Blog Archives

Special Audio Book Promotion for March 2023!

2/28/2023

KAC's January program presenter, Paul Epp, is offering a special promotion from Theme Factory Audio.

Authors looking to create an audio book can get 10% off of their total project cost when they start their project in the month of March 2023!

Visit his website at ThemeFactoryAudio.com or email Paul Epp at paul@themefactorymusic.com with questions.

Invitation to Book Reading with Tim Bascom

2/28/2023

Tim Bascom is a member from Topeka.

Join Tim Bascom and K.L. Barron for a book reading at Flint Hills Books in Council Grove on Saturday, March 11 from 2-3pm!

Reading Outside the Cultural Box

Please join us for a reading featuring landscapes and cultures of East and West Africa: the rugged mountains and plateaus of Ethiopia and the edge of the Sahara in Niger. Tim Bascom spent half his childhood in Ethiopia and will share both memoir and fiction detailing Ethiopian culture. K.L. Barron lived among the nomads of Niger for a time and will read from her novel Thirst, which captures the dominating desert landscape and some of the nomads’ endangered traditional culture so reminiscent of traditional Native American cultures on the prairie.

Flagship Books Poetry Reading, Kansas City, Kansas

2/24/2023

KC poets Glenn North and Boyd Bauman will read at Flagship Books, 600 Ohio Ave., KCK, Thursday, March 2 at 7:00 p.m.

Boyd Bauman is a D2 Member of Kansas Authors Club.

“Glenn North, is the Director of Inclusive Learning and Creative Impact at the Kansas City Museum. He received an MFA in Creative Writing from UMKC and is the author of City of Song, a collection of poems inspired by Kansas City’s rich jazz tradition and the triumphs and tragedies of the African American experience. He is a Cave Canem fellow, a Callaloo creative writing fellow and a recipient of the Charlotte Street Generative Performing Artist Award. His ekphrastic and visual poems have appeared in art exhibitions at the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, the American Jazz Museum, and the Nerman Museum of Contemporary Art. Glenn is also an adjunct English professor at Rockhurst University and is currently filling his appointment as the Poet Laureate of the 18th & Vine Historic Jazz District.”

“Boyd Bauman grew up on a small ranch south of Bern, Kansas, his dad the storyteller and mom the family scribe. He has published two books of poetry: Cleave and Scheherazade Plays the Chestnut Tree Café. After stints in New York, Colorado, Alaska, Japan, and Vietnam, Boyd now is a librarian and writer in Kansas City, inspired by his three lovely muses.”

If you have news of writing events that would be of interest to all Kansas Authors Club members, or if you are a member (dues current) who would like to announce an achievement, please submit your news via this form.

Remembering Carole Katsantoness

2/21/2023

Carole Katsantoness 1941 - 2020

Member 2010-2020

Carole described herself as “writing for therapeutic release.” Her published books, Kat Tales, volumes 1 and 2, revolved around her childhood experiences and ties to the Kansas City area. She was published in The Best Times, Good Old Days, and more. The Kansas City Railway Historical Society published “Love at the Train Station,” a tribute to Carole’s parents. She also enjoyed the challenge of writing poetry, some of which was included in Tallgrass Voices published by Hill Song Press and by the Johnson County Library, in Overland Park, Kansas.

Carole was a member of District 2. In 2018, she paid her dues ahead to 2021 when she would be an Octogenarian. She was eager to maintain her connection with Kansas Authors as she started a new adventure, moving to Florida to be near her family. Though Carole was recognized by the club in 2021, we sadly learned that she did not quite make it to her 80th birthday. Carole passed away in April 2020.

February Program Recording Now Available

2/20/2023

Thank you to member Cheryl Unruh from Emporia for talking to us about writing memoirs. This informative and motivational talk is now available for members to watch via our Member Pages (log-in required).

2023 PROGRAMS 3rd Saturdays of each month
Program Start Time: 1:30pm, expected to take approximately one hour per program (30- to 40-minute presentations followed by 15-20 minutes Q&A and announcements.

Districts and city groups/small writing groups are invited to incorporate these programs into their meetings as they see fit. For groups meeting on the 3rd Saturday of the month, the programs can be viewed live via Zoom as they are taking place. Program recordings will be available to district and group leaders for a period of one month for meetings held at other times.

All members will receive the link for zoom attendance to make watching from home a possibility. Attendance in person is recommended and encouraged, whenever possible!

Most meetings will be hosted by a KAC district on location and available to the rest of the state by tuning in on Zoom. Where applicable, we will list the location of the presenter so that members who would like to attend the presentation in person will be able to do so.

Remembering Sam Majdi

2/18/2023

This is a belated post. We recently learned that Sam passed away in September 2020.

Sam Majdi was s a retired teacher of English with over 30 years experience.

He was a District 5 member from Wichita and had a B.A. in English literature.

Sam joined Kansas Authors Club in 2001. He was an advocate of human rights all his life.

Sam published the following books:

The Nobel Laureates in Literature (1901-2014), is a unique collection about the lives, achievements, and works of Nobel Prize winners in laureates in literature. Each recipient has a whole page of biography, with his or her works and honors. The comprehensive glossary gives information about a variety of people and sites and contains the short biographies of 95 notables.

The Wisdom of the Great is about the lives and works of 450 notables from 50 countries of the world. It contains over 2600 quotations in 3 millenniums (9th century B.C.-21st century).

Lovers Paradise Book of 222 Love Quotations was Sam's first book. It is a collection of short biographies of 111 notables of 17 countries. It contains the names index and a detailed glossary.

Introducing the Zine

2/18/2023

The next big thing is here! Kansas Authors Club is introducing a KAC Zine [zeen].

Zine is a shortening of magazine, fanzine, or webzine. A webzine is a magazine that is published strictly online. Our new publication is an online magazine that will be similar to a literary magazine.

KAC Zine is not a great name, so we decided to ask our membership to help us name the new publication.

Members, please submit your suggested name for the new Kansas Authors Club Zine. Members may submit one or multiple names. Winner will get an extension to their current membership good for 2024. (Entrants must have dues paid through 2023.) Submissions must be entered by the end of the day on March 31, 2023.

Submissions will be collected via Submittable. There is no charge to submit. Members only, please.

kansasauthorsclub.submittable.com/submit/253340/name-the-zine

Join us on Saturday, February 18, for the State Program Featuring Cheryl Unruh

2/13/2023

3rd Saturdays of each month
Program Start Time: 1:30pm, expected to take approximately one hour per program (30- to 40-minute presentations followed by 15-20 minutes Q&A and announcements. NEW: Zoom will open at 1:00pm for 1/2 hour of social time for those who want to visit.

Districts and city groups/small writing groups are invited to incorporate these programs into their meetings as they see fit. For groups meeting on the 3rd Saturday of the month, the programs can be viewed live via Zoom as they are taking place. Program recordings will be available to district and group leaders for a period of one month for meetings held at other times.

All members will receive the link for zoom attendance to make watching from home a possibility. Attendance in person is recommended and encouraged, whenever possible!

Most meetings will be hosted by a KAC district on location and available to the rest of the state by tuning in on Zoom. Where applicable, we will list the location of the presenter so that members who would like to attend the presentation in person will be able to do so.

February 18, 2023, 1:30 pm
Presenter: Cheryl Unruh

MEMOIR WRITING

This presentation will take place in Emporia at Emporia State University, Plumb Hall, Room 406. All members are welcome to attend this presentation in person.

The presentation will also be broadcast via Zoom.

Cheryl Unruh grew up in the tiny town of Pawnee Rock in central Kansas. There, she developed a fierce love of the open land and the Kansas sky. Much of her writing is about Kansas, about a sense of place.

For 11 years, Cheryl wrote a weekly column called Flyover People for The Emporia Gazette. She has twice received the Kansas Notable Book Award for her collections of Kansas essays, Flyover People: Life on the Ground in a Rectangular State (2010), and Waiting on the Sky: More Flyover People Essays (2014), both published by Quincy Press. Meadowlark Press published her collection of poetry, Walking on Water (2017), as well as her latest book, Gravedigger’s Daughter: Vignettes from a Small Kansas Town (2021), a memoir, which won the 2022 Nelson Poetry Book Award and the 2022 Martin Kansas History Book Award from the Kansas Authors Club.

Cheryl is the editor of 105 Meadowlark Reader, a Kansas journal of creative nonfiction. She lives in Emporia, Kansas, with her husband and three cats.

Buy Cheryl's Books

Visit Cheryl's Website

Follow Cheryl on Facebook

Members should received a Zoom link to this meeting from their district president. If you are missing the link, submit your details below. The link is also available on this page of the member portion of our website.

CAT WEBLING TO RELEASE NEW POETRY COLLECTION SUMMER 2023

2/10/2023

D6 Member Cat Webling announced today that she will be releasing a new poetry collection on June 5, 2023. The description of the collection is as follows:

Stars in their beauty only last a short time, and when their lives end, what's left is nothing more than a void. This collection explores the stars, supernovas, and voids left behind that shape us and change us as we live our lives.

Pre-order the Collection

February Open Mic Hosted by D3/D4 Moved to March

2/10/2023

Due to so many of our Valentines (i.e., KAC members) having other commitments on Tuesday, February 14, 2023, the next Districts 3 & 4 “Second Tuesday” Zoom Read-Around will be Tuesday, March 14, 2023, when Kansas Authors Club poet of the year, Duane Johnson, will be our featured reader. He plans to read poems from one of two chapbooks that garnered awards during last year's KAC poetry contests. (Duane received a second place and a third place in last year's chapbook contest.)
Districts 3 & 4 invite all KAC members (and guests) to join this and all their “Second Tuesday” Open Mic Zoom Read-Arounds.

How does Open Mic work?
7:00-7:10pm – we check in, sign up to read, greet each other and celebrate victories.
7:10-7:30pm – our Featured Reader presents.
7:30-7:55 – Readers share in order of sign-up. Plan on 3 minutes. If there is plenty of time, attendees will get a 2nd opportunity to read.

March 5th Invitation to a Book Launch

2/9/2023

Cathy Callen is a member from Lawrence.

Barbara Waterman-Peters is a member from Topeka.

Lawrence author Cathy Callen and Topeka artist/illustrator Barbara Waterman-Peters are hosting a book launch for their collaborative children’s book, A Packrat Named Orange on Sunday afternoon, March 5th, from 2:00-4:00. The event will be held in Topeka at the Unitarian Universalist Fellowship, 4775 W. 21st.

A Packrat Named Orange is a story about a packrat with an artist’s eye, who collects orange marbles for her under-the-porch-steps art museum. The book is based on the true story of the disappearance of orange marbles from the author’s front “marble garden.” The book is suitable for children ages 5-10. It includes a section of additional information with questions to ask readers for enhancing their experience of the book’s content. The book price is $20 plus 9.15 % tax.

It is not necessary to purchase a book to attend. Guests can enjoy round, orange snacks, play marble-related games such as Chinese Checkers, or win a prize by guessing the number of orange marbles in various containers. An exhibit of framed photographs will also be on display, including ones of the orange “Gates” from the 2005 Christo project in New York City taken by photographers Barry Molineux and Cathy Callen. More recent photographs of blue, green, red and orange marbles will add to the festivities.

D.L. Winter Publishes Fantasy Novel

2/9/2023

D.L. Winter is a member from Great Bend.

Under her pen name, she published her debut novel on September 2, 2022.

D.L. Winter was raised in Kansas and spent her adult life in Northern California.

Many years ago, on her first trip abroad, inspired by the nostalgic allure of legends, lore, and architectural wonders of the Mediterranean region, the concept for Alistur's story was born. However, crafting the fable would have to wait. Plotting adventures in the fictitious Kingdom of Fleurbania would be among the creative projects of her retirement. After a corporate career, D.L. now resides in her home state of Kansas once again, telling tales and enjoying life with family members.

"Through her imaginative storytelling, D.L. Winter has woven a riveting tale - brought to life through vividly memorable characters. Prepare to experience a world where magic meets mayhem! Filled with wit and wisdom, every fantasist will love Alistur's clever coming of age story!"
- Anne Bruce
Bestselling McGraw-Hill Author

Rachel Anne Jones Publishes Two New YA Novels

2/9/2023

Fill Your Cup, Valentine release date 1/31/23. Sweet holiday contemporary romance published by Melange Satin Romance.

Ramblin' Nash, a Day in the Life of a Flower Shop Boy release date 1/31/23, YA contemporary romance published by Fire & Ice.

Rachel Anne Jones is a member from Cottonwood Falls

Fill Your Cup, Valentine

Ramblin' Nash

New Territory Seeking Fiction, Poetry, and Creative Nonfiction

2/8/2023

The New Territory is looking for essays, creative writing, and photos. Please share!Independent, full-color print magazine of the Lower Midwest, edited by and for curious Midwesterners. The New Territory is known for our longform journalism, personal essay, Midwestern-forward literature, lush photography and strong, simple design. We are always open for pitches and submissions.

We have these particular needs for Issue 14 (out in May 2023):

Will you help spread the word?We publish voices of the Great Plains and Ozarks, from the Shawnee National Forest to the edge of the High Plains, the Ogallala aquifer to the White River watershed. It's going to take people in a lot of places to spread the word.

Frank Powers Shares Stories

2/7/2023

D7 President, Frank Powers, read two of his stories to Quinter 3rd graders in January. Frank's two great-granddaughters are students there. Frank reports that the event was fun, with lots of questions from students after.

Writers in the Community is a Kansas Authors Club program that highlights member educational and outreach efforts in our communities.

Learn More Here

Spotlight on Mark Scheel at Spillwords

2/7/2023

Spillwords Press has featured D2 member Mark Scheel as their "writer of the week." Congratulations, Mark!

Read the Interview Here!

D6 Member Ginger Zyskowski To Be Published in Evergreen Arboretum Project

2/3/2023

A verdant, green garden with a grey paved path overlooked by pillared arches. A metal cutout sign in front reads

Via Evergreen Arboretum and Gardens.

District 6’s Ginger Zyskowski is proud to announce that her poem, “The tree stands silent,” will appear in the “Out on a Limb” project at the Evergreen Arboretum in Everett, WA in April of 2023.
This project, co-sponsored by the Everett Public Library, takes two dozen poetic works from authors of all ages and inscribes them on clay tablets that will hang from the branches of the trees in the arboretum to “create and maintain an inspirational” setting, according to the management of the facility.
The exhibit will run for the month of April in 2023, which coincides with National Poetry Month. There will be a grand opening event on April 1, 2023, and additional events throughout the month that have yet to be announced.

Learn More

Special Audio Book Promotion for March 2023!

Invitation to Book Reading with Tim Bascom

Flagship Books Poetry Reading, Kansas City, Kansas

Remembering Carole Katsantoness

February Program Recording Now Available

Remembering Sam Majdi

Introducing the Zine

Join us on Saturday, February 18, for the State Program Featuring Cheryl Unruh

CAT WEBLING TO RELEASE NEW POETRY COLLECTION SUMMER 2023

February Open Mic Hosted by D3/D4 Moved to March

SUBMIT YOUR EMAIL HERE TO GET A ZOOM INVITATION TO THE NEXT 2ND TUESDAY OPEN MIC

March 5th Invitation to a Book Launch

D.L. Winter Publishes Fantasy Novel

Rachel Anne Jones Publishes Two New YA Novels

New Territory Seeking Fiction, Poetry, and Creative Nonfiction

Frank Powers Shares Stories

Spotlight on Mark Scheel at Spillwords

D6 Member Ginger Zyskowski To Be Published in Evergreen Arboretum Project

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