helped select pieces and contributed her own. In addition, she won two prizes in the college’s annual “MLK Poetry Contest.”

Meanwhile, her professional writing career continued throughout college. She was selected as the “2018 Emerging Mystery Writer” for her short story “The Key,” published in Mystery Weekly Magazine. In 2019, her short story “Branded Shadow” was published in the Twofer Compendium, an anthology featuring stories about twins. In fact, her story was nominated for the 2019 Washington Science Fiction Association’s Small Press Award. During her senior year of college, her educational writing career came full circle when her poem “Mood Swings: An Ars Poetica” was published in the Ligonier Valley Writers’ adult literary magazine, The Loyalhanna Review.

After graduating college in 2021, Nicole finally published her debut novel, The Music Makes the Man, a story of faith and hope with a Christian backdrop and ’80s groove. 2023 saw the release of Nicole’s second book, Rowdy’s Popcorn Adventure, a children’s book about a pup who sneaks on Santa’s sleigh to find his owner’s Christmas gift. In 2024 Nicole was voted 4th favorite author in Johnstown Magazine’s “Best Of” contest where viewers vote for favorite businesses and artists. In 2025, Nicole won the 1st place title for author! Also in 2025, Nicole published “The Lots Were Cast,” a short story loosely based on a scripture passage from Matthew’s gospel.