Kids and grown up of all ages enjoyed the story and the art!
Ann Vigola Anderson, D2 member, and artist, Sara Long, had a wonderful event for The Adventures of Bottle Calf at Volland-the place for art and music, in the Flint Hills, Sunday, March 3. Kids and grown up of all ages enjoyed the story and the art!
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Tracy Million Simmons has been a member of Kansas Authors Club since 2000 where she joined as a D7 member from her then-home near Dodge City. She has been an active member of D1 (while residing in Topeka) and D2 (while residing in Emporia) and has served the club on the district and state level in a variety of capacities, starting with prose contest chair in 2004. She was the yearbook editor from 2006-2016, produced the newsletter for several years, became Assistant Financial Secretary 2017-2019, Financial Secretary 2018-2020, State Vice President in 2021, and State President in 2022. Tracy became the club's first (quarter-time) paid manager in 2022. In short, Tracy believes in the power of the literary community of Kansas and is proud to be associated with this 120 year-old organization.
Tracy celebrates a twenty-year freelance career spanning many aspects of the written word, from helping entrepreneurs with newsletters, marketing materials, and website design, to publishing more than 500 articles and essays in niche to national publications. She worked as an editor and on layout and design for assorted small press publishers and book packagers. She is the author of Tiger Hunting, the 2013 J. Donald Coffin Memorial Book Award winner from the Kansas Authors Club, and A Life in Progress and Other Short Stories. As the founder of Meadowlark Press (established 2014), Tracy has worked with more than 40 authors publishing books of poetry and prose, including five Kansas notable titles. Meadowlark is the home of the Birdy Poetry Prize and 105 Meadowlark Reader, a Kansas journal of creative nonfiction. Each month on 2nd Tuesdays, District 3 & 4 members have been gathering on ZOOM to share their written work. You are invited! The featured reader in February is Duane Johnson (Topeka member and former state president, 2020-21). Duane will be reading poems from his 2022 award-winning chapbook. After the featured reader, attendees are invited to share their own work (prepare for reading 3-4 minute excerpts, please). Updated: This event has been moved to March Save the date: Tuesday, March 14, 7pm Members Nila Jean Spencer (Maryland), Tracy Million Simmons, Kris Polansky, Duane Johnson, Vickie Guillot, James Kenyon, and Nancy Julien Kopp met in January on Zoom for an Open Mic. Districts 3 & 4 began hosting this 2nd Tuesday meeting in 2021. All members of Kansas Authors Club are invited to attend. Please take a moment to thank the officers who have shared their time and talent with writers across the state of Kansas and beyond. The following individuals served on our 2022 State Board. Tracy Million Simmons, President Emporia, Kansas Tracy Million Simmons enjoys writing about the people and places of her home state of Kansas, both real and imagined. Her writing resume includes more than 500 articles in print, from feature articles in national and niche publications to ghostwritten material for busy health professionals. She has worked with small press and book packagers on everything from book layout and design to editing. She is a past mini-fellowship winner from the Kansas Arts Commission and has been an honorable mention in the Kansas Voices contest (Winfield). Tracy is the author of Tiger Hunting (a novel) and A Life in Progress (short stories, fiction). Tracy is the founder of Meadowlark Press, an independent publisher that focuses on stories and authors from the heartland. The press is the home of The Birdy Poetry Prize (since 2019) and 105 Meadowlark Reader: A Kansas Journal of Creative Nonfiction. Tracy joined Kansas Authors Club in 2000. She has been a member and has served in various offices of Districts 7, 1, and 2. Tracy produced the Kansas Authors Club yearbook from 2006-2016. She has also served as Prose Contest Chair (2004), Newsletter Editor (2007-2010), Assistant Financial Secretary (2017-19), Financial Secretary (2018-20), and State Vice President (2021). In 2022, as well as fulfilling the role of president, Tracy served as the club’s first paid part-time manager. Monica Graves, Financial Officer Emporia, Kansas Monica Graves is the Director of Dental Assisting and Division Chair of Health & Human Services at Flint Hills Technical College in Emporia, Kansas. She was recognized as a Distinguished Alumna of FHTC in 2017. Monica writes engaging stories about her upbringing in the rural Flint Hills where she lived with her parents, five sisters, one brother, and a couple of aunts in a farmhouse furnished with one bathroom and lots of love. Monica has been published in 105 Meadowlark Reader. She has been a member of Kansas Authors Club since 2015. Monica makes her home in Emporia with her husband, Michael D. Graves, author of the Pete Stone Private Detective series. Mike and Monica currently sponsor the First Chapter of a Book category of the annual literary contest. Cathy Callen, Secretary Lawrence, Kansas Cathy Callen graduated from the University of Texas at Austin with a bachelor's degree in English and elementary education, and from the University of Kansas with a master's degree in early childhood special education. She also attended the Kansas City Art Institute for two years, majoring in photography. Cathy spent her career with Topeka Public Schools as a teacher and later as coordinator of the district’s preschool special education program. Cathy has had poetry published in Inscape, a publication of Washburn University, and in Tallgrass Voices, a publication of poems by members of the Kansas Authors Club, edited by Gary Lechliter. Her non-fiction article, “Reconstituting Allen,” appeared in the Fall/Winter 2012 edition of Connections, a journal published by the Indiana Historical Society. Her non-fiction article, “Magic Mondays,” appeared in the Summer 2013 edition of UU World, the magazine of the Unitarian Universalist Association of Congregations. Cathy’s article, “The Kansas City Daily Drovers Telegram and its leading role covering the livestock industry,” is included in the summer 2016 issue of the Jackson County (Missouri) Historical Society journal. In addition, she has written four books: Running out of Footprints (a family history), in 2013; Words in Rows, Poetry and Prose (a collection of poems and short prose), in 2016; Ginkgo Glen (a novel) in 2018; and Marble Shorts (essays) in 2022. Cathy has been a member of the Kansas Authors Club since 2008 and was KAC state treasurer for 6 of those years. Cathy resides in Lawrence, Kansas. Her website is: www.cathycallen.com Kristine A. Polansky, Vice President Manhattan, Kansas As a writer, Kris Polansky, is best known for her poems, four of which were published in Tallgrass Voices edited by Gary Lechliter. She experiments with various poetic forms, studying how content and form shape each other. She grew up in Western Kansas (short grass country), writing puppet plays and short stories. She took a fiction writing class from James Gunn at the University of Kansas and went on to teach middle school English and social studies ten years before returning to school, the Washburn University School of Law in Topeka, Kansas, where (she jokes) she learned to write creative nonfiction. She has been named KAC Poet of the Year three times, most recently October 2021. Her poem, “Turning Points” won the 2016 Martin Luther King, Jr. Art and Writing Contest, adult division, Manhattan, Kansas. She has served KAC for four years (2010-13) as Youth Contest Manager, 2021 as KAC Financial Secretary, and multiple years as District 4 Treasurer. She has also served as a judge for the youth contest.
Connie Rae White Merit Award for Service to the Club October 22, 2022 Nominated by Tracy Million Simmons, D2 (Emporia) Connie Rae White joined Kansas Authors Club in 2014 and has been leading, in my eyes, ever since. Connie has served the last two years as president of District 5. Prior to that she filled the office of secretary. In 2019, Connie helped organize our convention in Wichita. She also sat on the committee that produced our first virtual convention in 2021. When 2020 stopped our in-person meetings, Connie made no excuses. She got right to work finding a way to continue D5 meetings virtually. Connie never used fear of technology as an excuse. She signed up D5 for its first Zoom account and took the attitude of "I've got to learn these things," and learn she did. Connie also served as a member of the restructuring committee, always with an eye to the future of our organization. Connie has published children's books and a fascinating book called It's All Show Business, a story she collected while caring for a man named Lee in her profession as a nurse. Connie also works as a editor for hire. I nominate Connie Rae White for a merit award for service to the Kansas Authors Club. -Tracy Million Simmons, D2 Member (Emporia) Gretchen Eick Merit Award for Service to the Club October 22, 2022 Nominated by Tracy Million Simmons, D2 (Emporia) Gretchen Eick is an accomplished author, publisher, and educator. She joined our organization in 2016.
Gretchen has served District 5 as vice president and program manager. If you are curious, take a look at the terrific lineup of 2022 speakers on the D5 portion of our website. Gretchen service on the Committee to Restructure Kansas Authors Club, taking time out of a busy writing schedule to learn more about our organization. Gretchen's questions often brought about immediate improvement. Our website features several enhancements and/or clarifications that came about via discussions with Gretchen. I nominate Gretchen Eick for a merit award in service to Kansas Authors Club. -Tracy Million Simmons, D2 Member (Emporia) Gretchen Eick Merit Award for Service to the Club October 22, 2022 Nominated by Tracy Million Simmons Gretchen Eick is an accomplished author, publisher, and educator. She joined our organization in 2016.
Gretchen has served District 5 as vice president and program manager. If you are curious, take a look at the terrific line-up of speakers in 2022 on the D5 portion of the website. Gretchen served on the committee to restructure Kansas Authors Club, taking time out of a busy writing schedule to learn more about our organization and examine our processes and procedures. Gretchen's questions alone often brought about immediate improvements. Our website features several enhancements and/or clarifications that came about via discussions with Gretchen. I nominate Gretchen Eick for a merit award in service to the Kansas Authors Club. -Tracy Million Simmons, D2 member (Emporia) Tracy Million Simmons presented likely changes that will be happening with KAC in the next year and what KAC might look like in the years to come. She gave this information at the D5 meeting today. The link below is for the recording of that speech.
We are blessed to have Tracy Million Simmons presenting at the October 15 D5 meeting. She has a wealth of information and experience in writing. Not only is she grounded in KAC history, but she has won awards for her writing. Her novel Tiger Hunting won the Coffin Book Award in 2013. She worked professionally in publishing before forming her own press—Meadowlark Press. She is the publisher for 105 Meadowlark Reader, a journal by Kansas writers about Kansas which is published twice yearly. Tracy serves as manager of Kansas Authors Club for the KAC 2021-22 year. The club developed this paid position in hopes of finding ways to make our organization more effective. She will share how the year as KAC manager has gone, what she has learned, and how the organization’s more streamlined structure is working. District 5 meetings are available on Zoom or in person. In person meetings are held in the Fireside room at Asbury Church, 2801 W. 15th St., Wichita. Enter on the St. Paul Street side (southern most door). All meetings start at 1:30 pm. Tracy Million Simmons (state president) and Kristine Polansky (state vice president) were able to deliver books to and tour the Kenneth Spencer Research Library in May. The Kansas Authors Collection at Kenneth Spencer Research Library in Lawrence, includes the Kansas Authors Club Library. Memorabilia stored there, including books published by Kansas Authors Club members, has been collected by the club since 1907. The collection was initially housed at the home of George Morehouse, an officer of the club. In the 1920s and 30s, part of the collection was displayed at the Kansas Free State Fair in Topeka, and became a permanent display at the Mid-West Exposition, which became the Kansas State Fair. In intervening years, the collection was housed at the Salina Public Library and at the Topeka Women's Club. The club's arrangement with Spencer Research Library began began in 1986. Simmons and Polansky visited to clarify the arrangement. Books that have been submitted by members to the clubs book contests each year will be donated to the collection, as well as annual yearbooks and newsletters. This is a non-circulating collection, available for research and viewing upon request. History of the collection is detailed in Donald Stewart Pady's History of the Kansas Authors Club, 1904-2014 (page 99-102) The publication is available for online viewing by members on the "member pages" of this website and for purchase here. Carol Yoho (D1), Duane Johnson (D1 and 2020-21 State President), and Tracy Million Simmons (D2 and 2022 State President) finally managed to meet in person to celebrate a second successful virtual convention. (Click here for highlights from the 2021 Convention.) Missing: Thea Rademacher (D1). News for the 2022 Convention, to be held in person in Lawrence, Kansas, with a virtual component, is pending announcement... soon. Meanwhile, members can go ahead and reserve a hotel room and purchase advertising in the convention program. MEMBERS: Purchase a quarter page advertisement before July 8 for only $25! 2022 Convention
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