Current News from the Kansas Authors Club

2024 Service Award: Anne Spry

11/10/2024

At the Annual Meeting of the General Membership, held via Zoom on October 19, 2024, a Service Award was presented to Anne Spry.

Awards are presented to members for achievement in writing (A), service to the club (S), and special award for particular accomplishment (SP).

"Anne served as president of District 1, doing an exemplary job as Kansas Authors Club has transitioned to its present statewide focus. She produced an attractive and informative quarterly newsletter for District 1. In addition, she has live-streamed our Words in the Wind open mic event. Anne did all of the formatting and publishing of D1's 2023 anthology, All Over the Map.

"Anne was one of the committee who worked diligently to make sure our state convention in Topeka could be held virtually. All of this besides running her own publishing company and being part of Sweet Adolines Acapella Chorus. Now moving on to be state president of Kansas Authors Club, Anne has proven over and over again her devotion to Kansas Authors Club."

Nomination by Barbara Waterman-Peters

April 27 Invitation from Anamcara Press - Lawrence, Kansas

4/22/2024

With much appreciation to our authors, artists, and readers we invite you to celebrate the publication of
THE WRITE BRIDGE JOURNAL: 2024 edition. Enjoy refreshments, great speakers
& A GOOD TIME!

SATURDAY, APRIL 27, 20243:30 - 6:30 PM
WATKINS MUSEUM, LAWRENCE, KANSAS

Find Out More
SELECT ARTICLES, POEMS, SHORT STORIES, PLAYS AND ARTWORK FROM AUTHORS AND ARTISTS WITH POWERFUL VOICES

The Write Bridge presents two opposing ideas for creators and readers to delve into—seriously or in fun—in order stretch our imaginations, to move beyond boundaries, to bridge the gap.
RNAL TOPIC: SOLITUDE and SOLIDARITYPUBLICATION DATE: MARCH 17, 202
AVAILABLE NOW HERE!

CONTRIBUTING AUTHORS & ARTISTS:
*denotes KAC member

Barry Barnes
Vern Barnet
Shelley Watts Barnhill
Stephanie A. Barrows
*Lindsey Bartlett
*Julie Ann Baker Brin
Patricia Cleveland
*Ian Cook
Louis Copt
*Brian Daldorph
*Anamarie Davis-Wilkins
*Thaddeus Dugan
Heather Duris
*Gretchen Cassel Eick
Andrew Evans
*Robert Fraga
*Amber Fraley
*Beth Gulley
*George Gurley
*Duane L. Herrmann
*D.A. Irsik
*Kelly W. Johnston
Kathleen Kaska
Julia Mathias Manglitz
Cathy Martin
J.A. McGovern
*Ronda Miller
*Peg Nichols
*Kevin Rabas
John Ritchie
*Troy Robinson
BruDe Rolfe
*Mark Scheel
*Diane Silver
Garold Sneegas
*Lori Stratton
*Connlyn Synclair
*Chuck Warner
*Barbara Waterman Peters
*Brenda White

Members in Issue #7 of 105 Meadowlark Reader

3/18/2024

Congratulations to the following Kansas Authors Club members who will be published in the next issue of 105 Meadowlark Reader, shipping in May 2024.

“The Middle of Nowhere” by Alicia Troike

“Between the Dead and Me” by Amanda L. Little

“Friendship Forged over Fetal Pig” by Amy D. Kliewer

“Last Letter” by Ann Christine Fell

“A Second Meeting in Manhattan” by Barbara Waterman-Peters

“Can You Tell Me How to Get to Oklahoma City?” by Beth Gulley

“Waves of Intersection” by Boyd Bauman

“A Retirement Revelation” by Chuck Warner

“Getting Pregnant at My Age?” By Errin D. Moore

“A Love Story” by James Kenyon

“At the Intersection of Kansas and Anywhere in the World” by Cynthia Mines

“Families and Fates of Robert Parks” by Jim Potter

“The Town at the Crossroads” by Julie A. Sellers

“The Sparrow’s Whistle” by Julie Stielstra

“Intersecting with the Mob” by Linda Cook

“Double Cousins and the Carnival Keepsake” by Roger Heineken

“Not in My Plan” by Sandee Lee

“Crossroads” by Thomas Holmquist

“Lessons from the Intersection of Tallgrass and Tabor Valley” by Tim Keane

Submit to the Next Issue of 105 Meadowlark Reader

Buy a copy of 105 Meadowlark Reader

Members to be Published in Landmarks Issue of Kansas Journal of Creative Nonfiction

9/28/2023

The next issue of 105 Meadowlark Reader includes essays by the following Kansas Authors Club Members.
The theme of this issue is Landmarks, and expected ship date for this publication is early November, 2023.

Congratulations writers!

Lindsey Bartlett, Emporia
Boyd Bauman, Overland Park
Linda Cook, Manhattan
Ann Christine Fell, Winfield
Monica Graves, Emporia
Carolyn Hall, Lenexa
Cheryl Heide, Baldwin City
Thomas Holmquist, Smolan
Nancy Julien Kopp, Manhattan
Marilyn Hope Lake, Columbia, MO
Caryn Mirriam-Goldberg, Lawrence
Julie A. Sellers, Atchison
Julie Stielstra, Ellinwood
Sandee Lee, El Dorado
Barbara Waterman-Peters, Topeka
Jon Kelly Yenser, Albuquerque, NM

Next Submission Theme: Intersections

Ships in November: Subscribe Today

Board Meeting Notes from Ann Vigola Anderson, State Secretary

9/11/2023

“We are in exciting times for Kansas Authors Club. We have the opportunity to reinvent ourselves, and that doesn’t happen often.”
– Barbara Waterman Peters, District 1 Representative to the Kansas Authors Club State Board

The Kansas Authors Club Board met on Zoom on September 7. We thought you might enjoy an overview of the fall board meeting. It was well attended (4 executive officers, 6 district reps, 2 guests, and our manager). We covered important topics ranging from enhancing our business operations to the writing retreat at Rock Springs on October 6-8.

We hope you have a chance to attend the Kansas Book Festival on September 16 at Washburn University in Topeka. KAC will be presenting our annual youth awards at the festival for the first time. This will give our young writers a chance to mingle with authors, take advantage of some of the excellent book festival activities for youth, and celebrate literature in Kansas with their families! Many of our Kansas Authors Club authors, publishers and editors will be at booths to answer questions and sign books for you!

Kansas Authors Club is always working to assure we do an excellent job of tracking our financial assets in all districts and at the state level. To further help our district treasurers, KAC will be developing some tools for consistency and information for all of our districts to use.

Have you had a chance to zoom in on a statewide program? The attendance has been growing steadily. Our tracking suggests that our programs have been reaching in the range of 68-85 members each month. This has afforded many members the opportunity to be a part of the program without the expense and time of traveling. Check the website for the next speaker! If you have a terrific idea for a statewide program, please send it to one of the KAC board members or Tracy. If you are interested in serving on a committee to plan our state programs, please let us know!

Are you a tech wizard? We are looking for a few volunteers that would like to help with the presentation of our state programs on zoom. And if you have other fun ideas of how to enhance our presentations, we’d love to hear from you!

Our Fall Gathering is just around the corner. This year it comes in the form of a writing retreat rather than a convention. There are a few spots open so please sign up by September 15 to assure you will be a part of this unique writing retreat. You may register on our website.

The retreat will be held at Rock Springs Lodge, just off I-70 near Junction City. The site features beautiful mature trees, creeks, and a view of the Flint Hills. And so many places to relax to read, write, and visit with other attendees. As much as we will enjoy being close to nature, the site also has first-rate room accommodations, meeting rooms that are easily accessible by car or a short walk, and delicious food with many choices. And rumor has it there might be a campfire with s’mores on Saturday night!

I know several of our attendees are also looking forward to catching up on reading, too. This is an opportunity to be with writers, publishers, editors and all in a setting of beauty and comfort.

The complete minutes of the 2023 Board Meetings can be found here (member sign-in required).

Ting & the Caterbury Tales - D1 Collaborators Release Third Children's Book

6/9/2022

Glennie Buckley and Barbara Waterman-Peters (both D1) have collaborated on a third children's book, Ting & the Caterbury Tales. Following the success of The Fish's Wishes and Bird which were written by Glennie and illustrated by Barbara, they decided to co-write one about some infamous cats who've owned them. With apologies to Geoffrey Chaucer, they've set their cats out on an adventure. With more than 60 illustrations by Barbara, the book is available from Pen & Brush Press, 2223 SW Knollwood Drive Topeka 66611 or by contacting Barbara. ($27.29 with tax. No charge for S&H.)

Writing and Illustrating Children's Books: Glendyn Buckley and Barbara Waterman-Peters May 28 Program

5/27/2022

This Saturday, May 28th, the D6 monthly meeting will be on Zoom only, beginning at 1:30 PM (CST).

Our guest speakers, Glendyn Buckley and Barbara Waterman-Peters, will share with us their journey of writing and illustrating children's books. They are both KACD1 members who will join us virtually from Topeka.
Glennie is the author of Ting & The Canterbury Tales. It's her third collaboration with Barbara Waterman-Peters. Two prior books are The Fish’s Wishes (in its third printing), 2015; and Bird in 2017.

Barbara has illustrated several books, including BACI: A Mind-Altering Cat, and THE COLLECTIVE @25, both of which she also wrote and designed; in addition, she has created book cover art and illustrations for several authors and anthologies, and illustrated a coloring book for the Kansas Dental Association. She collaborated with poet Dennis Etzel, Jr. on his project and book, Two Ponders: A Collaboration. Together with Glendyn Buckley, she formed Pen & Brush Press after the success of their first children’s book, The Fish’s Wish’s (KNEA Recommended Reading List.) Their second book, Bird, won the Kansas Authors Club Children’s Book Award in 2019. Ting & the Canterbury Tales is their third book and is inspired by actual cats who’ve owned the authors.

If you're a current KAC D6 member, you're also invited to join us an hour earlier for a D6 Board Meeting on Zoom. (We'll use the same Zoom link for both meetings.) As we've done previously, well end the board meeting no later than 1:15 p.m. in order to give us time to take a break and to prepare for our guest speakers.

The Board is always talking about our future, and we have some neat plans, so join us again with your ideas.
If you haven't heard, at the end of this year, Jim & Alex Potter will not be running for reelection as members of the D6 Board. Alex & I are pleased to have dedicated our service to improving D6 the last 2 1/2 years, and we look forward to stepping back and giving others an opportunity to make a difference.

By announcing our intention now, this will give D6 members an opportunity to consider becoming a Board candidate prior to our election on November 26, 2022.
If you have any questions about the duties of our Board members, I encourage you to contact one of us and show up at D6 Board meetings.

Topeka publishers to share tips for successful book launches

5/13/2022

Barbara Waterman-Peters, Anne Spry and Thea Rademacher will combine their experience and tips for creating successful book launches at the May 21 meeting of District 1 of Kansas Authors Club. The Topeka publishers operate Pen & Brush Press LLC, Personal Chapters LLC and Flint Hills Publishing.

While admitting that information on book launches could fill up at least a one-day conference, the three women hope to give an overview of things that worked well on their personal or client launches. Thea will discuss how to invite the world to your book launch on Zoom and she will introduce CraveBooks.com, a new website that will help authors connect with readers and find and organize marketing campaigns.

Barbara will discuss the nuts and bolts of launch planning, including picking a venue that is appropriate for your target demographic.

Spry will focus on ways to partner with local organizations and venues, doing effective news releases, soliciting TV and radio interviews (also podcasts) and even compiling simple movie trailers.

The meeting will begin at 12:30 p.m. at the Shawnee County Public Library, in the Langston Hughes Room, and will also be held on Zoom. This is a half-hour earlier than the group’s normal start time. To join the zoom meeting, send an email request to Anne Spry.

The Bicycle Issue of 105 Meadowlark Reader: A Kansas Journal of Creative Nonfiction

4/25/2022

105 Issue #3 Cover Photo by Scott Branine, flickr.com/photos/scott_branine/

Congratulations to Kansas Authors Club members with essays in the “True Bicycle Stories” issue (#3) of 105 Meadowlark Reader.

(D2) Bicycles: A Love Story by Boyd Bauman

(D5) Where I Like by Julie Ann Baker Brin

(D1) BlueBoy by Annabelle Corrick

(D2) A Green Bike by Monica Graves

(D2) The Bucket List by Beth Gulley

(D2) Going to C’ago by Carolyn Hall

(D2) Whoa by Jerilynn Henrikson,

(D2) Blue English Racer by Deb Irsik

(D2) My First, Last, and Only Bike by Sally Jadlow

(D5) What I Learned from Riding the Bicycle by Amy Deckert Kliewer

(D5) Bicycles in Kansas Yards by Sandee Lee

(D2) Dust on My Shoulders by Kerry Moyer

(D2) A Rolling Start by Peg Nichols

(D6) I Didn’t Have a Bicycle but I had a Paper Route by Jim Potter

(D5) Country Biking in Kansas by Cynthia C. Schaker

(D1) They Traded My Horse for a Bicycle by Anne Spry

(D1) The Race by Barbara Waterman-Peters

(D2) Bicycles: Bane or Boon by Brenda White

(D2) On Shaky Wheels by Mary Kate Wilcox

(D7) Bike Ride by Sheree Wingo

The Bicycle Issue will be delivered to Partner Bookstores and Subscribers beginning in May.

The submission period for the Fall 2022 issue is May 1-June 30. The theme is (True) Food Stories.
Learn more at 105MeadowlarkReader.com

About 105 Meadowlark Reader

Our Mission
To create a forum for sharing the work of Kansas writers.
To build and uplift the community of Kansas writers.
To share and promote resources for Kansas writers.

105 Meadowlark Reader will strive to represent the diversity of writers in Kansas.

105 Meadowlark Reader is a journal of creative nonfiction by and for writers who live or have lived in Kansas.

Each issue will contain a directory of area resources for writers. Publishers, printers, editors, book designers, cover/interior artists, bookstores, writing clubs, and anyone who provides services to writers is invited to submit details for our directory at no charge.

Members Published in 105 Meadowlark Reader, Issue #2

11/2/2021

Carolyn Hall, D2 Member, is one of 21 Kansas Authors Club members published in the second issue of 105 Meadowlark Reader: Kansas Travel Stories.

The journal of Kansas creative nonfiction can be purchased at "Partner Bookstores" including Crow and Co Books (Hutchinson), Eighth Day Books (Wichita), Flint Hills Books (Council Grove), Raven Book Store (Lawrence), Russell Specialty Books & Gifts (Russell), and Watermark Books & Cafe (Wichita).

Subscriptions can also be purchased at Meadowlark Press.

Kansas Authors Club members featured in this issue include:

Ann Anderson (D2)

Curtis Becker (D2)

Sheryl Brenn (D7)

Annabelle Corrick (D1)

Gretchen Cassel Eick (D5)

Marie Baum Fletcher (D7)

Tammy Gilley (D6)

Michael D. Graves (D2)

Monica (Osgood) Graves (D2)

Carolyn Hall (D2)

Jerilynn Jones Henrikson (D2)

Sally Jadlow (D2)

Nancy Julien Kopp (D4)

Sandee Lee (D5)

Jim Potter (D6)

Julie A. Sellers (D1)

Mark Scheel (D2)

Tracy Million Simmons (D2)

Barbara Waterman-Peters (D1)

Brenda White (D2)

Editor, Chery Unruh (D2)

The journal is currently taking submissions for issue #3 to be published in the spring of 2022.

Theme: True Bicycle Stories
Guidelines can be found on the
105 Meadowlark Reader website.

Convention 2021: Service to the Club

10/25/2021

Each year, members are asked to nominate those who deserve special recognition for service to the club, for work on a special accomplishment, or for achievement in writing.

Letter of Nomination:

It was a painful decision for each member of the 2021 Convention Planning Committee to pull the plug on their plans to host a live convention in Topeka. For more than a year, I sat in on many of their planning sessions. I was impressed by the energy and attention to detail as they planned their marketing strategy and put together what I think you will agree is an impressive lineup of speakers and workshop presenters. Multiple times, some members of the committee met with the director of events at Ramada Inn, or simply wandered through on their own, to examine the facilities and make sure they understood what would happen where.

Because this is a virtual convention, you can never have a full appreciation of how much work went into planning those aspects of the convention that had to be scrapped. For a year, they planned for a live convention under the cloud of uncertainty created by COVID, knowing that much of their planning might be of no avail. Then, in early spring, as numbers of cases and deaths dramatically dropped and the pandemic appeared to be running its course, they voted to forge ahead full speed with their plans for a live convention.

The emotional roller coaster they then endured as the Delta variant heated things up again made it all the more difficult for them to cancel the live portion of the convention. But it was clear as they discussed their decision, that what they dreaded most was the thought of feeling personally responsible for some of you becoming sick or even dying as a result of infection at the convention.

Because this is a virtual event, you can never have a full appreciation of how much work went into planning those aspects that had to be scrapped. I could sense their disappointment as each one raised his or her hand to vote to torpedo much of their own plans. Through their determination to bring you and me a high-quality convention, these individuals serve as role models for us all. We can learn from them how to pivot and persevere when confronted with circumstances we cannot control.
I hope you will give them a thumbs up as we call out their names.

Members of the committee are:

District 1:
Fred Appelhanz
Audrey Bosley
Max Dunavan
Reaona Hemmingway
Ruth Maus
Anne Spry
Janet Jenkins Stotts
Barbara Waterman Peters
Carol Yoho

District 5:
Connie Rae White

Nominated by: Duane Johnson

Kansas Authors Club Members to be Published in Inaugural Issue of 105: Meadowlark Reader

2/14/2021

The following Kansas Authors Club members had essays selected for publication in the first issue of 105: Meadowlark Reader, a Kansas journal of creative nonfiction. Issue #1, with the theme of "beginnings," is expected to be delivered to subscribers in early May, featuring 35 essays, including the following:

Gretchen Eick - D5
Marie Fletcher - D7
Beth Gulley - D2
Miriam Iwashige - D6
Nancy Julien Kopp - D4
Sandee Lee - D5
Don Marler - D5
Ruth Maus - D1
Julie Nischan - D1
Kevin Rabas - D2
Mark Scheel - D2
Julie Sellers - D4
Tyler Sheldon - D2
Julie Stielstra - D6
Barbara Waterman-Peters - D1
Jon Yenser - D7
Gloria Zachgo - D5
Ginger Zyskowski - D6

Cheryl Unruh (D2) of Quincy Press is the editor of the new journal, and Tracy Million Simmons (D2) of Meadowlark Press is the publisher. Readers are encouraged to subscribe before March 1 to take advantage of introductory pricing.

For those interested in submitting essays for issue #2, the theme will be "Kansas Travel Stories" and they will begin collecting those submissions in May and June of 2021

See 105meadowlarkreader.com for complete details.

2020 Convention Workshop: Barbara Waterman-Peters

8/20/2020

Barbara Waterman-Peters
Your Story and My Art: A Collaboration

Explore different methods by which the author and the artist/graphic designer, working in tandem, can create an attractive literary product. With so many options today there is no reason for a book with poor visual appeal. Whether you have written fiction, non-fiction, a memoir, a children’s book, or a collection of poems, your book can be a source of pride.

Barbara Waterman-Peters, (BFA, Washburn University, MFA, Kansas State University, Honorary Doctor of Fine Arts, Washburn University) whose award-winning work is in museum, corporate, and private collections. She was a founding member of the Collective Art Gallery (1987-2014) and is a charter member of Circle of 7. She has shown regionally, nationally and internationally in over 275 solo, invitational and juried exhibitions. Waterman-Peters taught at Washburn and Kansas State Universities as well as for Lassen Community College in California. She was the staff artist for the Washburn University Theater from 1999 until 2016. In 2010 she founded STUDIO 831, an artists’ space and gallery in the North Topeka Arts & Entertainment District (NOTO).

She is co-founder of Pen & Brush Press with author Glendyn Buckley. She and Glendyn each received a Children’s Book Award from Kansas Authors Club for their work on their second book, Bird. She writes articles about art and artists for TOPEKA Magazine and other publications.

Learn More