Category: Meadowlark Press

The State Library of Kansas Announces the 2022 Kansas Notable Books

6/2/2022

TOPEKA – This year’s list of Kansas Notable Books continues the tradition of celebrating the rich stories and culture of Kansas.

“The 2022 Kansas Notable Books list recognizes 15 books written by Kansans or about Kansas,” said Ray Walling, Acting State Librarian. “Through their work, the authors take readers on a journey through the wetlands of the Cheyenne Bottoms to the baseball fields of the Kansas City Monarchs. Readers can be transported back in time to the 1887 election in Argonia or to the epic battle of twin sisters enabled with superpowers facing a sinister force. This year’s titles include something for everyone. I hope all Kansans will visit their local public library to check out these wonderful titles.”

Each year, the Kansas Notable Books list features 15 books, published during the previous calendar year, which are about or set in Kansas, or written by a Kansas author. This year’s selection committee includes representatives of public, university, and school libraries, teachers, academics, and writers.

Kansas Notable Books authors will be awarded their medals at the Kansas Book Festival on September 24 at Washburn University. The public is invited.

Kansas Notable Books is a project of the Kansas Center for the Book, a program at the State Library of Kansas which is the state affiliate of the Library of Congress Center for the Book. The mission of the Kansas Center for the Book is to highlight the state’s literary heritage and foster an interest in books, reading, and libraries.

For more information or questions about Kansas Notable Books program, visit kslib.info/notablebooks
or contact the State Library of Kansas at 785-296-3296 or email infodesk@ks.gov.

2022 Kansas Notable Books

Ava: A Year of Adventure in the Life of an American Avocet by Mandy Kern (Great Bend), illustrated by Onalee Nicklin (Emporia), Meadowlark Press

Blue Collar Saint: Poems by Brenda Leigh White (Emporia), Meadowlark Press

Field Journal: Volume XIII, 2021, The Santa Fe Trail by Symphony in the Flint Hills (Cottonwood Falls)

From This Moment: A Novel by Kim Vogel Sawyer (Hutchinson), Waterbrook

The Greatest Thing: A Story About Buck O'Neil by Kristy Nerstheimer (Overland Park), illustrated by Christian Paniagua, (Queens, NY) The Little Fig

Haven’s Secret (The Powers Book 1) by Melissa Benoist, Jessica Benoist (Council Grove), Mariko Tamaki, Abrams Books

How to Resist Amazon and Why by Danny Caine (Lawrence), Microcosm Publishing

Killing Dragons: Order of the Dolphin by Kristie Clark (Jetmore), Delphi Imprint

Mad Prairie: Stories and a Novella by Kate McIntyre (Worcester MA), University of Georgia Press

Policing Sex in the Sunflower State: The Story of the Kansas State Industrial Farm for Women by Nicole Perry (Lawrence), University Press of Kansas

Running Out: In Search of Water on the High Plains by Lucas Bessire (Norman OK), Princeton University Press
Stormbreak: A Seafire Novel by Natalie C. Parker (Lawrence), Razorbill

A Vote for Susanna: The First Woman Mayor by Karen M. Greenwald (Rockville MD), illustrated
by Sian James (Cambridge UK), Albert Whitman & Co.

White Hot Hate: A True Story of Domestic Terrorism in America's Heartland by Dick Lehr (Belmont MA), Mariner Books

Words Is a Powerful Thing: Twenty Years of Teaching Creative Writing at Douglas County Jail by Brian Daldorph (Lawrence), University Press of Kansas

For more information about the State Library of Kansas, please visit https://kslib.info.

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Congratulations

Kansas Authors Club members on the 2022 Notable list:

Brenda Leigh White - District 2

Brian Daldorph - District 2

Kristie Clark - District 7

Meadowlark Press - Member at Large

Cathy Callen, D2 Member and State Secretary, Publishes Book with Meadowlark Press

4/29/2022

“I have a lot of marbles. I confess to you that I have 18,734 of them, more or less,” writes Cathy Callen in the opening essay of Marble Shorts.

Marble Shorts contains eight essays, filled with sparkles of color that rival the marble images that adorn these pages. This book is a gift to the collector, the curious soul, the seeker of color in this bleary-eyed world, and the rest. Meet the Marble Lady of Kansas City. Meet the Girl Scout who uses marbles to earn her “think like an engineer” badge. Meet Bruce of the Moon Marble Company. You just never know what might happen if you plant a marble. It may grow!

“What spectators view as art in homes, businesses, and museums is the culmination of a creative process that starts with an idea. The work that goes into transforming a creative idea into something that can be displayed is not always obvious. If you are a patron of the arts, I would think your interest would lie primarily in the finished product—what you can see, what you can admire, what you might purchase, what you would then display. If you are an artist, the journey toward that destination belongs to you.” –CC

What Readers are saying:
A sense of nostalgia pervades this charming work which introduces readers to extraordinary collectors—people who collect off-beat adventures, lasting friendships, and fascinating skills, as well as marvelous marbles. This is a summery, sunny book that can warm a winter’s day. It is a book to slow down with, to savor and enjoy, and perhaps coax up a memory or two. –Kathy Koplik
Marble Shorts is a collection of gems. Profiles, pictures, and personal observations about passion, all inspired by those perfectly round glass objects that generate smiles throughout the world. Cathy Callen introduces us to connoisseurs, history, manufacturing, and, most importantly, the sheer enchantment of those magical pieces. In this case, one can judge a book by its cover; the photo of a blue marble between the toes of a baby's foot promises the delightful read to be delivered. –Romalyn Tilghman, author, To the Stars Through Difficulty, 2018 Kansas Notable Book
Cathy Callen checks all of the boxes with this delightful book. You can’t imagine how many times I interrupted what my wife, Nancy, was doing to relate or read aloud what I’d just read. –Jack Kline, author of Rhapsody
Both Cathy Svacina and Bruce Breslow are at the top of their game when it comes to marbles . . . excellent biographical material on them, as well as the other individuals mentioned in this book. The variety of stories relating to collecting marbles and collecting in general is widespread. Well done! –R. Merwin Kirkwood
I enjoyed learning about the people in the stories—all of whom began their marble journeys at different stages of their lives and for somewhat different reasons, although as I read through the book, it seemed clear that love of color, focus on art and science, and personal memories created their individual journeys toward creating their various collections. –Gayle Stuber
Ms. Callen has a great appreciation of enthusiastic people who take pleasure in simple joys. It is a perfect release for these anxious times. –Jim and Lene Brooke

Purchase Marble Shorts

Visit Cathy's Website

Cathy Callen

When I was a child, play was mostly physical. I loved to roller-skate, swim, ride my bike, walk along rock walls, and even climb a few trees. Reading was play, for me, too, and a main way I spent my time when I wasn’t outside. Family leisure time involved working puzzles and board games together, or playing cards—especially on summer vacations to Minnesota when we’d play Canasta and Hearts while slapping at mosquitoes. I had my first near-death experience at age eight, when my Dad sent me to a strip mall near our house in Salina to purchase the game of Monopoly. After making my purchase, I decided to cut through an alley behind the store. Proud of my accomplishment and hugging the bag with the Monopoly game close to me, I started to sprint home and was nearly struck by a speeding car in the alley. I did live to tell about it, and we played a lot of Monopoly.
Play is different now.
Any time there is a camera in my hand, or a yellow legal pad and a pen nearby, I am happy. Throw in a few thousand brightly colored marbles that need tending, and I can be ecstatic.

Author Michael D. Graves Hosts 1930s Cocktail Party, Fourth Book in the Pete Stone Private Investigator Series Released

4/7/2022

Emporia, KS – Meadowlark Press and Michael D. Graves announce the publication of the fourth book in the award-winning Pete Stone Private Investigator series. Shadows and Sorrows is available for pre-release order through meadowlarkbookstore.com and a launch event is planned for Thursday, April 14, from 4-6 pm at Twin Rivers Winery, 627 Commercial Street, Emporia. Attendees will enjoy readings by the author and themed cocktails will be featured. 1930s cocktail attire is encouraged; party fedoras will be on hand for guests.

Shadows and Sorrows opens in Wichita, Kansas, on April 18, 1938. Cocky Wright has been Pete Stone’s friend since they first met on a baseball field, a couple of kids with skinned knees, lots of moxie, and not much else. Now Cocky is dead, Cocky’s wife and daughter are in danger, and shady characters are after something Cocky was hiding. Was Pete’s friend dealing secrets to the German American Bund? Was his friend really out to threaten the safety of the country?

Accident or murder? Pete Stone is searching for the truth, once again, and he must solve the puzzle before his pal’s reputation is tarnished forever.

Books 1 and 3 of the series were recognized as Kansas Notable titles. The first book of the series, To Leave a Shadow, received the designation in 2015, and the third, All Hallows’ Shadows, was named to the list in 2021. All Hallows’ Shadows was also the recipient of the 2020 J. Donald Coffin Memorial Book Award by the Kansas Authors Club, and it was a Midwest Book Award Finalist. The series is set in 1930s Wichita, the character of Pete Stone a memorial to the author’s grandfather.

Shadows and Sorrows, by Michael D. Graves

Book 4 in the Pete Stone Private Investigator Series
Published by: Meadowlark Press, Emporia, KS
April 2022
ISBN paperback: 978-1-956578-03-4
ISBN Kindle Edition: 978-1-956578-09-6

December 4 Book Launch Invitation - Brenda Leigh White (D2)

11/30/2021

You are invited

The book launch for Brenda Leigh White’s collection of poetry, Blue Collar Saint, will be held at Twin Rivers Winery, 627 Commercial, Emporia, Saturday, December 4, 4:00-6:00pm. The author, along with friends and supporters, will share work from Brenda’s collection followed by a short open mic opportunity for attendees.

White is a native of Emporia, Kansas, but her heart resides on the family farm in Morris County. Her most favorite place in Kansas is the woods and creek on the farm. There she has seen snakes fishing in a puddle and found a baby western box turtle at the natural spring feeding into the creek. She has had poetry published in Quivira and The Flint Hills Review. What she loves most about living in Kansas is the beauty of the flint hills and the state motto, ad astra per aspera, “to the stars through difficulties.”

Cheryl Unruh, Kansas Notable author, says, “With unapologetic honesty and a masterful use of language, Brenda Leigh White, in Blue Collar Saint, cycles through whimsy, curiosity, and harsh reality. Always questioning the world around her, White writes with sharpness, clarity, and wit, leaving the reader alternately gutted and longing for more.”

Emporia poet Kerry Moyer says, “The verses in Blue Collar Saint were born on the assembly line, in the working-class spaces and places of this poetic traveler’s journey. White shares her scars and lays bare a resilience rooted in wit, intelligence, and strength. This is a fine collection, from an authentic new voice in Kansas poetry.”

Blue Collar Saint is available for order through meadowlark-books.square.site and may be ordered through any bookseller. Learn more at www.meadowlark-books.com.

D2 Member, Cheryl Unruh, Book Launch Event in Emporia

11/9/2021

Emporia, KS--Flyover People essayist Cheryl Unruh, takes the stage for a literary celebration, complete with reading and book signing as Meadowlark Press releases Unruh’s new memoir, Gravedigger’s Daughter: Vignettes from a Small Kansas Town, at Lyon County History Center on Saturday, November 13 at 1:00pm.

An array of regional books will be available for purchase, including other titles by Unruh, as well as books published by Meadowlark Press.

Unruh’s memoir details a small-town childhood as the daughter of a carpenter-father, who also happens to be the town cemetery caretaker. As Cheryl grows, so does her comprehension of her father’s particular maladies, a skin-condition that is not discussed by the family, as well as his struggles with depression. Presented in short vignettes, Gravedigger’s Daughter introduces Unruh’s father from a child’s eye view, and then via observations and interactions that take us through Unruh’s adolescence to adulthood. Divided into three parts, the book covers Unruh’s childhood in Pawnee Rock, her father’s middle-age years when she lived away, and his later years.

Unruh grew up in the town of Pawnee Rock in central Kansas, population 400, in the 1960s and 70s. “The stories, or vignettes, are poem-shaped, but each captures a moment in time. I see each one as a snapshot,” Unruh says. “While I will never be able to relate the entirety and complexity of a life, I hope that some of my dad’s weird and wonderful personality shines through.”

From Laura Moriarty, author of The Chaperone: “With Gravedigger’s Daughter, Cheryl Unruh has created something so fresh and inviting—a memoir in lean vignettes. Each is moving on its own, and also part of a compelling portrait of a childhood in an isolated town with a dwindling population. Unruh’s details are too specific for sentimentalism, but places and people are observed with a loving gaze that also feels wise and honest. Her father, especially, emerges as both haunted and quietly heroic. What a beautiful book.”

Fans of Cheryl’s two previous collections of vivid Kansas essays, Flyover People (2011 KS Notable Book) and Waiting on the Sky (2015 KS Notable Book), and Walking on Water, her collection of poetry, will delight in this memoir. Unruh hopes that the book will inspire readers to write their own stories “whether they write for their own pleasure or choose to share their stories with family and friends or perhaps even go on to publish their writing.” Unruh will be scheduling a series of memoir writing workshops starting in the spring of 2022.

Gravedigger’s Daughter is available for order through meadowlark-books.square.site and may be ordered through any bookseller. Learn more at www.meadowlark-books.com.

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Three Members Make 2020 Midwest Book Awards Finalists list

4/27/2021

Three Kansas Authors Club members were named finalists in the 31st annual Midwest Book Awards. The awards program, which is organized by the Midwest Independent Publishers Association (MiPA), recognizes quality independent publishing in the Midwest.

Michael D. Graves, District 2, made the Fiction: Mystery/Thriller list with All Hallows' Shadows, the 3rd book of the Pete Stone, Private Investigator series.

Jerilynn Jones Henrikson, District 2, made the Fiction: Young Adult list with A Time for Tears.

Julie Stielstra, District 6, made the Fiction: Young Adult list with Opulence, Kansas.

All three titles are published by Meadowlark Press of Emporia, Kansas, owned by Tracy Million Simmons (D2).

The 31st annual Midwest Book Awards was open to books published and copyrighted in 2020 in MiPA’s 12-state Midwestern region: Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, North Dakota, Ohio, South Dakota and Wisconsin.

This year’s competition garnered 241 entries in 35 categories, submitted by 74 independent publishers and judged by a panel of nearly one hundred librarians and booksellers from throughout the Midwest.

Historically, an awards gala is held in Minneapolis to announce the winners, but this year, as in 2020, winners will be announced and celebrated online, first in a Zoom webinar open to MiPA members and finalists, and shortly thereafter in a social media premiere that can be shared with friends and family. A period of book giveaways and winner highlights will accompany the social media premiere.

“This shift to celebrating online has enabled us to engage with a larger publishing community throughout the Midwest,” said Jennifer Baum, executive director of MiPA. “The number of entries received in 2020 grew by about 25% compared to the prior year, which can be attributed to our greater online presence.”

Following the conclusion of the gala celebrations, winners will be encouraged to participate in MiPA’s second season of the Virtual Reading Series, a limited series launched last year on MiPA’s YouTube channel.

Finalist books will also be for sale in MiPA’s affiliate shop on Bookshop.org, a website that shares proceeds with independent booksellers. Buyers can opt to select which independent store will receive the commission, or to leave it in a general pool to be distributed among independent booksellers.

For a complete list of finalists, visit www.mipa.org/midwest-book-awards. Follow @MIPAMidwestBookAwards on Facebook for updates on the gala’s social media premiere and book giveaways.

More Than Words, by Kevin Rabas, District 2 Member

3/20/2021

At 7 p.m. on March 27, Meadowlark Press will be hosting a virtual book launch event, and you're invited! Kevin will read from the collection and will be answering your questions and chatting it up with you. Register for the event at tinyurl.com/MTWbooklaunch

A book supersedes being a simple collection of words when a poet gets a hold of them. More Than Words by Kevin Rabas is an intimate collection of poetry and micro-fiction that takes a conscientious look inward and closely around us through stages of growing up, connecting with music, navigating romance, interacting with nature, and persisting through social and personal maladies.

As Kansas Poet Laureate Emeritus, Rabas’s expertise and passion shows. He can write a poem about anything, and this collection displays his versatility. Each page is a surprise, with some poems educating the reader on historic jazz saxophonist Charlie “Bird” Parker and other poems ruminating on contemporary social and political issues, such as the death of George Floyd and the COVID-19 pandemic. Rabas is creatively invigorated by everything from questions about our places in life to working from home.

Rabas often finds inspiration in conversation, such as in an exchange about beekeeping between him and his father. Conversations between lawyers and jazz drummers, bullies and the bullied, and a boy and his crushes let the reader live vicariously through some of the worst, best, and creative experiences these characters have.

Each poem and sketch guarantee a clever turn of phrase, strong imagery, and clear language. Rabas uses his jazz background to channel the direct, concise percussiveness of language. The pieces in this collection span the entire scale of literal to metaphorical, always leaving something more to think about at the end. With bite-size poems and prose sketches, this is the perfect book to read in one sitting or in pieces, whenever you need a little inspiration to look at the world in a fresh way.

"What do I need to know about ordering the book?"
All you need to know is that the book is available for preorder for at the Meadowlark Bookstore NOW!
All preorders will receive an extra special additional free, hand-made chapbook containing 16 new, unpublished Kevin Rabas poems.

We want to help you share your writing news!

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.

Kansas Authors Club Members Highlight the Birdy Poetry Prize, March 13 Event

3/1/2021

District 1 member, Ruth Maus, and District 2 member, Brian Daldorph, will be featured poets at the Birdy Poetry Prize Virtual Readings and 2021 Winner & Finalist Announcement. Meadowlark Press invites all Kansas Authors Club members to attend.

6 p.m. (CST) | March 13 | via Zoom

Please join us in celebrating the 2019, 2020, and 2021 winners and finalists of the Birdy Poetry Prize! Our illustrious Birdy authors--Carol Kapaun Ratchenski (A Certain Kind of Forgiveness), Ruth Maus (Valentine), JC Mehta (Selected Poems 2000-2020), and Brian Daldorph (Kansas Poems)--will each be reading pieces from their books.

To top it off, the 2021 Birdy winner and finalist will be announced for the first time ever, live!

Register for the event at tinyurl.com/birdypoetryprize.

The Birdy Poetry Prize is an annual full-length poetry manuscript competition that draws a large variety of poetic voices and subjects. This event showcases six of those voices, with readings from 2019, 2020, and 2021 winners and finalists.

The event will be recorded and shared on the Meadowlark website (www.meadowlark-books.com), YouTube page (Meadowlark Press), and Facebook page (Meadowlark Press, LLC).

2019 & 2020 Birdy books are available for purchase at the Meadowlark Bookstore.

The books are also available for purchase through your favorite bookstores.

To stay up-to-date on the publications of the 2021 winner and finalist, please subscribe to our newsletter at the Meadowlark website.

We look forward to seeing you at the event, and we appreciate your support!

District 5 extends Invitation to attend February Meeting

2/6/2021

You are invited to a Zoom meeting.

When: Feb 13, 2021 01:30 PM Central Time (US and Canada)

Register in advance for this meeting:
https://us02web.zoom.us/meeting/register/tZUqc-yopjwoHN2ioy00kkxQgCeOpVsOReY9

After registering, you will receive a confirmation email containing information about joining the meeting.

Indie Publisher Meadowlark Press Presents Lessons Learned for Independent Authors

Tracy Million Simmons will introduce Meadowlark Press and share an overview of Meadowlark's model of publishing, including a review of today's tools of the trade. Tracy will share tips and tricks for navigating the quickly changing world of print-on-demand, including time for Q&A.

Tracy is an amazingly productive publisher and gives generously of her time to Kansas Authors Club. Her presentation will be invaluable for anyone writing and seeking to see their writing in print!

Bring paper or computers to do some writing if there is time after Tracy’s presentation.

Join us for the regular monthly meeting of D5 on Zoom, Saturday, February 13 at 1:30. Contact D5 president, Connie White, if you have questions.

D2 Member Poetry Book RElease Upcoming

1/21/2021

University of Kansas Professor, Poet Releases New Book About Life in Kansas

Kansas Poems by Brian Daldorph
ISBN (print) 978-1-7362232-0-8 Pages: 100 Paperback: $12.00

Emporia, KS – Kansas Poems “is a poetry of place and microhistory, which nonetheless transcends the people and events it tells about . . . And while I’ve never been to Kansas, I now feel that I might have—or at least that there is a Kansas of my mind, a place of lakes and fireflies and small lives.” –Laura Chalar, author of Unlearning and Midnight at the Law Firm

Brian Daldorph’s eighth full-length collection of poetry is a tribute to his adopted state, Kansas, where he has lived through the four seasons year by year, in Lawrence.

Daldorph is originally from England and had made a home for himself here through his teaching at the University of Kansas and at the Douglas County Jail. He is also the editor of Coal City Review.

Kansas poetry blooms in these pages, not only poems set in Lawrence, Linwood, Garden City, and Coffeyville, but also in the more mythological locations of Stony Creek Cemetery, Brook Creek Park, Oak Hill Cemetery and Stull, which, legend has it, is one of the gates of Hell.

These are poems about Kansas people: a Vietnam vet still angry at the government who betrayed him; undertaker Zeke Haskins, looking out of his office window at his dying small town. The football coach’s wife who fears that her husband will recruit their sons for the sport he loves.

There are ghost stories here, jail visits, love stories and break ups, a Kansas story about Brown Recluse spiders and Black Widows “waiting in outhouses and dreams with that one bite/ to freeze your limbs and jam your lungs . . .”

Kansas Poems was chosen as the finalist for the 2020 Birdy Poetry Prize contest. To celebrate, Daldorph and Meadowlark Press will be hosting a free, public virtual book launch via Zoom at 6 p.m. on February 5. The event is particularly meaningful, as it specially recognizes the 100th birthday of Daldorph’s mother, who passed in 2015. Please register for the event at: tinyurl.com/kspoemsregistration.

Daldorph will do a second, shorter reading of Kansas Poems with the winner of the 2020 Birdy Poetry Prize, JC Mehta, on March 13, along with the winner and finalist of last year’s contest, Carol Kapaun Ratchenski (A Certain Kind of Forgiveness) and Ruth Maus (Valentine).

Kansas Poems is available for order at: meadowlark-books.square.site/ and wherever you buy books.

October Book Release! Setting the Waves on Fire by Arlice Davenport, D5 member

10/12/2020

Press Release
Virtual Launch Scheduled for Wichita Author’s Debut Book of Poetry
Emporia, KS - Setting the Waves on Fire, by Arlice W. Davenport, is the newest book of poetry released by Meadowlark Press. The book retails for $15 and is now available to order. The launch event will take place via Zoom on October 14 at 7:00pm. Attendees are invited to sign up at www.meadowlark-books.com.

Of Davenport’s poetry collection, Roy Beckemeyer, Kansas Authors Club multi-year Poet of the Year, writes, “This is poetry of intellectual breadth built on a foundation of honest emotional depth. I encourage you to take up this book and read, to follow Davenport’s best advice: “Your heart is bruised, bleeding / drops of unrequited love. / The viscera of your body / tighten like a noose. You could slide // your head into it, if you choose, / . . . Love flees / like a deer bounding in a forest. / You are too broken to give chase . . . /. . . Let poems be your new heart. // It will not bleed.”

Davenport, a lifelong Wichitan, is the retired Travel editor and Books Page editor for The Wichita Eagle.

Setting the Waves on Fire (ISBN 978-1734247770) is available to order from the Meadowlark Books web-store at www.meadowlark-books.com, and for order through all online and traditional book outlets.
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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.