John Infortunio was born in 1972 in Brooklyn, New York. He remains a lifelong
Brooklynite having grown up in Windsor Terrace, then moving to Bay Ridge, and now
the burgeoning Gowanus neighborhood, replete with many art installations and studios.
His mother, Marie, was a Speech and English Language Learner Instructor for the
Department of Education for over 20 years. His father, John Sr., was a child of the Great
Depression, having been born in 1929. John Sr. worked in printing before shifting to
working on Wall Street. Many of John Jr.’s summers were spent going to work with his
father as well as helping his mother work on her classroom plans and lessons. John Jr.
was an identical twin, but due to health problems his twin passed at a very early age.
John always felt that he learned how to truly embrace love from his mother and to
always appreciate everything around you from his father. Although they passed in 2014
and 2019 respectively, he has always considered them to be his heroes. He was taught
the importance of values, determination, hard work, and kindness to everyone you
encounter.
John attended catholic schools for most of his academic life. The centralities of
attending catholic school and all that go with it can be seen in some interwoven themes
in his work. There is also quite a bit of his work that is inspired by the city he grew up in
and the relationship of the individual to their surroundings. In John’s case it was a
childhood replete with many friends and the interwoven fabric of the small neighborhood
where everyone knew one another. The small neighborhood was filled with sports, good
friends, and a strong sense of growing up in an Italian and Irish family.
John attended the now closed, Bishop Ford High School in Brooklyn and it was here
where he developed a true sense of appreciation for his teachers and the essence of
the classroom. His parents imbued a deep sense of appreciation for literature, music,
theater, and museums. Even though he played several sports in high school he also
was very active in the theater program and writing for the school newspaper and literary
magazine. Upon graduation he attended St. Francis College in Brooklyn Heights. John
became an active member of their theater program, The Troupers, and worked on five
different theatrical productions at the college. Most notably, The Heidi Chronicles, for
which he won the college’s Best Actor Award. Aside from acting he also became very
active in the English Department and attributes the professors he had at St. Francis to
his desire to eventually teach Literature. It was also at this point that John began his
professional career in Education. He spent the last two years of his tenure at St. Francis
College working for the NYC Department of Education while taking classes full time.
John worked for the seven-member DOE board while also serving three different NYC
School Chancellors and Mayoral Appointees. After three years at the DOE, he briefly

worked at Simon and Schuster for the Little Simon Children’s Book Division. It helped to
give him the behind the scenes view of what publishing was and working on books by
Eric Carle and Sandra Boynton only fueled his desire to want to read, write, and maybe
someday get his own work published.
The Summer of 1998 changed the direction of John’s professional life. He went back to
teach at his high school, Bishop Ford. He was able to work in the very community he
grew up in, and he taught English, History, and Philosophy for a total of sixteen years.
He also coached Men’s Basketball, while acting as the school’s Athletic Director for a
total of fifteen years. He would admit that one of his greatest accomplishments was
leading the Men’s team to their only City and State Championship in the school’s
history. The relationships he developed with his students, athletes, and families are
some of the most meaningful relationships to him and he keeps in touch with many
former students and athletes. During the final years of working at Bishop Ford, John
began working on his first novel, Destroyed by the Events of the Day. It would become a
passion project that would take fifteen years to write. Due in large part to his building a
family with his wife Miriam, obtaining his master’s degree in literature, and building a
robust teaching and coaching career. He would write large portions of the novel and
then put it down for an equal amount of time. “Life would get in the way of writing” he
would joke. The 15-year timeline is “honored” in the novel with the absence of an
officially labelled Chapter 15.
John departed Bishop Ford High School in 2013 and went to work as an Assistant
Principal and Academic Dean at Cristo Rey Brooklyn High School in East Flatbush
Brooklyn. After several years he undertook the role of Chief Financial Officer and Chief
Operations Officer. By the end of his tenure, Destroyed by the Events of the Day
became a reality as it was published by Palmetto Publishing. The novel was originally
intended to be a short story until he asked his mother for her honest critique. She
returned the manuscript to him and said two words, “Keep writing”. When he was asked
about publishing, he said, “It was both exciting and sad releasing the novel. It had been
mine for so long and to share it felt equivalent to giving up a child.” The novel met with a
great amount of positivity and John was able to do several book signings, speaking
engagements, and book clubs. The success of the first novel correlated to his interest in
wanting to tell another story which he began writing as he transitioned fully into
academic administrative roles at several private grammar schools on the Upper West
Side of NYC. Today Was Tomorrow became a force all on its own and took two years to
write as compared to his first novel. While the second novel is not connected to the first,
the themes and characteristics of his writing can be seen throughout. Today Was
Tomorrow was released in January of 2026 and has done well. It is available online at
Amazon, Barnes and Noble, and Walmart while also being available at several
Independent Bookstores. The story took him to Savannah, Georgia where he spent a

large amount of time writing it and speaking to residents. The decision to write portions
of it in a city he loves only added to the depth and authenticity of the work.
Currently John is in the early stages of his third novel while now working at the
Department of Education in year thirty-three of his career. He enjoys nothing more than
spending time with his son, Kevin, who has his own inspiring music career. Aside from
writing, John adopted the Trumpet and currently takes weekly lessons. Music, art, and
the film/theater are still vital parts of his existence, and he spends a good amount of
time traveling, writing and on the lookout for the best hidden food and coffee
everywhere he finds himself.
Some of John’s literary role models are found in classical authors such as Fitzgerald
and Hemingway but he holds the more modern and brilliant author, Dennis Lehane, in
incredibly high esteem.
When asked by a current college student looking to begin their own writing journey on
how he came about this path, John said:
“I just wanted to tell a story. I was just a guy with a story I thought people might like if
they found it and gave it a chance. I could not have imagined the journey it took me on
personally- emotionally and creatively.”