Category: Julie Sellers

Members to be Published in Landmarks Issue of Kansas Journal of Creative Nonfiction

9/28/2023

The next issue of 105 Meadowlark Reader includes essays by the following Kansas Authors Club Members.
The theme of this issue is Landmarks, and expected ship date for this publication is early November, 2023.

Congratulations writers!

Lindsey Bartlett, Emporia
Boyd Bauman, Overland Park
Linda Cook, Manhattan
Ann Christine Fell, Winfield
Monica Graves, Emporia
Carolyn Hall, Lenexa
Cheryl Heide, Baldwin City
Thomas Holmquist, Smolan
Nancy Julien Kopp, Manhattan
Marilyn Hope Lake, Columbia, MO
Caryn Mirriam-Goldberg, Lawrence
Julie A. Sellers, Atchison
Julie Stielstra, Ellinwood
Sandee Lee, El Dorado
Barbara Waterman-Peters, Topeka
Jon Kelly Yenser, Albuquerque, NM

Next Submission Theme: Intersections

Ships in November: Subscribe Today

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High Plains Book Awards Finalist List Includes Two Books by Kansas Authors Club Members

9/28/2023

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Billings, MT– Two Kansas books made it to the top of the list in the High Plains Book Awards in 2023. The awards, begun in 2007, “recognize regional literary works which examine and reflect life on the High Plains, including the states of Montana, North Dakota, South Dakota, Wyoming, Nebraska, Colorado and Kansas, and the Canadian provinces of Alberta, Manitoba and Saskatchewan.”

Julie A. Sellers (Atchison), author of Ann of Sunflower Lane and Ruth Maus (Topeka) author of Puzzled: Poems, will make the trip to Billings, Montana, to attend the book award festivities where the winners will be announced on October 7, 2023. Both will be participating in panels: Sellers taking about “Fiction: Better for the Brain?” and Maus participating in a poetry reading and discussion.

Ann of Sunflower Lane is one of three finalists in the young adult category. The novel is about the way books and reading impact readers. “The title character, Ann Alwyn, is an avid reader, and when she comes to live with the grandparents she never knew at Sunflower Lane farm, she discovers a kindred spirit in an old edition of Anne of Green Gables. Her reading of that and other texts frames her experiences as she integrates herself into life on the farm and in the small-town community of Storey, Kansas,” says Sellers.

Puzzled is a finalist in the poetry category. Maus wrote most of the poems in Puzzled during the pandemic, and the 110-page book is filled will her German cousin’s full-color paintings. The poetry and art in Puzzled (Meadowlark Press, 2022) has connections dating back to 1882, when the great-grandfather of Ruth Maus came to the US as a young boy with his parents and siblings. They were Germans who eventually settled on a farm in Holton, Kansas, where a descendent still lives and farms to this day. The ancestral village, which Ruth Maus was able to visit in 1997, is now a part of Poland. Cousins met, including descendent of a brother to Ruth’s great-grandfather who stayed behind. Gertrud Knuth and Ruth have maintained contact since that trip, and Gertrud’s daughter, Katja Weiss, an artist living near Hamburg, Germany, has taken over those communications in this digital age.

Both books are available at meadowlarkbookstore.com and can be ordered wherever books are sold.

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Two Members Make High Plains Book Awards Finalist Lists

6/17/2023

Ruth Maus and Julie A. Sellers, both members of District 1, have books recognized as finalists in the High Plains Book Awards this year.

Category: Poetry
Puzzled: Poems
by Ruth Maus
Meadowlark Press, 2022

Learn More

Category: YA
Ann of Sunflower Lane
by Julie A. Sellers
Meadowlark Press, 2022

Learn More

Press release
Finalists for the 2023 High Plains Book Awards were recently released, with winners to be announced at an awards event Oct. 7, in Billings.

All nominated works — 263 of them this year — were read and evaluated by community readers. Winners in each category will be determined by a judging panel of published writers with connections to the High Plains region.

This year, 12 of the finalists hailed from Canada, and eight were from Montana, including Big Sky Award finalist Charles Finn, a poet whose book “On a Benediction of Wind, Poems and Photographs from the American West,” with photographer Barbara Michelman, was also winner of the 2022 Montana Book Award.

Nominated books must have been published for the first time in 2022. Each winner will receive a $500 award. The finalists in 13 categories are listed at the link below.

2023 Finalists - High Plains Book Awards

April State Program

4/8/2023

April 15, 2023, 1:30pm
Presenters: Julie A. Sellers and Duane Johnson

In Conversation with the KAC 2022 Poet and Prose Writers of the Year

This presentation will take place in the Menninger Meeting Room, Topeka & Shawnee County Public Library, 1515 SW 10th Avenue, Topeka, KS 66604.

All members are welcome to attend this presentation in person.

The presentation will also be broadcast via Zoom.
Join the Kansas Authors Club's 2022 Poet of the Year, Duane Johnson, and Prose Writer of the Year, Julie A. Sellers, as they converse and share their thoughts about their creative approaches with examples from their own writing.

Julie A. Sellers was raised in the Flint Hills near the small town of Florence, Kansas. Those great expanses of tallgrass prairie and reading fueled her imagination, and Julie began writing at an early age. After living in several states and countries, Julie resides in Atchison, Kansas. Julie has published three academic books and a variety of articles. Her creative prose and poetry have appeared in publications such as Cagibi, Wanderlust, Unlost, The Write Launch, 105 Meadowlark Reader, and Kansas Time + Place. Julie was the 2020 and 2022 Kansas Authors Club Prose Writer of the Year. In the Kansas Voices Contest (Winfield), she was the Overall Poetry Winner (2022) and Overall Prose Winner (2017, 2019). Julie’s first book of poetry, Kindred Verse: Poems Inspired by Anne of Green Gables, was published by Blue Cedar Press in 2021. Her first novel, Ann of Sunflower Lane, was published by Meadowlark Press in 2022.

Duane Johnson is a retired journalist, who now primarily writes poetry. He has published one volume of poetry, Evolution's Promise. With the artist Lila Bartel, he has published a collection of poetry and watercolors entitled Living Expressions: As the Spirit Moves. He also has published a novel, Herald of the Resurrection. Johnson lives in Topeka and is married to a retired social worker. They have two grown children. He lives in a modest house with gray siding on a dead-end street with a chain saw, fishing gear and kayak in the garage. The near-by four hundred-acre lake is his laboratory.

Duane served as the president of District 1 in 2017-2018, state Vice President and book awards chair in 2019, and he took the helm as state President 2020-21.

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.

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

Invitation to Book Launch Celebration, Julie A. Sellers, District 1 Member

9/28/2022

You are invited to celebrate the launch of

Ann of Sunflower Lane

with Julie A. Sellers and Meadowlark Press.
When: Oct 7, 2022 06:30 PM Central Time (US and Canada)

Register in advance for this meeting:
https://tinyurl.com/SunflowerLane

Ann of Sunflower Lane, by Julie A. Sellers Published by: Meadowlark Press, Emporia, KS, October 2022 ISBN: 978-1-956578-23-2 (hard cover) $30.00 ISBN: 978-1-956578-22-5 (paperback) $18.99 ISBN: 978-1-956578-24-9 (ebook) $9.99

For Immediate Release

New L.M. Montgomery-Inspired Novel Takes Place in the Flint Hills of Kansas

Emporia, KS – Meadowlark Press announces the publication of Ann of Sunflower Lane by award-winning author Julie A. Sellers. This novel is a tribute to the Kansas Flint Hills, booklovers and reading, and Anne of Green Gables by L.M. Montgomery.

Sellers explains that the novel is not an adaptation of Montgomery’s classic novel, but a story of the way books and reading impact readers. “The title character, Ann Alwyn, is an avid reader, and when she comes to live with the grandparents she never knew at Sunflower Lane farm, she discovers a kindred spirit in an old edition of Anne of Green Gables. Her reading of that and other texts frames her experiences as she integrates herself into life on the farm and in the small-town community of Storey, Kansas.”

“Ann of Sunflower Lane is a love-letter to books and reading, and especially to the power of Anne of Green Gables to reflect and to shape life,” says Elizabeth Rollins Epperly, Professor Emerita and founder of the L.M. Montgomery Institute at the University of Prince Edward Island.

Marah Gubar, Associate Professor of Literature at MIT and author of Artful Dodgers: Reconceiving the Golden Age of Children’s Literature (2009), said, “I love how vividly this book conjures up contemporary rural life in a small town, chronicling how the transplanted Ann comes to terms with her troubled family history by putting down new roots and reinvigorating old ones.”

“I love this character, this book. Readers of all ages will fall in love with Ann of Sunflower Lane,” said Kansas writer Cheryl Unruh, author of Gravedigger’s Daughter: Vignettes from a Small Kansas Town.

Sellers was the Kansas Authors Club 2020 Prose Writer of the Year and the Overall Poetry (2022) and Prose (2017, 2019) winner of the Kansas Voices Writing Contest sponsored by the Winfield Arts and Humanities Council. She is the author of Kindred Verse: Poems Inspired by Anne of Green Gables (Blue Cedar Press, 2021).

The book can be purchased at meadowalarkbookstore.com and ordered wherever books are sold.

Sellers is available for readings for interested groups. For more information, visit the author’s website at www.julieasellers.com.

JulieASellers.com

2022 Convention Speaker: Julie A. Sellers

7/27/2022

Forging Your Writing Future with Purpose and Inspiration

It’s been said that genius is 1% inspiration and 99% perspiration. For writers, this means we need to establish our writing plans, goals, and activities with purpose so that we can find and create inspiration naturally. This mindset encourages us to forge our own writing paths through intentional acts, rather than embrace the cliché of the writer who sits and waits for inspiration to strike. In this interactive workshop, we will consider ways to be purposeful about our writing lives and explore techniques to cultivate inspiration and motivation to write in a variety of genres. Participants will engage in writing prompts appropriate for fiction, non-fiction, and poetry and have the chance to share what they create during the session.

Julie A. Sellers is a native of Flint Hills. She earned Bachelor’s degrees in Spanish and French, a Master’s in Spanish Literature from Kansas State University, a Master’s in International Studies and a Ph.D. in Education from the University of Wyoming. Julie currently lives in Atchison, Kansas, where she is an Associate Professor (Spanish) and Chair of the Department of World Languages and Cultures at Benedictine College. Julie She is the author of the YA novel Ann of Sunflower Lane (Meadowlark Press, 2022) and Kindred Verse: Poems Inspired by Anne of Green Gables (Blue Cedar Press, 2021). She has published three academic monographs on Dominican music and identity, and her creative prose and poetry have appeared in publications such as 105 Meadowlark Reader, Cagibi, Wanderlust, The Very Edge, Journal of L.M. Montgomery Studies, Unlost, and Kansas Time + Place.

Julie was the Kansas Author’s Club’s 2020 Prose Writer of the year, and the Kansas Voices Contest Overall Winner in Poetry (2022) and Prose (2017, 2019).

julieasellers.com

Julie is scheduled to present at 11:15 on Saturday, October 22

PRESENTATION BLOCK 2 – ENHANCING WRITING SKILLS

Learn More and Register to Attend

D1 Member Featured on Maudcast: The Podcast of the L.M. Montgomery Institute

2/25/2022

Julie Sellers is featured on the Maudcast: The Podcast of the L. M. Montgomery Institute. Julie talks with host Brenton Dickieson about her book Kindred Verse: Poems Inspired by Anne of Green Gables (Blue Cedar Press, 2021) and her writing process. You can listen to the podcast on Podbean or Spotify (links below).

Listen on Podbean

Listen on Spotify

Invitation to January 22 Meeting Featuring Julie Sellers

1/17/2022

Hello D6 Members & Guests,

I hope your new year is progressing well.
We're already getting excited about our first D6 meeting of the year (as always, set on the 4th Saturday of the month beginning at 1:30 PM).

Julie Sellers, D1, published author, who writes poetry & prose, will be our guest speaker. I can't wait to learn from Julie how she created the title of her presentation: "The Two I's of Writing: Inspiration and Intentionality."

She will share with us her tips on looking for ideas, techniques she uses to be intentional about writing, and challenge us to participate in a short writing activity.
See two attachments: Julie's photo and her bio with contact information.

If you're a current KACD6 member, you'll automatically receive a link to this presentation. If you'd like to attend the zoom meeting as a guest, just contact me. The meeting is free and open to the public.
Happy writing,

Jim Potter

The Two I’s of Writing

Join Julie A. Sellers (D1) as she discusses the two i’s of writing: inspiration and intentionality, and reads from her recent publication, Kindred Verse: Poems Inspired by Anne of Green Gables. Julie will share tips for looking for inspiration (ideas), and techniques she uses to be intentional about writing. Attendees will have the opportunity to try out some of these techniques by participating in short writing activities.

A native of Kansas, Julie A. Sellers earned Bachelor’s degrees in Spanish and French, a Master’s in Spanish Literature from Kansas State University, a Master’s in International Studies and a Ph.D. in Education from the University of Wyoming. Julie is the author of three academic monographs on Dominican music and identity, and her creative prose and poetry have appeared in publications such as 105 Meadowlark Reader, Cagibi, Wanderlust, The Very Edge, Journal of L.M. Montgomery Studies, Unlost, and Kansas Time + Place. Julie was the Kansas Author’s Club’s 2020 Prose Writer of the Year. Her book Kindred Verse: Poems Inspired by Anne of Green Gables (Blue Cedar Press) was released in 2021.

https://julieasellers.com/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/julieasellersauthor
Instagram: @julieasellers
Twitter: @julieasellers
Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/7785927.Julie_A_Sellers

Saturday, December 18 D2 Meeting - Lawrence

12/14/2021

District 2: Holiday Party, Presentation and State Convention Planning Meeting
Saturday, December 18th
Lawrence Public Library: 10 to noon

The Two I’s of Writing

Join Julie A. Sellers (D1) as she discusses the two i’s of writing: inspiration and intentionality, and reads from her recent publication, Kindred Verse: Poems Inspired by Anne of Green Gables. Julie will share tips for looking for inspiration (ideas), and techniques she uses to be intentional about writing. Attendees will have the opportunity to try out some of these techniques by participating in short writing activities.

A native of Kansas, Julie A. Sellers earned Bachelor’s degrees in Spanish and French, a Master’s in Spanish Literature from Kansas State University, a Master’s in International Studies and a Ph.D. in Education from the University of Wyoming. Julie is the author of three academic monographs on Dominican music and identity, and her creative prose and poetry have appeared in publications such as 105 Meadowlark Reader, Cagibi, Wanderlust, The Very Edge, Journal of L.M. Montgomery Studies, Unlost, and Kansas Time + Place. Julie was the Kansas Author’s Club’s 2020 Prose Writer of the Year. Her book Kindred Verse: Poems Inspired by Anne of Green Gables (Blue Cedar Press) was released in 2021.
https://julieasellers.com/
Facebook: @julieasellersauthor

Prose Writer of the Year for 2020 to give District 1 Program Nov. 20

11/5/2021

Join Julie A. Sellers, and other members of District 1, at the group's regular monthly meeting on Saturday, November 20 at 1 p.m. This will be the first in-person meeting the district has held in more than a year. It will be held in the Menninger Room of the Topeka Shawnee County Public Library and is limited to only ten attendees due to social distancing requirements.

Sellers was named the 2020 Kansas Authors Club Prose Writer of the Year. She will be discussing The
Two I’s of writing: inspiration and intentionality. Julie will share tips for looking for inspiration (ideas), and techniques she uses to be intentional about writing. Attendees will have the opportunity to try out some of these techniques by participating in short writing activities.

Julie is the author of three academic monographs on Dominican music and identity, and her creative prose and poetry have appeared in publications such as 105 Meadowlark Reader, Cagibi, Wanderlust, The Very Edge, and Kansas Time + Place. Her collection, Kindred Verse: Poems Inspired by Anne of Green Gables (Blue Cedar Press) was released in 2021.

Anyone wishing to join the meeting via zoom should email Anne Spry for the link.

Members Published in 105 Meadowlark Reader, Issue #2

11/2/2021

Carolyn Hall, D2 Member, is one of 21 Kansas Authors Club members published in the second issue of 105 Meadowlark Reader: Kansas Travel Stories.

The journal of Kansas creative nonfiction can be purchased at "Partner Bookstores" including Crow and Co Books (Hutchinson), Eighth Day Books (Wichita), Flint Hills Books (Council Grove), Raven Book Store (Lawrence), Russell Specialty Books & Gifts (Russell), and Watermark Books & Cafe (Wichita).

Subscriptions can also be purchased at Meadowlark Press.

Kansas Authors Club members featured in this issue include:

Ann Anderson (D2)

Curtis Becker (D2)

Sheryl Brenn (D7)

Annabelle Corrick (D1)

Gretchen Cassel Eick (D5)

Marie Baum Fletcher (D7)

Tammy Gilley (D6)

Michael D. Graves (D2)

Monica (Osgood) Graves (D2)

Carolyn Hall (D2)

Jerilynn Jones Henrikson (D2)

Sally Jadlow (D2)

Nancy Julien Kopp (D4)

Sandee Lee (D5)

Jim Potter (D6)

Julie A. Sellers (D1)

Mark Scheel (D2)

Tracy Million Simmons (D2)

Barbara Waterman-Peters (D1)

Brenda White (D2)

Editor, Chery Unruh (D2)

The journal is currently taking submissions for issue #3 to be published in the spring of 2022.

Theme: True Bicycle Stories
Guidelines can be found on the
105 Meadowlark Reader website.

Julie Sellers Readings Scheduled for September

9/1/2021

You are invited!

D1 Member Julie Sellers will be doing readings from her recently-released collection, Kindred Verse: Poems Inspired by Anne of Green Gables (Blue Cedar Press) at the following locations in September:

• The Dusty Bookshelf, 700 N. Manhattan Ave., Manhattan, KS, Sept. 4, 6:00 p.m.
• Penny’s Coffee Shop & Event Space, 409 New York Ave., Holton, KS, Sept. 8, 6:00 p.m.

Julie hopes to see you there!

NARRATIVE INQUIRY FOR NON-FICTION AND FICTION WITH JULIE A. SELLERS

8/5/2021

Anyone who knows how to talk can conduct an interview, right? Not exactly. Join Julie A. Sellers for an interactive workshop on how to conduct narrative inquiry for your works of fiction and non-fiction. Julie has published three academic books with a strong narrative inquiry component. She will share tips and best practices to make your interviews productive and rich.

A native of Kansas, Julie A. Sellers has travelled extensively in the Americas and Europe. Julie was the KAC’s 2020 Prose Writer of the year and the Kansas Voices Contest overall prose winner (2017, 2019). Julie’s creative work has appeared in a variety of publications. Her book, The Modern Bachateros: 27 Interviews, received the KAC 2018 It Looks Like A Million Book Award. Her poetry chapbook, Kindred Verses, was published June 15, 2021 by Blue Cedar Press.

To learn about narrative inquiry, join D5 members Saturday, August 14 at 1:30 pm either by Zoom or in person.

In person: Asbury Church (Fireside Room) 2801 W. 15th St., Wichita. Enter on the St. Paul Street side.
Zoom: Registration required. Click the button below.

Click for Zoom Link

Member Book Review: Kindred Verse, Poems Inspired by Anne of Green Gables, by Julie A. Sellers

7/15/2021

D5 member Gretchen Cassel Eick, shares this review of a new book of poetry by D1 member Julie Sellers.

Julie A. Sellers’ Kindred Verse: Poems Inspired by Anne of Green Gables (Blue Cedar Press, June 15, 2021) takes readers on a whimsical stroll through early 20th Century Canada, but also through the places and people they discovered within the covers of books and fell in love with when they were young. Her encounters with Anne of Green Gables shaped who Julie became, giving her courage and confidence to be her own unique and original self, courage to see with the eyes of imagination.

I am a newcomer to Anne of Green Gables. I am now reading the 8 books by L.M. Montgomery, the Canadian author who spun beautiful, vivid stories of the highly intelligent orphan girl who shares her way of seeing with those she meets. Anne is quirky and literate beyond her years. Her yearnings are to learn as much as possible, to lift herself from the drudgery of her orphan life with imagination, to see beauty and wonder, and to become someone who makes a difference.

Julie visited Prince Edward Island, Canada, on her honeymoon and returned with a folio of photos and a mind abuzz with words and phrases uniquely hers that she lavishes on her readers. Whether they are familiar with Anne or not, readers find this special place and special girl haunting and kindred.

Read this book and give it to those you love. Let Julie’s beautiful photos and poems so gracefully presented in this book thanks to designer Jay Wallace stir your emotions, your memories, and remind you of your dreams.

Purchase Kindred Verse at Blue Cedar Press. Also available wherever you buy books.

Thank you to Gretchen Eick for taking us up on our challenge to members! A good Kansas Authors Club citizen helps celebrate the writing and publishing news of fellow members!

Challenge to Members: Explore the newly updated “meet our members” pages. Get to know your fellow Kansas Authors Club members by checking out their websites and their books.

Challenge #1: Select a member, send a note of introduction, and offer to write up a “meet a member” bio that can be shared on our website and social media channels. Check out the Welcome Wagon introductions for inspiration. Submit it here!

Challenge #2: Read a book by a member and share a review. Submit (the link or the review) and we will share it too!

KAC Member Julie Sellers to Release Chapbook

5/18/2021

Julie A. Sellers, District 1 Member of Kansas Authors Club

Julie A. Sellers (D1) will soon have a collection of her poems published by Blue Cedar Press of Wichita, Kan. Sellers’s chapbook, Kindred Verse, was inspired by Lucy Maud Montgomery’s 1908 novel, Anne of Green Gables. Sellers was named the 2020 Prose Writer of the Year by the Kansas Authors Club and is excited to have her poetry recognized as well.

“Like Anne, I was often deemed impractical or scatterbrained, and my literary aspirations were mocked. But with Anne, I now knew I was not alone. If Anne existed and continued to exist in print after all those years, others must have identified with her, too, I reasoned, and I knew exactly who those people were: my kindred spirits,” says Sellers in the book’s preface. “If a piece of literature could so succinctly portray who we were, then I, too, intended to share my own writing with the world.”

Elizabeth Rollins Epperly, Professor Emerita and founder of the L.M. Montgomery Institute at the University of Prince Edward Island, said the poems are transformative and illustrate why the novel is a classic.

“Julie Sellers shares a lifetime reader’s pilgrimage to real and imagined places and moments, reflecting on her younger selves,” Epperly said. “Wise and gently playful, these beautiful pieces also celebrate a timeless nostalgia.”
Sellers and the publisher collaborated with Jay Wallace, assistant professor in Benedictine College’s Department of Art & Architecture, on the book design.

“Jay understood my vision perfectly,” Sellers said. “He captured the sensibilities of the pieces in the book and cover design and brought them to life.”

The book’s launch is set for June 15, 2021, and Sellers will hold readings for interested groups following that. For more information, follow the author at https://www.facebook.com/julieasellersauthor.

Kindred Verse: Poems Inspired by Anne of Green Gables, by Julie A. Sellers, released June 15, 2021, Blue Cedar Press (Wichita, Kansas)

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.

2020 Writers of the Year

10/4/2020

Congratulations to our 2020 Award Winners!

Kristine A. Polansky, Poet of the Year

Julie A. Sellers, Prose Writer of the Year

Members to be Published in Landmarks Issue of Kansas Journal of Creative Nonfiction

High Plains Book Awards Finalist List Includes Two Books by Kansas Authors Club Members

Two Members Make High Plains Book Awards Finalist Lists

April State Program

Questions

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

Invitation to Book Launch Celebration, Julie A. Sellers, District 1 Member

2022 Convention Speaker: Julie A. Sellers

Forging Your Writing Future with Purpose and Inspiration

D1 Member Featured on Maudcast: The Podcast of the L.M. Montgomery Institute

Invitation to January 22 Meeting Featuring Julie Sellers

Saturday, December 18 D2 Meeting - Lawrence

Prose Writer of the Year for 2020 to give District 1 Program Nov. 20

Members Published in 105 Meadowlark Reader, Issue #2

Julie Sellers Readings Scheduled for September

You are invited!

NARRATIVE INQUIRY FOR NON-FICTION AND FICTION WITH JULIE A. SELLERS

Member Book Review: Kindred Verse, Poems Inspired by Anne of Green Gables, by Julie A. Sellers

KAC Member Julie Sellers to Release Chapbook

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

2020 Writers of the Year

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