Current News from the Kansas Authors Club

Remembering Margaret "Peg" Nichols

5/10/2026

Margaret "Peg" Nichols November 28, 1927 - April 20, 2026

Peg Nichols, a member from Olathe, joined Kansas Authors Club in 2005 and served as a convention committee member and host for many conventions that were held in Lawrence.

Peg worked as a journalist, starting with the Upland News in California when she was a young adult. In Kansas, she worked for a brief time at The Kansas City Star and she was a reporter for The Olathe Mirror.

Peg's books include:

Mediation Survivor's Handbook
I Kneeded It (poetry)
Emergency, No-Guilt Hot Chocolate (Emilye Yancey)
Sidewalk Sale Across America

Peg was an active writer and frequent contributor to publications such as The Write Bridge (Anamcara Press), 105 Meadowlark Reader (Meadowlark Press), and Coal City Review.

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2025 Prose Contest Results

10/12/2025

Thanks to Jaimie Kirby for serving as our 2025 Prose Contest Manager!

Prose Theme: Mark Landon Jarvis & Janice Northerns

Category: Theme Prose
More Than a Manuscript: Words Take Root

First Place: ”The Garden Of Rejected Tales” by Julie A. Sellers, Atchison

Second Place: “Silent Reverie” by Mark Landon Jarvis, El Dorado

Third Place: “Uprooted—How I Became an Accidental Kansan” by Janice Northerns, Wichita

Honorable Mentions:
"From Tools to Roots” by Mason Taylor-Taite, Manhattan
”Roots” Julie A. Sellers, Atchison

Stories for Young Readers: Jerilynn Jones Henrikson

Category: Stories Written for Young Readers

First Place: ”Pedro the Cat of Bee Mountain” by Jerilynn Jones Henrikson, Emporia

Second Place: “Tiny Mighty Eveliney” by Jerilynn Jones Henrikson, Emporia

Third Place: “The Story of Alex the Cat” by Mason Taylor-Taite, Manhattan

Honorable Mentions:
“The Case of the Missing Ears” by Julie A. Sellers, Atchison
“Get Outta My Womb by Jerilynn Jones Henrikson, Emporia

Prose Memoir/Inspirational: Mark Landon Jarvis, Sandra Lou Taylor, & S.L. Brown

Category: Memoir/Inspirational

First Place: “Anomalies” by Mark Landon Jarvis, El Dorado

Second Place: “The One We Usually Find When He’s Dead” by Sandra Lou Taylor

Third Place: “You’re Enough” by S.L. Brown

Honorable Mentions:
“The Yellow Gingham Sundress” by Aimee L. Gross, Topeka
“My Dad, Not a Father” by Marilynn Hope Lake, Columbia MO

Humor: Linda Cook & Jerilynn Jones Henrikson

Cateogory: Humor

First Place: “By the Numbers” by Julie A. Sellers, Atchison

Second Place: “Start of the Week Goes Down the Toilet at Local College” by Julie A. Sellers, Atchison

Third Place: “Shit Happens” by Jerilynn Jones Henrikson, Emporia

Honorable Mention: “Wilde Ride to the Delivery Room” by Mason Taylor-Taite, Manhattan

Honorable Mention: “Rebound Date” by Linda Cook, Manhattan

Flash Fiction: Marion J. Bollig, Cheryl Unruh, Jerilynn Jones Henrikson

Category: Flash Fiction

First Place: ”Doctor VanFleet” by Marion J. Bollig, Baldwin

Second Place: “WAGONS,HO!” by Cheryl Unruh, Emporia

Third Place: “You Do What You Can” by Martha Wherry, Wichita

Honorable Mentions:
“Fight Like A Girl” by Katherine St. John, Shawnee
“A Prairie Puzzlement” by Jerilynn Jones Henrikson, Emporia

Category: First Chapter of a Book

First Place: ”Ravens of the Never Wood” by Aimee L. Gross, Topeka

Second Place: “Legacy and Lies” by Deborah Linn McNemee, El Dorado

Third Place: “Muscular Love” by Gretchen Cassel Eick, Wichita

Honorable Mentions:
“Disaster at Dawn” by Mary-Lane Kamberg, Olate
”A Senator is Missing” by Peg Nichols, Olathe
“The Cane” by Roger Keith Droz, Topeka

Category: Playwriting

First Place: A Shampoo and a Set by Julie A. Sellers, Atchison

Rural Voices: Sandra Lou Taylor & Lindsey Bartlett

Category: Rural Voices

First Place: “Spikes of Light” by Hildebrand Wesley,

Second Place: “Don’t Do That Again” by Sandra Lou Taylor, Towanda

Third Place: “Lost in the Wilderness” by Mason Taylor-Taite, Manhattan

Honorable Mentions:
“Snake Acres” by Janice Lee McClure, Sublette
“Rural Girl Goes to University” by Lindsey Bartlett, Emporia

#ReadLocalKS : THE WRITE BRIDGE JOURNAL: SUMMER 2025 – IDEALS AND ILLUSIONS

7/10/2025

The following Kansas Authors Club members have pieces in the Summer 2025 issue of The Write Bridge: Amber Fraley, Annette Hope Billings, Barbara Waterman-Peters, Beth Gulley, Boyd Bauman, Brian Daldorph, Chuck Warner, Connlyn Sinclair, Iris Craver, Julie Ann Baker Brin, Keri Ault, Kerry Moyer, Kevin Rabas, Maureen Carroll, Marilyn Hope Lake, Peg Nichols, Ralvell Rogers, T.A. Dugan.

Order copies from Anamcara Press.

#ReadLocalKS : Coal City Review, 46:2025

7/10/2025

Member Peg Nichols tells us to check out the latest issue of Coal City Review. Kansas Authors Club members published in this issue include Boyd Bauman, Perry Shepard, Peg Nichols, and Brian Daldorph. The issue also includes a review of The Set Up: 1984: Britain's Biggest Drug Bust, by Gretchen Cassel Eick

Coal City Review $10.00

Welcomes submisisons of poetry and short fiction.

Send poetry and fiction to:
Brian Daldorph, Poetry Editor
University of Kansas
English Department
Lawrence, KS 66045

Please include SASE for reply.

Member News from Peg Nichols: KPR Presents on Kansas Day

1/24/2025

This afternoon at the KPR studio in Lawrence Kaye McIntyre recorded me reading my poem, Armistice, from To The Stars Through Difficulties: A Kansas Renga in 150 Voices. Plus a short bit about what inspired to me write the poem.

Kaye will use the recording in a Kansas Day program, KPR Presents, FM 91.5, at 6-7 PM on Sunday, January 26.

A Kansas Renga was the second book Caryn Mirriam-Goldberg, then Kansas Poet Laureate, created and edited, for the Kansas Sesquicentennial in 2011. The first book was Begin Again: 150 Kansas Poems.
I told Kaye I felt so honored. Poetry is not really my genre.

Thanks for reading, Peg Nichols

Congratulations, Peg!

We will tune in to KPR on Kansas Day!

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

Member News: Peg Nichols, Overland Park

9/29/2023

"A Family of Quilters" (I call it a mini-memoir) was published in the Aug/Sept 2023 issue of The Country Register, a quilters tabloid distributed "across the USA & Canada".

Congratulations, Peg!

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.

The Write Bridge, by Anamcara Press

5/8/2022

The newest issue of The Write Bridge, by Anamcara Press, includes the work of many Kansas Authors Club Members: Amber Fraley (D2), Peg Nichols (D2), David Hann (D2), Kathleen Kaska (D2), Boyd Bauman (D2), John L. Swainston (D2), Lindsey Bartlett (D2), Beth Gulley (D2), Debra Irsik (D2), Fred Applehanz (D1), Brenda L. White (D2), Brian Daldorph (D2), Iris Craver (D2), Ronda Miller (D2), Perry Shepard (D2), Micki Carroll (D2)

View the issue here

Anamcara Press will begin accepting submissions for the Next edition of The Write Bridge June 1, 2022. Topics: Fortitude & Toploftiness

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.

Book News from D2 Member, Peg Nichols

4/6/2021

SIDEWALK SALE ACROSS AMERIA is a charming, heart-warming story about creating a "new normal" after the Pandemic.

It's a very contemporary story. Sabrina Harkins owns a yarn shop that she fears she may have to close because of the Pandemic, but she is grateful that her husband, Harold, has a good job they can count on. Harold Harkins, who is an amateur radio ham in his spare time, fears that with offices closed and people working at home, he will lose his job with the vending machine company, but is reassured that the family will be able to survive on the yarn shop income. Of course there is a cast of other characters, including the widower neighbor, knows nothing about yarn, but volunteers to run the shop when Sabrina is in quarantine, and 12-year-old Alford, whose uncles have convinced him Covid anxieties are all a hoax. Available on Amazon as a Kindle. Paperback coming.

About the Author: Informed by the entrepreneurial experiences of a life-time and living first-hand the ‘get-it-done’ ‘can-do-it’ attitude that got her parents and millions of Americans through the Depression, author, teacher, publisher, entrepreneur Peg Nichols prescribes a “Sidewalk Sale Across America” to re-launch small local businesses all across America out of the end of the Covid-19 Pandemic. What begins as Sabrina Harkins' invention for survival could spark something that helps millions. Sabrina, the yarn shop Queen of the Sidewalk Sale Across America. The author knows whereof she writes: she is a life-long knitter of note and holds a ham radio license.

Length of Membership REcognition - 2020

10/3/2020

It is with sincere appreciation that we acknowledge your dedication and contribution to Kansas Authors Club. Please accept this small token of our gratitude. We look forward to many more years of fellowship and growing our organization for the benefit of writers like you.

Length of Membership Awards

Fred C. Appelhanz – 15 years
Roy J. Beckemeyer – 10 years
Patricia Bonine – 10 years
Annabelle Corrick – 10 years
Edna M. Dyck – 50 years*
Pauline Fecht – 20 years
Marie Fletcher – 30 years
Jean Grant – 10 years
Yvonne Evie Green – 20 years
Reaona T. Hemmingway – 15 years
Kelly W. Johnston – 10 years
Carole Katsantoness – 10 years
Peg Nichols – 15 years
Kristine A. Polansky – 15 years
Cheryl Skupa – 10 years
Candace C. Sherman – 30 years

Octogenarians
Sylvia Colombo (2018)
Tom Mach