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"A Moment to Write" ... recap of the 2023 annual gathering of the Kansas Authors Club

10/29/2023

 
40 writers + 12 awards presentation day attendees gathered at Rock Springs Ranch near Junction City, Kansas, for the first state-wide writing retreat, October 6-8. Here we share some pictures of the event and the setting.

Retreat attendees! Drop us a comment below about your experiences at the writing retreat.
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From attendee, Holly Friesen:

Some highlights for me were:
  • getting to know other writers and hearing their stories,
  • enjoying the education center with all the different rooms marked for different purposes,
  • the walk and scenery so inspiring to topics to write about!
  • I did have some time to write for more than a moment. Very helpful.
  • the amazing food! We definitly grew in healthy calories!
  • the award presentation was great fun. And even though I didn't win any writing award this year, I have a newfound admiration for the other works written. They were amazing and inspiring!
From attendee, Ann Vigola Anderson:

I was looking forward to this past weekend to reenergize, be with nature, meet more KAC people and be joyful in my mind. It was a huge blessing to not have any obligations to go to anything nor expectations of something that had to be done. 

. . . I found the lodge to be cozy, comfortable, and a perfect place to gather in the evening . . . The lodge setting afforded everyone so many opportunities for new connections, impromptu conversations, and the fire pit was a huge team builder (plus the s’mores). And yet, there were some that also found it a peaceful place to write and relax. By the end of the retreat, it felt as if we had been at a class reunion with good friends.

The meals were exceptional! On time, fantastic variety and prepared in a healthy manner. Again, the dining setting gave people an opportunity to sit with other people and chat. . . . I also liked the fact that we cleared the tables and worked as a team. . . .

The meeting rooms were also exactly what we needed to be creative and relaxed. I didn’t get to a few of them, like poetry, and I started a chap book but, didn’t get it finished. Oh well. Whoever set up that chap book room gets gold stars for presentation and cool stuff to use.

I especially liked the book awards in the Great Plains room. . . . This setting was great for both the audience and the recipient. It was delightful to see the happiness of people receiving a KAC award!

. . . For me, the KAC should afford members the opportunity to gather, share information, learn, be creative and have time to WRITE. I heard so many attendees say that they actually had written something. I believe that is a huge takeaway.

Traci Brimhall nailed it with her presentation. High energy, fun, and put everybody in instant KAC retreat mode. I believe a presenter like that should be the norm for opening night. Play!

I attended all three of the sessions and learned new ideas from each one. I liked that they were low-tech.

2023 Lifetime Achievement in Writing Award

10/28/2023

 
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Betty Berney has been a member of the Kansas Author’s Club since 1983. Betty is a lifelong resident of Phillipsburg, Kansas. She is a gifted writer and musician and among her many honors are winning first prize in the 5th Anniversary National Country Music Songwriter Contest in 1981; the Golden Poet Award presented at the 3rd Annual Poetry Convention at the Las Vegas Hilton in 1987, and the Female Country songwriter of the year by the Lumpkin Music Corporation in 1988. Her 375 plus extensive writings include poetry and songs on the following topics: Kansas, Religion, History, Local Phillipsburg Friends and Family, Patriotic, Political, love and loss. Her years of creative writing have inspired and touched many hearts.

Many of Betty’s writings remain on display at Fort Bissell in Phillips County. 

This note was received from Betty in April 2023.
“Now hanging in the living room of my home is the framed, typed poem of Jacqueline Kennedy on colored paper with inserts of pictures of a candle and an ink bowl and pen. The frame is of walnut wood and wired to a stand. A fine picture of a graceful woman and wife of our president of the United States. I have been asked to send it near The White House for hanging in an area for pictures of Presidents wives, etc.”

I nominate Betty Berney for a Lifetime Achievement in Writing Award.

Nomination by Tracy Million Simmons

2023 Service Awards

10/28/2023

 
The following service awards were presented at the Annual Meeting of the General Membership on Saturday, October 20, 2023.

Nomination #1
​

 I nominate Nichole Snyder of District 5 for an Award of Merit for Service to the club.  Nichole stepped in faithfully before joining D5 to help us with our computer and Zoom issues. She agreed to serve in 2023 in a newly-created position as Technology Manager and has excelled in her gracious service.  I appreciate Nichole because I know how difficult it is to listen to the speakers while trying to run club issues simultaneously, and the computer "glitches" and malfunctions have often taken considerable time over a meeting. 

Nominated by Connie Rae White
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D5 President Sandee Taylor and Nichole Snyder.
Nomination #2

​I nominate Ann Christine Fell for the KAC Service Award. Ann dedicates herself to promoting Kansas authors in her community and in the state. Currently she serves as the Writers in Community Liaison for District 5. She especially champions authors' involvement with libraries. Ann organized a small group for writers in the Winfield area.
 
Ann was a moving force for the first D5 Writers Retreat. She found the speaker and provided the venue for the retreat. She was a gracious hostess.
 
Working with Ann is a pleasure because of her competence and service mindedness. D5 is blessed to have her as a member.
 
Nomination by Sandra Taylor
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D5 President Sandee Taylor and Ann Christine Fell
Nomination #3

I nominate Lindsey Bartlett for the Kansas Authors Club Service Award. Lindsey joined KAC in 2021 after serving as a judge for our literary contests. In 2022, she agreed to become the prose contest manager and served in this position for two years. This year, she introduced and co-sponsored the Rural Voices category to our prose and poetry contest, a contest, bringing in a total of 51 entries, making it one of the larger categories in our contest. Lindsey is an active member of the Emporia Writers Group and has become a KAC leader serving as Co-Chair of District 2 in 2023. She has also worked as the assistant editor on our new publication, The Write from the Center Zine. Lindsey is a generous friend and an actively publishing writer. Her efforts to grow as a writer and as a KAC community builder are inspirational.

Nomination by Tracy Million Simmons
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Lindsey Bartlett

Highlights of the 2023 Annual Meeting of the General Membership

10/27/2023

 
October 21, 2023
 
An estimated 47 members were present via Zoom.
 
Thanks to our 2023 Executive Board
            Kris Polansky: President
            Anne Spry: Vice President
            Chuck Warner: Financial Officer
            Ann Vigola Anderson: Secretary
 
Thanks to 2023 departing officers who have filled appointed positions:
 
            Cheryl Unruh, Welcome Wagon - 3 years
            Lindsey Bartlett, Prose Contest Manager - 2 years
            Gretchen Eick, Poetry Contest Manager - 1 year
 
Thanks to 2023 District/City Leaders:
            Anne Spry - Topeka
            Maureen Carroll - Lawrence
            Lindsey Bartlett - Emporia
            Kris Polansky - Manhattan
            Mike Durall - Salina
            Sandee Taylor - Wichita & El Dorado
            Tammy Gilley - Hutchinson
            Frank Powers - Colby
 
The following members were recognized:

            Octogenarians:
            Sally Jadlow, Sue Wike, Philip Wood
            10 year members:
            Cynthia Chauhaun, Vicki Guillot, Rose Klenke
            15 year members:
             Alice Bertels, Cathy Callen
            20 year members:
            Conrad Jestmore, Robert DeMott
            30 year members: Nancy Glenn
            40 year member: Betty L. Berney
 

The following Service Awards were presented:

Nichole Snyder of District 5 - D5 computer and Zoom tech, served in newly-created position as Technology Manager.

Ann Fell, D5, Writers in Community Liaison for District 5. She especially champions authors' involvement with libraries. Ann organized a small group for writers in the Winfield area.
 
Lindsey Bartlett, D2, prose contest manager 2 years, introduced and co-sponsored the Rural Voices category, serves as Co-Chair of District 2 in 2023. Assistant Editor, Writing from the Center Zine.
 
Award for Lifetime Achievement:
Betty Berney has been a member of the Kansas Author’s Club since 1983. Among her many honors are winning first prize in the 5th Anniversary National Country Music Songwriter Contest in 1981; the Golden Poet Award presented at the 3rd Annual Poetry Convention at the Las Vegas Hilton in 1987, and the Female Country songwriter of the year by the Lumpkin Music Corporation in 1988. Her 375 plus extensive writings include poetry and songs.
 
 
2024 Officers Elected 

President: Anne Spry (Topeka)
Vice President: Lindsey Bartlett (Emporia)
Financial Officer: Tyler Henning (Wichita)
Secretary: Ann Vigola Anderson (Lawrence)
Minutes of the 2023 Annual Meeting
Message from the 2024 President-elect, Anne Spry.

Member News from Sheree Wingo

10/27/2023

 
I entered the "Stories that need to be told," contest sponsored by Tulip Tree publishing. My story, "Stories from the un-homed," was a semifinalist.
Stories That Need to be Told Contest
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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.

Member News from Nancy Julien Kopp

10/27/2023

 
The Southern Arizona Press has just released their newest poetry anthology, Bedtime Verses for Children. I submitted 6 poems, and all 6 were accepted. It's a lovely book with perfect nursery rhyme kind of illustrations.
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Purchase at Bookshop.org

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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.

Book news from member John Queen

10/27/2023

 
My novel "One" is available at Trox Gallery and Gifts in Emporia. Also on Amazon.
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All of us along for the ride, the little blue dot turns. The first curve of the sun appears, peeking up in the east. Sunlight moves across the Atlantic Ocean, and morning comes to New York City. The air is too hot, too thin, and millions of people struggle just to breathe, to stay alive. The world teeters on the brink of our final war. Traffic fills the streets, and people make their way on the sidewalks.

Another mammal is on the sidewalk, a thriving rat dragging a piece of pizza. A woman screams while a nearby man marvels at the creature. “How much food is being thrown away to support thirty million of these mammals? Why are they throwing food away while so many Homo sapiens go hungry?” He snaps a picture of the rat and asks, “Is that pepperoni? I love pepperoni.” This chaotic meeting leads to an unlikely friendship between the man, the woman, and her son.

Grace is a physicist, brilliant, beautiful, tasked with calculating entry paths of titan missile warheads—and filled with worry for her autistic son. Androgynous, eccentric Bob doesn’t care what Grace looks like. He makes Grace feel like he’s not looking at her, but into her. He asks unusual questions that make her take a deeper look at her life, “Does your job make you feel hopeful?”

Jack, eleven, is uncoordinated, autistic, genius, and afraid he’ll never have friends. Bob sees Jack’s quirks as gifts and recognizes in him the potential to do anything, the future we could have if more people were like him. He takes the time to listen to Jack’s endless questions and answers them patiently.

But soon others start asking their own questions about Bob, and there’s a very real chance the world isn’t ready to learn the answers. Can these three unlikely friends convince the world to accept the truth and save us all? Or will they push us over the brink?

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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.

Welcome New Member Karen Miller

10/23/2023

 
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Today we welcome Karen Miller of Overland Park to the Kansas Authors Club! 

​I grew up in Arkansas and have lived in two other countries and various Midwestern states and
Colorado, where I worked in social service agencies. I eventually obtained a PhD in English and taught writing at the University of Minnesota Crookston for many years. Two years ago, I moved with my husband to Overland Park, Kansas, to be closer to family. I love living here and the easy access it offers for long walks in nature, coffee shops, and great bookstores.

I primarily write fiction. My stories have been published in The Baltimore Review, Chicago Quarterly Review, Scrivener Creative Review, Snake Nation Review, and other literary journals. One story waspublished in Tartts: Incisive Fiction from Emerging Writers and nominated for a Pushcart Prize. I’m currently working on editing my collection of stories with a goal to get that published.

I’m excited to be part of the Kansas Authors Club.

We're happy to have you with us, Karen!

New Book by Member Al Ortolani

10/22/2023

 
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Bull in the Ring
by Al Ortolani
​Meadowlark Press, October 2023

Retail: $19.99

ISBN: 978-1-956578-42-3
EBOOK: 978-1-956578-43-0

FICTION / Small Town & Rural
FICTION / Coming of Age
FICTION / Historical / General

Armed with only poetry and wit, Danny wears his dead father’s army jacket and copes with the string of losers and abusers brought home by his mother. Will he find direction before he reaches the end of this dead-end road life has handed to him?

What Readers are Saying:

Al Ortolani’s Bull in the Ring manages to conjure other great coming-of-age stories—think The Catcher in the Rye, think The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian—while being “in a football conference all its own.” Danny Prego is an instantly iconic protagonist, masking deep hurt and insecurity with careful bravado and one-liners, with his dad’s boots that make him taller and the dream of a letter jacket that will make him feel like someone. Bull in the Ring is a time capsule of a book that made me nostalgic for an era before I was even born.

   —Melissa Fite Johnson, author of Green (Riot in Your Throat, 2021)


Al Ortolani’s crisp prose, peppered with poetry, grabs the reader and doesn’t let go. Will Danny find an exit on that dead-end road? Bull in the Ring is fiction, but its story is true. It takes place in my town. It takes place in yours. Don’t take my word for it. Read it for yourself.

   —Michael D. Graves, author of Human Shadow, Pete Stone Private Investigator series


Life to teen Danny Prego is one long series of hard knocks, from an alcoholic single mother and her dangerous boyfriend to finding trouble at school. Danny reads his reality like a football team and game, always getting back up and out of the mud and muck, regardless of how hard the tackles are. Just as he thinks he’s found secure footing in the circle of senior football players, life comes at Danny from all angles, then deals him a blow that will either take him to his knees or show him the way forward. Despite his tough-guy exterior, Danny Prego is a character who is all heart. Readers of all ages will be firmly on Danny’s team and cheering for him as he faces his most difficult decision to try to escape being the Bull in the Ring.
 
   --Julie A. Sellers, author of Ann of Sunflower Lane and Kansas Authors Club Prose Writer of the Year (2020, 2022)
 

Al Ortolani nailed small town Kansas life in this thoughtful, well-crafted teenage odyssey. It had me eager to see what would happen next . . . right up to the evocative ending. Indeed, I was so captivated by protagonist, Danny Prego, and his hard-scrabble life that I was left yearning for a sequel.
 
   —J.T. Knoll, The Morning Sun (Pittsburg, Kansas)

 
Al Ortolani knows how to tell a tale so it’s like we’re in Danny’s shoes, trying to keep a few steps ahead of troubles that take it in turn to smash into that bull in the ring who we’re soon-enough rooting for.
 
   —Brian Daldorph, Kansas Poems
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Order from Meadowlark Press
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Al Ortolani is the Manuscript Editor for Woodley Press in Topeka, Kansas, and has directed a memoir writing project for Vietnam veterans across Kansas in association with the Library of Congress and Humanities Kansas. He is a 2019 recipient of the Rattle Chapbook Series Award. He has been a Kansas Notable Book recipient in 2017 and 2021. His poetry has appeared in Ted Kooser’s American Life in Poetry and in Garrison Keillor’s Writer’s Almanac. After 43 years of teaching English in public schools, he currently lives a life without bells and fire drills in the Kansas City area with his wife Sherri and their rescue dog Stanley.

Al joined Kansas Authors Club in 2023.

New Book by Member Marilyn Hope Lake

10/22/2023

 
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Our Mothers' Ghosts and Other Stories
by Marilyn Hope Lake
Meadowlark Press, October 2023

Retail: Paperback $19.99, hardcover $29.99

FICTION / Women
FICTION / Feminist
FICTION / Short Stories (single author)
FICTION / Historical / General

Forced to extremes in order to escape women’s accepted societal roles, the protagonists in this short story collection—the women of one midwestern river town family—overcome hardship and heartbreak, pain and pressure, in order to burst the bonds that hold them and bring forth a better future for their daughters and sons. Their struggles comprise a panorama of women’s issues that span the twentieth century: social injustice, sexism, discrimination, and racism. These ordinary women experienced it all, and the unique ways in which they dealt with these issues illustrate a past we should all hope to leave behind.
 

What Reviewers are Saying:

Set in Illinois and Missouri river towns and cities from the early to late twentieth century, these plainspoken stories resurrect the past in all its glorious particulars, without sanctifying or sentimentalizing a mixed heritage of familial love and abuse. It’s all here: romance, rape, domestic violence, segregation, integration, the sexual revolution, political upheaval, and each generation’s backlash against the excesses of the last. Our Mothers’ Ghosts revolves around two archetypal sisters, and Lake takes great relish in revealing the dark impulses of the golden girl Helen and the disruptive innocence of the black sheep Boots. Amid the palpable pleasures of the book’s rich historical detail, there is always the shock of something blunt and honest and new.
—Trudy Lewis, author of The Empire Rolls
 
Marilyn Hope Lake’s work is very impressive. Lake’s tender prose transports the reader to an earlier, yet not-so-simple time, that reminds us of our past and guides us to a more hopeful future. Her stories have an effect you may have seen in a classic film, beginning with an evocative black and white photograph that suddenly blooms in full, technicolor glory as the narrative springs to life.
—Daren Dean, author of Far Beyond the Pale and Black Harvest
 
Our Mothers’ Ghosts is a wonderful collection of interconnected short stories that gains in complexity with each story, creating a rich portrait of work and women in twentieth-century America.
--Steve Wiegenstein, Author, Scattered Lights, Slant of Light, This Old World, and The Language of Trees
Order from Meadowlark Press
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Marilyn Hope Lake writes short fiction, poetry, plays, and children’s picture books. She has many awards, including Kansas Authors Club contest wins. Dr. Lake’s first place story, “Harry’s Stone,” was published in Words Out of the Flatlands; Kansas Writers Association. Lake is published in Rock Springs Review, STIR, Well-Versed: Literary Works, the Gasconade Review, the Mizzou Alumni Magazine, and 105 Meadowlark Reader.

Marilyn lived in Hutchinson, Kansas, from 2002-2017, is a long time active member of the Kansas Authors Club. She helped facilitate the 2014 annual conference. She misses her Kansas friends, but is happy to live with her canine companion, Hugo, near family in Columbia, Missouri.
 

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Reminder for Members: 2023 Annual Meeting of the General Membership

10/19/2023

 
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Agenda for the 2023 Annual Meeting of the General Membership
  • Membership Awards
  • Election of 2024 Officers
  • 2024 Program Plans 

Zoom link was sent to all current members via email. 
Zoom Link Available on Member Pages
Minutes from 2022 for approval

2022 Kansas Authors Club Annual Membership Meeting
Lawrence, Kansas
Saturday, October 22, 2022
 
KAC president Tracy Million Simmons called the meeting to order at 12:30 p.m. There were 55 members in attendance in person, and 6 attending virtually.
 
The current elected officers were introduced, and appreciation was extended to them.
 
Awards were announced by Anne Shiever for members with continuous, active membership:
           
10-year            Raj Bajaj
                       Jerilynn Henrikson
                       H. John Sanders
15-year           Judy Keller Hatteberg
                       Joan Breit
                       Hazel Hart
                       Sally Jadlow
20-year           Barbara Brady
                       Tom Mach
40-year           Doris Schroeder
 
In addition, Anne Shiever announced Octogenarian awards for Connie Rae White and Marilyn Hope Lake.

Curtis Becker, Gretchen Eick, and Connie White received service awards. Maureen Carroll received recognition for achievement in writing.
 
It was announced that KAC added 22 new members over the past year. Maureen Carroll recruited 5 of those single-handedly. New members were warmly welcomed.
 
Business
 
Minutes from the 2021 General Membership meeting were made available on the KAC website and through yearbooks placed on each table. They were approved as read.
 
KAC “Transitional Bylaws,” in place over the past year, were reviewed briefly. The new position of KAC Manager was reviewed, with plans to separate the manager position from the position as KAC president; expected hours of employment were updated. The recommended changes to both the bylaws and the manager position had been made available in advance via the KAC website. A motion was made and seconded to approve those changes, and they were approved unanimously by voice vote. The new bylaws are now in place.
 
 
The candidates for elected offices for 2023 were introduced.
 
            President:                   Kristine Polansky
            Vice President:           Anne Spry
            Secretary:                    Ann Vigola Anderson
            Financial Officer:         Chuck Warner
           
Kris Polansky moved, and Duane Johnson seconded, a motion to accept the proposed 2023 slate of officers. There was no discussion, and the slate was approved by voice vote.
           
In addition to the elected officers, each of the seven districts will appoint one representative to the Board.
           
Appointed positions for 2023 include:
 
Yearbook:                               open
Newsletter:                             Curtis Becker
Publicity:                                 open
Poetry Contest Manager:       open
Prose Contest Manager:        Lindsey Bartlett
Youth Contest Manager:        open
Welcome Wagon:                   Cheryl Unruh
Archivist:                                 Bill Karnowski
 
Ruth Maus made a motion to adjourn the business meeting; seconded by Barbara Waterman-Peters. Adjourned at 12:51 by unanimous voice vote.
 
 
Respectfully submitted,
Cathy Callen Molineux, secretary

Member Jim Gilkeson Publishes Three Lost Worlds: A Memoir of Life Among Mystics, Healers, and Life-Artists

10/18/2023

 
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Visit Jim's Website
Jim Gilkeson was born in Wichita, Kansas, and attended the University of Kansas until 1971. Gilkeson's books are Three Lost Worlds: A Memoir of Life Among Mystics, Healers, and Life-Artists (Mammoth Publications), A Pilgrim in Your Body, and Energy Healing: A Pathway to Inner Growth. His stories and articles have appeared in The Memoirist Quarterly, 105 Meadowlark Reader, Massage and Bodywork Magazine, and The Heart of Healing, edited by Dawson Church.

Member Received Awards at Missouri Writers Guild Conference

10/18/2023

 
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On September 23, 2003, Marilyn Hope Lake received two awards at the Missouri Writers Guild (MWG) Annual Conference held in Columbia MO. The MWG Presidents Contests awards are only open to MWG members and are statewide. Marilyn received a 3rd Place award in Best Nonfiction Book Category for her memoir Stories From My Life, 2022. Lake received Honorable Mention in the Best Poem Category for The Right Thank You, also published in 2022.
Marilyn is a Kansas Authors Club member now residing in Missouri. Marilyn lived in Hutchinson, Kansas, from 2002-2017, was a facilitator of the 2014 Annual Conference, and remains an active member. 

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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.

October 21 Program: Craig Lancaster on Publishing Pathways

10/16/2023

 
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Craig Lancaster, the author of 10 novels and a two-time High Plains Book Award winner, began his career with self-publishing, transitioned to a regional small press, attracted a top New York agent and got picked up by Amazon imprints while the online giant was building its publishing empire, moved back to self-publishing, and now has returned to a small but rising publisher. He reflects on the twists and turns involved in pushing 10 novels out there, competing with bigger house books for prizes, and why he's come to view his current path as the one best-suited to his temperament and his values.

​There will be plenty of time for questions and observations. Craig is looking forward to visiting with Kansas authors. Learn more about Craig on our website.

IMPORTANT: The Annual Meeting of the General Membership will take place after the October Program. Members may stay on Zoom after the program or plan to join at 2:30 if they do not wish to attend the program. Details below.
Zoom Link Available on Member Pages
member sign-on required
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Agenda for the 2023 Annual Meeting of the General Membership
  • Membership Awards
  • Election of 2024 Officers
  • 2024 Program Plans 

Welcome New Member Roger Heineken

10/15/2023

 
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Today, we have the honor of welcoming Roger Heineken to the Kansas Authors Club!

​Roger, fondly known as "Mr. Emporia" for his passion in discovering historical facts about the town and its people, has been an active member of the Emporia Writers Group since 2012. 


Roger Heineken grew up in rural Atchison County and has lived his adult life in Emporia. He earned a BFA in Art and retired from a career at Emporia State in the Student Affairs Division.

Roger is fascinated with local Emporia history, particularly the legacy of William Allen White. While some call him a historian, he prefers “storyteller.” 
 Heineken mostly writes creative nonfiction but dabbles in fiction prompted by facts and experiences.

His work has been published in several issues of 105 Meadowlark Reader and has received recognition in past KAC contests. He enjoys being part of the informal Emporia Writers Group.

Welcome, Roger!


2023 Poetry Theme Category

10/15/2023

 
Member Arlice W. Davenport (Wichita) reads the 2nd place winner of the Poetry Theme, A Moment to Write, contest category.

Thank you for sharing your poem with us, Arlice!

"It Looks Like a Million" Book Design Award - Alistur the Magnificent, by D.L. Winter

10/14/2023

 
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Order Alistur the Magnificent
Armed with his trusty birch wand and protective shield, young apprentice wizard Alistur Grimaldi believes he can wield his powers with the same determination and results as his beloved mentor, his Great-grandfather Balthazar.
His amusement quickly turns to anguish when his inexperience triggers a chain of disastrous events, putting him-and others-in dire circumstances. Mere hours after the most important event in his fourteen years, Alistur must find the courage to face the catastrophic proof of his foolish actions and make things right. . .if he can.
From the coast of the Azlyn Sea to the depths of the Crystal Caverns-befriending magical and mystical creatures along his way-Alistur must learn the journey to becoming a wise and responsible wizard will not be walked alone.
 
D.L. Winter was raised in Kansas and spent her adult life in Northern California. Many years ago, on her first trip abroad, inspired by the nostalgic allure of legends, lore, and architectural wonders of the Mediterranean region, the concept for Alistur’s story was born. However, crafting the fable would have to wait. Plotting adventures in the fictitious Kingdom of Fleurbania would be among the creative projects of her retirement. After a corporate career, D.L. now resides in her home state of Kansas once again, telling tales and enjoying life with family members.
Learn More - "It Looks Like a Million" Book Design Award

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Judge Andrew Howard is an owner/operator of his family’s independent operation, Round Table Bookstore, in the NOTO Arts District in Topeka. He has plenty of experience in judging books by their covers (and interiors) after a few years of being the primary book purchaser for the store. 

​He also coordinates author events and marketing efforts at Round Table. Andrew’s day job is heading up the IT department at Silver Lake, KS schools.

2023 Kansas Authors Club Children's Book Award - Meowsterpieces, by Jenn Bailey

10/14/2023

 
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Order Meowsterpieces
Join Mama Cat and her playful kittens as they take inspiration from some of the world's great masterpieces to learn the art of being a cat in author Jenn Bailey and illustrator Nyangsongi's picture book Meowsterpieces.

Discover how to be adored in The Birth of Venus by Boticelli; learn how to be brave in Hokusai's Under the Wave off Kanagawa; and taught how to be gentle with Henry Ossawa Tanner's The Banjo Lesson. Meowsterpieces is a book for art lovers, cat lovers, and everyone in between! And with extensive back matter that includes information about each of the original artworks, it's educational, too.

The artworks featured include The Study of a Student by Laura Wheeler Waring; The Last Supper by Leonardo da Vinci; The Birth of Venus by Sandro Botticelli; The Night Watch by Rembrandt van Rijin; Nighthawks by Edward Hopper; A Sunday on la Grande Jatte by Georges Seurat; Bedroom in Arles by Vincent van Gogh; Jockey on a Galloping Horse by Eadweard Muybridge; The Dancing Class by Edgar Degas; Children's Games by Pieter Bruegel the Elder; Under the Wave off Kanagawa by Katsushika Hokusai; The Banjo Lesson by Henry Ossawa Tanner; and New York Construction Workers Lunching on a Crossbeam by Charles Clyde Ebbets.
Jenn Bailey is an award-winning author and editor who has her MFA in Writing for Children and Young Adults from the Vermont College of Fine Arts. Her books have received the ALA Schneider Family Honor award, Bank Street Book of the Year award, been chosen as Junior Library Guild Selections, been star-reviewed by Kirkus, The Horn Book, and Publishers Weekly, and been included in numerous state reading lists, among other accolades.
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Jenn is a frequent guest lecturer and workshop leader for SCBWI, Heartland Writers for Kids and Teens, and the One Year Adventure Novel workshops. Jenn is published by Chronicle Books; Arcadia Press; Magic Cat Publishing; Little, Brown and Company; and Levine Querido and is represented by Erica Silverman with The Stimola Literary Agency.
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Learn More - KAC Children's Book Award

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Judge Angie Reed, M.L.S. 
Topeka and Shawnee County Public Library 
Teen Librarian 
 
You will know Librarian Angie Reed before you meet her as her passion for her profession shines in service to the young people in our community. She finds purpose in her work with teens and is committed to creating a place of inspiration and safety for young people to be themselves. Angie’s undergraduate studies include a B.A. in Library Science and Media with a Minor in Identity Studies, and she holds a Master of Library Science from Texas Woman’s University. In her spare time, she can be found walking her dog Nadia while listening to an audio book or holed up at home binge-watching a good show. 

2023 Nelson Poetry Book Award - The Book of Stolen Images, by Laura Lee Washburn

10/14/2023

 
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Laura Lee Washburn is the Director of Creative Writing at Pittsburg State University in Kansas, and the author of This Good Warm Place: 10th Anniversary Expanded Edition (March Street), Watching the Contortionists (Palanquin Chapbook Prize), and The Book of Stolen Images (Meadowlark Press, 2023). Harbor Review’s chapbook prize is named in her honor, and she’s the president of Small Harbor Publishing’s Board of Directors. Her degrees are from Old Dominion University, where she interned for the Associated Writing Programs Newsletter, and Arizona State University. Born in Virginia Beach, Virginia, she has also lived and worked in Arizona and in Missouri. From her home in Pittsburg, Kansas, she edits The Coop: A Poetry Cooperative.
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Learn More - Nelson Poetry Book Award

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Judge was Joseph Harrington, who teaches at the University of Kansas. He is the author of Of Some Sky (BlazeVOX Books 2018); Goodnight Whoever’s Listening (Essay Press 2015);  Things Come On (an amneoir)(Wesleyan UP 2011); and the critical work Poetry and the Public (Wesleyan UP 2002). His creative work has appeared in BAX: The Best American Experimental Writing 2016, Colorado Review, The Rumpus, Hotel America, Tupelo Quarterly, and elsewhere. From 2019-2023, he maintained a real-time verse-chronicle of the climate crisis, at The Poem of Our Climate and Writing Out of Time.

2023 Martin Kansas History Book Award - Without Warning, by Jim Minick

10/14/2023

 
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Without Warning: The Tornado of Udall, Kansas
Jim Minick is the author or editor of eight books, including Without Warning: The Tornado of Udall, Kansas (nonfiction), The Intimacy of Spoons (poetry, forthcoming), Fire Is Your Water (novel), and The Blueberry Years: A Memoir of Farm and Family. His work has appeared in many publications, including the New York Times, Poets & Writers, Oxford American, Orion, Shenandoah, Appalachian Journal, Wind, and The Sun. He serves as Coeditor of Pine Mountain Sand & Gravel.
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Learn More - Martin Kansas History Book Award

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Judge Bruce Mactavish is Washburn University Associate Dean for the College of Arts and Sciences, and Assistant Professor of History. Bruce holds a BA from Furman University, and MA and PhD from University of Mississippi. He teaches Kansas Studies, Kansas History and U. S. History through and since the Civil War. His scholarly interests include African American History, the Civil Rights Movement, Kansas history and the American West.

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