Category: Ann Fell

2024 Service Award: Sandra Lou Taylor

11/10/2024

At the Annual Meeting of the General Membership, held via Zoom on October 19, 2024, a Service Award was presented to Sandra Lou Taylor.

Awards are presented to members for achievement in writing (A), service to the club (S), and special award for particular accomplishment (SP).

Nomination #1:
I nominate Sandee Taylor, District 5, for a Service to KAC Award. The reasons I feel she is worthy of this award are:
Sandee has given 300% to KAC and D5 since 2019, when D5 hosted the convention in Wichita.

During the COVID challenge, she worked hard to keep connections between D5 members alive, assisting with computer access to zoom meetings.

For two years she has served as D5 president, initiating new activities like small D5 retreats, and contacting and encouraging people into active roles in the group with gentle encouragement.

She started and hosts at least two critique groups every month.

She has represented D5 and the state Kansas Authors Club by hosting tables at writing events to promote our organization to others. She manned a table at the 2023 Wichita Local Authors event at the Wichita Public Library and at the first ever Local Authors Day at the Winfield Public Library.

Sandee is always ready to encourage other writers, and to promote KAC, and I think she deserves a service award.

Nominated by Ann Fell

Nomination #2
Sandee Taylor has led D5 with energy, ideas, people skills, and innovation. She restored this district post-Covid with recruiting new leaders to the executive committee, bringing younger people into leadership, organizing district writing retreats, generating and facilitating writers critique groups, and keeping the former leaders involved in new capacities while shifting them to playing new roles. This was gracefully handled and resulted in freeing up the top leadership positions for “new blood” while not alienating the old leaders who had been in place far longer than the by-laws called for. She found new roles for the former leaders and remained positive and helpful during what could have been a conflictual change. Sandee is utterly committed to KAC’s growth and to servicing members. Without her as president we would have faded to a group of cronies only. With her D5 is vibrant and growing and several writers groups are nurturing the writing skills of members in exciting, collaborative ways.

Nominated by Gretchen Eick

"Since 2019, I have explored more and more leadership roles in D5 and KAC. Yesterday, I was honored for my service to KAC. I want to thank my writing friends for being a part of my life and encouraging my writing journey. The authors in KAC bless me each month and at the annual conventions/retreats. Together, I look forward to what we as KAC members will be able to accomplish in 2025." ~ Sandee Taylor 10/20/2024

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Book Launch Invitation: Firestorm Sonata, by Ann Christine Fell

9/4/2023

Help launch the book!

Come chat with Ann and take a look at Firestorm Sonata.

Saturday, September 23, 2023

Noon until 2:00 pm

College Hill Coffee, Winfield, Kansas 403 Soward Street

About Firestorm Sonata:
In peak condition, scout Sharenda Kamine is certain her field skills will insure her safety as she seeks supplies needed by the fortress she calls home. She must, however, prove her worth to the authoritarian commander of this isolated pocket of survivors. With reluctance, he grants her request to work alone and she heads across dust dunes of what once was southern Kansas, confident she will master any challenge she meets. But she is unprepared to find a window into the past, which simultaneously offers a future ripe with possibilities. She must decide whether she will honor her commitment to the Fort, or escape to freedom with Gran, the only family she knows.

Firestorm Sonata is the third in a series of dramatic stories featuring pianos and their families. It follows Sundrop Sonata (2016) and Sonata of Elsie Lenore (2020). Book 3, Firestorm Sonata, is the first book in the series which is set in a future with very different landscapes than we know today. A Climate Fiction tale, it explores the roles of pianos and musicians in a changing environment such as those predicted by today’s climatologists.

About Ann Christine Fell

Known to many as the local piano tuner, few people realize that Ann Christine Fell has been a naturalist all her life and taught science in the Winfield schools before she opened her piano business. As a musician, piano technician, photographer, mother, and grandmother, she has gleaned details from a lifetime of wide-ranging experiences that bring her fictional stories to life for Kansas friends and neighbors. She lives a few miles north of Winfield with her husband Mike, her grandson Donte, and her pianos.

Visit Ann's Website

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.

20 Memoirs by Kansas Authors

6/19/2023

A LIST OF BOOKS BY KANSAS AUTHORS CLUB MEMBERS, PAST AND PRESENT

Inspired by the June program by Denise Low, "Embellishing Prose and Poetry with Memoir," we pulled books by Kansas Authors Club nembers that illustrate the many and varied techniques of memoir writing.

If you have examples of member books to add (your own or a friend's) please put your addition in the comments section.

Members - View June Program

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Posts of a Mid-Century Kid, by Ann Vigola Anderson (Anamcara Press, 2021)

Anderson takes us on a journey to 1950s and 60s Kansas and treats the reader to hometown cooking in her tasty memoir Posts of a Mid-Century Kid. With humor and richly crafted details, she chronicles her mid-century childhood, offering a sampling of another era. This delightful and mischievous memoir advocates coloring vividly outside of the lines!

Headwinds: A Memoir by Edna Bell-Pearson (Meadowlark, 2019)

When World War II made her way to southwest Kansas, Edna Bell-Pearson’s life was forever changed. After meeting her husband Carl Ungerer—a pilot stationed in Liberal for the war— Edna’s moved to the opposite corner of the state, and she became one of the first private female pilots in Kansas. Her story takes place over the course of five years and tells of Ungerer Flying Service, a family-owned and operated business stationed in Marysville. As the business is born and takes on the challenges of life, Edna learns to appreciate the importance of the little things: hunting and fishing trips, a good housekeeper, and crisp, autumnal days without wind.

Running Out of Footprints, by Cathy Callen (2013)

Running Out of Footprints is the true story of three generations of the Neff family, who arrived on the scene in Kansas City in the late 1800s full of energy and potential, contributed as political, business, religious and medical leaders in the city, and then gradually disappeared into obituaries and census data. The author, a fourth generation Neff herself, came into possession of a metal box full of old letters, documents and photographs after her father's death. The questions she asked about these keepsakes and the answers she sought and found, led to writing this collection of biographies.

Lovers, Dreams & Thieves, by Marcia Cebulska (Flint Hills Publishing, 2023)

"With a novelist’s eye for detail and a poet’s gift for language, Cebulska has written a visceral knockout of a memoir packed with vibrant, unforgettable family members and unexpected happenings. Cebulska is a brilliant, big-hearted, and luminous storyteller who can capture a world in a short vignette. I was entirely captivated by these intimate and moving family portraits that have shaped the author's life and work.” -Harriet Lerner, author of The Dance of Anger and Why Won’t You Apologize?

High Plains Homestead, by R. Kent Crawford (Post Rock Press, 2023)

Scorching heat. Bitter cold. Relentless wind. No trees. Scarce water. That’s what settlers faced on the Kansas plains. Crawford grew up on a farm in Russell County that his great grandparents homesteaded in 1879. Tales of hardship, humor, and grit merge with details of the enormous changes in mechanization, economics, and political forces as the country transitioned from a mostly rural nation to a mostly urban one. Crawford's personal story coupled with meticulous research on the evolution of farming from the homestead years to the recent prairie fires describe the birth and transformation of his family farm. The narrative concludes with a thought-provoking discussion of the future of rural communities, the options for farmers, and High Plains farming.

In the Shadow of the Wind, by Ann Christine Fell (2014)

Following a series of tragic losses, thirty-year old Ann Fell struggles alone in a strange and frightening world. The young widow and bereaved mother retreats to the wilderness for comfort and healing. Planning to stay forty days, she sets up a solitary camp on the river bank of her family’s abandoned farm homestead. Marooned by rising flood waters after only a few days, she faces her own mortality.

And I Cried, Too, by Mike Hartnett (Meadowlark Press, 2020)

Mike and his wife, Barbara, moved to Lincoln, Illinois, in 1972. The town of 17,000 was charming, friendly, and safe. As employees of Lincoln College, a small, private junior college, they quickly grew to enjoy the subtle pleasures of small-town living. Then the campus was hit with a series of burglaries and a student disappeared. Finally, the murders began. This is Mike Hartnett’s personal story, memories that have taken him more than forty years to write. This is not a true crime exposé or a who-dunnit mystery. This is simply a story about one man on the periphery of a series of events that devastate a community for a time. It is a story about the guilt that lingers and the questions that remain.

31 Days (Nights), by Reginald Jarrell (Blue Cedar Press, 2022)

Reginald D. Jarrell’s book of essays is a thoughtful exploration of experiences that molded him as a Black man growing up and raising his family primarily in Kansas. Mr. Jarrell also lived in Mississippi, Iowa, California, and Washington, D.C. As a pastor, lawyer, communications professional, and university professor, Mr. Jarrell is first of all a truth teller.

The Art of Listening to the Heart, by James Kenyon (2016/ 2022)

In this memoir collection, retired veterinarian James Kenyon recalls his days in veterinary practice. From heartwarming to heartbreaking and everything in between, Kenyon writes of his care for beloved family pets, livestock, and their human caretakers. His memories illustrate a true devotion and love for veterinary work, as well as a passion for people and local history. Each chapter relates a specific memory of working with a quirky, loyal, and loveable animal, as well as the quirky, loyal, and lovable humans who owned them. The work offers not just insight into the work of a veterinarian, but to human nature and the manner in which people relate to and care for each other, as well as their animals.

Jigsaw Puzzling: Essays in a Time of Pestilence, by Denise Low (Meadowlark Press, 2022)

Writer of poetry, essays, memoir, and fiction—Denise Low did what so many of us did in the spring of 2020 when the COVID-19 pandemic sent us to spending long days at home. Denise’s jigsaw puzzling went well beyond pictures put together piece-by-piece, however. The 15 essays in this book document the pestilence that impacted our entire world. In them, Low explores the very culture of jigsaw puzzles while providing poetic lessons in art, geography, history, and more.

Diary of a German War Bride, by Trudy McFarland (2006)

"Trudy McFarland's telling of her mother's story in diary form, from her parents' 'love at first sight' meeting in post World War I Germany to 1988 when her mother's very full life ends, is a remarkable account of family relationships, historical events, and the characteristics which make a family strong and memorable. It is a fascinating read!"
--Evie Green, Coordinator of Write Stuff

My Flint Hills Childhood, by Gail Lee Martin (Blurb, 2009)

A childhood on the Kansas prairies in the 1930s springs vividly to life in the detailed memories of Gail Martin. Her simple accounts of long ago school days, celebrations and family life are a treasure. Travel back in time to life in the Flint Hills during the Great Depression and the time leading up to World War II. The memories include her father's work in the oil field, trips to town in the family's Model A, raising her pet badger, fishing on the Cottonwood River, and wearing dresses made from feed sack material. The book also explores her family's role in early Kansas history with details of covered wagons, homesteading, the Civil War and fledgling industries. These range from Tyro to Teterville to Eureka.

Courtesy Boy: A Memoir of Addiction, by Mike Matson (Flint Hills Publishing, 2021)

“Thirty years after my last ingestion of chemicals, I inventoried the traits and behaviors connected with my addiction, chronicled my early adult life, and wrote a book. My motivation is to help those suffering and their loved ones connect the dots between the destructive traits and behaviors—and the potential for addiction. In so doing, infuse some fresh air into the oppressive stigma that clings to addiction and mental health.

The Sky Begins At Your Feet, by Caryn Mirriam-Goldberg (Ice Cube Press, 2009)

I cannot figure out who I am as a body these days, writes Caryn Mirriam-Goldberg in this powerful, tender and humorous memoir about resiliency and love in the face of cancer. Mirriam-Goldberg braves breast cancer, the breast cancer genetic mutation and the loss of a parent by connecting with an eclectic Midwest community, the land and sky, and a body undergoing vast renovation.

Cop in the Classroom, by Sgt. Jim Potter (Sandhenge Publications, 2007)

Learn how kids and cops connect at school. You will enjoy 33 personal stories about one officer's professional career as a deputy sheriff and school resource officer. Cop in the Classroom gives an insider's look at the emotional experiences behind the badge--and life lessons for us all.

I've been fighting this war within myself, poetry by Antonio Sanchez-Day (Meadowlark Press, 2023)

Even though he was often vastly outnumbered by enemies on the outside and by demons on the inside, Antonio Sanchez-Day took on life. He fought against racism as a boy, fought against family troubles, and fought as a street soldier for his gang which was the “family” he’d always wanted. Then he had to fight simply to survive 13 years of incarceration. Inside the walls, Antonio found his main weapon, his pen. He wrote brilliantly, and with pen in hand, he turned his life around. The 123 pages of new, unpublished poetry in this book was put together by Antonio’s friend and mentor, Brian Daldorph, to “cement [his] legacy” (Antonio’s words).

The Big Quiet: One Woman's Horseback Ride Home, by Lisa D. Stewart (Meadowlark Press, 2020)

At 54, Lisa Stewart set out to regain the fearless girl she once had been, riding her horse, Chief, 500 miles home. Hot, homeless, and horseback, she snapped back into every original cell. On an extraordinary homegoing from Kansas City to Bates and Vernon Counties in Missouri, Lisa exhausted herself, faced her past, trusted strangers, and stayed in the middle of her frightened horse to document modern rural America, the people, animals, and land.

Gravedigger's Daughter, by Cheryl Unruh (Meadowlark Press, 2021)

Gravedigger's Daughter: Vignettes from a Small Kansas Town is more than a story of the author and her father. It is a reminder of the relationships we all have, more than skin deep, an examination of the complexities of the people we love and care for. It is a love letter to the individuals who always exist at our very core.

It's All Showbusiness, by Connie Rae (Page Publishing, 2019)

Lee Edward Atterbury was born September 1, 1924, into the Atterbury Circus family. He was the fifth of seven children born to Robert L. and Rose Atterbury. By the time Lee was old enough for school, his older siblings were accomplished aerialists and his mother was a slack wire walker. The Atterbury Circus was a road circus, traveling the highways of rural America from Iowa and the Dakotas to Texas throughout the years of the Great Depression. (written by Connie Rae White)

Memoirs of the Dysfunctional? by Joann Garrity Williams (Meadowlark, 2018)

Memoirs of the Dysfunctional depicts the unconventional, but necessary lifestyle, and results, of a family forced to live a somewhat nomadic existence because the father, who was blinded as a child, had no means of support other than working as a street musician. The author, Joann Garrity Williams, is the oldest child of Ethel and Francis Garrity. She served for four years as state president of the Kansas Authors Club. This is the first time many, including family members and close friends, will learn the truth about Joann’s unique childhood and upbringing.

Ann Fell Speaks at Winfield Library

10/19/2021

Friends of the Winfield Public Library invited D5 member Ann Fell to talk about her writing journey at their October 11 meeting. Ann shared her lifelong quest to learn how to be a writer in a packed on-site event. Her speech was titled, “Sonatas and Songbirds: Past, Present and Future.” In it Ann shared her past, present, and future hopes for writing.

From being an avid bookworm as a child, to finding a niche in literary circles, her heart has always been set on free-lance writing. As a young adult, articles appeared in KANSAS!, family magazines, and trade journals in the piano service industry while she worked diligently on her first novel. Tragic family events sidelined her dreams for several decades. She is now writing again.

Ann advises, “It’s never too late to follow where your heart leads, but be prepared for a detour or two.”

Ann has published four books in the last ten years.
In the Shadow of the Wind
Grandma Georgia's Recipe File
Sonata of Elsie Lenore
Sundrop Sonata

Grandma Georgia's Recipe File

3/7/2021

District 5 member Ann Fell launched her latest book this month. Undoubtedly a divergence from her previous books--hardly suspense fiction and there’s not a single piano in its pages--Grandma Georgia’s Recipe File was a fulfilling project in several ways.

Fell explained, “It was heartening to go back and spend time in memories with my grandmother, to read her letters again, and discover how my life fits into family and regional history. When contemplating the future, it’s helpful to remember where we came from, the pillars that support us.”

In the downtime of COVID restrictions, Fell discovered healing through memories. Designing and publishing a book of family recipes to surprise her grandmother’s granddaughters, (now all grandmothers themselves) was good medicine. Beyond that, she took advantage of this opportunity to engage in a learning experience on formatting books for publication, a skill she highly recommends to anyone who is bitten by the writing bug. “It’s not as hard as I always thought,” she said.

The idea of publishing family recipes is one she also recommends. “It’s astonishing how much positive attention this book release has received.” Everyone loves a family cookbook, even if it doesn’t originate in your family. In a very real way, our stories are told by the food we prepare, share, and eat.

Copies of Grandma Georgia’s Recipe File can be ordered from Ann Fell or from Amazon by clicking the button below.

Buy Grandma Georgia's Recipe File

2019 Service Awards: Sandee Taylor and Ann Fell

10/18/2019

Awards for achievement in writing, service to Kansas Authors Club, or a special accomplishment are presented to deserving Kansas Authors Club members each year at the convention. Nominations are made by members and are due by July 1. Members should review the yearbook for current awards submission guidelines.

Picture of Sandee Taylor recieving service award.

Sandee Taylor receives a 2019 Service Award from the Kansas Authors Club. Presenter, Dan Close, D5.

Picture of Ann Fell receiving Service Award

Ann Fell receives a 2019 Service Award from the Kansas Authors Club. Presenter, Dan Close, D5.

Sandee Taylor and Ann Fell

Together, these ladies worked long and hard and with great efficiency to prepare documents for our 2019 KAC State Convention. They worked together on artwork for the brochures and bookmarks. They also worked to plan the program, and both did a lot of "leg work" as hotel liaisons for room arrangements, etc. These two stepped up when our President, Diane Wahto, was incapacitated due to a hospitalization, and saved the rest of the planning committee much angst by helping us meet deadlines.

Nominated by Connie Rae White, D5