Category: Member News

2021 Year End News from D1 Member, Duane L. Herrmann

1/4/2022

During the months of Nov & Dec, Duane L Herrmann accomplished:

five responses to prompts by Carrot Ranch
six responses to prompts by Adirandack Center for Writing
Two short stories-one on Literary Yard (website) and one in the book US/THEM.
Five short memoirs were published: three in It Wasn't Funny Then, and two on Page & Spine (website).
Seventeen individual poems in seven places.
Five poems in two micro chapbooks at origamipoems.com, one in English the other German.

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.

D1 Member, Duane L. Herrmann, Publication News

7/14/2021

The Origami Poems Project has selected Herrmann's collection of six poems, entitled: Lunar Locus, to be published as one of their micro-chap (books). These are formatted to be printed on one sheet of 8.5x11 paper, double sided and, if folded properly (and cut on one certain fold), become a micro-chap (book). This is Herrmann's second publication with them, the first was, In Praise of Prairies in 2017. The release date has not yet been determined, but sometime in 2021.

A short story, based on the experience of a friend, has just been published by Literary Yard, out of India.
"My God ! What a surprise, how expertly, you can turn a simple incident (very much familiar to me), into such an interesting and spell binding story," the friend said after reading the story.

District 1 Shares Recording of March Program by Carol Yoho

3/25/2021

Enjoy this program by Carol Yoho, District 1 member, on graphic arts for book covers.

Membership in Kansas Authors Club gets you tickets to programs like this, and more. Anyone interested in writing is welcome to become a member. Additional programs are archived on the "members only" portion of our website.

Call for Newsletter Articles: Deadline March 22

3/13/2021

The first KAC newsletter of 2021 will be available digitally and will be mailed on April 2. We need member submissions by 3/22. We want to add some articles and are specifically looking for pieces about the KAC writing contests, especially ones that would encourage others to enter. Please send questions and/or submissions to member Curtis Becker.

President Duane Johnson Profiled in Kaw Valley Senior Monthly

3/4/2021

Kansas Authors Club president, Duane Johnson, is profiled in the March edition of Kaw Valley Senior Monthly magazine (http://www.seniormonthly.net).

Taking note of the fact that March is both spirituality month and optimism month, KVSM editor Kevin Groenhagen searched Google and came upon an old story in which Johnson had described himself as a spiritual optimist.
Although spiritual optimism, as interpreted by Johnson is the primary focus, part of the story mentions Kansas Authors Club and our virtual conference last fall.

Member News from Duane L. Herrmann, District 1

3/4/2021

Duane Herrmann reports more poetry publications. Congratulations, Duane!

Six poems beginning on p.76 of Hawaii Review.

Two of my poems will be in: Iris 1.4 – "I Didn't Know," and "Wanting to be Dead"

"The Short of it," several short pieces, prose and poetry,
reblogged on: The Reluctant Poet, some of which will be included in the print anthology of last year's postings.

Just Place Chapbook, the poem "Miles and Miles"

Six of my poems have appeared in the print anthology, To The Newspaper Again, from Poet's Choice (Mumbai, India), which just arrived.

And, two more poems were published in the first issue of the 2021 Quarterly of the Topeka Genealogical Society.

Annual Meeting to be Held via ZOOM

10/6/2020

All members are invited to our Annual Meeting. It will take place via ZOOM on Saturday, October 10, at 10:30 am. A link has been emailed to each member via the kansasauthorsclub email.

Note: a state board meeting will take place via that same ZOOM link at 9:00 am on Saturday, October 10.

Kansas Authors Club Receives Grant from The Literary Arts Emergency Fund

10/2/2020

Sept. 15, 2020 - President Duane Johnson is pleased to announce that the Kansas Authors Club was selected as a recipient of The Literary Arts Emergency Fund grant, awarded by by the Academy of American Poets, the Community of Literary Magazine & Presses, and the National Book Foundation. Johnson applied for the grant when it became apparent that, due to COVID-19 restrictions, the in-person, annual convention would not be able to take place as usual.

Johnson spearheaded a committee of four to train to host the convention online. With Curtis Becker, Tracy Million Simmons, and Carol Yoho, the organization's October convention will take place virtually, via Zoom webinars, for the first time.

Kansas Authors Club was one of 282 literary organizations that received funding from this grant. The funds are provided to support the software licensing, support services, and training the committee has undergone to bring the convention to members throughout the state of Kansas and beyond.

More about the award can be found at The Literary Hub.

Deadline Reminder for Current Members

9/16/2020

We are currently taking member literary contributions for the 2021 Kansas Authors Club yearbook. Get your entry submitted by October 15 to reserve your page.

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.

Submit Today

Member Jeff Broome, D6, publishes book of essays on the central plains indian war

8/23/2020

Indian Raids and Massacres Essays on the Central Plains Indian War (Caxton Press, September 2020) covers incidents in Kansas, Colorado, and Nebraska from 1864-1870.

Each chapter is a story unto itself and the book can be read in any order as well as from beginning to end.

There are two sides to these violent events, and, while the focus is on the Euro-American perspective, the contrary perspective of the Native American is also presented. Jeff relies on primary-source documents usually ignored by other authors, but more than that, he carefully sorts out all documents relating to each chapter, while carefully applying critical thinking skills to arrive at the probable truth of each event. Untapped Indian depredation claims housed in Washington, DC give the reader a deeper understanding of the terrors of Indian raids, especially when experienced by new settlers to the region. What emerges represents a bold and new history not found in other published accounts. These chapters reflect more than 20 years of Jeff’s research and writing on the Central Plains Indian War.

This is Jeff’s fourth book on incidents occurring in the Central Plains Indian war. Jeff is a 5th generation Coloradan, but lived in Salina for four years, graduating from St. John’s Military School. He received an MA at Baylor University and a PhD at CU, Boulder, both in philosophy. For the past four years he has resided in Beulah, Colorado. He is a member of the 6th District of the Kansas Authors Club and spoke at the Salina convention in 2017.

The softcover is available next week and the hardcover two or three weeks after that. Caxton Press is offering a new book discount (discount not available on Amazon) and can be ordered at the website of Caxton Press, under New Releases. They are taking orders now for both editions. www.caxtonpress.com/

Additionally, if one wants to purchase a signed and, if requested, inscribed copy, email Jeff for details:

We want to help you share your writing news!

District 6 Publishes Anthology

8/16/2020

Anthology 2020: A Collection of Work from Kansas Authors Club District 6, is about to be published. 29 Writers with 49 Literary Pieces, Poetry & Prose, Fiction & Non-Fiction,100 pages.

Pre-orders taken until Sept.1st. Special Pricing for KAC Members. Recommended Donation $10 (plus S/H). Contact Jim Potter - or 620-899-3144

all members invited to join the D5 virtual july meeting

7/2/2020

We've all been spending a lot more time at home these past few months. What have you been doing during that time? Choose one or two activities and write a SHORT bit of prose or poetry (2-3 minutes) to share with District 5 members at our July meeting, which will start promptly at 1:30 p.m. on Saturday, July 11, on Zoom. Your writing prompt is "What I did on my 2020 Staycation."

It's easy to join us. Just download the free Zoom application (if you don't already have it) by going to zoom.us.

You who are members of districts other than D5 need to request the Zoom link from Connie White, President of D5, by e-mailing her at craepa@cox.net. She will confirm your KAC membership and then send your invitation and the Zoom link.

3-volume Africa Memoir published by District 7 member

6/4/2020

District 7 member, Mark G. Wentling’s new book, Africa Memoir: 50 Years, 54 Countries, One American Life is available through preorders.

Mark Wentling attended Wichita State University. In 1967 he became a Peace Corps Volunteer and served for two years in Honduras. In 1970, he obtained his bachelor’s degree from WSU and continued as a PCV in Togo in 1970. Beginning in late 1973 he was an Associate Director for the Peace Corps in Togo. He then served as the Peace Corps Director in Gabon and Niger.

In 1977, he began working for the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) in Niger and later served as its principal officer in Guinea, Togo/Benin, Angola, Somalia and Tanzania. Following retirement from the U.S. Senior Foreign Service in 1996, Mark continued to work as an advisor for the Great Lakes Region, then with USAID Missions in Zambia, Malawi, Guinea and Senegal.

He subsequently worked with CARE, World Vision and Plan International in Niger, Mozambique and Burkina Faso. In recent years, he has worked in Ghana, Mali and Angola. His many jobs and travels in Africa, visiting all 54 African countries, contributed to the completion of his latest book, Africa Memoir: 50 Years, 54 Countries, One American Life. Those who know him well say he was born and raised in Kansas but made in Africa.

Mark has published a number of professional articles over the years on Africa's development predicament, as well as three previous books: Africa's Embrace (2013), Africa's Release (2014) and Africa's Heart. In 2017, he published Dead Cow Road: Life on the Front Lines of an International Crisis. This book was awarded by Peace Corps Writers the annual Maria Thomas fiction award in 2018. In 2019, he published Blue Country, which draws on his experiences as a PCV in Honduras in 1967-1969.

Mark currently maintains a home in Lubbock, Texas, but he continues to travel frequently to Africa to work. He has also designed a course in international development for Texas Tech University. He holds a master’s degree in International Agriculture from Cornell University and a master’s degree in Strategic Studies from the National War College. In 2014, he was awarded by the WSU Alumni Association its annual alumni achievement award.

WE WANT TO 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.

Congratulations to D5 member, Gretchen Cassel Eick

5/4/2020

Gretchen Cassel Eick's latest book will be published by the University of Nevada Press fall 2020. They Met at Wounded Knee: The Eastmans' Story is a history and double biography acclaimed by Philip Deloria, Professor of Harvard's Native American and Indigenous Studies Department. Deloria writes "They Met at Wounded Knee brilliantly tells the story of one of the most intriguing couples in American history. Gretchen Eick surehandedly demonstrates the ways that individual lives reveal the structural dilemmas of settler colonialism, representational politics, and the painful entanglements of race, class, and gender."

Eick is the author of Dissent in Wichita: The Civil Rights Movement in the Midwest, 1954-72 (University of Illinois Press, 2001/2007) and four novels (Maybe Crossings, Finding Duncan, The Hard Verge: Britain, 2025, and The Set Up, 1984: Britain's Biggest Drug Bust, Classified until 2064 (forthcoming 2020).

Invitation to Submit:

5/3/2020

Gretchen Eick, District 5 member, has sent the following invitation to writers--

Dear Writer:

Cora Poage and Gretchen Eick are working on a book project we thought you might want to participate in. We are preparing an anthology of short pieces on death. We think that in this time of pandemic cultures like many of those in the US are totally overwhelmed in large part because they deny death and have little to no experience with it other than in violent television shows and movies.

We want to assemble “takes” on death in a variety of genres: poetry, meditation, self-help, short stories, flash fiction, memories, and insights from personal experiences, from people who work in the death business (mortuaries, hospice, clergy (rabbis, priests, imams, pastors), and from counselors (spiritual, financial and psychological). We want a mix of races, religions, ages, subcultures represented.

Might you have something you have written you are willing for us to consider? Or is your muse prodding you to write something you might share?

Obviously, we will not be able to publish all submissions we receive. We are working with a small press, Blue Cedar Press. We envision a book of 150-200 pages. We invite you to submit your contribution by the end of June to bluecedarpress@gmail.com with “Death Project” in the subject line. Please send it in a Word document. Feel free to encourage others to submit, too.

There will be no profits to us, to the press, or any of the writers whose selections are included. Any profit from this project will be donated to Doctors without Borders who are working on the frontlines in regions of the globe that are about to be hit by the COVID-19 virus.

Thank you for considering this request.
Stay safe and look for the opportunities that reside in this moment.
Keep writing!

Gretchen Eick, professor of history emerita and author, eickgc@gmail.com

Cora Poage, spiritual counselor and life coach, cora@corapoage.com

PS: Please submit by the end of June.

District 7 sponsors contest: May 1 to August 15 entry period

4/26/2020

Note that this contest is in addition to the state contest. It is not the same contest. All writers living in Kansas are invited to enter, as are Kansas Authors Club members who live in other states.

Contact Person:
Sheryl Brenn
892 County Road O
Levant, KS 67743
e-mail

News Release:
District 7 of the Kansas Authors Club is sponsoring a writing contest for all writers, 18 and older, living in Kansas or members of KAC living in another state. The contest runs from May 1 to August 15, 2020. You do NOT need to be a member of District 7 to enter the contest.

Writers should follow the Literary Contest rules on page 68 of the 2019 KAC Yearbook or can find these rules at https://kansasauthorsclub.weebly.com/adult-literary-contest-guidelines.html

The theme of the contest is “Writing (riding) Across Kansas”. Writers of Prose or Poetry are encouraged to follow the theme but do not have to adhere to it.

The fee for each entry is $5.00, Only typed copies will be accepted: do not send via e-mail. Prizes in the amount of $25, $15 and $10 will be awarded to first, second, and third place winners in both prose and poetry. Honorable Mention in each category will receive certificates.

Send entries to: Sheryl Brenn, 892 County Road O, Levant, KS, 67743 phone 785-586-2384. If you’d like your submissions returned, send a self addressed stamped envelope with the appropriate postage. You may send all your submissions in one envelope. Include a cover sheet listing your name and contact information. Do NOT have your name on your prose or poetry submission pages.

Invitation from District 5 to All members

4/13/2020

CALLING ALL KAC MEMBERS

This is a continuing invitation to any member of Kansas Authors Club to submit a poem or prose, any genre, maximum 500 words to our Covid-19 Quarantine Read-Around. Send your submission as an e-mail attachment to Connie Rae White, D5 President, and she will post it at the District 5 website for comments. Let's stay connected while we are staying at home.

Here are the rules:

500-word limit, any genre.
E-mail your entry as an attachment to Connie Rae White.
I will post the entries to this District 5 News and Events page for the read around.
If readers wish to comment, please do so below the entry. (This posting is new to me, so let me know if you have problems.)
Please keep comments kind. Sometimes one might have to "step on toes," but remember that we are all feeling stressed in the current situation.

So, come on authors, get the juices flowing. Now that I've learned how to post, send me your stories for the benefit of all of us.

~ Connie White, President, KAC District 5

KAC MEmber poem featured on KEn Hada podcast

4/7/2020

Ken Hada, the director of the Scissortail Creative Writing Festival (which was cancelled this year, it would have been this last weekend) and professor at East Central University in Ada, OK, does a weekly podcast called "The Sunday Poems," which are archived at his website. His podcast yesterday was about "walking" poems---or poems about walking---and he included the opening poem, "Along This Road," from my Robert Dean's new book, The Aerialist Will Not Be Performing. Dean's poem is the third in Episode 80: Walking Poems.

Congratulations, Robert Dean, District 5 member! And thank you to Ken Hada for a fine collection of podcasts.

The Aerialist Will not be performing, by robert L. Dean, Jr.

3/23/2020

D5 member Robert L. Dean, Jr., will be doing a reading from his new book, The Aerialist Will Not Be Performing (Turning Plow Press, 2020), at The Writers Place in Kansas City, Missouri, on Friday, June 19th, 2020, beginning at 7 PM, along with two other fine authors. Dean will be conducting a workshop on Ekphrastic writing the following day, Saturday, June 20th, 2020, from 11-2, also at The Writers Place, titled Finding the Door: writing ekphrastic and how to let yourself into the art.

The Aerialist Will Not Be Performing | IndieBound.org

Third Book of Detective Series set in 1930s Wichita is Released

3/20/2020

Emporia, KS – All Hallows’ Shadows, the third book of the Pete Stone, Private Investigator series, is the newest book by Kansas publisher, Meadowlark Books. The book retails for $16.98 and is now available for order.

Author Michael D. Graves (District 2 KAC member) created the character of Pete Stone as a memorial to his grandfather. The first book, To Leave a Shadow, published in 2015, took Graves by surprise when it was recognized as a 2016 Kansas Notable Book. Book 2, Shadow of Death, was released in 2017. The third book, released this month, comes just in time for a debut at the Iola Reads celebration, where To Leave a Shadow was chosen by the organizers in Iola, Kansas, to be the community read book.

Though the character of Pete Stone is fictional, the stories are set in an historically accurate 1930s Wichita. In book 3, Stone has been hired by a Wichita university professor to prove that the suspect in a recent murder investigation is innocent. While Stone begins to suspect the professor and his motives, additional murders bring to the surface clues that suggest the killer isn’t finished.

In the writing of the novels, Graves enjoys placing clues and mementos from his own story. Graves was born in Wichita, and his father is the model for Rusty, the paperboy who makes an appearance in all three novels, and the green bike that Rusty rides is a tip of the hat to Mike’s first published book, Green Bike. Graves enjoys exploring Wichita, studying locations for the Pete Stone novels. He has spent countless hours in Wichita libraries, both public and the university, gathering details for his novels.

Meadowlark books are available to order through any traditional bookstore and online book outlets. Books can also be purchased directly from the authors and from Meadowlark’s web-store at
www.meadowlark-books.square.site
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