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2024 "It Looks Like a Million" Book Awards

12/11/2024

 
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"This is a book that is not only beautiful, but also uplifting. Even though the author does not consider herself a photographer or poet, she has an eye for capturing the small day-to-day things about life in 2020. This all comes together in a well-designed book."
- Judge Randi Stones, Washburn Rural HS Journalism Teacher


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Anne Garrett Spry was selected as the 2024 "It Looks Like a Million" Book Award recipient.
When the world shut down in March 2020, Author Anne Spry shut down emotionally ... until she had the time to really notice and appreciate her surroundings. She began taking photos of sunsets, sunrises, clouds and flowers. Poetry flowed out of her soul when she saw what the camera had captured. Now she is sharing her inspirations in hopes that this perspective on a largely negative era in our history will result in more universal gratitude.
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Finally Noticing

Also recognized:
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​"This is a book for everyone. Young and old alike.

"The illustrations are vivid and bright. I could have looked at the pictures forever. Even my teenage son thought it was a beautiful book and that is high praise."
- Judge Randi Stones, Washburn Rural HS Journalism Teacher
Author Ann Vigola Anderson takes us back in time to her grandparents’ farm where Bottle Calf was born during an early spring blizzard. With illustrations by the talented Sara Long, this gorgeous book will be your go-to for holiday gift giving and beyond. Grab a copy to reminisce or to share the stories and gorgeous art with your kids and grandkids. You are going to love Bottle Calf!
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Bottle Calf

2024 Nelson Poetry Book Award

10/26/2024

 

Insomnia in Another Town

by Lisa M. Hase-Jackson
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"The cover of this book attracted me right away, and that was only the beginning. Hase-Jackson does a beautiful job of turning memory into poetry. She uses a variety of forms including pantoum, free-verse, and even prose poetry to give insight into family, farming, and the human soul. A beautiful collection."

Judge Kat Fox, English Faculty at Emporia State University
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Lindsey Bartlett and Lisa M. Hase-Jackson
Insomnia in Another Town
Created by Raymond and Margaret Nelson – Dr. Raymond Nelson and Margaret Nelson joined KAC in 1979. Both served in various offices, including state president, Raymond from 1984-1986, and Margaret Nelson from 1994-1995. The couple began awarding the Nelson Poetry Book Award in 2002. 

2024 Coffin Award for Nonfiction

10/26/2024

 

Three Lost Worlds

by Jim Gilkeson
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"Gilkeson tells the story of his fascinating journey from San Francisco to Germany and the Netherlands with humor. This is a book you can’t put down. I enjoyed every word."

-Judge Dillion O’Keefe, history professor at Emporia State University
Three Lost Worlds
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Jim Gilkeson and Lindsey Bartlett
The J. Donald Coffin Memorial Book Award was established by Mrs. Bertha Coffin to honor the memory of her husband, a long-time member and officer of KAC, after his death on September 6, 1978. The J. Donald Coffin Award is intended to honor the best published book written by a member of Kansas Authors Club, excluding Kansas history, Kansas memoir, poetry, and children’s books, which have their own contests. Beginning in 2022, this contest provides two awards, one in fiction and one in nonfiction.

2024 Coffin Award for Fiction

10/26/2024

 

Our Mothers' Ghosts

by Marilyn Hope Lake
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"This is a novella of linked stories about the complex, but loving, nature of women’s relationships with their mothers, daughters, aunts, and nieces. The protagonists (Boots, Helen, Sis, and Megan) are flawed, but compelling, doing their best to survive in the 20th century male dominated society. Days later I found myself still thinking about these women and their lives and triggering my own memories of the complicated but important relationships with other women in my own life. The writing is accessible and thought-provoking."
-Judge Michelle Zumbrum
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Marilyn Hope Lake joins us via Zoom (top right projection image) for the 2024 Book Awards, with Tracy Million Simmons & Lindsey Bartlett.
Our Mothers' Ghosts
The J. Donald Coffin Memorial Book Award was established by Mrs. Bertha Coffin to honor the memory of her husband, a long-time member and officer of KAC, after his death on September 6, 1978. The J. Donald Coffin Award is intended to honor the best published book written by a member of Kansas Authors Club, excluding Kansas history, Kansas memoir, poetry, and children’s books, which have their own contests. Beginning in 2022, this contest provides two awards, one in fiction and one in nonfiction.

2024 Martin Kansas History Book Award

10/26/2024

 

Remembering Martha

by Jerilynn Jones Henrikson
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"​Remembering Martha is a fascinating read that is difficult to put down. Henrikson takes the limited source material that she has and provides a compelling monograph that leaves the reader wanting more. Although classified as fiction, Henrikson paints a picture of small-town Kansas that give insight into what it means both geographically and chronologically  to live in Neosho Rapids Kansas around the turn of the 20th century. Remembering Martha takes the information obtained from an oral history interview  and in the same spirit as historians who work with the stories of race  and the color line around the turn of the century fills in the gaps. Henrikson does this in such a way that it can satisfy  even a demanding historian."
 –Judge: Steve Bellavia, history professor at Emporia State

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Remembering Martha
The Martin Kansas History Book Award was created in 2018 as a tribute to Gail Lee Martin, who was KAC State Archivist from 1995-2005. Gail Lee Martin joined Kansas Authors Club in 1992 and was a member of District 5. Martin enjoyed writing fiction, nonfiction, stories for children, journalism, history, and poetry. Martin’s work was published in numerous magazines. She also published two books: Clyde Owen Martin Family Memories of His Life and Times, and My Flint Hills Childhood, which was a winner of the Ferguson Kansas History Book Award in 2010. The funding for the Martin Kansas History Book Award comes from the Gail Lee Martin Memorial established in her name. This book award is open exclusively for Kansas history.

2024 Kansas Authors Club Children's Book Award

10/26/2024

 

Henry, Like Always

by Jenn Bailey
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"It’s a great first chapter book for children detailing something with which all children struggle: a change to their usual schedule. It is so relatable for all children, especially those who dislike or resist change, and someone of any age could learn a lesson from it. The artwork is beautiful and meaningful, and the message of finding your own way to solve a problem and embracing what makes each one of us unique is applaudable"
–Judge Michaela Karr, professor and mom
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Jenn Bailey with 2024 Book Contest Manager Lindsey Bartlett
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Learn More: Henry, Like Always
The Kansas Authors Club Children’s Book Award was created in 2018 to honor the best book written with an audience of children in mind. The Children’s Book Award is sponsored in memory of Craig Grant. Craig was a champion of public education. He believed reading is basic to sharing our thoughts and feelings, understanding and accepting our differences and sameness, and helping us to learn about our world.

Buy a Ticket to view the 2024 Convention Recordings

10/26/2024

 
Did you miss the convention? Would you like the opportunity to watch the recordings of the workshops from the comfort of your own home? Grab a Virtual Convention Ticket today. For a limited time (through the end of 2024), you will have access to the 2024 workshop recordings. 16 workshops and the panel discussion on creative collaborations. Don't miss this chance!
Virtual Tickets Still Available!
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What did you think of the 2024 Convention?
​Members respond:
"Jenn Bailey’s keynote was incredible – incredibly insightful and incredibly funny. Her wisdom about “packing a lunch” was witty and true. It set the tone for the rest of the sessions and they did not disappoint. Not one weakling in the bunch. I filled pages and pages of my notebook with tips, tricks and takeaways for improving craft. But maybe the tool I’ll remember most from the weekend is the inspiration I found in the other members. I am brand new to the Kansas Authors Club but nearly everyone I met blew my mind! I had no idea there were so many creative, talented, hard-working Kansas authors out there. All ages, all backgrounds – everyone ‘doing the thing’ and sharing their experience so generously. It was awesome in the truest sense of the word." 

--Gretchen Burch
"LOVED how dynamic and engaging the workshops were!! Deb's play writing workshop gave me the start to a piece I'd love to finish writing and Jillian's Dual Timeline workshop was fascinating and got me excited to start my next novel."

--Cat Webling

2024 Kansas Authors Club Literary Contest: Prose Results

10/7/2024

 
Prose Contest Manager - K.L. Barron
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Kristine A. Polansky, Anne Spry, and Janice Lee McClure
Prose Theme Contest: Words Take Flight: Choose Your Own Adventure (15 entries)
  
First Place: “The Cave” by Janice Lee McClure, D7

Second Place: “Up La Luz Trail With Penny” by Janice Lee McClure, D7

Third Place: “Encountering Hunger, Death, and Adventure in the Peace Corps” by Anne L. Spry, D1

Honorable Mention: “Bridge Over Cimarron” by Amy D. Kliewer, D5

​Honorable Mention: “You Just Never Know” by Kristine A. Polansky, D4
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Sandra Lou Talyor and S.L. Brown
Stories Written for Young Readers (14 entries)
 
First Place: “Catfish” by S.L. Brown, D2

Second Place: “Be Brave Bertie” by S.L. Brown, D2

Third Place: “Areon” by Sandra Lou Taylor, D5

​Honorable Mention: “A Treasured Glow” by Abbi Lee, D5
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Joe Bollig, S.L. Brown, and Julie A. Sellers
Short Story (14 entries)
 
First Place: “Sunflower State of Mind” by Julie A. Sellers, D1

Second Place: “Ficklin, Kansas” by S.L. Brown, D2

Third Place: “At the Roadside” by Robin St. James

Honorable Mention: “Just Another Day” by Ashley Masoni Huber, NM

​Honorable Mention: “Dick Banal, Private Eye: Sticky Situation” by Joe Bollig, D2
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Cynthia Mines, Janice Lee McClure, and Hazel Hart
Memoir/Inspiration (29 entries)
 
First Place: “Last One on the Line” by Don Money, D3

Second Place: “Students on a Stick” by Roger Heineken, D2

Third Place: “Breathe In, Release” by Cynthia Mines, D5

Honorable Mention: “Someone Else” by Hazel Hart, D2

​Honorable Mention: “Idaho, 1950” by Janice Lee McClure, D7
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Gretchen Cassel Eick and Julie A. Sellers
Humor (16 entries)
  
First Place: “Waiting for Daddy” by Kimberlee Bethany Bonura, D2

Second Place: “Local Professor Jailed for Crime of Fashion” by Julie A. Sellers, D1

Third Place: “The Brain Trade” by Gretchen Cassel Eick, D5

Honorable Mention: “How Gemma Changed My Life” by Margaret McKay, D5

​Honorable Mention: “Brotherly Affection” by Amy D. Kliewer, D5
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Sandra Lou Taylor, Hazel Hart, S.L. Brown, and Julie A. Sellers
Flash Fiction (8 entries)
  
First Place: “Distant Grief” by Kimberlee Bethany Bonura, D2

Second Place: “What She Ordered” by Hazel Hart, D2

Third Place: “Outlook” by Gretchen Burch, D2

Honorable Mention: “My Big Chance” by Sandra Lou Taylor, D5

Honorable Mention: “A Word Edgewise” by Hazel Hart, D2

Honorable Mention: “Deja New” by S.L. Brown, D2

​Honorable Mention: “The Good Mood” by Julie A. Sellers, D1
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Jerilynn Henrikson and Mike Graves (above her in the Zoom window)
First Chapter of a Novel (17 entries)
 
First Place: “The Yellow-Wellie Incident: An Inspector Wigford “Wiggy” Thorpe Mystery” by Kathleen E. Kaska, D2

Second Place: “A Mystery in Two Voices” by Michael D. Graves and Jerilynn Henrikson, D2

Third Place: “Birth of a Warrior” by Elmer Fuller, NM

Honorable Mention: “Shadows Deep” by Michael D. Graves, D2

​Honorable Mention: “A History of Madness” by Alisha Davis, NM
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Tracy Million Simmons and Julie A. Sellers
Playwriting (4 entries)
  
First Place: “The Magic Lamp” by Julie A. Sellers, D1

Second Place: “Community Meeting Chaos” by Cynthia Schaker, D5

Third Place: “The Heavenly Lounge” by Tracy Million Simmons, D2
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S.L. Brown and Julie Ann Baker Brin
Prose Rural Voices (11 entries)
 
First Place: “Salt Plant” by Amy D. Kliewer, D5

Second Place: “Buried Treasure” by Julie Ann Baker Brin, D5

Third Place: “Stealing Dinner” by S.L. Brown, D2
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2024 Kansas Authors Club Literary Contest: Poetry Results

10/7/2024

 
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contest manager, Janice Northerns
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S.L. Brown and Gretchn Burch
Theme  “Words Take Flight, Choose Your Own Adventure” (27 entries)
 
1st Place:  “To The Blueberry-Picking Festival” by Gretchen Burch, D2

2ndPlace:  “middling paper” by April Pameticky, D5

3rd Place:  “Sitting With The Cottonwoods” by Kelly Johnston, D5

Honorable Mention:  “Firewatch” by Kelly Johnston, D5

Honorable Mention:  “Sometimes now, words escape me” by Iris E. Craver, D2
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April Pameticky, Brenda L. White, Julie Ann Baker Brin, and Gretchen Burch
Free Verse (51 entries)
 
1st Place: “Sixteen” by Gretchen Burch, D2

2nd Place: “Scars” by Judy Oliver, D5

3rd Place: Home of the Brave(s) by Julie Ann Baker Brin, D5

Honorable Mention: “Ekphrastic Mother/ Daughter Collaboration” by K. L. Barron, writer (D4) and Shawnee Barron (photographer)

Honorable Mention: “Itty Bitty Bio” by Jean Grant, D2

Honorable Mention: “Leaving” by Brenda White, D2

Honorable Mention: “On Speaking with My Brother Who is Dying” by Jeanice Eagan Davis, D5

​Honorable Mention: “thursday in the shadow of kesoo” by April Pameticky, D5
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Narrative (30 entries )
  
1st Place: “salt” by April Pameticky, D5

2nd Place: “High Plains Childhood: Spirits” by Janice Lee McClure, D7

3rd Place: “Eclipse” by Julie A. Sellers, D1

Honorable Mention: “you dreamed so hard it felt like permanence” by April Pameticky,  D5

Honorable Mention: “Planting” by Arlice W. Davenport, D5 

Honorable Mention: “Kansas is Burning” by Jeanice Eagan Davis, D5 

​Honorable Mention” “Fossils” by Kelly Johnston, D5
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Janice Lee McClure
Classic Forms, 10 entries
 
1st Place: “Ghost” by Janice Lee McClure, D7

2nd Place: “Frozen Rain” by Janice Lee McClure, D7

3rd Place: “Wild At Heart” by Janice Lee McClure, D7

​No HMs
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Sam Barrett and Gretchen Burch
New Poets, 18 entries
 
1st Place: “Music Lessons” by Gretchen Burch, D2

2nd Place: “Sick as Dogs” by Samantha L. Barrett, D5

3rd Place: “Circus” by Gretchen Burch, D2

Honorable Mention: “Permission” by Gretchen Burch, D2

​Honorable Mention: “Polka Dots” by Cynthia Schaker, D5
PictureKristine A. Polansky and Janice Lee McClure
Whimsy, 28 entries
 
1st Place: “Rebel with a Cause” by Janice Lee McClure, D5

2nd Place: “The King at the Door” by Arlice W. Davenport, D5

3rd Place: “Vultures” by Kristine A. Polansky, D4

Honorable Mention:  “Dog in the Sun” by Arlice W. Davenport, D5

​Honorable Mention:  “What a Maroon!” by Arlice W. Davenport, D5

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Julie Ann Baker Brin and Kristine A. Polansky
Japanese Forms, 15 entries
  
1st Place: “Oh, Sweet Canada” by Kristine A. Polansky, D4

2nd Place: “Swept” by Julie Ann Baker Brin, D5

3rd Place: “Mountain Haiku” by Jeanice Eagan Davis, D5

Honorable Mention: “Summer Night” by Aimee L. Gross, D1

​Honorable Mention: “Mists Silence the Trees” by Kristine A. Polansky, D4
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Jancie Lee McClure, Ashley Clayton Kay, and Gretchen Burch
 Rural voices, 32 entries
 
1st place: "What I Hate About Living in the Country" by Gretchen Burch, D2

2nd place: "Hay Work" by Tim Keane, D4

3rd place: "Turning 7 in March" by Ashley Clayton Kay, D2

Honorable mention: "High Plains Childhood: Summer" by Janice Lee McClure, D7

​Honorable mention: "Sledding in the Flatlands” by Jeanice Eagan Davis, D5
Poetry Chapbook Contest, 3 entries
 
1st, Published chapbook: Picking Fights in Book Club by Beth Gulley, D2
 
1st, Craft chapbook: faux pas: goofs, gaffes & other blunders by Martha Wherry, D5

Thank You to our Judges for the 2024 Prose & Poetry Writing Contests!

10/7/2024

 
Kansas Authors Club owes many thanks to our judges this year, whose contributions of time and expertise make our annual contests possible. Please take some time to give back to these individuals by making yourself familiar with their names and their work! ​

2024 Prose Contest Judges

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Theme Contest: Words Take Flight: Choose Your Own Adventure 
Jeffrey Ann Goudie
is an award-winning freelance writer and book critic. Her book reviews have appeared in the Boston Globe, the Minneapolis Star Tribune, the Kansas City Star, the New York Times Book Review and the Women’s Review of Books. A former newspaper columnist for the Topeka Capital-Journal and the Topeka Metro News, she has written opinion pieces for the Kansas Reflector and the Huffington Post. Her cover story about Edythe Squier Draper, a Southeast Kansas short story writer, was a cover story in the Little Balkans Review and a Pushcart Prize nominee. She has written many profiles of notable Topekans for Topeka Magazine. She is a long-time member of the National Book Critics Circle and the National Federation of Press Women. Raised in Midland, Texas, she considers herself a Kansan by choice. She is married to writer Thomas Fox Averill. They have two grown children.​

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Stories Written for Young Readers
Lindsay H. Metcalf
is a former journalist who writes award-winning nonfiction and poetry for young people. She is a co-editor of and contributor to several young activist poetry anthologies, including No Voice Too Small, which won the International Literacy Association’s 2021 Social Justice Award, and No World Too Big, which won the 2024 Green Earth Book Award. Two of her picture books were named Junior Library Guild selections: Outdoor Farm, Indoor Farm and Farmers Unite! Planting a Protest for Fair Prices, a Kansas Notable Book and Bank Street Best Book of 2020. Her 2020 debut, the picture book biography Beatrix Potter, Scientist, won the Friends of American Writers Young People’s Literature Award. Lindsay began her writing career as a reporter, editor, and columnist for The Kansas City Star and other news outlets. She lives in Concordia, Kansas, with her husband, two sons, and a geriatric cat and a mischievous puppy. Learn more at lindsayhmetcalf.com and @lindsayhmetcalf on social media.

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Short Story
Susan Jackson Rodgers is the author of the novel This Must Be the Place (2017), as well as two story collections:  The Trouble with You Is and Ex-Boyfriend on Aisle 6. Her stories and essays have appeared in journals such as New England Review, Colorado Review, North American Review, Prairie Schooner, River Teeth, and Brevity. She is the recipient of three Pushcart Prize Special Mentions and past winner of the Lorian Hemingway Short Story Competition. Originally from Connecticut and New York City, Susan taught creative writing at Kansas State University for 15 years. Currently she is a professor of creative writing and literature at Oregon State University. She has served as the director of the OSU MFA program and on the Board of Directors for the Associated Writers and Writing Programs. Susan has been the associate dean of the OSU Honors College since 2020.​

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Memoir/Inspiration
Cathleen Bascom—Literary Bishop
​After a Creative Writing B.A., I earned an M.A. in Modern English Literature at Exeter University in England, where my focus was the literary devices used by C.S. Lewis and G.K Chesterton to portray religious experience. I also became fascinated with Henry James’ multivalent use of pronouns. However, while skiing in the Alps on winter holiday, I came to peace with my calling to the Episcopal priesthood and went home to America. I served in parish ministry for decades.

I returned to literary studies and to writing, earning an M.F.A. in Creative Writing and Environment through Iowa State University’s cutting-edge cross-disciplinary program. I also served as Assistant Professor of Religion and Philosophy at Waldorf University teaching biblical literature as well as honors and English courses in which prairie restoration, plains writers, and George Harrison of Beatles-fame were given attention. In 2018, I was honored as Faculty of the Year.

I was ordained and consecrated as the 10th bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of Kansas early in 2019 at Grace Cathedral, Topeka. The chief consecrator was then Presiding Bishop Michael Curry (of Royal Wedding fame.)
As Bishop in Kansas, creation care and prairie preservation and restoration remain important priorities. We have transformed three acres of diocesan lawn in downtown Topeka (just blocks west of the State Capitol) into public gardens that include a teaching prairie, culinary food garden, outdoor chapel, and prayer spaces. A labyrinth is coming!

​I am married to Tim Bascom, author of five books and literary companion. We have two adult sons, Conrad and Luke. I like to garden, cross country ski, travel, and enjoy the blessings of family and friends.

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Humor
Becky Mandelbaum is the author of the novel The Bright Side Sanctuary for Animals and the story collection Bad Kansas. Her work has received a Pushcart Prize and has appeared in The New Yorker, One Story, The Sun, The Georgia Review, McSweeney’s Internet Tendency, and elsewhere. She has received support from Hedgebrook, Writing by Writers, The Helene Wurlitzer Foundation, Lighthouse Works, and the Washington Arts Commission. Originally from Kansas, she now lives in Bellingham, Washington. 

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Flash Fiction
Judy Bauer earned an MFA in fiction writing from the University of Kansas and holds a master’s in counseling from the University of Missouri-Columbia. She worked as a counselor, teacher and social worker. She won the 2009 Langston Hughes Award for her novel in progress and was a Pushcart Nominee for the short story “Click” published in Coal City Review 24:2007. Her short-short “Before You Understand—After Diane Williams” was published in Coal City Review 21:2006. Coal City Review published her short story “Before With Other Men If I Had Tried” in the 30:2012 issue. Her poems “Matter” and “High Anxiety” will be published in October 2024 in Sea Change, Island Writers Network 25th Anniversary Anthology, Hilton Head, South Carolina. Connect with Judy at www.judybauerwrites.com

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First Chapter of a Book
Marcia Peck’s debut novel, Water Music: A Cape Cod Story, runner-up for the Faulkner Wisdom Award for an unpublished novel, was released in 2023 by Sea Crow Press. 
 
Marcia’s award-winning fiction has appeared in New Millenium Writings, Chautauqua Journal, Gemini Magazine, Glimmer Train, 26 Minnesota Writers (Nodine Press), Tribute to Orpheus 2 (Kearney Books), three volumes of Open to Interpretation: Fading Light (Taylor and O’Neill), A Sense of Place: Cape Women Writers, among others. Her flash fiction, “Long Distance,” was nominated for a Pushcart Prize. Essays have appeared in Showcase: the Magazine of the Minnesota Orchestra, Strad Magazine, Strings Magazine, the Minneapolis Star Tribune, and Musical America. 
 
Before joining the cello section of the Minnesota Orchestra, Marcia studied cello at the Curtis Institute of Music in Philadelphia and Schumann Konservatorium in Düsseldorf. Her life in music has inspired her to look for the rhythms and sounds of music echoed in language. 
 
Marcia’s current novel-in-progress, The Unattended Moment, was a finalist for the Faulkner-Wisdom Novel-in-Progress award.  

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Playwriting 
Catherine Trieschmann's plays include CROOKED (New York Times Critic’s Pick), HOW THE WORLD BEGAN (Four stars, The London Times), HOT GEORGIA SUNDAY (Four stars, Chicago Time Out), THE MOST DESERVING, HOLY LAUGHTER, and ONE HOUSE OVER. They have been produced Off-Broadway at the Women’s Project Theater, in London at the Bush Theater and with Out-of-Joint at the Arcola Theatre, South Coast Repertory, the Denver Theater Center for Performing Arts, Milwaukee Repertory Theater, Actors Theatre of Louisville, Geva Theatre Center, Florida Stage, and Rivendell Theatre Ensemble, among others. She has received commissions from South Coast Repertory, Manhattan Theater Club, Denver Center for Performing Arts, Milwaukee Repertory Theater, Geva Theatre Center and the William Inge Theatre Festival. She’s the recipient of the Weissberger Award, the Otis Guernsey New Voices Award from the Willian Inge Playwriting Festival and a two-time Edgerton New Play awardee. Her plays are published by Samuel French, Dramatic Publishing and Methuen. Ms. Trieschmann has also served as a teaching artist, instructing students in playwriting, acting and improv for Arena Stage, the Kennedy Center for Performing Arts and at universities around the country. She holds an MFA from the University of Georgia and lives in a small town in Western Kansas.

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Prose: Rural Voices
Raylene Hinz-Penner, lifetime Kansan, grew up in the southwest corner near Liberal on a dairy farm. Retired from a career teaching creative writing and American literature at Bethel College in North Newton and Washburn University in Topeka, she writes about place and how it shapes its inhabitants. In 2007 she published Searching for Sacred Ground: the Story of Peace Chief Lawrence Hart (Mennonite); in 2022 she published a memoir featuring place, East of Liberal: Notes on the Land. Her current writing is in support of educating herself and her community on how farming settlement in Kansas dislocated Native peoples. She lives in North Newton.

2024 Poetry Contest Judges

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Theme  “Words Take Flight, Choose Your Own Adventure” 
David Cazden was the poetry editor for the magazine, Miller's Pond, for five years. He is the author of three collections of poetry, Moving Picture (Word Press, 2005), The Lost Animals (Sundress Publications, 2012) and forthcoming,  Kentucky Pathways (Bainbridge Island Press, 2024).  David's poetry has appeared widely in magazines such as Passages North, Nimrod, Verse Daily, The Connecticut Review, The New Republic, Crab Creek Review, Fugue Journal, The Shore and elsewhere. He was the recipient of an Al Smith Fellowship for Poetry from the Kentucky Arts Council and he lives in Danville, Kentucky. Website:  https://www.davidcazden.net/

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Free Verse
Rebecca Aronson is the author of three books of poetry: Anchor, winner of the Eric Hoffer award for poetry and first place poetry prize from the Philosophical Society of Texas;  Ghost Child of the Atalanta Bloom, winner of the Orison Books poetry prize; and Creature, Creature. She has been a recipient of a Yetzirah fellowship, a Prairie Schooner Strousse Award, the Loft’s Speakeasy Poetry Prize, and a Tennessee Williams Scholarship to Sewanee. She has work appearing recently or soon in The Taos Journal of Poetry, In the Tempered Dark: Contemporary Poets Transcending Elegy, Crosswinds, The Laurel Review, and others. She is host of Bad Mouth, a series of words and music. She lives in Albuquerque with her husband, teenage son, and a very demanding cat. 

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Narrative
Laura Donnelly is the author of Midwest Gothic, selected by Maggie Smith as the winner of the Richard Snyder Prize and published by Ashland Poetry Press in fall 2020. Midwest Gothic was also a finalist for the Berkshire Prize and the Lexi Rudnitsky Editor’s Choice Award. Donnelly’s first book of poetry, Watershed, won the 2013 Cider Press Review Editors’ Prize. Her poems have appeared in Colorado Review, Indiana Review, Columbia Poetry Review, Rhino, Passages North, Mississippi Review and in the online publications of Missouri Review, Harvard Review, Poets.org and elsewhere. Her book reviews appear in Kenyon Review Online and Terrain, and she co-authors a column on nature and the arts for the Sterling Nature Center in Upstate New York. Originally from Michigan, Donnelly received an MFA from Purdue University and a PhD from Western Michigan University. Her work has been supported by fellowships and scholarships from the Virginia Center for the Creative Arts, the Corporation of Yaddo, and the Sewanee Writers’ Conference. She is currently the Chair of the Department of English and Creative Writing at SUNY Oswego and lives in Upstate New York with her husband, Ben, and a cat named Sue. You can find her online at www.laurakdonnelly.com. 

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Classic Forms and New Poets
Alexis Sears is the author of Out of Order, winner of the 2021 Donald Justice Poetry Prize and the Poetry by the Sea Book Award: Best Book of 2022. Her work appears in Best American Poetry, Poet Lore, Cortland Review, Cimarron Review, Rattle, and elsewhere. She earned her MFA in poetry from the University of Wisconsin-Madison and her BA in Writing Seminars from Johns Hopkins University. Editor-at-Large of the Northwest Review and Contributing Editor of Literary Matters, she lives in Los Angeles.

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Japanese Forms and Whimsy
Steve Brisendine lives, works and remains unbeaten against The New York Times crossword in Mission, KS. He is the author of five collections of poetry, most recently full of old books and silence(Alien Buddha Press, 2024) and Behind the Wall Cloud of Sleep (Spartan Press, 2024). His work has appeared in Modern Haiku, I-70 Review, Flint Hills Review and other publications and compilations. He has no degrees, one tattoo and a deep and unironic fondness for strip-mall Chinese restaurants. In his spare time, he tries to make himself seem far more interesting than he actually is.

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Rural voices
Annie Woodford is the author of Bootleg (Groundhog Poetry Press, 2019) and Where You Come from Is Gone (Mercer UP, 2022), recipient of the 2022 Weatherford Award for Appalachian Poetry. Her micro-chapbook, When God Was a Child, was published by Bull City Press in 2023. Her work has been published most recently in Appalachian Journal. Originally from Henry County, Virginia, she now lives in Deep Gap, North Carolina. 

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Poetry Chapbook
Katherine Hoerth is author of five poetry collections, including Flare Stacks in Full Bloom (Texas Review Press, 2022). Her work has been published in Literary Imagination (Oxford University Press), Valparaiso Review, and Southwestern American Literature. She is an associate professor at Lamar University and director of Lamar University Literary Press. Her forthcoming book, Pandora’s Prairie, will be published by Cornerstone Press in 2025.

Thank You to our 2024 Youth Contest Judges

10/1/2024

 
The Kansas Authors Club is grateful to our volunteer judges this year for their time and contributions to our youth activities. We couldn't have done this without them! Help us give thanks to these individuals. 
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Fiction Grades 3-4 and
​Nonfiction Grades 3-4

Lydia Montgomery is a paraeducator at Overbrook Attendance Center. She is a Kansas native, having spent most of her life in Emporia, Kansas and currently living in Burlingame, Kansas. She lives with her partner, four adorable cats, a big fluffy dog, and a sassy bearded dragon. She has been an avid reader her whole life, and she is very passionate about encouraging young minds to love reading and foster their creativity through writing.

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​Fiction Grades 5-6 and
​Poetry Grades 5-6
Kennedy Eyberg
 is a student at Emporia State University, studying English with a concentration in Creative Writing. She enjoys reading, writing, sewing, and playing guitar and clarinet in her free time. She has been published in Quivira and the Flint Hills Review.

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Fiction Grades 7-8 and
Nonfiction Grades 7-8
Michelle Young
was born and raised in Abilene, Kansas. She attended Emporia State University and studied English Education until December 2023 when she received her Bachelor’s degree. During her time at ESU, she worked as an AVID Tutor and fell in love with teaching middle schoolers. Post-student teaching and graduation, Michelle discovered her purpose and enjoyment through serving at her church, reading, listening to podcasts, spending time with friends and family, spoiling her two cats, and spending time outdoors. She is live, laugh, loving in Lawrence, Kansas, and will begin her first year teaching as a 7th grade English Language Arts teacher in the fall of 2024.

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Fiction Grades 9-12
Tracy Million Simmons
is the owner/ publisher of Meadowlark Press, celebrating ten years in business in 2024. Meadowlark has published more than 70 titles, including six Kansas Notables. Meadowlark books have been recognized by the High Plains Book Awards, Midwest Book Awards, and Kansas Authors Club book awards.


Tracy is the author of Green Bike (with Kevin Rabas and Michael D. Graves), A Life in Progress and Other Short Stories, and Tiger Hunting, the 2013 J. Donald Coffin Memorial Book Award winner from the Kansas Authors Club. Tracy currently serves as the Executive Director of the Kansas Authors Club.

Note from Tracy Million Simmons: This was a very strong set of entries. Overall, there was not a single piece that was not award worthy. I was very impressed with the writing. I was impressed that these entries were well-written and grammatically clean. It made the job of judging them both a pleasure and difficult. In the end, I had to walk away from reading the pieces for a few days and contemplate which stories lingered in my mind after reading. Those that I found myself returning to in memory, thinking about the characters or the author’s particular descriptions, are the stories I eventually sorted into the top rankings. I want the authors to understand that this process of judging stories is objective only to a point. You’ve done the job well by polishing your writing, submitting it free from grammatical errors and typos. Personal taste certainly has an impact on the final standing, but I sorted the stories first with an eye to plot, structure, and flow. Given the constraints of a limited word count, I felt the selected stories did a particularly good job of telling a complete story.

Poetry Grades 3-4 and
Nonfiction Grades 5-6
Phyllida Porter:
I'm a sunflower—born in Emporia, January of 1934. From the very beginning I was surrounded by artists of all disciplines; family, friends, and colleagues. Anything I tried to create was encouraged and critiqued. As a result, words don't scare me nor do I shrink from new techniques and ideas.


I have written children's stories, poems, and my version of the "great American novel,” none of which have been published, as yet. (I am hopeful.)

I graduated from Denver University with a BA in Mass Communications; I had an on-air program on the Voice of America, Public Affairs Manager with the Bureau of Land Management, Air Force technical training, and lastly was Assistant Director of Education at Kirtland AFB in New Mexico. I was an Emergency Medical Technician and have a Certificate in Gerontology from D. U. My poetry and my writing have grown, re-formed, skewed and stewed, become more lyrical and more blatant not to mention—odd, quirky, questionable, hopeful, demanding and unabashedly my own self in words.
I write because I must.
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Nonfiction Grades 9-12 and 
Poetry Grades 9-12
Felicity Wenger
is an Emporia State University graduate with a BSE in English. She is currently a childcare worker but has plans to further her English horizons. She has been working various childcare jobs over the last four years with such corporations as Boys and Girls Clubs of South Central Kansas, Summerscapes in Emporia, KS and Camp Shine in Ottawa, KS. She also has a year of student teaching experience with grades 7-11. Felicity currently lives in Ottawa, KS with her younger brother and her cat. In her spare time, Felicity enjoys reading, listening to music, and being in nature. 

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Poetry Grades 7-8​
Olivia Benoit
is going into her 3L year at the University of Missouri-Kansas City School of Law. She graduated from the University of Kansas in 2022 with a bachelor’s degree in English and a bachelor’s degree in Environmental Studies, with a minor in National Security & Intelligence. She currently works at a criminal defense firm in Kansas City. She plans to practice criminal law after she graduates and takes the bar. Someday, she would like to become an English teacher. She is on track to complete her Goodreads challenge for 2024, which is to read 45 books!

Note from Olivia Benoit: Please feel free to send me your work in the future if you keep writing or edit any of your pieces! Great work writers!


2024 Youth Contest Results

10/1/2024

 
The annual Youth Contest Awards were presented this year at the Kansas Book Festival at Washburn University in Topeka on September 28. We had a great turnout this year, both in youth entries, and in ceremony attendees. Many thanks to Tim Bascom and the Kansas Book Festival committee for collaborating with us to celebrate our young writers. 

Also thanks to POD Print in Wichita for providing our winners with copies of the awards book!

Here are the 2024 results:


Fiction: Grades 3-4
1st – Avishi Roy, “The Brake”
2nd – Taksh Pidara, “Captain Color Volume 1”
3rd – Micah Jay, “The Dog and the Man”
HM – Aaruthrai Balaji, “The Haunted House”

Fiction: Grades 5-6
1st – Jason Lion Chaithonh, “Twilight Through Igulent”
2nd – Myra Upadhyay, “Revenge of the Shadow”
3rd – Avyukta Bhavnani, “The Three Queens”
HM – Sophia Powell, “The Story of Layla the Witch”
HM – Samila Chan, “Eyes in the Forest”

Fiction: Grades 7-8
1st – Aubrey Nelson, “Courage”
2nd – Addison Buck, “Something Important”
3rd – Harper Lynne Falls, “That Day”
HM – Avery Cao, “My Life Ruined”
HM – Avery Cao, “Runner”

Fiction: Grades 9-12
1st – Arielle Li, “the sun and i”
2nd – Prisha Dalal, “Not a Single Word”
3rd – Feynman Cox, “Life Fulfilled”
HM – Brielie Hogan, “The Photographer”
HM – Madeline Male, “The Death Diamond”

Nonfiction: Grades 3-4
1st – Ivy Sun, “Solar Eclipse”
2nd – Ivy Sun, “The Great Pyramid of Giza”
3rd – Vihaan Mohan, “The Watergate Scandal”
HM – Kamryn Roberts, “Union Station Christmas Lights”
HM – Kamryn Roberts, “All About France”

Nonfiction: Grades 5-6
1st – Vikram Kapoor, “A.I.”
2nd – Fawaz Khan, “Revolutionary War”
3rd – Avyukta Bhavnani, “The Start to the American Revolution”
HM – Camilla Daraiseh, “The Continental vs the British Army”
HM – Corbin Barney, “The Correlation Between Student Sleep and Success”

Nonfiction: Grades 7-8
1st – Maanya Mohan, “Should Middle School Have Recess?”
2nd – Maanya Mohan, “The Ferris Wheel”
3rd – Adain Smith, “Who Owns the Art?”
HM – Poppy Muzzy, “Luminous Life”
HM – Adain Smith, “Why you shouldn’t have coffee before bed”

Nonfiction: Grades 9-12
1st – Maggie Hahn, “Prairie Fire”
2nd – Arielle Li, “Change is Inevitable”
3rd – Michelle Blackburn, “Forensics for All”
HM – Prisha Dalal, “वरह”
Hm – Loren Reiske, “We Were”

Poetry: Grades 3-4
1st – Liam Andre Brichet, “The Rain or La Pluie”
2nd (tied) – Kendall Paige Falls, “Lake of the Ozarks”
2nd (tied) – Kendall Paige Falls, “Colorado”
3rd – Amelia Ellis, “Rivers”
HM – Kamryn Roberts, “Sleeping”
HM – Amelia Ellis, “We Are Playing Music”
HM – Asa Patton, “Chicken”

Poetry: Grades 5-6
First place – Corbin Barney, “The Awakening of Spring”
Second place – Adeline Alaniz, “Music Shapes the World”
Third place – Ember Bowman, “Nature’s Melody”
HM – Avyukta Bhavnani, “The Little Bud”
HM – Jason Lion Chaithonh, “My Haikus”

Poetry: Grades 7-8
First place – Adain Smith, “Pearl, the Paper Dog”
Second place – Sofia Stalnaker, “Twain Loves Poetry”
Third place – Poppy Muzzy, “Clocked Out”
HM – Harper Lynn Falls, “Blue”
HM – Kylie Dodd, “Circulation”

Poetry: Grades 9-12
1st – Feynman Cox, “Glass and Gravel”
2nd – Brielie Hogan, “The Call to War”
3rd – Madeline Male, “A Poem at the Pond”
HM – Maggie Hahn, “Man’s Search for Meaning”
HM – Hannah Christian, “Over the Rainbow Bridge”

Bajaj Youth Writer of the Year: Adain Smith

Thank you to POD Print for sponsoring our Youth Contest. POD gifted a copy of the youth awards book to each child who placed in the contest
​
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Join the 2024 Kansas Writers Convention In-Person or Online

9/17/2024

 
Explore Your Options:
Attend Virtually or Face-to-Face
​
This is the last call! Get your registration for the 2024 "Words Take Flight" Kansas Writing Convention in by September 30.

The convention committee has been busy planning this fantastic confernce with YOU in mind. We will be recording all workshops, so each ticket, whether virtual or in person, will come with links, after the convention, to all of the sessions. You won't have to miss a single one! Recordings will be available for viewing through the end of the year.
​
And we have scholarships! Scholarships are easy to apply for. Simply check the box for the amount you can pay when you get to the scholarship portion of the registration form. After registering, you will receive an invoice detailing your charges. If we are NOT able to accomodate your scholarship request, you can review our offer and decide if you are able to continue with registration or not. No worries! At this moment, we have scholarship money available. 

We look forward to seeing you there!
Sandee Taylor & Tyler Henning, Convention Chairs
Anne Spry, Ann Vigola Anderson, Linzi Garcia, Tracy Million Simmons
Meet our Keynote Speaker
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Jenn Bailey has her MFA in Writing for Children and Young Adults from the Vermont College of Fine Arts. Her work received the American Library Association’s Schneider Family Honor Award in January, 2020, along with the Kansas Author’s Book Award in 2019. She has received the Candlewick Picture Book Scholarship and the Beyond Words award.

​Explore:
 Dynamic Dialogue & The Short Play Format
Debra A. Cole is a playwright from Lawrence, Kansas. Her plays have been seen by audiences around the world. Debra was a selected playwright for the William Inge Theatre Festival - New Play Lab 2023. Debra’s 20-play collection titled "The Wrinkle Ranch and Other Short Plays About Growing Old" is available through Next Stage Press, as well as additional plays with Drama Notebook, Off The Walls Plays, and Heuer Publishing. Debra is a member of the Dramatists Guild of America, a member of Honor Roll!, an advocacy group of women+ playwrights over 40, and 2023-24 Kansas City Public Theatre's Playwright’s Roundtable cohort.
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​Learn About:
 Writing Historically Accurate Fiction
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A professional historican who continues to teach university-level history, Gretchen Eick is also a writer of 8 published books and one of Blue Cedar Press's editors for prose manuscripts. Her two academic histories won prizes and the first is cited in the Smithsonian's Museum of African American History and Culture.

​Choose Your Own Adventure with Persona Poetry
Lisa M. Hase-Jackson is author of Insomnia in Another Town (Clemson University Press, 2014) selected by Clair Bateman as winner of the 2023 Converse MFA Alumni Book Prize, and Flint and Fire (The Word Works, 2019) which was selected by Pulitzer prize-winning poet Jericho Brown for the 2019 Hilary Tham Capital Collection Series. Her award-winning poems appear or are forthcoming in Chiron Review, Cimarron Review, The South Carolina Review, and Midwest Quarterly. She is a Visiting Assistant Professor at the University of Pittsburgh.
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​And so much more! 15 workshops, a weekend of inspiration and relaxation at the beautiful Rock Springs Ranch. You don't want to miss this. 
​
 Workshop descriptions can be found on our website. 
Register Today

​We are what we love and we love writing

9/11/2024

 
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Follow your heart to a place of friendship and inspiration on Oct. 4-6 at Rock Springs Ranch.
I wanna be defined by the things that I love, not the things I hate. Not the things I’m afraid of. Or the things that haunt me in the middle of the night. I just think that you are what you love.–Taylor Swift

Pardon me for quoting from a pop culture icon, but what Taylor says resonates even more than seeing her PDAs with Travis Kelce. We truly are what we love, and if you happen upon this blog on the Kansas Authors Club website, you must love writing. I sure do.

And maybe even more than writing, I love my writing friends. I’m so looking forward to the October 4-6 convention at Rock Springs Ranch. I hope you’ve already registered, but if not,  it’s not too late.

I’m going early, on Thursday, to get in some personal writing time. At last year’s retreat, I was able to make some progress on a memoir I’ve spent the last ten years working on. Maybe I’ll be able to see an end in sight after this year’s event.

I’ve only been a KAC member for five years, but in that short time I’ve collected fond memories of previous conventions, district meetings, and programs. I especially enjoyed the convention in Lawrence. I was able to connect with several young writers there who had only been virtual friends previously. They energized me so much.

It also energizes and motivates me when I can connect in person with a few writer friends over lunch. That happened last week when I let Google Maps wind me over back roads (avoiding road construction, I assume) to Emporia. I met with Tracy and Lindsey for an executive session at Radius. Over some tasty pizza, we got a lot of business accomplished, along with some visioning for the future of KAC. During our discussion, we concluded that writers are a weird but lovable bunch of folks. Most of us are introverts but when we’re with other writers, we blossom and do extroverted things like tell S’mores- fueled ghost stories on the back patio of the Lodge at Rock Springs Ranch. You’ll have your own chance to do that if you join us for the convention…guaranteed!

As state president, I’ll be pretty occupied during the convention, but I’m determined to pick up some motivation and writing tips from the pros we have on the schedule. Be sure to take a look at the fantastic lineup of workshops and professional caliber speakers we have slated for the weekend.  I’d like to go to every single session but will have to rely on the replays, which will be available to everyone who buys a convention ticket.

And even if you have a conflict with dates for the convention or don’t want to drive that far from the hinterlands of Kansas, don’t forget that we have a virtual option that will let you learn from the comfort of your recliner via a laptop or smartphone. All you have to do is register for a virtual ticket, then watch the livestream of some of the workshops in real time, and links to the recordings of all of the workshops will be delivered to you via email a week or two after the convention. You will be able to watch all of the workshops on your own time.

Now here’s a quote from a non-pop icon who wrote this in 49 CE (Common Era, in case you, like me, weren’t familiar with this little abbreviation). His name was Seneca and this appeared in On the Shortness of Life.

Nothing delights the mind so much as fond and loyal friendship. What a blessing it is to have a heart that is ready and willing to receive all your secrets in safety, with whom you are less afraid to share knowledge of something than keep it to yourself, whose conversation soothes your distress, whose advice helps you make up your mind, whose cheerfulness dissolves your sorrow, whose very appearance cheers you up!

I believe I’ll find the delight Seneca references at the Kansas Authors Club Convention. How about you?
Anne Spry, President
Kansas Authors Club
Learn More & Register

Save When You Register for the 2024 Convention Today!

8/31/2024

 
Join Us for the 2024 Kansas Writing Convention!

October 4-6, 2024
​
Early Bird Registration Deadline: August 31

Tickets will increase to full price on September 1.
Meet a Convention Workshop Presenter:
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The Dual Timeline: How-To and Why

Presented by Jillian Forsberg
​​Dual timeline novels continue to grow in popularity. But how do you effectively write two narratives in one work? And why would you want to in the first place? Learn how to create separate but compelling narratives that work to enhance one another including: connecting protagonists, illuminating the past through a present timeline, and navigating the narrative flow of different worlds in one novel.
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Jillian Forsberg's debut novel, The Rhino Keeper, debuts October 22, 2024, from History Through Fiction. In addition to being the former editor of Wichita State's Fairmount Folio, Jillian's historical research has been published in academic journals. Her second novel is in the works. She lives in Wichita. 

Register Today!
Thank you to our convention sponsors & supporters. Click on the images below to learn more. ​

Register for our 2024 Convention Today and Save!

8/30/2024

 
Join Us for the 2024 Kansas Writing Convention!

October 4-6, 2024
​
Early Bird Registration Deadline: August 31
Tickets will increase to full price on September 1.
Meet a Convention Workshop Presenter:
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The Real Deal: Creating Convincing Kansans in Fiction and Creative Nonfiction

Presented by Robert Rebein
What are the elements that make characters from Kansas believable on the page? What are some things to avoid so that your characters do not become caricatures? How can we use significant detail to convince readers of our characters’ authenticity without overloading readers with “local color”? What role does dialogue play in this? To what extent does the job of creating convincing Kansans overlap with the larger job of recreating Kansas itself as a vivid, complex, and compelling locale for a story? This will be a hands-on workshop, so be ready to create and share as well as learn.
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Robert Rebein is the author of the novel The Last Rancher (Meadowlark, 2024) a family saga set on a cattle ranch in western Kansas, as well as two award-winning memoirs, Dragging Wyatt Earp: A Personal History of Dodge City (Swallow, 2013) and Headlights on the Prairie: Essays on Home (U P Kansas, 2017). He is a graduate of the University of Kansas (BA) and Washington University in St. Louis (MFA), among other institutions. He grew up in Dodge City, where his family has farmed and ranched since the 1920s. He directs the creative writing program at Indiana University in Indianapolis.

Register Today!
Thank you to our convention sponsors & supporters. Click on the images below to learn more. ​

Early Bird Registration Deadline: August 31, 2024

8/29/2024

 
Join Us for the 2024 Kansas Writing Convention!

October 4-6, 2024
​
Early Bird Registration Deadline: August 31
Tickets will increase to full price on September 1.
Meet a Convention Workshop Presenter:
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Evolution of a Genre: Giving Voice to Your Stories Through Creative Nonfiction
Presented by Lindsey Bartlett
This presentation will explore using creative nonfiction as a way to give voice to the places, people, and events that have make you who you are. Bartlett will give a brief overview of the genre of creative nonfiction, how it continues to evolve, and how she is using the genre to tell her own stories. Additionally, she will look at how women writers are impacting the evolution of creative nonfiction.
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Lindsey Bartlett teaches composition and literature at Emporia State University. An Emporian by choice, she lives in the Flint Hills region of Kansas, where she spends her days writing in various coffee shops, holed up at home with a good book, or driving the countryside for good photo opportunities. Bartlett has published one poetry collection, Vacant Childhood. Her writing and photography have appeared in The Milk House: A Rural Writing Collective, The Write Bridge, Flint Hills Review, and 105 Meadowlark Reader. Her essay, “Reframing My Rural Past” was recently nominated for “Best of the Net.”

Register Today!
Thank you to our convention sponsors & supporters. Click on the images below to learn more. 

Words Take Flight: Choose Your Own Adventure

8/15/2024

 
Join Us for the 2024 Kansas Writing Convention!

October 4-6, 2024
​
Early Bird Registration Deadline: August 31
Convention Workshop: Using Description Effectively
​Presented by Samantha L. Barrett

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Description is one of the trickiest aspects of writing. How much is too much? How little is too little? How do you translate the crystal-clear idea in your head into something a reader will be able to understand just from a few words on the page? By understanding what type of description is called for in a situation, how to balance description in a well-rounded paragraph, and how to make appropriate word choices, any writer can learn to make their descriptions work for them. In this workshop, we’ll cover these strategies and how to implement them.
Samantha L. Barrett is the author of the speculative short story collection The Bus To Adventure City (Air & Nothingness Press). She is the Assistant Director of Adult Programs at Write Pittsburgh and has been an Adjunct Instructor of English at Carlow University. Samantha’s work has appeared in 20, The Chaffey Review, and 10/ten, and been anthologized in Polis, Cities of Dust Planes of Light, and Neverwas Earth. She lives near Wichita, Kansas, with her grumpy old cat and two insane Boston terriers.
Learn More

KAC Scholarship Fundraiser - July 20

7/17/2024

 
Help fund the KAC convention scholarship fund by eating at Chipolte in Wichita on Saturday, July 20 from 4:00 to 8:00 p.m. They donate 1/4 of the event sales to our club.

IMPORTANT: YOU MUST TELL THEM YOUR ARE THERE FOR KANSAS AUTHORS CLUB FUNDRAISER. Show them the flyer below or give them the code FCHF9JY
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You may also contribute to the scholarship fund via the following page on our website.
Donate to the KAC Scholarship Fund

2024 Convention News: Registration Opens July 1

6/29/2024

 
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SAVE THE DATE

Words Take Flight: Choose Your Own Adventure

​Kansas Writing Convention

October 4-6, 2024

Rock Springs Ranch
​
1168 KS-157 • Junction City, KS 66441
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! 
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Jenn Bailey has her MFA in Writing for Children and Young Adults from the Vermont College of Fine Arts. Her work received the American Library Association’s Schneider Family Honor Award in January, 2020, along with the Kansas Author’s Book Award in 2019. She has received the Candlewick Picture Book Scholarship and the Beyond Words award.
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. 
Review the Schedule
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.
Ticket Details
The registration form will be loaded to the "Ticket Details" page on Monday, July 1, 2024.

2024 Convention Advertising Packages
Final Deadline for 2024 Ads: August 31, 2024
Deadline to be included in Writing From the Center Zine: August 1, 2024

Quarter page book ads for members start at $25.00
Convention Advertising
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.
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