Category: Beth Gulley

June 2024 Program Now Available: Save the Date for July 20 Program

6/20/2024

The recording of the June program is now available for viewing by members at this link. (Member sign-on required.) This video will be available until replaced by the July program recording.

Join us for the July 2024 Program

Coming - July 20, 2024

The Case for Reading Local

Presenter: Tracy Million Simmons, Executive Director of Kansas Authors Club

Location: Zoom

Presentation Category: Inspiration

As the owner of a small regional press, Tracy has spent the last ten years working with authors to bring books of prose and poetry to the public. As 24-year Kansas Authors Club member, she has learned the stories of hundreds of local authors. Tracy will give us an overview of the realities of the world of book publishing today, with a focus on the state of regional and small presses and independent authors.

This program will focus on the power of readers to shape and influence and make an impact. Please join us, and feel free to invite your book-loving friends.

Join Us for our June Program, Beth Gulley Presenter

6/12/2024

June 15, 2024

Strategies for Knowing Your Audience

Presenter: Beth Gulley

Location: Broadcast via Zoom OR attend live at Johnson County Community College, CoLab, OCB100
12345 College Blvd. Overland Park, KS
Map

Member Access Zoom Link (sign-on)

Presentation Category:
Poetry, Nonfiction, Writing, Writing for Fun

Have you ever felt terror when you sit down to writing because you don’t know if your audience will judge you? Have you ever been afraid to step up to the mic to read your work in public? Have you ever wondered why your work isn’t getting accepted? These are all writing issues that could be resolved if you get to know your audience better. As Nikki Giovanni writes “Know who you want to be proud of you.” Then write and edit with those people in mind. Beth Gulley will offer suggestions and resources to help you to know who you are writing for and to as well as what to do with that information once you have gained it.

Beth Gulley lives in Spring Hill, Kansas and teaches writing at Johnson County Community College. She has published three chapbooks and four full-length collections of poetry. Her chapbook, Since Corona Ruined Our Trip to the Library, won the 2023 Chapbook Award from the Kansas Authors Club. Her full-length collection, Frog Joy, was runner up for the 2023 Amity Prize. Beth serves on the Riverfront Reading Committee and is a Writers Place board member where she edits the yearbook. More information about Beth can be found on her blog at

Visit Beth's Website

April 27 Invitation from Anamcara Press - Lawrence, Kansas

4/22/2024

With much appreciation to our authors, artists, and readers we invite you to celebrate the publication of
THE WRITE BRIDGE JOURNAL: 2024 edition. Enjoy refreshments, great speakers
& A GOOD TIME!

SATURDAY, APRIL 27, 20243:30 - 6:30 PM
WATKINS MUSEUM, LAWRENCE, KANSAS

Find Out More
SELECT ARTICLES, POEMS, SHORT STORIES, PLAYS AND ARTWORK FROM AUTHORS AND ARTISTS WITH POWERFUL VOICES

The Write Bridge presents two opposing ideas for creators and readers to delve into—seriously or in fun—in order stretch our imaginations, to move beyond boundaries, to bridge the gap.
RNAL TOPIC: SOLITUDE and SOLIDARITYPUBLICATION DATE: MARCH 17, 202
AVAILABLE NOW HERE!

CONTRIBUTING AUTHORS & ARTISTS:
*denotes KAC member

Barry Barnes
Vern Barnet
Shelley Watts Barnhill
Stephanie A. Barrows
*Lindsey Bartlett
*Julie Ann Baker Brin
Patricia Cleveland
*Ian Cook
Louis Copt
*Brian Daldorph
*Anamarie Davis-Wilkins
*Thaddeus Dugan
Heather Duris
*Gretchen Cassel Eick
Andrew Evans
*Robert Fraga
*Amber Fraley
*Beth Gulley
*George Gurley
*Duane L. Herrmann
*D.A. Irsik
*Kelly W. Johnston
Kathleen Kaska
Julia Mathias Manglitz
Cathy Martin
J.A. McGovern
*Ronda Miller
*Peg Nichols
*Kevin Rabas
John Ritchie
*Troy Robinson
BruDe Rolfe
*Mark Scheel
*Diane Silver
Garold Sneegas
*Lori Stratton
*Connlyn Synclair
*Chuck Warner
*Barbara Waterman Peters
*Brenda White

New Book by Member Beth Gulley

4/16/2024

Frog Joy is a collection of free verse and micro poems that point to the beauty in everyday moments. Beth Gulley is making her own world without a fence. Sometimes readers join her as she stains her fingers on low hanging mulberries. Other times the readers chase her along the trail and try to escape the rising flood waters. Underneath it all, a chorus of frog calls, like fingers running along the edge of a comb, echo in the damp night.

Beth Gulley is a Kansas City based poet. In addition to Frog Joy, (2024 Anamcara Press) she has published two chapbooks and three full-length collections of poetry: Since Corona Ruined Our Trip to the Library (Finishing Line Press), Little Fish: Tiny Meditations on Freedom (Flying Ketchup Press), Dragon Eggs (Spartan Press), The Sticky Note Alphabet (Alien Buddha Press), and Love of Ornamental Fish (Alien Buddha). She teaches English at Johnson County Community College. Beth serves on the Riverfront Reading Committee and the Writers Place board. She likes to volunteer, trail run, and drink coffee. More information can be found on her blog at https://timeeasesallthings.wordpress.com/.

Buy at Anamcara Press

“Few brief, gem-like poetic meditations shine like Beth’s. Part diary entry, part koan or prayer, these new poems sparkle with wit and wisdom. I treasure them. You will too.”—Kevin Rabas, Past Poet Laureate of Kansas (2017-2019), Improvise

Dive into “Frog Joy,” where Beth Gulley’s verses paint everyday magic. From mulberry-stained fingers to a heart-pounding escape from floods, hear the chorus of frog calls serenading life’s simple wonders.

AVAILABLE NOW!Jacketed Hardcover, Paperback, EBook

“Beth Gulley does it again with her latest collection, Frog Joy. Present is all of Gulley’s trademark wit, heart, and insight. She instantly grabs the reader in the first poem by comparing watching a televised fight to reading Basho. ... The book as a whole could be Beth Gulley’s most rounded and profound collection yet, and that is quite an accomplishment considering her impressive back catalog.”—James Benger, author of The Park

“Beth Gulley takes readers on a journey that, on its face, seems to be a trip through the mundane. In reality, readers are transported through observations of daily life into a world that could be theirs. With beautifully relatable simplicity, Frog Joy reminds us that we all travel this life together, just on parallel paths.”—Curtis Becker, author of My Second Act and Greetings from Topeka.

Members in Issue #7 of 105 Meadowlark Reader

3/18/2024

Congratulations to the following Kansas Authors Club members who will be published in the next issue of 105 Meadowlark Reader, shipping in May 2024.

“The Middle of Nowhere” by Alicia Troike

“Between the Dead and Me” by Amanda L. Little

“Friendship Forged over Fetal Pig” by Amy D. Kliewer

“Last Letter” by Ann Christine Fell

“A Second Meeting in Manhattan” by Barbara Waterman-Peters

“Can You Tell Me How to Get to Oklahoma City?” by Beth Gulley

“Waves of Intersection” by Boyd Bauman

“A Retirement Revelation” by Chuck Warner

“Getting Pregnant at My Age?” By Errin D. Moore

“A Love Story” by James Kenyon

“At the Intersection of Kansas and Anywhere in the World” by Cynthia Mines

“Families and Fates of Robert Parks” by Jim Potter

“The Town at the Crossroads” by Julie A. Sellers

“The Sparrow’s Whistle” by Julie Stielstra

“Intersecting with the Mob” by Linda Cook

“Double Cousins and the Carnival Keepsake” by Roger Heineken

“Not in My Plan” by Sandee Lee

“Crossroads” by Thomas Holmquist

“Lessons from the Intersection of Tallgrass and Tabor Valley” by Tim Keane

Submit to the Next Issue of 105 Meadowlark Reader

Buy a copy of 105 Meadowlark Reader

Congratulations to the following members who will be published in Issue #4 (the food issue) of 105 Meadowlark Reader: A Kansas Journal of Creative Nonfiction

10/25/2022

Lindsey Bartlett teaches composition and literature at Emporia State University. An Emporian by choice, she lives in the Flint Hills region of Kansas where she spends her days writing in various coffee shops, holed up at home with a good book, or driving the countryside for good photo opportunities. You can find her wherever there is a sunset. Bartlett has published one poetry collection, Vacant Childhood. Her writing and photography have appeared in The Write Bridge, Flint Hills Review, 105 Meadowlark Reader, and The Wyandotte Window.

Boyd Bauman grew up on a small ranch south of Bern, Kansas, with his dad the storyteller and his 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. Visit him at boydbauman.weebly.com.

Cathy Callen was born in Kansas City, Missouri. Since then, though, she has lived mostly in Kansas. Her father worked for Southwestern Bell, and every time he was promoted, the family got to see more of Kansas. They lived in Sunflower, Manhattan, Hays, Salina, Topeka, and Wichita. Her career as a teacher and special education coordinator with Topeka Public Schools kept her in the state for more than thirty years. After retiring, she moved to Lawrence with her soon-to-be husband, Barry, and it is her current favorite Kansas location. She likes the Lawrence Busker Festival, the Art Tougeau parade, the library, The Raven Bookstore, the political environment, the summer pooch swim, Liberty Hall, Wheatfield’s Bakery, and walking on the KU campus and in her friendly neighborhood.

Annabelle Corrick was born and raised in Topeka, lived in five other Kansas towns and three other states, returned to Topeka the last decade, and currently resides in Columbia, Missouri. She earned advanced degrees from Emporia State University and Kansas State University and was the Kansas Authors Club 2015 Prose Writer of the Year. Her writings have appeared in The Poet’s Art, 2016 Kansas Voices Writing Contest, Well Versed, and other publications. Her most awesome Kansas experience has been standing against the wind and viewing the vast vista of western Kansas where her paternal grandparents pioneered.

Michael Durall grew up in the thriving metropolis of Pawnee Rock, Kansas, population 250. He was the champion sentence diagrammer in his sixth grade English class, which eventually led to his writing nine books about his work as a consultant to nonprofit organizations. He lives in Salina and writes a weekly column for the Salina 311 newspaper and has recently published a book of essays from local residents for the Salina Arts and Humanities Commission on the theme of The Day That Changed My Life Forever.

Mark O. J. Esping first lived in a Swede-Town in Pottawatomie County. He graduated from Bethany, a Swedish-Lutheran College. He reprinted NEQUA, a feminist sci-fi novel first published in Topeka, Kansas, in 1900. Mark directed www.folklifeinstitute.com, a nonprofit, and two N.E.A. Folk Art grants. His work has appeared in The Clarion Folk Art, Country Living, Scandinavian Review, Victorian Homes, and Hemslöjden. He is an Eagle Scout and a veteran. He and his wife share a home in Merriam, Kansas, with three near-feral cats. Twin deer occasionally graze in their backyard. Mark tells stories, true stories, with a humorous nature and a hint of morality. In collection they are packets of maps that are Near Invisible, Like Footprints in Ever Shifting Sand.

Beth Gulley first moved to Newton, Kansas, when she was two. Her family moved to Latin America, but Beth returned to the Olathe area for college where she met her husband. They moved to Paola, Kansas, to raise their family. Beth has advanced degrees from UMKC and the University of Kansas. She teaches writing at Johnson County Community College. Her recent writing is included in Kansas City Voices, Dragonfly Magazine, Kansas Speaks Out, and The Write Bridge. She has published three full-length poetry collections: The Sticky Note Alphabet, Dragon Eggs, and The Love of Ornamental Fish. She currently resides in Spring Hill, Kansas, which gives her easy access to Hillsdale Lake where she enjoys trail running and fishing.

Carolyn Hall is an award-winning author who grew up on a farm outside Olmitz, Kansas. Her childhood on the farm provided wonderful memories which she shared in her book, Prairie Meals and Memories: Living the Golden Rural. It was named to the Kansas Sesquicentennial’s Best 150 Books list. Her stories and poems have appeared in Chicken Soup for the Soul, The Christian Science Monitor, The Kansas City Star, and various anthologies. She lives in Lenexa, Kansas.

Jerilynn Jones Henrikson, a retired English teacher, has always loved teaching, telling, reading, watching, and writing stories. To date, Jerilynn has published nine children’s picture books, an adult memoir, and a young adult historical fiction novel. Her work reflects her sense of humor, love of words, and talent for detail. Jerilynn finds her inspiration in the rolling hills of east central Kansas. No matter the subject of a current work, she is motivated by the people, history, and changing seasons of this place. As a student of history and language, she enjoys traveling to beautiful places. But ultimately, she finds the greatest joy in travel is coming home. www.prairiepatchwork.com

Thomas N. Holmquist is a fifth-generation farmer and rancher near Smolan, Kansas. He also is a retired teacher in the Smoky Valley School District having taught music, American History, and agriculture for forty-four years. He has also published three books, including Pioneer Cross, Swedish Settlements Along the Smoky Hill Bluffs, Bluestem, a novel, and Salemsborg, A History of the Salemsborg Church and Community, Volume 1, 1869-1939, for which he won the Award of Commendation for Lutheran Church History from the Augustana Historical Association. Tom has several writing projects in the works in between feeding cows, putting up hay, and planting and harvesting crops.

Deb Irsik was the owner of Makin’ Waves Salon in Emporia, Kansas, and retired from the beauty industry after twenty-five years. She is a Kansas girl and shares her life with her husband Mike, and children John and Emily. Deb is a member of the Kansas Authors Club and Emporia Writers Group. Deb’s favorite thing about Kansas is the people. “Most people in Kansas have a strong work ethic and family values. The beautiful Flint Hills and Kansas sunsets are second to none. What’s not to like?” Poetry and lyrics have always been part of her life, but she felt a call to write middle-grade Christian fiction after her daughter found it difficult to be “that God girl” in eighth grade. “It is my hope that my books will encourage young people to hold onto values and faith as they navigate their teen years.” Deb’s “Heroes by Design” series was completed in 2020, and she hopes to dedicate her time to creating a book of poetry and continuing to write essays, prose, and fiction. Deb can be found online: facebook.com/D.A.Irsikauthor, Twitter:@Writerwannabe1, www.dairsik.com, amazon.com/author/dairsik, https://instagram.com/debirsik/

Miriam Iwashige lives on a three-acre property outside of Partridge, Kansas, near where her preacher-farmer dad and mom raised twelve children. She aims to live large from this small place, just as the land and sky around the property suggest. Reading, earning a bachelor’s degree, teaching, conversing, and traveling have often fostered large living, as did homeschooling her children and investing deeply in many aspects of homemaking, gardening, animal husbandry, nature study, and church and community life. She and her Japanese-immigrant husband parented three sons who all live nearby right now. Those who have joined their sons’ families through marriage or birth (nine grandchildren!) spent childhood years in such diverse places as Bangladesh, Kenya, El Salvador, and Washington state.

Sally Jadlow grew up in Ft. Scott, Kansas. After marriage, she and her husband moved to Overland Park. Teaching creative writing for the Kansas City Writers Group is one of her joys. She writes historical fiction, inspirational stories, devotionals, and poetry. Sally has published thirteen books. Her work has appeared in many compilations including Chicken Soup for the Soul and many other publications. Her books are available on Amazon.com. Sally also loves to bake, cinnamon rolls, her specialty. Family Favorites from the Heartland contain her favorite recipes. The eastern Kansas countryside with its gently rolling hills claims Sally’s most favorite area of the state. She believes what Dorothy says, “There’s no place like home,” is true—if you live in Kansas.

Amy Deckert Kliewer has lived her entire life in Kansas. She grew up in Pawnee Rock, Kansas, and went to high school in Larned. After attending Bethel College and graduating from the University of Kansas, Amy lived and worked in the Kansas City metro area as a civil engineer. Recently retired, Amy and her husband moved to North Newton to enjoy the smalltown feeling and be close to family. She is enjoying exploring her Next Chapter.

Nancy Julien Kopp grew up in the Chicago area and moved to Kansas, her adopted state and home, in 1975. She started writing in her mid-fifties, realizing a long-held dream. She has been published in many anthologies, including twenty-three times in Chicken Soup for the Soul books, in addition to publication on websites, in magazines, and in newspapers. She writes creative nonfiction, including personal essays and short memoir pieces, and also poetry, short fiction for children, and articles on the craft of writing. Nancy and her retired husband live in Manhattan, Kansas, and are strong supporters of all things K-State. She is mother to two and grandmother to four. She is a voracious reader and enjoys playing bridge. www.writergrannysworld.blogspot.com

Marilyn Hope Lake, PhD, writes short fiction, poetry, plays and children’s picture books. She has many awards for writing, including through the Kansas Authors Club contests. Dr. Lake’s first-place story, “Harry’s Stone,” was published in Words Out of the Flatlands; Kansas Writers Association. Lake has been published in Rock Springs Review, STIR, Well-Versed: Literary Works, the Gasconade Review, and the Mizzou Alumni Magazine. Marilyn lived in Hutchinson, Kansas, from 2002-2017, is a Kansas Authors Club ten-year member, and was a facilitator of the 2014 Annual Conference. Her Kansas favorites are the Wichita Art Museum, State Fair, Underground Salt Mine, Delos V. Smith Senior Center, Hutchinson, and others. Although she misses her Kansas friends, she is happy to live with her dog, Hugo, and near family in Columbia, Missouri.

A Kansan through and through, Sandee Lee celebrates being published in every edition of 105 Meadowlark Reader. Her favorite writing topic for nonfiction and fiction is Kansas. The turmoil of the mid-1800s in the Lawrence area is the topic of her current fiction project. Relaxing on her porch with her two border collies lying by her feet and watching cattle graze on the hillside is where you’ll find Sandee most evenings except in the winter months. From that porch she can observe the homestead where her family has lived since 1925.

Errin D. Moore, an emigrant from Montana, has called Kansas home for eight years. She lives in the Flint Hills near Leon with her husband, infant son, and eighteen-year-old stepson—along with their menagerie of chickens, turkeys, geese, pigs, and an overabundance of cats. She fell in love with the unique beauty Kansas offers, most especially the magnificent sunsets. Errin and her husband own Able and Ready Appliance Repair. She runs the office from home while raising Oliver. She was a teacher and administrator for nineteen years, and she owned and operated a bookstore in El Dorado. Her humorous, touching, and unique sense of voice is especially effective when she writes about the joys and challenges of being a first-time mother at the age of forty-four.

Audrey Phillips is a Kansan through and through. She grew up in Overland Park, attended the University of Kansas, and is now living in Kansas City, Missouri. Audrey loves to represent her favorite parts of being a Kansan by cheering on her Jayhawks or Chiefs or Sporting Kansas City. Audrey loves Kansas because of the way everyone feels like family here. She is a proud midwesterner and strives to promote the kindness that midwesterners possess. She has always loved to write, even from a young age. She was and continues to be inspired by her famous Aunt Mary-Lane Kamberg who has published many books in her time as an author. Even though now she lives right across the state line, Kansas will always be her home.

Cynthia Schaker (Cindy), a retired Kansas educator of thirty-seven years, grew up on a farm outside of Hamilton, Kansas, in Greenwood County. Cindy taught grades six through eight at Towanda Grade School and served as school counselor at Circle Middle School in Butler County. One of her favorite places in Kansas is the Flint Hills because they remind her of going home. She currently resides in El Dorado, Kansas, with her rescue dog Moxie. Cindy does volunteer work in the Gift Shop at Susan B. Allen Memorial Hospital in El Dorado. She serves as President of the SBAMH Auxiliary. She loves humorous writing and penning stories from her childhood. She recently had her humorous murder mystery play performed at Cardinal Creek Farm in Butler County.

Julie A. Sellers was raised in the Flint Hills near the small town of Florence, Kansas. She currently resides in Atchison, Kansas, where she is an Associate Professor (Spanish) and Chair of the Department of World Languages and Cultures at Benedictine College. Julie’s creative work has appeared in publications such as Cagibi, Wanderlust, Unlost, The Write Launch, and Kansas Time + Place. Julie was the 2020 Kansas Authors Club Prose Writer of the Year, and the Overall Poetry Winner (2022) and Overall Prose Winner (2017, 2019) of the Kansas Voices Contest. She is the author of Kindred Verse: Poems Inspired by Anne of Green Gables (Blue Cedar Press, 2021) and the novel, Ann of Sunflower Lane (Meadowlark, 2022).

Perry Shepard is a Vietnam veteran who has written two novels: The Hero versus Me and Monkey Jo, and Hard Love. He co-wrote two plays in the anthology titled Annabelle. He won a second-place award in Eber and Wein’s Best American Poetry of 2013, and an honorable mention in Writer’s Digest 84th annual Poetry Competition. Perry is a member and former District 2 president of Kansas Authors Club. He makes his home in Eudora, Kansas.

A month after the sudden death of her second husband, Anne L. Spry had a mystical dream that detailed a new business based on capturing personal history for writing memoir. She had already begun publishing books through Createspace for herself and others following a twenty-seven-year career as a newspaper publisher and editor. Since the fortuitous dream, Spry and partner Cheri Battrick have developed a DIY Memoir Kit and Spry has expanded her book publishing to some two dozen titles under the Personal Chapters LLC banner. They include children’s books, memoir and fiction, and a few titles authored by Spry. Anne serves as President of District 1 of Kansas Authors Club and produces a newsletter for that group and another for a local Sweet Adelines group. She is married to a retired military pilot, and they live on a family acreage south of Topeka where Anne spent her first five years.

Chuck Warner is a lifelong Kansan. After growing up in Wichita, he has lived in Lawrence since first attending the University of Kansas in the 1960s. With business and law degrees, he embarked on a nearly forty-year career in business and banking. After he retired in 2008, he began writing about his maternal grandfather and in 2019 Birds, Bones, and Beetles: The Improbable Career and Remarkable Legacy of University of Kansas Naturalist Charles D. Bunker was published by the University Press of Kansas. In 2020 his book was recognized as a Kansas Notable book, and also won awards for the best Kansas history and best book layout from the Kansas Authors Club, and was a finalist in the High Plains Book Awards.

Barbara Waterman-Peters is an artist by training and a writer by chance. Both pursuits have come together over the years in her articles about art and artists for such publications as Topeka, Kansas, and New Art Examiner magazines, in her book cover paintings for authors such as Marcia Cebulska’s Watching Men Dance, and in her collaborations with poets, most recently, Two Ponders: A Collaboration with Dennis Etzel, Jr. Co-owner of Pen & Brush Press with author Glendyn Buckley, Waterman-Peters illustrated their first two children’s books, The Fish’s Wishes and Bird which won awards from Kansas Authors Club. She co-wrote and illustrated their third book, TING & the Caterbury Tales, which came out this spring. Recently her fiction piece, “The Critique,” appeared in The Pen Woman and her creative non-fiction and poetry have been included in several anthologies. She lives in Topeka and her studio is in the NOTO Arts & Entertainment District. She spent five years living in rural Jackson County and Holton.

Cat Webling is an actress and author based in Kansas. She loves everything mad and macabre, philosophical and silly, so that’s exactly what she writes! Scifi, fantasy, and poetry are her mainstays when she’s not writing about literature, theater, gaming, or fan culture. She currently has a novel, a couple of short story collections, and several poetry collections under her belt. She works as an editor for SUPERJUMP Magazine, is an active member of the Kansas Authors Club, and daylights as a copywriter for hire. Cat writes from her home in Russell, which she shares with her loving partner, adorable son, and several very cute cats. You can find her work at www.catwebling.com.

Theme for Issue #5 (Nov 1 - Dec 31, 2022 Submission Period):
Animal Stories

Remember that our themes are simply prompts to spur your essays. There are so many directions you can go. Surprise us. Engage us. Help us remember what it was like to tame a nest of wild kittens. How did mom react when those kits turned out to be skunks? Ever snuggle with a turtle? Communicate with an owl? Swim with your pet snake?
Personal essays are welcome, but we are also looking for interviews, journalistic pieces, and more. Do you know a veterinarian who deserves the spotlight? Is there an animal shelter leading the way whose operations deserve to be highlighted? There are so many true stories that need to be told.
Remember, It must be a true story that happened, all or partially, in Kansas. Can your story leave the boundaries of Kansas? Sure! But you must show us that Kansas connection!

Learn More

Poetry Book News from D2 Member Beth Gulley

6/25/2022

My lastest poetry chapbook, Since Corona Ruined Our Trip to the Library, is available for pre-order through Finishing Line Press.
https://www.finishinglinepress.com/product/since-corona-ruined-our-trip-to-the-library-by-beth-gulley/

Here is what District 2 Member Kevin Rabas had to say about it:

Beth Gulley is a writer of profound insight, someone who can see both the catastrophe and the miracle in almost anything. These poems are proof. In them, there is a cat that rides thirty miles on the motor of a car being towed. There is an asteroid that almost hits earth on a beloved’s birthday: “Your birthday will still be sweet / without the explosion.” This is the world of Aimee Bender or Judy Budnitz, but it is also our world, as Kansans—or your story, wherever you live.
–Kevin Rabas, Poet Laureate of Kansas, 2017-2019, More Than Words

The Write Bridge, by Anamcara Press

5/8/2022

The newest issue of The Write Bridge, by Anamcara Press, includes the work of many Kansas Authors Club Members: Amber Fraley (D2), Peg Nichols (D2), David Hann (D2), Kathleen Kaska (D2), Boyd Bauman (D2), John L. Swainston (D2), Lindsey Bartlett (D2), Beth Gulley (D2), Debra Irsik (D2), Fred Applehanz (D1), Brenda L. White (D2), Brian Daldorph (D2), Iris Craver (D2), Ronda Miller (D2), Perry Shepard (D2), Micki Carroll (D2)

View the issue here

Anamcara Press will begin accepting submissions for the Next edition of The Write Bridge June 1, 2022. Topics: Fortitude & Toploftiness

The Bicycle Issue of 105 Meadowlark Reader: A Kansas Journal of Creative Nonfiction

4/25/2022

105 Issue #3 Cover Photo by Scott Branine, flickr.com/photos/scott_branine/

Congratulations to Kansas Authors Club members with essays in the “True Bicycle Stories” issue (#3) of 105 Meadowlark Reader.

(D2) Bicycles: A Love Story by Boyd Bauman

(D5) Where I Like by Julie Ann Baker Brin

(D1) BlueBoy by Annabelle Corrick

(D2) A Green Bike by Monica Graves

(D2) The Bucket List by Beth Gulley

(D2) Going to C’ago by Carolyn Hall

(D2) Whoa by Jerilynn Henrikson,

(D2) Blue English Racer by Deb Irsik

(D2) My First, Last, and Only Bike by Sally Jadlow

(D5) What I Learned from Riding the Bicycle by Amy Deckert Kliewer

(D5) Bicycles in Kansas Yards by Sandee Lee

(D2) Dust on My Shoulders by Kerry Moyer

(D2) A Rolling Start by Peg Nichols

(D6) I Didn’t Have a Bicycle but I had a Paper Route by Jim Potter

(D5) Country Biking in Kansas by Cynthia C. Schaker

(D1) They Traded My Horse for a Bicycle by Anne Spry

(D1) The Race by Barbara Waterman-Peters

(D2) Bicycles: Bane or Boon by Brenda White

(D2) On Shaky Wheels by Mary Kate Wilcox

(D7) Bike Ride by Sheree Wingo

The Bicycle Issue will be delivered to Partner Bookstores and Subscribers beginning in May.

The submission period for the Fall 2022 issue is May 1-June 30. The theme is (True) Food Stories.
Learn more at 105MeadowlarkReader.com

About 105 Meadowlark Reader

Our Mission
To create a forum for sharing the work of Kansas writers.
To build and uplift the community of Kansas writers.
To share and promote resources for Kansas writers.

105 Meadowlark Reader will strive to represent the diversity of writers in Kansas.

105 Meadowlark Reader is a journal of creative nonfiction by and for writers who live or have lived in Kansas.

Each issue will contain a directory of area resources for writers. Publishers, printers, editors, book designers, cover/interior artists, bookstores, writing clubs, and anyone who provides services to writers is invited to submit details for our directory at no charge.

D2 Member, Beth Gulley, Publishes Poetry Book

1/24/2022

Beth Gulley’s latest collection of poetry The Love of Ornamental Fish is available from Alien Buddha Press. The collection highlights the sabbatical year she spent teaching in Xi’an, China.

Alien Buddha Press Spotlight

Finding Inspiration in Everyday Objects - District 2 Meeting Presenter, Beth Gulley

9/16/2021

Updated meeting location!!
District 2's September meeting will be in Ronda Miller's backyard at 214 Lawrence Ave. in Lawrence from 10:00 - 12:00 on Saturday September 18, 2021. Due to Covid, there will not be a bathroom available, but Ronda will have water.

Our featured presenter will be District 2 Member, Beth Gruver Gulley.

Finding Inspiration in Everyday Objects

She will use her book, The Sticky Note Alphabet, to illustrate the ways mundane objects can trigger memories that in turn can lead to meaningful poems. Sometimes setting parameters for our writing, for example writing daily or trying new forms, can push us to notice the beauty in everyday objects as well.

Beth Gulley lives in Spring Hill, Kansas and teaches writing at Johnson County Community College. She has an MA from UMKC and a PhD from the University of Kansas. When not writing about teaching, Beth primarily writes poetry.

Her latest book, The Sticky Note Alphabet (from Alien Buddha Press), reminds us that small things are not always unimportant things. In December, her book Dragon Eggs will be published by Spartan Press. Her older work includes the 2018 chapbook, $!*# Hole Countries: A Find and Replace Meditation.

Her poetry and stories also appear in the Bards Against Hunger Anthology, From Everywhere a Little: A Migration Anthology, the Thorny Locust, and The Gasconade Review Presents: Storm A’Comin’, Kansas Letters to a Young Poet, and the 105 Meadowlark Reader. She has been a proud member of the Facebook group 365 Poems in 365 Days since 2015, and her poems appear in all three of the 365 Poems in 365 Days anthologies.

Beth serves on the Riverfront Reading Committee and is a Writer’s Place board member. She loves thrift store shopping, traveling, and drinking coffee.

Writing Retreat in the Paola Community Garden

9/1/2021

Beth Gulley, District 2 member, hosts a writing retreat in Paola. Members of Kansas Authors Club are invited to attend.

Writing Retreat in the Paola Community Garden
September 15 from 6:00-7:00 p.m.
1201 Industrial Drive, Paola, KS 66071

Are you looking for inspiration? Do you need a few quiet minutes to yourself? Bring your lawn chair and a notebook to the Paola Community Garden on September 15 from 6-7 p.m. for a writing retreat. We will begin our evening with writing prompts to inspire you. Then participants will have space and time to write in the garden. We will finish the evening with an opportunity to share our writing with the group (this is optional). This event is hosted by District 2 member, Beth Gulley. For more information email Beth. or see the Facebook event link.

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.

Vino & Verse with José Faus & Natasha Ria El-Seari: August 13 at 7:00pm

8/9/2021

Beth Gulley, D2 Member, is the Riverside Readings Cohost for this event.

The Sticky Note Alphabet, by Beth Gulley

8/1/2021

Congratulations to District 2 member, Beth Gulley, on the publication of The Sticky Note Alphabet with Alien Buddha Press.

Learn more here.

Members published in most recent issue of Thorny Locust

7/23/2021

D5 member Robert L. Dean, Jr., has a poem titled "Firekeeper" in the new issue of the print magazine "Thorny Locust," published out of Kansas City, MO, Silvia Kofler, editor.

Other members featured in this issue include:
Brian Daldorph (D2)
Beth Gulley (D2)
Kevin Rabas (D2)
Tyler Robert Sheldon (D2)
Maryfrances Wagner (D2)

Kansas Authors Club Members to be Published in Inaugural Issue of 105: Meadowlark Reader

2/14/2021

The following Kansas Authors Club members had essays selected for publication in the first issue of 105: Meadowlark Reader, a Kansas journal of creative nonfiction. Issue #1, with the theme of "beginnings," is expected to be delivered to subscribers in early May, featuring 35 essays, including the following:

Gretchen Eick - D5
Marie Fletcher - D7
Beth Gulley - D2
Miriam Iwashige - D6
Nancy Julien Kopp - D4
Sandee Lee - D5
Don Marler - D5
Ruth Maus - D1
Julie Nischan - D1
Kevin Rabas - D2
Mark Scheel - D2
Julie Sellers - D4
Tyler Sheldon - D2
Julie Stielstra - D6
Barbara Waterman-Peters - D1
Jon Yenser - D7
Gloria Zachgo - D5
Ginger Zyskowski - D6

Cheryl Unruh (D2) of Quincy Press is the editor of the new journal, and Tracy Million Simmons (D2) of Meadowlark Press is the publisher. Readers are encouraged to subscribe before March 1 to take advantage of introductory pricing.

For those interested in submitting essays for issue #2, the theme will be "Kansas Travel Stories" and they will begin collecting those submissions in May and June of 2021

See 105meadowlarkreader.com for complete details.