Program by:
Nancy Julien Kopp
Writing the Personal Essay, with a side light for poets.

(Important: The presentation will be followed by a quick assessment of plans for Districts 3 & 4 in the coming year, including the selection of officers for the coming year. ALL D3 and D4 members are encouraged to attend.)
 
Nancy is the author of Writer Granny’s World, a blog of tips and encouragement for writers—writergrannysworld.blogspot.com. She is a 20+ year member of the Kansas Authors Club and 2013 Prose Writer of the Year. She has been published in Chicken Soup for the Soul and many anthologies, newspapers, magazines, and ezines. A former teacher, Nancy continues to teach through the written word.

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.  

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.

Yvonne "Evie" Green, of D1, also has an essay in this anthology.

Congratulations to Nancy and Evie! 

District 4 member, Nancy Julian Kopp, sends the following news: 

"The Write Spot Forum asked to use one of my blog posts about 'crystallizing a moment' recently. Marlene Cullen is the host of this forum aimed at writers. You can read the post at TheWriteSpot.us."

Follow Nancy's writing advice at Writer Granny's World. Nancy's articles are also featured daily on the Kansas Authors Club Facebook page. ​

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. ​

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.

Note from Nancy:

"My story "Love on a Plate" was published in LifeStory Journal yesterday. Charley Kempthorne, a writer from KS who now resides in WA, is the editor. He welcomes submissions. This is a no pay but a nice monthly journal. You can read the story on p. 4 of the journal.

Note: A recipe is included in the story but two ingredients were accidentally omitted. If anyone tries it, please add 3/4 c. milk and 1 scant cup chopped dates or it may result in disaster!​

Nancy Julien Kopp, D4 Member, submits the following:

A story of mine published several years ago in The Big Book of Christmas Joy was published again this month in the LifeStory Journal edited by Charley Kempthorne.

The story is "The Best Christmas Present Ever" and is about the year I learned that it is far more exciting to give a gift than receive one. Fifth-grade experience.


Follow Nancy's writing advice at Writer Granny's World. Nancy's articles are also featured daily on the Kansas Authors Club Facebook page. 

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. ​

Note from Nancy: My story "Dinner at Bruna's" is featured in LifeStory Journal issue 255. Charley Kempthorne, former Manhattan resident and LifeStory instructor, publishes LifeStory Journal monthly. He is happy to receive submissions. Information to submit is found in each issue.

See The LifeStory Institute on Facebook

The LifeStory Institute website

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. ​

10 Year Members
Sylvia S. Colombo
Marilyn Hope Lake, Ph.D.
Louise Click
Jolene Haas
Dan Close
Victoria Hermes-Bond
Kenneth Neel Holler
Paula K. Nixon

Nancy Julien Kopp

Nancy joined Kansas Authors Club in 1999 and has been an active member of District 4 serving as secretary/ treasurer, president, and convention coordinator in various years. Nancy has been a frequent convention presenter of workshops and she maintains a blog, “Writer Granny's World,” where she posts daily columns filled with advice and tips for writers. Nancy also fills the role of contributor on the Kansas Authors Club Facebook page.

Nominated by Tracy Million Simmons, D2

Nancy Julien Kopp exemplifies Service, Achievement and Special Accomplishment. Any of the three awards would be appropriate. Her service to the writing community—and the Kansas Authors Club specifically—can be seen on a day-to-day basis via the encourage she gives to writers in her daily blog, WRITERGRANNYSWORLD.BLOGSPOT.COM which she generously shares through postings on the Kansas Authors Club Facebook page. In Manhattan, she will step in on a moment’s notice to moderate the Prairie Star Writing Group which meets at Meadowlark Hills. She is the KAC District 4 “Go-To” person when it comes to organizing district meetings and state conventions and she adds a graciousness to those events. When called upon to moderate a meeting or a banquet, she does so with kind efficiency, having put a lot of thought into the needs of the people producing and attending those events. She served as KAC District 4 President in 2014 and 2015 and as Treasurer in 2012 and 2013. She was Convention Coordinator in 2018, the year District 4 hosted the annual KAC convention. She has shared her writing expertise repeatedly by putting on workshops at numerous Kansas Authors Club conventions. And she has shown thoughtful consideration of various issues affecting the Kansas Authors Club.  She exemplifies service.

She leads by example. She writes and she writes and she writes. And she shares her writing. In addition to blogging since 2007, she has had pieces published in 22 Chicken Soup for the Soul books. She has won numerous KAC writing awards and was honored as Prose of Writer of the Year in 2013. It is time to honor Nancy Julien Kopp for her service and her many accomplishments, which is why I am nominating her for the 2019 Service Award and suggesting that she is a person to consider for the Achievement and Special Accomplishment Awards as well.

Nominated by: Kristine A. Polansky, D4