Category: Invitation To Attend

Women SCORE HIGHER "Author Showcase" event

3/10/2023

This is a Wichita event, brought to our attention by Danielle Ramirez, 2022 convention speaker.

We are anticipating hundreds of in-person attendees in addition to the virtual attendees. This will be a lovely opportunity for women authors to showcase (and sell!) their book, plus network with other authors and entrepreneurs.

You must register for the event in order to sign up as an author vendor.
Early bird registration pricing ends Wednesday, March 15th
Author Showcase - Vendor registration deadline is Thursday, April 6th

Learn more: https://womenscorehigher.com/

Please reach out ASAP if you would like to be involved.

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March 18 Program: Traci Brimhall, Kansas Poet Laureate

3/10/2023

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March 18, 2023, 1:30 pm
Presenter: Traci Brimhall, Kansas Poet Laureate

Why Can't the Heart Stop Asking?

This presentation will take place at the Manhattan Public Library Auditorium.
629 Poyntz Ave, Manhattan, KS 66502

All members are welcome to attend this presentation in person. Please plan to arrive early as the program will have a prompt 1:30pm start time.

The presentation will also be broadcast via Zoom.

Poetry is an art of attention, but sometimes the more attention we pay to the world, the more astonishing and confusing it can be. The medical researcher Jonas Salk said "what people think of as the moment of discovery is really the discovery of the question," which I believe also holds true for poetry. What images do we see each day that excites our minds? What sounds do we hear that awaken our hearts? What poems ask for our attention and reward us with discovery? This presentation will use poetry to create surprises, explore our curiosities, and find new questions.

Traci Brimhall is the author of four poetry collections: Come the Slumberless from the Land of Nod (Copper Canyon); Saudade (Copper Canyon); Our Lady of the Ruins (W.W. Norton), winner of the Barnard Women Poets Prize; and Rookery (Southern Illinois University Press), winner of the Crab Orchard Series in Poetry First Book Award. Her poems have appeared in The New Yorker, Poetry, The Believer, The New Republic, Orion, New York Times Magazine, and Best American Poetry. She’s received fellowships from the Wisconsin Institute for Creative Writing and the National Endowment for the Arts. Brimhall lives in Manhattan, KS and serves as the Poet Laureate of Kansas.

Members should have received the Zoom link for this meeting by email from the State and/or their district president. If you are a member who has not received an email, please contact us via the form below.

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2nd Tuesday Open Mic: Hosted by D3/D4 on Zoom

3/10/2023

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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.

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Invitation to Book Reading with Tim Bascom

2/28/2023

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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.

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Flagship Books Poetry Reading, Kansas City, Kansas

2/24/2023

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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.

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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.

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.

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.

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.

Join us for our first program of 2023!

1/16/2023

Saturday, January 21, 2023
1:30 pm (CST)

(Join at 1:15 if you want a review of Zoom tools and processes.)

Presenter: Paul Epp

Marketing for Authors

Paul Epp

This workshop will break down the sometimes-daunting task of marketing into a series of focused steps that will enable an author to create and execute a marketing plan that is tailored to the author’s needs and abilities. Core pieces of the presentation include finding an audience, creating content about your content, and setting up your process. The presentation will include tips and tricks for marketing, including information about digital and social media marketing.

Here are some things to know about this first program being offered for members of Kansas Authors Club across the state.

You may opt to join your district members at a monthly meeting location to watch this presentation as a part of the gathering. Watch for notices from your district president for details on location.
You are also invited to tune in from home. No matter where you are in the state of Kansas (or beyond), you can join us via zoom to watch and participate in the live Q&A at the end of this program.
The program will be recorded and available for one month to members who can not attend on the January 21 date. The Zoom link and recording will always be available at this page. (You must have member access to sign into this page. Request access today if you do not already have it.)

Questions? Please feel free to join the zoom meeting early. At 1:15 we will provide some basic “how to” instructions for using Zoom meeting tools and for the breakout rooms which will be used by some districts after the presentation. Watch for instructions from your president.

The ZOOM link for this presentation was emailed to all current members on Friday, January 13.

2023 Program Schedule

Group Enjoys Zoom Open Mic

1/13/2023

Each month on 2nd Tuesdays, District 3 & 4 members have been gathering on ZOOM to share their written work.

You are invited!

The featured reader in February is Duane Johnson (Topeka member and former state president, 2020-21). Duane will be reading poems from his 2022 award-winning chapbook. After the featured reader, attendees are invited to share their own work (prepare for reading 3-4 minute excerpts, please).

Updated: This event has been moved to March
Save the date: Tuesday, March 14, 7pm

Members Nila Jean Spencer (Maryland), Tracy Million Simmons, Kris Polansky, Duane Johnson, Vickie Guillot, James Kenyon, and Nancy Julien Kopp met in January on Zoom for an Open Mic. Districts 3 & 4 began hosting this 2nd Tuesday meeting in 2021. All members of Kansas Authors Club are invited to attend.

January 10 Open Mic - Invitation from District 3/4 of Kansas Authors Club

1/8/2023

You are invited, Tuesday, January 10, at 7:00pm (via Zoom)

District 3 and 4 members invite all KAC members and guests to join our monthly Open Mic (via Zoom). This month our featured reader will be Nila Jean Spencer. Nila, a member since 2020, joins us from Annapolis, Maryland. Nila was born and raised in Marshall County, Kansas. She writes memoir, nonfiction, and enjoys preserving family stories to share with her grandchildren.

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.

Time: Tuesday, January 10, 2023, 07:00 PM Central Time (US and Canada)

Writing Goals for a New Year

1/2/2023

Have you made any writing-related resolutions for 2023?

Here's a challenge for our members. Share your writing goals with us in the comments section. (Now open for the first time!)

“Dip your pen into your arteries and write.”

― William Allen White

"Read, read, read. Read everything -- trash, classics, good and bad, and see how they do it. Just like a carpenter who works as an apprentice and studies the master. Read! You'll absorb it.

Then write. If it's good, you'll find out. If it's not, throw it out of the window."

― William Faulkner

"The first lesson to be learned by a writer is to be able to say, 'Thanks so much. I’d love to, but I can’t. I’m working.'"

― Edna Ferber

Countdown to Renewal Time

12/15/2022

Click Here to Renew Today

D5 Authors Read at Book Launch

11/28/2022

Featuring Dr. Reginald Jarrett and Dr. Gretchen Eick

The Peace Committee will host a book launch on Thursday, December 1, featuring two 2022 books by local authors that center on race.

Thursday at 7 p.m. at 655 S. Lorraine, at the Lorraine Avenue Mennonite Church in the sanctuary.

Dr. Reginald Jarrett's book 31 Days [Nights]: Memoir of Living Black in America is a series of short essays about his life here in Wichita and across the U.S. A truth-telling book of interpersonal encounters among various ethnicities of Americans told by a gifted communicator, 31 Days will surprise readers and enlarge their understanding of how race functions in America. Jarrell is a professor at Southwestern University and a lawyer, pastor, and TV journalist who has lived across the U.S. but grew up in Wichita. This is his second book.

Dr. Gretchen Eick's newest novel, Dark Crossings, takes place in 2019. An interracial family with two teens living in Evanston, IL, north of Chicago is devastated when a family member is murdered. The difficult journey through the survivors' grief nearly breaks them. The discovery through a DNA test of unknown family members connected to the Philadelphia police murder of 12 Black people on May 13, 1985, helps them reconstruct their lives. Eick is a professor of history emerita and teaches at WSU's Lifelong Learning program. This is her eighth book. The authors will read excerpts and discuss their books and what each adds to our knowledge of the role of "race" in today's U.S.

Members: Don't forget to renew!

11/15/2022

Click Here to Renew

An Invitation from our Friends at The Writers Place

11/3/2022

November 9, 7:00pm
"Writing for Children: Why and How"
by David L. Harrison

Jerilynn Henrikson Presents at D2 Monthly Meeting in Emporia

11/3/2022

You are Invited to ATtend

KAC District 2
Please join us on November 19, 2022
Third Saturday of the Month
10:30 am-12:00 pm
Flinthills Tech College
3301 W. 18th Ave
Emporia, Ks
Live or Zoom meeting

As a retired English teacher, Jerilynn 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. She is currently working on a story loosely based on her grandmother’s childhood in the early 1900s. Her work reflects her sense of humor, love of words, and eye 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.

We have so many opportunities to participate and support other authors.

Other News to share:

We had a wonderful convention full of learning and growing in our craft.
We encourage you to go to the KAC website and watch the slideshow and read about the contest winners.
Also, check out the new members and all of the new writings of our members.
Remember to find new information and events in your area news and on our Facebook page!

Happy Writing!
Deb Irsik
District 2 Co-Chair

Members, Submit Your 2023 Yearbook Entries!

10/14/2022

Deadline: October 31

Due Between August 1 and October 31, electronic receipt or postmark

Every Member having paid current dues is invited to submit ONE literary contribution for the yearbook. That submission can be either prose or poetry. Prose is limited to one printed page (no more than 500 words). Poetry is limited to one printed page (no more than 40 lines including spaces between verses).

All literary contributions remain the property of the individual authors. Authors may continue to use or distribute their work without requesting permission from the Kansas Authors Club. No work printed in the KAC yearbook may be copied or distributed in any form without explicit permission from the author.
Yearbook Submissions are preferred via the online site, Submittable. There is NO CHARGE to submit a yearbook entry.

Tracy Million Simmons to Speak at D5 Meeting October 15 at 1:30

10/5/2022

We are blessed to have Tracy Million Simmons presenting at the October 15 D5 meeting. She has a wealth of information and experience in writing. Not only is she grounded in KAC history, but she has won awards for her writing. Her novel Tiger Hunting won the Coffin Book Award in 2013. She worked professionally in publishing before forming her own press—Meadowlark Press. She is the publisher for 105 Meadowlark Reader, a journal by Kansas writers about Kansas which is published twice yearly.

Tracy serves as manager of Kansas Authors Club for the KAC 2021-22 year. The club developed this paid position in hopes of finding ways to make our organization more effective. She will share how the year as KAC manager has gone, what she has learned, and how the organization’s more streamlined structure is working.

District 5 meetings are available on Zoom or in person.

In person meetings are held in the Fireside room at Asbury Church, 2801 W. 15th St., Wichita. Enter on the St. Paul Street side (southern most door). All meetings start at 1:30 pm.

Zoom link: D5 meeting Oct 15 1:30

<<Previous

Women SCORE HIGHER "Author Showcase" event

March 18 Program: Traci Brimhall, Kansas Poet Laureate

Request Zoom Link for March 18 Program

2nd Tuesday Open Mic: Hosted by D3/D4 on Zoom

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

Invitation to Book Reading with Tim Bascom

Flagship Books Poetry Reading, Kansas City, Kansas

February Program Recording Now Available

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

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

Join us for our first program of 2023!

I missed the link. Please send it to me again.

Group Enjoys Zoom Open Mic

Submit Your Email Here to Get a Zoom Invitation to the Next 2nd Tuesday Open Mic

January 10 Open Mic - Invitation from District 3/4 of Kansas Authors Club

Request Zoom Link

Writing Goals for a New Year

Countdown to Renewal Time

D5 Authors Read at Book Launch

Members: Don't forget to renew!

An Invitation from our Friends at The Writers Place

Jerilynn Henrikson Presents at D2 Monthly Meeting in Emporia

You are Invited to ATtend

If you are a member or guest who would like to receive the link to attend via zoom, please enter your information here:

Members, Submit Your 2023 Yearbook Entries!

Deadline: October 31

Tracy Million Simmons to Speak at D5 Meeting October 15 at 1:30

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