Growing up in Kentucky halfway between Troublesome Creek and Hell-for-Certain and near a town named Hazard, Nancy learned to take the non-risky route of looking before leaping. After a peek at a school’s collection of books, she leaped into a profession she couldn’t resist—librarian. During the day she read to children and at night wrote for them. Working with children in a variety of jobs primed her for her present and future venture, writing.
Her first book was published in 1999 and her latest is book number 52, Dear Vampire, which received a five-star review by the Books Children Read organization.
Amanda Driscoll was born, raised, and still resides in Louisville, Kentucky. She is the author and illustrator of four picture books: Little Grump Truck (2021), Klondike Do Not Eat Those Cupcakes! (2018), Wally Does Not Want a Haircut (2016), and Duncan the Story Dragon (2015), all published by Knopf. For more information about Amanda and her books, visit her website at: www.amandadriscoll.com.
Jessica Young grew up in Ontario, Canada. The same things make her happy now as when she was a kid: dancing, painting, music, digging in the dirt, picnics, reading, and writing. When she was little, she wanted to be a tap-dancing flight attendant/ veterinarian, but she’s changed her mind!
M earned her bachelor’s degree in journalism at Indiana University before studying literature and creative writing in graduate school, receiving her master’s degree from Miami University and her doctorate from the University of Cincinnati, where she was a Taft Fellow. She has been nominated five times for the Pushcart Prize and was shortlisted for the Aesthetica creative writing award.
David W. Blight is a teacher, scholar and award-winning public historian. He is Sterling Professor of History at Yale University and Director of the Gilder Lehrman Center for the Study of Slavery, Resistance, and Abolition.
Professor Blight’s most recent book, Frederick Douglass: Prophet of Freedom, won nine book awards, including the Pulitzer Prize.
Blight previously taught at Amherst College for thirteen years. In 2013-14 he was the William Pitt Professor of American History at Cambridge University. David works in many capacities in the world of public history, including on boards of museums and historical societies, and as an advisor to the 9/11 Memorial and Museum team of curators. In 2012, he was elected to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences.
Christopher Rowe has been a finalist for the Hugo, Nebula, World Fantasy, Neukom Institute, and Theodore Sturgeon Awards. His stories have been frequently reprinted, translated into a half-dozen languages around the world, and praised by the New York Times Book Review. His short fiction was collected in Telling the Map from Small Beer Press.
Home Waters: A Chronicle of Family and a River is John N. Maclean’s sixth book. An award winning author and journalist, he spent thirty years at the Chicago Tribune, most of that time as a Washington correspondent, before taking up a second career as an author. Maclean is the son of Norman Maclean, author of A River Runs through It, the acclaimed novella about life in early twentieth century Montana.
Jon Meacham is a Pulitzer Prize–winning biographer. The Rogers Chair in the American Presidency at Vanderbilt University, he is the author of the New York Times bestsellers His Truth Is Marching On: John Lewis and the Power of Hope, Destiny and Power: The American Odyssey of George Herbert Walker Bush, Thomas Jefferson: The Art of Power, American Lion: Andrew Jackson in the White House, American Gospel, and Franklin and Winston.
Bryan Prosek is a young adult writer and business attorney. Along with his debut The Brighter the Stars and recently published A Measure of Serenity, he has published books and articles in legal trade journals and magazines. When he isn’t writing or practicing law, you can probably find him watching dystopian and science fiction movies or television shows. He loves the big screen and the small screen.
Chris Helvey is an award-winning short-story writer and the author of the novels Yard Man, Dancing on the Rim, Violets for Sergeant Schiller, The White Jamaican and Into the Wilderness (Wings ePress), One More Round (short story collection-Trajectory Press), Snapshot (novel-Livingston Press), Whose Name I Did Not Know (novel-Hopewell Publications), and Claw Hammer (short story collection — Hopewell Publications).
Debbie Dadey has two new books out this year: A Titanic Friendship (Mermaid Tales #22) and the Frankenstein Doesn’t Plant Petunias graphic novel (The Adventures of the Bailey School Kids). Let the mermaid and monster fun begin as this Kentucky native travels from her log cabin in the Smoky Mountains of Tennessee to join this year’s Kentucky Book Festival fun.
Licensed and ordained minister has been writing non-fiction for 40 years. Has lived in Kentucky his entire life.
Seminary Doctorate degrees in Christian Counseling and Christian Education. Weekly freelance self-syndicated newspaper faith columnist for over 200 newspapers around the country.
Keven McQueen is author of 20 books covering American history, the supernatural, biography, historical true crime, and what he calls real-life surrealism. His books include Horror in the Heartland: Strange and Gothic Tales from the Midwest, Creepy California: Strange and Gothic Tales from the Golden State, Weird Wild West: True Tales of the Strange and Gothic, and New England Nightmares: True Tales of the Strange and Gothic. His work has been anthologized by the Jesse Stuart Foundation and Texas Christian University Press.
Elizabeth Beck is the author of the SUMMER TOUR Trilogy as well as four collections of poems. Broadstone Books published “Mama Tried,” a collection of teacher-mother poems April 2022 in coordination with “Under the Elm,” the final book of the SUMMER TOUR Trilogy. Founder of The Teen Howl Poetry Series that serves children in central Kentucky, Elizabeth has been a teacher for twenty-five years. She is a recipient of a Kentucky Foundation for Women Artist Grant.
Brittany J. Thurman is the author of Fly, from Caitlyn Dlouhy Books. She is the co-author of Fearless: Boulevard of Dreams, by Mandy Gonzalez. Brittany holds an MFA in Dramatic Writing from Carnegie Mellon University. During her graduate years at Carnegie Mellon University, Brittany’s plays were produced in Aspen, Colorado, and on New York’s City’s Theatre Row.
Greg Howard was born and raised in the South Carolina Lowcountry where his love of stories blossomed at a young age. Originally set on becoming a songwriter, Greg followed that dream to Nashville, Tennessee, where he spent years producing the music of others before eventually returning to his childhood passion of writing stories.
Lori Degman is the author of the award-winning picture books, Just Read (illus. by Victoria Tentler-Krylov), 2020 — 2021 Illinois Reads Book List; Cock-a-Doodle Oops! (illus. by Deborah Zemke), 2014 International Literacy Association Honor Book; and 1 Zany Zoo (illus. by Colin Jack), 2010 Winner of the Cheerios New Author Contest and 2013 Illinois Reads Book List.
Dan Canon is a civil rights lawyer and a Professor of Law at the University of Louisville, Louis D. Brandeis School of Law. He served as lead counsel for the Kentucky plaintiffs in the case of Obergefell v. Hodges, which established marriage equality in all 50 states, and has been involved in many other high-profile cases. He writes on civil and criminal justice issues for a variety of regional and national publications.
Mallory Lewis is a prolific author of children’s literature, an Emmy Award-winning performer, and dedicated philanthropist who has raised millions for breast cancer research. Since the death of her mother Shari Lewis in 1998, she has appeared with Lamb Chop and entertained audiences across thousands of venues around the world.
Jessica Strawser is the editor-at-large at Writer’s Digest, where she served as editorial director for nearly a decade and became known for her in-depth cover interviews with such luminaries as David Sedaris and Alice Walker. She’s the author of the book club favorites Almost Missed You, a Barnes & Noble Best New Fiction pick; Not That I Could Tell, a Book of the Month bestseller; Forget You Know Me, awarded a starred review by Publishers Weekly, and A Million Reasons Why, called “a standout” in a starred Booklist review and named to Most Anticipated lists from Goodreads, SheReads, Frolic, E! News & others. Her latest, The Next Thing You Know, is a People Magazine Pick for Best New Novel (new March 2022, all from St. Martin’s Press).
Arwen Donahue is an interdisciplinary writer, artist, and oral historian. She is the author and illustrator of the graphic memoir Landings: A Crooked Creek Farm Year (Hub City Press), which includes an introduction by New York Times bestselling author Barbara Kingsolver. She is also the author of This Is Home Now: Kentucky’s Holocaust Survivors Speak (University Press of Kentucky).
Jyoti Thottam is a senior Opinion editor at The New York Times. Prior to joining the Times, she was a reporter, editor and foreign correspondent. From 2008 to 2012, she was Time’s South Asia Bureau Chief in New Delhi, where she wrote numerous cover stories, including award-winning stories about the Ganges River and the Mumbai terrorist attacks.
Driskell is Chair of the Naslund-Mann Graduate School Of Writing at Spalding University. Yocom is the associate director for communications and alumni relations at Spalding University. Commemorating the 20th anniversary of the Spalding low-residency MFA in Writing program, Creativity & Compassion collects essays from the MFA faculty blog.
T. L. McBeth was born in Findlay, Ohio. As a child, he grew up reading Dr. Seuss and H. A. & Margret Rey (although he mainly looked at the pictures). He studied illustration in college where he developed a love for expressive and minimal characters. In 2015, he moved to New York City to pursue an illustration career and he is currently lucky enough to illustrate picture books full time.
Danica Novgorodoff is a writer and New York Times best-selling illustrator. Her books include the graphic novels Long Way Down, written by Jason Reynolds; Slow Storm; The Undertaking of Lily Chen; and Refresh Refresh; and the picture books Alexander von Humboldt: Explorer, Naturalist, and Environmental Pioneer; and Not a Cat, written by Winter Miller.
Frank X Walker, the first African American writer to be named Kentucky Poet Laureate, is an artist and educator. He has published eleven collections of poetry, including Masked Man, Black: Pandemic & Protest Poems and Turn Me Loose: The Unghosting of Medgar Evers, which received an NAACP Image Award and the Black Caucus of the American Library Association Honor Book Award. The recipient of the Thomas D. Clark Award for Literary Excellence, he is a founding member of the Affrilachian Poets.
R.J. Jacobs has practiced as a psychologist since 2003. He maintains a private practice in Nashville, focusing on a wide variety of clinical concerns. After completing a post-doctoral residency at Vanderbilt, he has taught Abnormal Psychology, presented at numerous conferences, and routinely performs PTSD evaluations for veterans.
Carmen Oliver is the author of many award-winning picture books for children including A Voice for the Spirit Bears: How One Boy Inspired Millions to Save a Rare Animal, a Junior Library Guild Gold Standard, Building an Orchestra of Hope: How Favio Chavez Taught Children to Make Music From Trash, a Junior Library Gold Standard (Oct 25, 2022), and The Twilight Library (Sept 6, 2022).
Jessica Young grew up in Ontario, Canada. The same things make her happy now as when she was a kid: dancing, painting, music, digging in the dirt, picnics, reading, and writing. When she was little, she wanted to be a tap-dancing flight attendant/ veterinarian, but she’s changed her mind!
After a long career as a professional dancer and dance educator, Lynn Slaughter earned her MFA in Writing Popular Fiction from Seton Hill University. Her coming-of-age romantic mysteries include DEADLY SETUP. as well as LEISHA’S SONG, a Moonbeam Children’s Book Awards bronze medalist, Agatha nominee, and Imadjinn Finalist; WHILE I DANCED, an EPIC finalist; and IT SHOULD HAVE BEEN YOU, a Silver Falchion finalist.
Laura Krantz is a print and audio journalist whose critically acclaimed podcast Wild Thing explores the intersection between science and society. She spent ten years as an editor and producer with NPR in Washington, D.C. and KPCC in Los Angeles, and her work has appeared in Smithsonian, Outside, and Popular Science.
Julie Whitney is a public relations professional with forty years of experience in public relations and marketing, having worked on both the agency and client side as well as in the television industry. Her company, Phillippi-Whitney Communications, LLC, founded in 2000, represents both large and small clients in a wide variety of industries.
Dr. Benjamin Gilmer is a family medicine physician in Fletcher, North Carolina. He is an Albert Schweitzer Fellow for Life and associate professor in the department of family medicine at the University of North Carolina School of Medicine at Chapel Hill and at the Mountain Area Health Education Center.
Timothy Pack is an illustrator, artist, and writer who lives in Lexington, Kentucky with his wife of 40 years. They have four adult sons and five grandchildren. Pack’s family and life experience in pastoral care and missionary chaplaincy have continually inspired his art, poetry, and songs.
A resident of Lexington, Kentucky, Stan “JR” Zerkowski is the founder of Lexington UNITED Interfaith Encounters and Lexington UNITED Interfaith Dialogues. He designed and facilitated Lexington’s first Pride Interfaith Service at the historic Lyric Theatre and Cultural Arts Center to cap Lexington Pride Month and the Lexington Pride Festival, bringing together more than 26 interfaith leaders—Buddhists, Christians, Jews, Muslims—as well as civic and community leaders, including Lexington’s mayor.
Paul William Bass was born in Independence, Missouri. He graduated from William Chrisman High School, Southwest Baptist College and Midwestern Baptist Theological Seminary. He married Jan Smashey in 1969. He served in full-time church staff positions for nineteen years in Arkansas, Alabama, and Missouri.
Kelcey Ervick was a goalkeeper for a nationally ranked soccer team before playing for Xavier University. She is the author of three award winning books, including LILIANE’S BALCONY, which Publisher’s Weekly described in a starred review as “a symphony of histories both real and imagined.” She is co-editor, with Tom Hart, of the forthcoming Field Guide to Graphic Literature.
Ann Hagedorn is a former staff writer for The Wall Street Journal and an award-winning author of six narrative nonfiction books that embrace a broad range of topics and were widely reviewed with coverage including the Los Angeles Times, The Wall Street Journal, The New York Times, NPR, Time, Smithsonian, The New York Review of Books, Huffington Post, Chicago Tribune, and The Washington Post.
Bobi Conn was born in Morehead, Kentucky, and raised in a nearby holler, where she developed a deep connection with the land and her Appalachian roots. She obtained her bachelor’s degree at Berea College, the first school in the American South to integrate racially and to teach men and women in the same classrooms.
During Eric Deters’ law career, he once was the #1 viewed law profile in the country on the national law website martindale.com. Cincinnati City Beat magazine once named him the #1 lawyer and troublemaker in the city. Chuck Martin of the Cincinnati Enquirer on January 2, 2008, gave Eric the nickname “Courtroom Bulldog.” From 2010 to now, over ten years, Eric Deters has managed the Dr. Durrani litigation, the subject matter of this book.
Mary Kay Carson is an author of books for young people about wildlife, space, weather, nature, and history. After studying biology in college, and a stint in the Peace Corps, she began her writing career working on the Scholastic classroom magazine SuperScience. Her books have received more than a dozen starred reviews, as well as multiple awards, including the 2019 AAAS/Subaru SB&F Prize for Excellence in Science Books for Alexander Graham Bell for Kids.
Beth Pugh is a Selah Award finalist and local award-winning author who has been published by Woman’s World, The Good Men Project, Scary Mommy, Sasee, Chicken Soup for the Soul, Lexington Herald-Leader, and On Parenting at The Washington Post. Born and raised in the rolling hills of eastern Kentucky, she learned early on that nothing compares to a home cooked meal, front porch sitting, and Sunday morning church services.
C.W. “Cliff” Shumate was born in the late 1950s and grew up on a farm near Carlisle, Kentucky. Rural activities were highlighted by daily chores and interaction with humans, animals, and nature. Shumate is a graduate of Nicholas County Schools and earned an agriculture degree from Morehead State University. “Farming allowed the opportunity to exercise both my back and mind,” says Shumate. “I was blessed by Kentucky farm life, which often included association with fascinating folks who sure could spin a yarn.” Evenings were regularly enjoyed at a nearby country store with locals sharing cold sodas and a broad spectrum of tall tales. Shumate became hooked and gained a strong affection for Kentucky folklore.
Ron Ellis is the author of Cogan’s Woods and Brushes with Nature: The Art of Ron van Gilder and editor of In That Sweet Country: Uncollected Writings of Harry Middleton and Of Woods & Waters: A Kentucky Outdoors Reader. He is a contributor to the anthologies A Passion for Grouse: The Lore and Legend of America’s Premier Game Bird, Astream: American Writers on Fly Fishing, Afield: American Writers on Bird Dogs, and The Gigantic Book of Hunting Stories.
James Baker Hall (1935-2009) was born in Lexington, Kentucky. He was raised in a southern family of means, only to have a family scandal turn tragic when he was eight years old. This trauma, and its enduring consequences, would shape Hall’s life work as an artist, which began when he took up photography at age eleven. Hall’s work will be represented by his wife, Mary Ann Taylor-Hall.
Nancy Stearns Theiss,PhD., is the Executive Director of the Oldham County History Center. She was a featured history columnist for the Louisville Courier-Journal from 2007-2017. She has received numerous recognition for her work and service to the community. Her major emphasis is community and public history. This is her third publication for The History Press.
Rachel Elliott is an author-illustrator of comics and books for young people. Her debut middle grade graphic novel, The Real Riley Mayes, was released in May of 2022. If you love secret codes, parallel cat universes, and dude-ish girls who act out humorous death scenes, you’ll want to read this book.