Category: 2021 Convention News

2021 Convention: Keynote Speaker, Tim Keane

9/19/2021

Keynote: "Pardon My Pentameter: A Descent Into Cowboy Poetry."

Tim Keane is a three-time champion in the Kansas Cowboy Poetry Contest. He also has won multiple events at the National Cowboy Poetry Rodeo, where he was overall reserve champion in 2016 and 2018. While this all sounds quite pretentious, he attempts to remain pragmatic, half-handy, and on occasion, entertaining. He describes himself as a “green broke”* cowboy poet, although he has “slipped past various judges a few times.”

Dr. Keane is Professor of Landscape Architecture and Distinguished Graduate Faculty, in the College of Architecture, Planning, and Design at Kansas State University, where he has served since 1984. His research involves the study of rivers, creeks, gullies and erosional or depositional processes.

He lives with his wife, Sharon, and a couple of bird dogs in northwest Wabaunsee County.

“Green broke”: has had a saddle on, been ridden a few times, has lots of vices, needs tons of work; is liable to spook, bolt, kick, rear, crow-hop, and refuse simple situations; basically unpredictable.

Buy Your Convention Ticket Today

If you are not already a member, take this opportunity to join with your convention registration!

2021 Convention: Panel on Small Kansas Independent Book Publishers

9/17/2021

There is still time to purchase your ticket for the 2021 Kansas Authors Club Convention! These four accomplished children's book authors are among the great speakers and workshops you will have access to at the virtual event, which will take place October 8-10.

Purchase your ticket through Submittable. Use the button below!

Kansas boasts an amazing array of talented and dedicated independent book publishers. Their owners are the folks who promote and publish the poetry and prose of talented wordsmiths who might never land or seek a contract with any of the big New York publishers. Meadowlark, Blue Cedar, One Voice and Spartan are all racking up some impressive title inventories and many of them are KAC members’ books. How and why do these small publishers deal with the little fish? What is their vision for their companies and the talented authors they recruit? Do they accept submissions? What do they charge?

The members of this panel will give us a brief history of their dedicated service to Kansas authors. They include:

Tracy Million Simmons of Meadowlark–
Owner/Publisher of Meadowlark Press, enjoys reading and writing about the people and places of her home state of Kansas, both real and imagined. She started Meadowlark Books in 2014 with the publication of Green Bike, a group novel, with Kevin Rabas and Michael D. Graves. Since that time, Meadowlark has published books of poetry, fiction, and non-fiction, including the 2016 Kansas Notable Book, To Leave a Shadow by Michael D. Graves, the 2020 Kansas Notable Book, Headwinds, by Edna Bell-Pearson, and the 2021 Kansas Notable Book, All Hallows' Shadows, by Michael D. Graves. Opulence, Kansas, by Julie Stielstra was the winner of the 2021 Midwest Book Award in YA fiction.

Gretchen Eick of Blue Cedar–
After fourteen years as a foreign and military policy lobbyist in Washington, Gretchen Eick became a professor of history. Awarded two Fulbright Scholar awards (to Latvia and Bosnia and Herzegovina) and a Fulbright Hays travel grant to South Africa, she is the author of seven books, two scholarly histories, four novels, and a book of short stories. Her books include
Dissent in Wichita: The Civil Rights Movement in the Midwest, 1954-1972 (U of IL Press, 2001/2007) and They Met at Wounded Knee: The Eastmans’ Story (University of Nevada Press)

Blue Cedar Press published its first books in 2015. Michael Poage, the founder, wanted to start a press that would focus on poetry written by new voices that he believed should be published and heard. His wife, Gretchen Eick, a published writer of nonfiction, had begun writing novels and wanted the press to publish fiction and nonfiction from new voices also, particularly the voices of today’s “other America”—people of color, immigrants, young people, people of nontraditional sexual orientation, as well as people from other countries.

Jason Ryberg of Spartan Press–
Jason Ryberg is the author of fourteen books of poetry, six screenplays, a few short stories, a box full of folders, notebooks and scraps of paper that could one day be (loosely) construed as a novel, and a couple of angry letters to various magazine and newspaper editors. He is currently an artist-in-residence at both The Prospero Institute of Disquieted P/o/e/t/i/c/s and the Osage Arts Community, and is an editor and designer at Spartan Books. His latest collection of poems is Are You Sure Kerouac Done It This Way!? (co-authored with John Dorsey, and Victor Clevenger, OAC Books, 2021). He lives part-time in Kansas City, MO with a rooster named Little Red and a Billy goat named Giuseppe and part-time somewhere in the Ozarks near the Gasconade River, where there are also many strange and wonderful woodland critters.

Will Leathem founded Spartan Press in the late 1990s as a vehicle to bring awareness to the stunning writing talent Kansas City has to offer. As part-owner of Prospero’s Books, he has been an endless champion for small presses and local and national poetry, hosting hundreds of events.

Jan Gilbert Hurst of Author’s Voice–
In her business--Author’s Voice Publishing—Jan’s mission is to help aspiring writers become published authors. She provides all the services needed to shepherd manuscripts through editing, design, production, and print, to become polished books that authors are proud to present to the world. She appreciates one adoring husband, two grown sons, and three delightful grandchildren. Her spare time overflows with volunteering as a leader in Outdoor Ministry. She sporadically works on her own historical novel, regularly attends MacNovelists, a writers’ group in McPherson, and enjoys meeting new people as a member of the Kansas Authors Club.

2021 Convention Page

2021 Convention Workshops

2021 Convention Workshop: Panel of Children’s Authors

9/16/2021

Updated 9/16/2021

There is still time to purchase your ticket for the 2021 Kansas Authors Club Convention! These four accomplished children's book authors are among the great speakers and workshops you will have access to at the virtual event, which will take place October 8-10.

Purchase your ticket through Submittable. Use the button below!

Publishing Children’s Books during Challenging Times

Kim Luke has published two continuing series of books: three fantasy books and three children’s books. She is serious about the craft of writing and taught herself to record audio for her books. Kim and her husband operate a Christmas tree farm, which is the setting for the children’s series she has published. She has some amazing methods for organizing and getting into the heads of the characters in her fantasy books by picturing them as celebrities or actors. And her imagination brings the fictional animal characters in her children’s books alive with personality. Kim has other books to write but had to work around the pandemic, the family’s tree and elderberry operation and a newly built event venue on the farm. It’s not easy to balance all the work, but Kim does it somehow.

Kimberly Stringer is the owner and operator of a unique school in Wichita centered on an outdoor learning space. She is also a talented artist and early childhood curriculum developer. Her latest children’s books, Bully, Bully Blue Jay and I Swallowed a Bubble, were published this year after she made some dramatic changes to her school in the wake of the pandemic. Her book Leonard the Leprechaun, contains an appendix with daily curriculum ideas centered around a story she has used for years. She has much to tell us about how children react and interact with the contents of a book, as well as the challenges of keeping her school alive during a pandemic.

Author Dustin Wilgers is a native of Wichita and has spent most of his life in the state. He received a B.S. in Biology from Southwestern College, M.S. in Biology from Kansas State University, and Ph.D. in Biology from the University of Nebraska. It was at Nebraska where he fell in love with spiders. After getting over a mild case of arachnophobia, he became fascinated by these creatures and has studied their behaviors for more than a decade now. he enjoys sharing his passions with others through teaching students of all levels. Since 2011, he has been a faculty member in the Natural Sciences Department at McPherson College. During his spare time, Dustin holds outreach events across the state. Writing books has enabled him to communicate science with a broader audience. He writes stories in ways that educate kids effectively, entertains them so they come back for more, but most importantly, excites the next generation to change the world.

Lila Bartel, a local Topeka watercolor artist and author, is a retired teacher of gifted students from Topeka High School. She teamed up with author Kimberly Stringer to produce Kim’s first book, Loving Lauren, about a physically challenged student who gets to go to a local fair in her wheelchair. The illustrations are beautiful. Lila also produced her own book, What Was God Thinking, that shows the depth of her lifetime work as a watercolor artist, as well as some of the questions all of us have about universal questions children might have about how the universe operates. This year, Lila has teamed up with KAC President Duane Johnson to illustrate a book of poetry. She has much to tell us about collaborating with authors to bring their words to life.

Important Update:

On Friday, August 28, members of the District 1 Kansas Authors Club, hosts for the 2021 State Writing Conference and Convention scheduled for October 9 and 10 at the Ramada Inn in Topeka announced a switch from an in-person event to a virtual one.

Thank you for your patience and understanding as we shift to Plan B for the convention. We promise that it will still contain the same motivational and informative workshops and speakers. It will perhaps be even more intimate in the webinar setting, as no one will have to strain to see or hear speakers. You’ll be able to look into their eyes and feel like you’re sitting in the same room with them. And, actually, you will be… in the same zoom room!

We look forward to seeing you in October on Zoom!

View convention details on this page: 2021 Convention
Registration deadline: October 7, 2021

Show KAC Support for Kansas Cowboy Poetry

9/6/2021

Cowboys and cowboy poetry are significant and unique parts of the cultural landscape of Kansas. Only a handful of other Western states can claim to be influenced and enriched by this art form and its underlying values. Perhaps no other state has such a dynamic and vital cowboy culture today.

For example, one of the most important events in the United States is the National Cowboy Poetry Rodeo, is held in Abilene each year, hosted by cowboy poet Geff Dawson of Alma, although Covid has interfered during the last two years. Some of the most distinguished cowboy poets in the United States call Kansas home. One of those is Tim Keane, who will be our keynote speaker at this year’s convention. Tim is a three-time champion in the Kansas Cowboy Poetry Contest and winner of multiple events at the National Cowboy Poetry Rodeo, where he was overall reserve champion in 2016 and 2018.

It has been a goal of mine during the past several years to develop a connection between Kansas Authors Club and the cowboy poetry community in Kansas. To be honest, I only have a vague notion of what that connection would be.

It could entail inviting cowboy poets to district and/or state meetings to give tutorials on writing cowboy poetry. It could involve contests. It would probably start with providing cowboy poets with a broader, more “mainstream” audience, beginning with KAC members as that audience. It could eventually broaden to include the visual arts, depicting the daily and family cowboy life.

But the greater purpose would be to develop relationships and to create a deeper understanding of and appreciation for the values and way of life of the modern cowboy.

As a way to demonstrate Kansas Authors Club’s desire to reach out to our state’s cowboy poets, I would like to invite members to join me in contributing to the District 1 fund to pay the costs of bringing cowboy poet Tim Keane to our annual writers convention in October. We will announce the results of that contribution during the convention as a statement of our support for and appreciation of Kansas cowboy poets and their contribution to Kansas arts and culture.

You can send check to District 1 treasurer Reaona Hemmingway at 115 SW Courtland Ave./ Topeka, KS 66606. Please write “cowboy poet” in the Memo line. Or if you prefer you can use the donation button below.
--

Duane R Johnson
president, Kansas Authors Club

Donation

$1.00 - $100.00

Buy now

Advertising for 2021 Convention Program Reopened - Deadline Now September 6

9/2/2021

Purchase Today at Submittable

EXTENDED! Many have contacted us about getting ads in the 2021 Virtual Program.

We are reopening the opportunity to advertise!
Deadline is now September 6, 2021

For authors with published books and/or services to promote to other authors.
Market your business and books through the Kansas Authors Club virtual convention program. It will be available online. Ads will be shared on our website and on social media. As well, they will be shared as a part of the convention slideshow between workshops. Advertisers will also receive preferred placement in our virtual bookroom.

Quarter Page = $25
(2.25w x 3.75h or
4.5w x 1.875h)

Half Page = $50
(4.5w x 3.75h)

Full Page = $100
(4.5w x 7.5h)

Advertising should be prepared in JPG format for print resolution (minimum 200 dpi) and submitted via this form no later than end of day September 6.

Emergency Memo about October 9 and 10 Kansas Authors Club Convention

8/28/2021

Date: Friday, August 27

To: Members and Supporters of the Kansas Authors Club

From: District 1 President Anne Spry, State President Duane Johnson, and members of host district and the convention planning committee

Re: Switch from in-person convention in October to virtual webinar convention

On Saturday, August 21, members of the District 1 Kansas Authors Club, hosts for the 2021 State Writing Conference and Convention scheduled for October 9 and 10 at the Ramada Inn in Topeka voted to switch from an in-person event to a virtual one.

Shawnee County issued a state of emergency proclamation on August 18, projected to be in place through October 28, due to rising Covid-19 cases and the lack of hospital beds, supplies, and equipment. A few days later, one local hospital began turning ambulances away because there were no available beds. The hospital was completely full–something that had not happened during the initial wave of the pandemic in 2020.

With this situation, District 1 members decided it would be safer for everyone if we once again held a virtual convention.

For all those who have already registered for the October 9 and 10 convention, there will be no need for further action. You will receive detailed instructions on how to access all live Zoom webinars during the convention, as well as the recordings of sessions on the state’s YouTube channel following the event.

Those who have paid for meals through the website’s Submittable registration site will be receiving details on the refund procedure for those expenses. Correspondence will be copied through your Submittable account, as well as email.

Those who had made hotel reservations should immediately contact the hotel at 785-234-5400 for cancellation and refunds.

All those who have signed up to sell books in the bookroom will be included in our virtual bookroom promotion. We are pulling out all the stops to be as innovative and as creative with book sales as possible. Stay tuned for more details as they become available.

For anyone who purchased advertising for the program–those ads will appear in the digital program, which will be distributed to all members before the event. In addition, the ads will be running in between webinars in a repeating loop, so they will be seen and noticed. We will also be sharing ads on social media before, during, and after the convention.

Thank you for your patience and understanding as we shift to Plan B for the convention. We promise that it will still contain the same motivational and informative workshops and speakers. It will perhaps be even more intimate in the webinar setting, as no one will have to strain to see or hear speakers. You’ll be able to look into their eyes and feel like you’re sitting in the same room with them. And, actually, you will be…in the same zoom room!

We look forward to seeing you in October on Zoom!

2021 Convention Workshop: The Pros and Cons of Writing About Combat Trauma

8/14/2021

Six in ten Americans have an immediate family member who has served in the military. Others have friends and neighbors that have served. A common denominator for those who have experienced traumatic events in the service, is a tendency to avoid talking about it or to become isolated.

This breakout session will talk about what led Vietnam veteran Steve Williams and his wife Rosie to write about the difficult experience of going to an unpopular war and coming home to protests and strong stereotyping that made the transition back into civilian life challenging. They will discuss why it took so long to record the story. As Steve says:

“I’ve had a story to tell from the moment I stepped back onto American soil in 1970 after serving in Vietnam for a year, but it took 50 years for that story to find the right words, and for those words to find their voice”
Nine Pairs of Boots in Vietnam: Steps to Healing Every Veteran Need to Know”

After a brief discussion with the group about post-traumatic stress disorder, the Williams’ will
present the pros and cons of writing Steve’s memoir. For them, the pros of writing through difficulty far outweighed the cons!

The Little Jeep Who Couldn’t Beep, Rosie’s most current book, is an effort to continue to reach out to those with difficult circumstances, this time to children between the ages of 3-7.

2021 Convention Workshop: Finding Healing and Transformation through Therapeutic Journaling

8/5/2021

Duane Herrmann was only two years old when his mother’s abuse caused him to consider killing himself. He was 2-1/2 when he began running away from the Eastern Kansas farm where he was born in 1951. He finally managed to escape from a traumatic childhood and from abuse that became even worse as he grew older, when he finished high school at age 17. Then he earned degrees in education and history, served as a teacher, raised four children and built a house while his family was living in it, began work as an “office drone” before ending his professional career as a supervisor for the federal government. All of his adult life Duane wrote. And wrote some more. He has now filled 158 journals with therapeutic writing that makes sense of his past. As he wrote, Herrmann discovered that just the process of writing about individual traumas peeled off more layers of memory. “Essentially, writing about the past can change the past. It puts the writer (former victim) in control of the event (trauma.) And when you are in control, you are empowered, and that power is significant.”

Duane has been a District 1 KAC member for years and is one of the most prolific writers in the state. His poems and prose have been featured in numerous national and international publications. He has even written and published two family memoirs.

As a convention workshop presenter, Duane will show participants how to peel away their own layers of memory through journal writing…writing that heals. Anyone who is seeking help with past traumas or trouble can find the same transformation and forgiveness through writing that Duane Herrmann has discovered. And that could and should ultimately lead to a memoir that will be a star to help guide others.

2021 Convention Workshop: Writing with Wolves at Your Door

8/1/2021

Writing when all is bliss in the world is the content of a writer's dream. A waiting keyboard, a favorite beverage nearby and soft music precedes literary genius, does it not? But, wait, what happens when writing reverie is disrupted by a snarling wolf at the door? This workshop will explore whether creativity can continue when a writer feels at risk to lose it all? And, if it can, how?

Annette Billings is an award-winning poet known for both her written work and oral presentations. In 2015, after ending a decades-long career in nursing, she published her first collection of poetry, A Net Full of Hope. It received an ARTSConnect ARTY Award in Literature. Her second and third books, Descants for a Daughter and Just Shy of Stars, followed. Billings' work, including prose and short stories, can also be found in a variety of anthologies as well as in print and online journals.

2021 Convention Workshop: The Importance of Voice in Trauma Transformation

7/29/2021

Ronda Miller will ask attendees to share experiences that they have overcome through their writings. She will ask for the sharing of poetry or a short narrative paragraph that exemplifies healing through writing and offer suggestions as to how they can transform their attitude by changing their writing. Miller will utilize well-known authors’ works as well as writings of her own.

Miller is a Life Coach who specializes in working with clients who have lost a loved one to homicide. Her personal experiences with trauma include the deaths of her mother and a niece to suicide, the death of her father in a homicide, personal gun memories, an early life involving numerous moves and living situations, a kidnapping, separation from siblings, placement in the foster care system, adoption, physical and drug abuse, mental illness, and a subsequent diagnosis of multiple sclerosis.

Gun Memories of a Stone-Eyed Cold Girl, MoonStain, WaterSigns, Winds of Time, and I Love the Child are books the author has written that show a lifetime progression of healing from early and ongoing trauma by utilization of Voice through poetry, narrative, and children’s stories.

Inviting Students Who Like to Write to our Annual Convention

7/28/2021

The Kansas Authors Club
invites
students who like to write
to our state convention
October 8-10

Special Ticket Price for Students $20

Since 1904 the Kansas Authors Club, a non-profit statewide organization, has welcomed poets, playwrights, novelists, journalists, academic, and technical writers to listen, discuss, and analyze our craft in an atmosphere of mutual support.

Our convention this year includes:

a weekend of workshops on writing-related topics such as publishing children's books during challenging times, workshops on writing as play and for healing, and the importance of voice in trauma transformation
an opportunity to get to know authors, editors, publishers, illustrators from around the state
Keynote Speaker Dr. Timothy Keane, three-time Kansas Cowboy Poetry Contest champion “Pardon My Pentameter. A Descent Into Cowboy Poetry.”
Opening Speaker Thomas Fox Averill, retired WU English teacher on “Trouble: the Backbone of Literature.”

For complete convention and program information and to register, click here.

2021 Convention Speaker: Lifting the Veil: Creativity and Healing the Wounds of Deep Loss

7/26/2021

After suffering profound loss, we often find our lives out of balance, our energies blocked, our futures uncertain. Even the most intuitive and healthy of us can experience this tectonic shift in our reality and find it difficult to restore a sense of wholeness. But through the channeling of our creativity--in whatever form that takes--we can affect a healing transformation, the restoration of balance, and a renewed sense of control. In this presentation, Silvestri will share insights gained from his 20-year journey as a poet, which provided the tools necessary to move through his own profound loss toward healing. Come explore the power of creative expression to tap into the deepest parts of our grief and pain and help us do the hard work of healing from traumatic loss.

Charles Anthony Silvestri is the author of three books and scores of published works written for choral composers. His words have been sung by thousands of choristers all over the world, by ensembles ranging from high schools to the Houston Grand Opera, from the King’s Singers to the San Francisco Gay Men’s Chorus, from Westminster Choir College to Westminster Abbey. He enjoys the creative challenges and rewards of the collaborative process and has had the privilege of working with many fine artists and composers. For inspiration he draws on his travels, his education as a medievalist, and his deep love of words and music. When he is not writing you may find him playing Irish traditional music at a pub or hunched over his desk painting medieval-style illuminations or sacred icons. A veteran educator with three decades of experience teaching kindergarten through college, he is currently a lecturer in ancient and medieval history at Washburn University and lives in Lawrence, Kansas. For more information or to contact him, visit him at www. charlesanthonysilvestri.com.

2021 Convention News: Advertising Opportunities

7/23/2021

Don't forget to place your ad in the convention program!

As writers, we want to see your work, so....

SHOW US

your Book
your Bookstore
your Publishing House
your Printing Business
your Editing Business
your Book Design Services

Visit the convention page for details on advertising in the 2021 convention program.

2021 Convention Workshop: A Jail and a Flood: Writing Transformative Fiction

7/22/2021

Marcia’s novel, WATCHING MEN DANCE, includes some harrowing scenes based on real-life occurrences. For example, she writes about being harassed and jailed with a Native American dancer and trying to survive the worst flood in Crete’s history. Cebulska will discuss how she adapted the incidents to the necessities of her novel, its plot and characters; how the situations provided her lead character with opportunities for transformation, for personal change and decision-making. She will emphasize the possibilities of using life experience as a basis for fiction, but also, the need for employing literary craft in the process, transforming life into art. Q&A.

Marcia Cebulska is a Topeka resident who writes plays, books & films. She recently published her first novel. http://www.marciacebulska.com/

2021 Convention Workshop: Poetry as Play, Poetry as Healing

7/20/2021

No poetry writing experience necessary for this workshop as we explore how writing with poetic elements can be for enjoyment as well as for coping with grief, loss, or trauma. The facilitator will lead with his own examples and stories about writing in a friendly, nonjudgmental, and open environment. Sharing poems is optional, but participants will leave with poems and ideas for further writing.

Dennis Etzel Jr. is Senior Lecturer of English at Washburn University, Topeka, and is known for his poetry. He does his best to practice antiracist, antisexist, anti-ableist, pro- LGBTQA+, pro-human acts and practices. https://washburn.edu/reference/cks/mapping/ etzel/

“It is not our differences that divide us. It is our inability to recognize, accept, and celebrate those differences.” —Audre Lorde

2021 Convention Workshop: Protecting Your Rights as a Writer: Writing, Publishing, and the Law

7/8/2021

What do writers need to know to steer clear of legal problems? Being an author requires you to understand you’ve created a business, and consequently, there are some down and dirty things you need to know about: defamation and other tort law claims, tax issues, contract provisions. If these matters are not fully understood, an author could spend sleepless nights full of regret. Led by a former social justice lawyer turned publisher, this presentation introduces authors to a multitude of relevant legal issues with the idea that it is much better to avoid a problem than to have to fight to fix it. Recipients will receive an ebook and sample forms.

An honors graduate of the University of Minnesota School of Law, Thea Rademacher began her career as a social justice lawyer. After her life-changing experience co-authoring A Drop in the Night, the Life & Secret Mission of a WWII Airman, she founded Flint Hills Publishing in 2015, which now includes over 50 publications. It is her passion to help emerging authors protect their rights and avoid problems as they bring their work into the world.

Forward>>