We are pleased to announce that Jenn Bailey, an award-winning children's book author, will be our keynote speaker for our 2024 convention. Jenn comes highly recomended and we look forward to hearing what she has to say about choosing our own writing adventure!

Lots of convention details have been added to the website. Please take a moment to review and share with your writing friends. We will be opening for registration on Monday, July 1! 

Friday evening, starts the convention with dinner, followed by ice breakers, show and tell, and s’mores for those who want to gather by the firepit. After a day of informative sessions, Saturday evening allows authors time to process what you learned, write, meet with friends, enjoy the grounds, or gather at the firepit. 

Saturday daytime and Sunday morning sessions cover many areas of the writing journey: storytelling, creativity, nonfiction, description, story starters, playwriting, journaling, blogging, poetry, historical fiction, dual timelines, revising, writing believable Kansas characters, and a panel discussion on the topic of collaboration. 

New in 2024: This year we will offer an add-on ticket to arrive Thursday afternoon. This is an unscheduled time for attendees to use as a writing retreat day.

Tickets and Housing: Both on-campus and off-campus tickets will be available, as well as virtual tickets for those who prefer to experience the convention from the comfort of their own homes. In addition to the lodge housing that attendees of the 2023 writing retreat enjoyed, private cottage rooms will be available for individuals and couples. Housing space on campus is limited and will be assigned in order that the registrations are received.

Seeking $1000, $500, and $250 level convention sponsors, and currently taking donations to build a convention scholarship fund.

• your logo on the website and the program as a convention sponsor,
• full-page print promotion for your press
• display space at the covnention = 1 table for $1000 sponsors and 1/2 table for $500 and $250 sponsors.

Donate to Kansas Authors ClubToday.

​Seeking Nominations for Awards of Merit, Service Awards, and Lifetime Achievement Recognition.

​Nominate members for service and achievement awards.
​
The nomination form is now online. Deadline: July 1

Member Linzi Garcia coordinated a five-week writing program with fifth-grade students as a board member of House of Morrow. Member Kevin Rabas was one of the classroom guests.

House of Morrow is excited to announce the inaugural launch of the Diverse Voices/Voces Diversas Literacy Program with the fifth-grade students at Walnut Elementary School!
 
Program Description:
House of Morrow is a local arts fund within the Emporia Community Foundation. It focuses on providing programs and services, primarily focused on the arts, to Emporia youth. House of Morrow Board Member Linzi Garcia, as well as specially invited local guest authors and artists, are currently leading a creative writing program designed to engage the fifth-grade students at Walnut Elementary in the art of creative writing using language in conventional and experimental ways, including with poetry, music, and visual art. This program emphasizes nurturing creativity, enhancing writing skills, fostering self-expression, and promoting personal and peer acceptance. 
                                   
Each student has been gifted a notebook and custom pen, provided by local printer, Chester Press, to use during this program and beyond.
 
Classroom guests included Poet Laureate of Kansas Emeritus Kevin Rabas, artist Deon Morrow, and theatre teacher Kacie Hastings.
 
At the end of this five-week program, an anthology of the students’ creative works from this time will be published by local book publisher, Meadowlark Press. This means each student will be a published author! Chester Press will print the book and partner with a Wichita company to bind it.
 
House of Morrow and Walnut Elementary will also host a book launch and reading event to celebrate the students’ creation. The event is free and open to the public. More details to come. Copies of the book will be gifted to students. The books will also be available for purchase, serving as a fundraiser for Walnut Elementary School and House of Morrow.
 
Funding this program is made possible in part by the United Way United for Racial Equity Grant. The grant, as well as House of Morrow funds, cover the cost of notebooks, pens, guest speaker compensation, book printing, and event supplies. House of Morrow extends a hearty thank you to United Way and to everyone who has donated to House of Morrow.
 
  
House of Morrow Mission:
Our goal is to assist underserved communities in Emporia through the cultivation of public art and services. We aim to positively impact the community by creating innovative programs for the youth and providing them with tools to make a difference in their lives. We strive to empower those in need and foster a sense of community through public service and art projects. Working together will create a better future for Emporia and its residents.
 
 
Linzi Garcia Bio:
Linzi Garcia lives in Emporia, where she serves as the publicist and poetry editor for Meadowlark Press and as a board member for House of Morrow. While earning her MA in creative writing from Emporia State University, she worked as the graduate assistant to Poet Laureate of Kansas Emeritus Kevin Rabas and as an editorial assistant with Bluestem Press and Flint Hills Review. During that time, she also worked as a composition professor at the university and a reporter for The Emporia Gazette. Linzi has facilitated over 50 community writing workshops and poetry readings across Kansas. She is the author of Thank You (Spartan Press, 2018) and co-author of Live a Great Story (Analog Submission Press, 2019) and While Away: Travel Poems (Spartan Press, 2022). Linzi is a recipient of a 2023 NextGen Under 30 Kansas Award in the arts category.
 
 
Deon Morrow Bio:
Deon Morrow, a passionate advocate for education, brings a wealth of experience and dedication to our literacy program. As an integral part of our school community, Deon is committed to creating an environment where students not only excel academically but also discover the joy of reading. With a background in educational leadership, Deon understands the importance of instilling a love for learning in our students. Deon is also a recipient of a 2024 NextGen Under 30 Kansas Award in the arts category.

​​​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.

This year their theme is “Voices from Our Backyard.” In light of the theme, they are looking for local authors who might be interested in exhibiting their books. Here is a link to the proposal site.
 
​
Call for local authors:
 
Creativity and expertise thrive in our own backyard, but too often we're looking at the grass on the other side of the fence. We learn from our colleagues, our students, local authors and artists. This year, the Kansas Association of Teachers of English would like to highlight experts and creatives from the Midwest. If you don't think of yourself as an "expert," don't worry! We'd still love to hear from you.

We are looking for local/KS/Midwest authors whose works are geared towards students, teachers, and classrooms across the education spectrum (pre-K - post-secondary). Proposal acceptance guarantees authors will be given table space to vend and sign their works, as well as network with educators from around the state. For each day at the conference, KATE requests one book be donated for the conference door prizes.

​​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.

Sean Purdue is an aspiring poet from Kansas City, Missouri. He was born and raised in Liberty, Missouri, and attended the University of Missouri - Kansas City (UMKC) to obtain a bachelor's degree in civil engineering. He is currently pursuing a master's degree in civil engineering from UMKC. Sean enjoys writing about the intersection of nature and mankind, the weather, and personal experiences.

You can also look for him on Instagram.

Diana (Giberson) Farthing is an author, poet, photographer, and retired Federal Aviation Administration manager.

She has lived in Topeka, Kansas, for eighteen years, in a 100-year-old home she renovated. She calls her home “The Breton Manor,” although definitely not a European-sized manor. Think of the movie, The Money Pit.

Diana has one grown child, a daughter, and two grandsons, who live a few miles from her.  She lives with one dog, a Champion Portuguese Podengo Pequeno, named Pepper.

She hopes to publish the first book of her Fantasy Trilogy soon. Plus, enter two short stories and a poem in the next contests. After retiring, Diana has been much happier having time to spend on her favorite obsessions: writing, reading, her camera, and traveling. Her love of books started very young, as her father frequently moved his family around the world and within the U.S. with his job in the oil industry. She based her life on fictional characters' experiences, lacking few social ties.

To support her love of books, Diana taught electronics and avionics communications in the Air Force, starting when she was 18. After the Air Force, she worked as a computer technician for Control Data Corporation. Then, she was an instructor teaching electronics, computers, and robotics for Control Data Institution, ITT, and Mt. San Antonio College, in Southern California. She finished the last 30 years of working in the FAA.

Diana recently created a new website, which is a lot different from the ones she built back in the late 1980s. She relates her new website to writing and shooting photos.

We are now accepting advertising for our 2024 convention. As with recent years, our event sponsors will enjoy the following:
  

• Ads will be displayed on the Kansas Authors Club website throughout the year (home page and convention page with links through to the advertiser’s website).

• Ads will be featured individually on Kansas Authors Club social media pages at least three times.

• Ads will be printed in the 2024 Convention Program.

• Ads received by August 1 will also be printed in the Writing from the Center Zine.

• Ads will be printed in the 2025 Kansas Authors Club yearbook and remain a part of the 2024 convention online archives.

Ad Creation Assistance Available: For $15 more, we will help you create your advertisement. Select "KAC Assistance" for your purchase option. 

June 15, 2024

Strategies for Knowing Your Audience

Presenter: Beth Gulley

Location: Broadcast via Zoom OR attend live at Johnson County Community College, CoLab, OCB100
12345 College Blvd. Overland Park, KS
Map
​

​EMPORIA, KANSAS. Dodge City native Robert Rebein’s debut novel, The Last Rancher, a family saga set in southwest Kansas, will be published by Emporia’s Meadowlark Press on June 7, 2024.
 
Giving voice to the contemporary American West, The Last Rancher follows one family’s quest to survive on the demanding and starkly beautiful High Plains. Doing so will require the Wagners of Sawlog Creek to come together as never before to face stark challenges in the present as well as the long and lingering shadows of a tragic past.
 
When a near-fatal accident befalls rancher Leroy Wagner on the eve of the annual wheat harvest, his daughter, Annie, a Ph.D. student in western New York, and her older brother, Michael, a Kansas City attorney, are summoned home to Dodge City and the Bar W Ranch. Their city-born mother, Caroline, and rebellious younger brother, Jimmy, join the effort to save the ranch and what remains of their family ties. Never far from any of their minds is the looming specter of Wade, first-born son and brother who died too young.
 
What happens next will determine the future of the Wagner family and the land that has defined them for nearly a century. Will Leroy recover from his injuries? Will Annie take over the ranch or return to New York? Will Michael quit his corporate job and finally strike out on his own? Will Jimmy realize his dream of escape, or will a run-in with the police land him in the Ford County Jail?
 
Early readers have praised the novel’s authentic Kansas setting and characters, its understated humor—a trademark of Rebein’s previous books—and its graceful rendering of land and animals, especially horses:
 
“Love and horses, whiskey and weed, land and money: The Last Rancher has it all.” — Kyle Minor, author of Praying Drunk
 
“Rebein’s characters are so real that I would swear I know them. I was hooked from the first page to the last.” ­— Cheryl Unruh, author of Gravedigger’s Daughter: Vignettes from a Small Kansas Town
 
“I loved this book. A family drama with humor and heart, The Last Rancher gives you the prized shotgun seat and guns the gas. You’d be wise to buckle up.”— Sarah Layden, author of Imagine Your Life Like This
 
“Dodge City, Kansas, has found its bard. His name is Robert Rebein, and his debut novel, The Last Rancher, showcases an assured new voice of the contemporary American West.” — Will Allison, author of What You Have Left
 
About Robert Rebein
Born and raised in Dodge City, where his family has farmed and ranched since the late 1920s, Robert Rebein is the author of two previous books set in Kansas: Dragging Wyatt Earp: A Personal History of Dodge City (Swallow Press, 2013) and Headlights on the Prairie: Essays on Home (University Press of Kansas, 2017). Both books were named Kansas Notable Books by the State Library of Kansas, and Headlights on the Prairie was a finalist for the High Plains Book Award. A professor of English at Indiana University Indianapolis, Rebein lives in the historic Irvington neighborhood of Indianapolis with his family and two ornery beagles.
 
About Meadowlark Press
Meadowlark Press, LLC is an independent publisher specializing in books by authors from the heartland. Tracy Million Simmons, owner and publisher, founded Meadowlark in 2014. In its first 10 years, the press has published dozens of books of poetry, fiction and nonfiction, including five Kansas Notable Book winners, a winner of the High Plains Book Award and a winner of the Midwest Book Award.

Book Signing!
D.A. Irsik

Middle Ground Books
606 Commercial
Emporia, Kansas
Friday, June 14th at 6:30 P.M.

Ater a short author reading there will be an open mic event. Deb's books will be available for sale after the book talk. Author-signed copies purchased at this event will be 10% off.

​Light appetizers will be provided by Gourmet to Go!

Eleven Directions explores what must be one of the world’s quirkiest lessons in orienteering, which perhaps explains how Gilkeson negotiated the real-life experiences that made these stories possible. Questions abound: What’s behind the mystery of his father’s missing uvula? Are these stories real or fictional? Are they memoirs with more than a few embellishments? It hardly matters because they hold the power to entertain and even enlighten us, the way good stories should. The titles of Gilkeson’s narratives by themselves lure us in. Where, exactly, is Topeka on the Danube, and who are the members of The Green Tea Cult? Who are Ms. Transylvania and Mr. Haircut? All of these stories deliver wonderful reading experiences. Gilkeson’s narrative voice creates the illusion that he’s right there with us, enjoying our pleasure in the stories he tells.

Publication: 1 September, 2024
Published by Tenacity Press
Edited by Denise Low and Hal Zina Bennett

​$15.95, Paperback
ISBN: 978-1-892193-02-5
For media inquiries and review copies:
Email: [email protected].
Web: www.jimgilkeson.com
Phone: (707) 696-2768

Duane L Herrmann submits the following writing news:

One short story, "Missing Mother," posted on Masticadores USA, and six poems: "One Special Day" with The Wise Owl, "Delicate Operation" in the first issue of Baubles from Bones, "Dad Said" and "Surprise Connection" as responses to prompts with Adirondack Center for Writing, and "Listen To" and "The Way" reprinted in The Harnisch Acres.

I also finished proofing pages for my next book of poetry.

Congratulations, Duane!