Wednesday, November 26, 2025
Begins at 6:15
Round Table Bookstore
826 N. Kansas Ave., Topeka
Begins at 6:15
Round Table Bookstore
826 N. Kansas Ave., Topeka
 William Sheldon lives in Hutchinson, Kansas. His newest book is just out: When I Go West: New and Selected Poems (Meadowlark Press, 2025). He is the author of three other books of poetry, Retrieving Old Bones (Woodley Press, 2002), Rain Comes Riding (Mammoth Publications, 2011), Deadman (Spartan Press, 2021), as well as a chapbook, Into Distant Grass (Oil Hill Press, 2009). He plays bass for the bands The Excuses and Cow Creek Blues. Bill recently presented to the KAC with an approach to reducing the anxiety of the blank screen / page he cheerfully called: "Lowering Your Standards."
 Member Mike Matson has been hosting a daily radio talk show/recorded podcast on KMAN in Manhattan. WHAT’S THE SHOW ABOUT?
Digging deeper into Manhattan and regional community conversations, business and societal trends, policy ideas from every level of government, with a particular emphasis on reason and common sense. We strongly believe the key to today’s societal ills are members of society who think longer, deeper, and more critically. Journalism is the one constant to allow that, and it’s our belief this new talk show can help work toward that goal in our community. Community service in a way that says it out loud without being self-serving. This talk show is deeper than “news,” It is an interview and discussion vehicle designed specifically to arm listeners with truth and broaden their horizons on subject matter important to their family, to Manhattan, the region, and Kansas. It’s not gotcha or confrontational, it’s the gaining of new knowledge and motivation. It’s “help us understand.” It’s the middle of the broad thought road, where the overwhelming majority of people in this community live – politically and emotionally. It’s logic and common sense. The show is not over-reaction or under-reaction. It’s reaction. Guests will come from the public and private sector, non-profits, government at every level (elected and appointed), individuals involved with community growth, expectations of public schools, community quality of life. The show is rational, authentic, and genuine. It’s not bombast, but there is just enough show biz and pizzazz to make it appealing, set it apart and gain a following. Broadcast live on NewsRadio KMAN (1350 AM, 93.3 and 93.7 FM), livestreamed on YouTube and recorded and made available as a podcast on the KMAN website and anywhere podcasts are available. Digging deeper into community conversations YOUR HOST. Mike Matson, Manhattan Mercury columnist, award winning author and journalist. A lifelong Kansan, Mike was born in Manhattan, and his career spans radio and TV news, political tactician and press secretary for a Governor, leadership development, system and issue advocacy. Mike is a seasoned broadcaster, columnist, author and manager, well-known in the Manhattan community and across Kansas. He brings thirty years management and creative experience in public and private sector statewide systems.  Robert Stewart's personal essay, "The Hole" has been published on Nov. 17, 2025, in the journal Vox Populi. The essay relates his experiences and observations on being a ditch digger.
 from member Dawn Feltrop: I am hosting a Book Launch Party on Saturday, November 29th from 5-8pm. Also, I am asking people to join my Book Launch Team to share my Amazon book during the first week of December.  Please mark your calendar for JCCC’s 11th annual Cavalier Conference on Writing and Literature on Friday, Apr. 10, 2026, from 8 a.m. – 3 p.m. in the Capitol Federal Conference Center. This year’s conference theme is: Plot Twist!
Our one-day conference will explore the ways a plot twist can serve as a useful metaphor for our experiences as teachers. New technologies upend our profession. New regulations constrain us, but they also call up our creativity. Our keynote speaker will be Laura Moriarty, Professor of English at the University of Kansas and author of several novels, including The Chaperone, adapted for film by Julian Fellowes in 2018. Registration opens soon! Find conference details at jccc.edu/WritingConference. The Hutchinson area district welcomes Suzanne Wolcott to the group. Suzanne is a mental health clinician and former hospice and hospital chaplain as well as a lifelong educator. She has taught courses in psychology, church history, Wisdom Literature as well as CEU courses in Ethics and Wisdom, Loneliness and Older Adults, and various other topics. She is a mother to two wonderful humans, partner to a good, kind man and caretaker and companion to many other creatures, furred and feathered. She has had some poetry published in regional magazines, but is just now feeling close to finishing her first full length work. She enjoys kayaking, hiking, music, and, of course, writing. She looks forward to learning more about the KAC as well as the process of publishing. She is grateful to have finally found herself a community of fellow writers and authors.  And we are glad to have her!
Poet Bill Sheldon will share an approach he's had success with, one designed to reduce the anxiety of a blank page/screen.  Members receive a Zoom link to monthly state programs via email. The link may also be accessed via the button below. November Program: Lowering Your Standards Presented by William Sheldon Poet Bill Sheldon will share an approach he's had success with, one designed to reduce the anxiety of a blank page/screen. Author William Sheldon was born in Colorado, and moved with his family to Emporia at age 5. Sheldon spent much of his life in Kansas, but also lived in California. He received his Master of Fine Arts at Wichita State University. Sheldon was a professor of English at Hutchinson Community College in Hutchinson, Kansas, where he taught creative writing. His poetry has appeared in such journals as Blue Mesa Review, Flint Hills Review, Coal City Review, and Midwest Quarterly. His books are Retrieving Old Bones (Woodley 2002, Kansas City Star Noteworthy Book), Into Distant Grass (chapbook Midwest Quarterly, 2008), Deadman (Spartan Press 2021), and When I Go West (Meadowlark Press, 2025). 
On July 10, 2025, I gave a book reading on my becoming Frederick Funston Trilogy, which was published in 2022. Volume one received a 2023 Spur Award from the Western Writers of America. This presentation was for my fellow residents of Pioneer Ridge Independent Living in Lawrence. It was well attended, residents wanting the answer to "Fred Who?!" The video of my talk is on YouTube. https://youtu.be/czGXWKYTsq8?si=mpSzEWEldbwyAYg1 Help us celebrate the writing and publishing accomplishments of Kansas Authors! 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 Launch Party for Rosemary Chick: Pip, Zip, Hooray!
Saturday, November 29, 2025 • 5:00–8:00 p.m. Join local author Dawn Feltrop at Morning Grit Farm, 15499 SW 140th St., Rose Hill, KS, for a fun family event celebrating her new children’s book Rosemary Chick: Pip, Zip, Hooray! Enjoy story-time, a petting zoo, coffee/hot chocolate bar, s’mores by the fire, cupcakes, and book signings. RSVP by November 22: [email protected] More info: www.DawnFeltrop.com   Patrick lives in Topeka with his wife Lisa; they have three adult children. Here's what Patrick has to say: I grew up in the heart of wrestling country in northern Iowa and have been a wrestling enthusiast since my earliest memories (think high school, college, Olympics, and not the chair-throwing, predetermined outcome type of wrestling). I was introduced to the sport early and competed throughout my college years. Along the way, I read about every book about the sport and kept up with current happenings by subscribing to wrestling magazines and reading daily newspaper articles. After college, I became a teacher and coach. I completed my thirtieth year in the classroom in 2024. In 2022, I retired from coaching at the high school level and began to devote more time to researching and writing about the sport, which I have dabbled in through the years. I have written articles for several wrestling publications and currently write a monthly article for WIN Magazine, a nationally circulated wrestling publication. Shortly after my coaching retirement, I began researching the Kansas State University wrestling program, which operated from 1922 until it was dropped in 1975. I found the stats and stories fascinating and worthy of a broader audience. In February of 2025, K-State’s Wrestling Legacy was published. I’m thrilled with how it turned out and hope both wrestling enthusiasts and those just looking for compelling human-interest stories will pick it up and give it a read. Website: https://www.flinthillspublishing.com/patrick-kelly   Thirst was the 2023 winner of the J. Donald Coffin Memorial Book Award for Fiction. I just finished the book Thirst, by K.L. Barron. This book will wring you out and open your eyes. It is a novel that reveals a disturbing truth about human nature. The author deftly plants the reader in the middle of the relationships, and you fall in love with the characters. You will marvel at the suffering and the strength of a nomadic people who treat each day as another day to survive with only their customs and belief in Allah to hope for another day. Thirst casts a light into the dark shadows of persecution, prejudice, and hate. I am humbled by my ignorance and sheltered existence. Deb Irsik, Emporia  What are you reading? Help us lift and share the good news about Kansas literature. Tag your book loves and reviews on social media with #ReadLocalKS and submit here to be posted on the Kansas Authors Club website.
Member Ann Fell shares her thoughts on member Tammy Hader's book, Walking Old Roads: A Memoir of Kindness Rediscovered.  Using photos from her past, Tammy Hader guides readers through scenes of her childhood in search of a disappearing trait: the kindness—benevolence—once common in her life that seems to have dwindled as she approached middle age. Meticulous scrutiny that was polished through a career as an accountant is evident as she discusses memories shared with her aging mother. We bop from the past to her caretaker role in the present through prose that offers metaphors that range from analytical to delightful on nearly every page. As I read, I recalled similar times and events from my life. Hader’s writing connected, as I found parallels in my own childhood recollections of small town life in twentieth-century Kansas. Her revelations were pulled from trivial details that might have seemed unimportant to her younger self, but impacted her core values in sometimes surprising ways. Walking Old Roads is well worth reading. You’ll find a new friend in its author and benefit from her subtle invitation to scrutinize your own life. Hader offers bonuses too, including special family recipes that defined relationships in her past. I look forward to trying them in my own kitchen.  What are you reading? Help us lift and share the good news about Kansas literature. Tag your book loves and reviews on social media with #ReadLocalKS and submit here to be posted on the Kansas Authors Club website.
Julie A. Sellers has published a collection of six poems in the Journal of L.M. Montgomery Studies in its special collection, "L.M. Montgomery and the Politics of Home."   Help us celebrate the writing and publishing accomplishments of Kansas Authors!
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 Member Mark Scheel!  It's with immense gratitude that I'm once again announcing a literary trifecta of my writing having been accepted. My essay "Fitting Pipe with a College Degree" will appear in the forthcoming issue of 105 Meadowlark Reader. https://www.105meadowlarkreader.com/ My memoir excerpt "The Doorway to Death and Survival" was included in the latest issue of The Writer's Journal Vol. 2. https://writers-journal.com/ My poem "The Invincibility of the Moment" was published in the new issue of The Soliloquist Journal. https://thesoliloquistmagazine.my.canva.site/#about A sincere thanks to all the editors and publishers for selecting my work! Mark Scheel  Help us celebrate the writing and publishing accomplishments of Kansas Authors!
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. Kansas Authors Club outgoing president Anne Spry is completing a banner year of books, finalizing three titles, all in the memoir genre.  Her first 2025 title, Riding Rainbows Through the Storms: Finding Perspective and Hope by Journaling Through a Pandemic, was issued in late February under her own publishing company, Personal Chapters LLC. The paperback and Kindle e-book includes color photographs, many of them nature shots Spry took, as well as blogs and Facebook Live scripts she produced during the pandemic. Readers may identify with the struggles Spry endured in adapting to a new reality we all faced during the pandemic. She admits to a lot of “whining” in the journal entries included, but she managed to summon all the positivity and spirituality she could in publishing this title.  Friend and fellow book publisher Thea Rademacher, Flint Hills Publishing, edited and published Spry’s other 2025 titles. Taking the Long Way Home: A Peace Corps Memoir of Brazil, documents Spry’s 1970s volunteer experiences. It took her decades to finish the manuscript she started before she even left Northeast Brazil. This year, with its upheaval and controversies on the world stage, provided the impetus for Spry to finish the story of how a wannabe hippie left campus protests in the U. S. to try to make the world a better place for democracy in South America. But the real story was how she found a home in her heart, despite personal childhood traumas.  When Spry shared with Radamacher how she planned to republish her first memoir, “Letters from Home,” her publisher colleague urged her to include only the funniest of the newspaper columns written during Anne’s 27-year newspaper career. “Living on Laughter: A Memoir of a Former Humor Columnist and Newspaper Publisher,” is like the Sunday funny papers, only in black and white and read all over. It shares her decades of laughing at herself and others through everyday struggles and the joys of parenting, aging, home repair and other life issues. She hopes it leaves you smiling or maybe even picking up a pen to capture your own stories.
 Program: Lowering Your Standards Presented by William Sheldon Poet Bill Sheldon will share an approach he's had success with, one designed to reduce the anxiety of a blank page/screen. Author William Sheldon was born in Colorado, and moved with his family to Emporia at age 5. Sheldon spent much of his life in Kansas, but also lived in California. He received his Master of Fine Arts at Wichita State University. Sheldon was a professor of English at Hutchinson Community College in Hutchinson, Kansas, where he taught creative writing. His poetry has appeared in such journals as Blue Mesa Review, Flint Hills Review, Coal City Review, and Midwest Quarterly. His books are Retrieving Old Bones (Woodley 2002, Kansas City Star Noteworthy Book), Into Distant Grass (chapbook Midwest Quarterly, 2008), Deadman (Spartan Press 2021), and When I Go West: New and Selected Poems (Meadowlark Press, 2025). sign-on required
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