Jen Dary returns to Yorktown for book event

Jen Epting Dary is coming home to share her debut memoir, “I Believe in Everything,” at the Yorktown Heights café, flower shop and bookshop Libri.

The event marks a full-circle moment for Dary, a 1999 graduate of Yorktown High School with deep ties to the community. She said Yorktown has remained central to her life, with her parents still living in town. She has fond memories of working at summer camp at Muscoot Farm, attending St. Andrew’s Lutheran Church and participating in the student newspaper, The Voice, where she served as co-editor-in-chief.

“Yorktown continues to be the anchor,” she told Yorktown News.

That anchor became even more important when, at age 35, a diagnosis abruptly shifted the course of her life.

At the time, Dary was building her leadership coaching business and raising two young children when a routine MRI revealed a lemon-sized brain tumor. Doctors determined that surgery was needed to remove it immediately.

The experience became the foundation for her memoir, “I Believe in Everything,” a reflection on faith, resilience and finding meaning in the midst of uncertainty. Dary said writing the book helped her make sense of the experience and preserve her story for her children.

“The book is for my kids,” Dary, now 45, said. She was diagnosed when her sons were 8 months and 3 years old; they are now 10 and 13.

“Everything looks good now health wise, for the most part. But just in case, I have put myself in a book,” she said.

A year after her surgery, Dary was diagnosed with partial focal seizures, likely caused by scar tissue from the procedure. Unlike grand mal seizures, which can cause unconsciousness and full-body shaking, her seizures have few outward physical symptoms. She mainly experiences feelings of distraction and auditory symptoms, as the tumor was near the brain’s auditory processing region.

Returning to Yorktown to share the memoir feels like a celebration for Dary, who called doing an author event in her hometown a “no-brainer."

Her book reading and signing will be held Thursday, April 9, from 6 to 8 p.m. at Libri. Several former teachers and church members plan to attend, she said. Her mother, a former oncology nurse at Northern Westchester Hospital, and her father, a former Westlake High School teacher, will also be there, along with friends joining the celebration. RSVP is optional, but those planning to attend can respond on evite.com.

“There are so many people who are just glad I’m OK,” she said. “So many people have read the book and felt very moved by it.”