Charlotte Adelsperger, a former third grade teacher, writes fiction, non-fiction and poetry for children and adults. Author of three books for adults, she has written material for all ages in more than 200 publications and compilations. Charlotte’s narrative article about the 1956 Andrea Doria shipwreck appeared in Cricket, October 2009. Her stories appear regularly in Focus on the Family’s Clubhouse and Clubhouse, Jr. She has taught writers’ workshops in six states. Her first book was for adults: When Your Child Hurts—Hope for Parents of Children Undergoing Long Term Medical Care. Charlotte enjoys speaking to children’s classes and church groups.

On the net

Joanne M. Anderton aka Johana Gast Anderton aka J. M. G. Anderton

Books:
-  The Glass Rainbow, The Story of Depression Glass, Trojan Press, North Kansas City, MO, 1969, eight reprints. (pioneer work on subject), OP.
-  Twentieth Century Dolls, From Bisque to Vinyl, Trojan, 1971, OP.
-  Sewing for Twentieth Century Dolls, Vol. 1, Trojan, 1972, 1979, 1996. OP
* Sewing for Twentieht Century Dolls, Vol. 1, Hobby House Press, 1998. OP
-  The Collector’s Encyclopedia of Cloth Dolls from Rag Baby to Art Object, 1984, Wallace-Homestead Book Company, Lombard, IL 60148, OP.

(Read more…)

Diane Bailey has sold three non-fiction books for children, Cyber Ethics (Rosen, 2008), Extreme Careers: Brain Surgeon (Rosen, 2008), and Mary J. Blige (Rosen, 2009), and is furiously finishing two more. She is currently marketing two middle grade novels. The Jack Factor is a light fantasy that retells the Jack and the Beanstalk story, and Steamed! is historical fiction that explores the steamboat-railroad rivalry of the 1850s. She’s also written Firekeepers, a non-fiction book for young readers about the history of fire in the United States. And with her stepfather, she co-wrote an adult murder mystery, “Murder in Four Parts,” which is set in the world of Sweet Adelines (That’s women’s barbershop singing, in case you were wondering. Diane used to be a Sweet Adeline.)

(Read more…)

On the net

Jenn Bailey is a native Rhode Islander so she actually knows what people mean when they say “As big as 3 Rhode Islands.” Jenn graduated from Boston University with a degree in Film and Broadcasting with an emphasis in screenwriting. Jenn teaches social media to writers and has spoken at SCBWI’s national conferences as well as regional events. Jenn is also the editor of the Kansas SCBWI newsletter – In The Wind. She is always looking for good content and you can submit at windeditor-at-yahoo.com.

Stories & poems in print

A Quilter’s Craft – The Patchwork Press
Various articles

Author visits:

I speak on Social Media – training workshops, theory presentations and hands-on boot camps.

Presentations:
Sweet Tweets – All about Twitter
Friend your Facebook
YouTube, Flickr and LinkedIn – Why they matter
Social Media 101
The Power of Blogging
The Real Deal on Viral Marketing and Promotion

On the net

Bio to come

Sheila is an author/illustrator and member of SCBWI. Her work has been recognized with various awards, including the Kimberly Colen Memorial Grant. She has been published in  several children’s magazines and educational journals and is currently marketing a young adult historical novel.

Author, columnist, All Around Good Guy…Jenifer Brown has been writing since, well, forever.

Two-time winner of the Erma Bombeck Global Humor Award (2005 & 2006), humor columnist for The Kansas City Star (winning the Missouri Writer’s Guild 2008 Conference Award for Best Newspaper Column), and Saturday Featured Blogger for Mom2Mom KC, Jennifer has been out to prove since childhood that being a smart-ass can, indeed, be considered “making a living.”

When not rolling her eyes and thinking up news ways to incorporate the words, “Ch-yeah,” “Puh-lease,” and “Hell-o!” into her writing, Jennifer is hard at work on her young adult fiction. Her debut novel, Hate List (Little, Brown), was released September 2009. Jennifer writes and lives in the Kansas City, Missouri area, with her three wonderful kids, adorable hubby, two cats, a boxer pup, and the best basset hound baby anyone could ever ask for.

Elizabeth writes historical fantasy for young adults. Her first novel, A Curse Dark as Gold (2008), won the William C. Morris Award for a Young Adult Debut, was named a Kansas Notable Book, made Oprah’s Book Club list, and was honored by the Smithsonian. She is also the author of StarCrossed (2010) and its sequel, Liar’s Moon (forthcoming from Scholastic). Elizabeth is an accomplished needlewoman with an interest in embroidery and historical costuming, and she lives in suburban KC with her attorney and their dogs.

(Read more…)

On the net

Elizabeth Casteel has a B.A. in English/Creative Writing from Kansas State University. Her writing inspirations include prehistoric beasties and unicorns with an attitude. She is currently working on a middle grade science fiction novel.

On the Net

YA writer of novels for boys that girls like to read too. I edit the funnyfied and informational Sunflower Scoop, the weekly newsletter of the Kansas SCBWI and serve as a member of the Advisory Committee. I have spoken at workshops and published an article with the Institute of Children’s Literature online. In addition to being a Wednesday Morning Critique Group Bon Vivant, I lead a Kansas SCBWI-sponsored, but not limited to SCBWI-members, monthly YA-only critique group. I blog, I facebook, I tweet. I make a nuisance of myself.

On the net

Lisa Cindrich is the author of the upper middle-grade historical novel IN THE SHADOW OF THE PALI: A STORY OF THE HAWAIIAN LEPER COLONY (Putnam, 2002) and has also published poetry and fiction for adults in The Nation, The Florida Review, and other journals. After many years working as a reference librarian, she’s now at home with a toddler and writing whenever she can!

Current projects include an upper middle-grade supernatural novel, a picture book about mutts and another picture book about a young witch’s Christmas adventure. She has also cowritten and is marketing an adult novel of suspense set in a dystopian future United States.

(Read more…)

On the net

Tammy has been published in The Missouri Reader, The Cash-Book Journal, and CowboyPoetry.com. She is currently marketing humorous children’s poetry and working on her first memoir.

Sarah Clark’s day job has her writing stories and editing behind-the-scenes video for Fox4KC.com. Her literary publications include a short story in Well Versed, the primary literary publication of the Columbia Chapter of the Missouri Writers’ Guild and numerous editorials in the Maryville Daily Forum. Sarah and her first novel, GLORY B, are represented by Jennifer DeChiara of The Jennifer DeChiara Literary Agency.

Colleen Ryckert Cook is a freelance writer and editor and current regional advisor for Kansas Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators. The Rosen Group has published three books by Colleen: Kentucky Past and Present (August 2010),  Teen FAQ: Cancer Decisions for You and Your Family and Teen FAQ: Social Networking (both January 2011). Two more titles, America’s Supernatural Secrets: Werewolves in America and Call of Duty: Your Career in the Marines, will come out in 2012.

Colleen has completed one upper middle grade supernatural thriller about a boy trying to resist the lure of a werewolf curse. She also is revising a women’s fiction manuscript. Among her colleagues she most likely wins the prize for shortest piece ever published: Her six-word memoir appears on page 68 in Not Quite What I Was Planning: Six-Word Memoirs From Writers Famous and Obscure (Harper Perennial, 2008).

On the net

Carrie Dienhart is polishing several picture book manuscripts and hopes to dive into the world of submissions soon. She has a masters degree in elementary education and studies her intended readership closely as a full-time first grade teacher’s assistant. She blogs about children’s books at www.carriethebookfairy.wordpress.com

On the net

Sandi Dillingham is a member of SCBWI. She has a BA in elementary education and a MA in behavior disorders. A former elementary school teacher-turned mother, she has many stories that need to be told.

Sandi is currently working on a picture book, some early readers, and has started a middle grade fiction story.

Victoria Dixon wrote, but did not publish “A Tribble Ate My Lunch: A Star Trek Cookbook” and has completed “Mourn Their Courage,” a fantasy loosely based on the battle for succession to the throne of China in 220 A.D.

On the net

Tessa Elwood is a photographer/webdesigner who reads Garth Nix, listens to everything from Iris to audiobooks, and writes YA space opera. Represented by Ginger Clark of Curtis Brown.

On the net

Sue Ford has sold over 130 magazine pieces for children and adults. Sue writes for children under her maiden name, Susan Uhlig. She has been an active member of the Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators for 18 years. She also is an instructor for the Institute of Children’s Literature. Sue’s website susanuhlig.com has writing resources and recommendations of children’s books.

She is currently marketing a tween novel.

(Read more…)

On the net

Sue Gallion writes for children’s magazines, and is working on several picture book projects. She also is writing chapter books for early readers. Sue’s background is in journalism and public and government affairs.

First published as a freshman in high school, when I submitted a response to Reader’s Digest at the urging of my English teacher. Really, it wasn’t that big of a deal; I probably shouldn’t even mention it.

Wrote a few freelance cards for Hallmark, so few that I probably shouldn’t even be mentioning that either.

Wrote and directed a few years of the “Haunted Forest” for the City of Lee’s Summit. They gave me an award for it, then decided to hire me as part of their staff – definitely worth mentioning.

Wrote performance material for the Lee’s Summit Community Theatre as well as their newsletter.

Currently I’m working on two children’s plays, a children’s picture book, a couple of plays for adults, and a grocery list, that I have absolutely no intention of pursuing.

Bio to come

Bio to come

Bridget Heos is the author of twelve YA nonfiction books for Rosen Publishing, on topics ranging from the alkaline earth metals to Lady Gaga. Her three picture books about insect larvae, marsupial joeys, and alligator babies (also nonfiction) will be released by Lerner Publishing beginning in early 2011. Prior to being a children’s book author, Bridget wrote for several newspapers and magazines, including The Christian Science Monitor, The Kansas City Star, and Missouri Lawyers Weekly. She lives in Waldo with her husband and three sons.

(Read more…)

Casie Hermansson teaches English at Pittsburg State University in Pittsburg, Kansas (just a tad south of KC!). Her PhD is from the University of Toronto.

She loves to write, and is currently polishing a MG manuscript, and working on two YA novels that compete for her attention.

Books published:

Title: Bluebeard: A Reader’s Guide to the English Tradition
Summary: An academic survey of 300 years of this grisliest of fairy tales in our very own Anglo-American traditions, from folk- and fairy tale through art, music, drama, chapbooks both for children and for adults. University Press of Mississippi (2009).

Title: Feminist Intertextuality Through Bluebeard Stories
Summary: A look at how twentieth century women’s writers rewrote theory from the inside-out by using the Bluebeard fairy tale. Edwin Mellen Press (2001).

Stories & poems in print:

“Monty is from Mars.” Explore Magazine (Pearson, Australia, April 2010).
“The Dirtiest Jobs [of the Middle Ages].” AppleSeeds (September 2010).
“What’s in a Name? The Story of Dr. Frankenstein’s Creature.” Faces (October 2010).

Author visits:

Availability:
Year round, school days!

Presentations:
“Once upon a time… The end.” How to grow the middle of a story!

Problems, problems, problems. How to use problems and solutions in your stories!

Audience: Elementary

Laura Huliska-Beith grew up in Omaha Nebraska, the oldest of five children. Her siblings and husband were the inspiration behind her first picture book, The Book of Bad Ideas (although she takes full credit for Bad Idea #143). Her parents, both avid readers (her mother, a teacher) were generous providers of paper, crayons, encouragement, support, and every craft media the 1970s offered.

After graduating from the Kansas City Art Institute, Laura went on to work as an artist at Hallmark Cards Inc. for several years before finally pursuing her dream of illustrating children’s books. Her love of visual story-telling has led her to illustrate many books including Violet’s Music by Angela Johnson, The Recess Queen by Alexis O’Neill and most recently The Worst Best Friend, also by Alexis O’Neill.

She lives in Kansas City Missouri with her husband Jeff, and their three dogs.

Buy Laura’s books at Amazon or Indiebound!

On the net

Judy Hyde has published three books with Scholastic: ROOKIE READER: RAINY DAY MUSIC and ROOKIE READ ABOUT GEOGRAPHIES: LOUSIANA and INDIANA. She is the current moderator of the Wednesday critique group and has been attending since 1985.

(Read more…)

Ann Ingalls has worked as a freelance writer since January of 2002. In that time, she sold LITTLE PIANO GIRL (2009) to Houghton Mifflin, a book she co-authored with her sister, Maryann Macdonald. Highlights High Five, The Kansas City Star, Learning Express LLC, Primary Treasure, Reiman Publications, Babytalk, Adams Media, Way of St. Francis and many other publishers have used work of hers. She has written curricula for early childhood, elementary and special education in Michigan and Missouri, Praxis II (competency) exams for early childhood educators and ACT Prep tests.

Professional memberships include: JWKC Classic, SCBWI, Missouri Writer’s Guild, Kansas City Jazz Ambassadors, the Liberty Arts Commission and Reach Out and Read, Kansas City.

Please contact Ann for information about programs on jazz, the Underground Railroad and writing in general.

(Read more…)

On the net

Bio to come

Current projects include: learning to write a short story, writing a journal of letters for my granddaughter, and other short creative writing projects for practice.

Cindi’s stories and articles for young children have been purchased by Highlights for Children, Pentecostal Homelife Magazine, KidzWonder and Flicker Magazine.

(Read more…)

On the net

Bio to come

Bio to come

Laura Manivong is the author of ESCAPING THE TIGER (HarperCollinsChidren’s Books), a middle grade novel about a Lao boy trying to survive in a Thai refugee camp. Her other children’s publishing credits include ONE SMART FISH (Scholastic / Children’s Press, 2006); Skipping Stones Magazine (2001); and Highlights Magazine (TBA).

Laura has also worked as a television writer/producer in creative services since 1992, earning various industry accolades including an Emmy for individual achievement in writing.

(Read more…)

On the net

Debra McArthur grew up in Springfield, Missouri, where her high school experience included church activities, choir, drum and bugle corps, and the kind of drama and angst that make a person really glad to grow up. She earned B.A. and M.A. degrees in English from the University of Missouri-Kansas City, and an M.F.A. in Writing for Children and Young Adults from Hamline University. She has written eight nonfiction books for young readers. A Voice for Kanzas is Debra’s first novel.

These days, Debra lives with her husband in Kansas City, Missouri. She teaches college along the bluffs of the Missouri River, and she is still collecting nouns that describe her: student, teacher, wife, mother, reader, writer, Irish dancer, marathon runner.

Genres:

Middle grade fiction, MG & YA nonfiction

Books:

A Voice for Kanzas (Kane Miller, 2012)

Lucy Catherine Thomkins was looking for poetry when she slipped the booklet from Papa’s coat pocket and discovered Information for Kanzas Immigrants. Just another political paper, nothing a thirteen-year-old poet would be interested in. But before dinner is over that night, Lucy becomes one those immigrants. She feels as out of place in 1855 Kansas Territory as the sky-blue silk gown she has worn for the journey from Pennsylvania, and she seeks her own purpose in this strange place. Papa is committed to the cause of abolitionism, and Mamma is committed to the success of the family’s general store. Even her brother, ten-year-old Joseph, seems to embrace this new life, despite the threats of the Border Ruffians who harass the citizens of Lawrence. When Lucy discovers that her best friend’s family is working with the Underground Railroad, Lucy must make a decision which could have dangerous consequences for herself and her family. She must decide just what she stands for, and she must find her own true voice to express herself in a time and place where a young girl’s voice is seldom valued.

A Student’s Guide to William Faulkner (Enslow 2009)

William Faulkner was raised on legends. Heabsorbed the skills of storytelling as he sat on the steps of the courthouse in Oxford, Mississippi, listening to the locals tell their tales. This book examines Faulkner’s life and how it influenced his major works, including The Sound and the Fury and other novels, as well as stories such as “A Rose for Emily” and “Barn Burning.”

John Steinbeck. (Benchmark/Marshall Cavendish, 2008)

John Steinbeck was a common man from a middle-class family and his books told the stories of common people. In his writing, he showed the plight of those who were victims of injustice and the struggle of people to overcome the forces in the world that would corrupt them. This book describes the life and career of Steinbeck and includes in depth examination of his books Of Mice and Men and The Grapes of Wrath, in the context of the eras in which they were written.

Author visit info:

For information about author visits, go to www.debramcarthur.com

Kimberly Peek is the assistant regional advisor for the Kansas SCBWI. Her work has appeared in Dance Teacher magazine and several advertising trade publications. She teaches kids to write at Cooking Up Stories and is the moderator of Kidlit Central News, a blog highlighting children’s literature created in the Midwest.

Anola Pickett is a member of SCBWI and a former ICL instructor. She’s taught writing classes at area community colleges. Her published work includes a chapter book, OLD ENOUGH FOR MAGIC, two books for teachers, and more than 70 stories and articles for children and adults in print and online publications. She recently completed a middle-grade historical novel set in 1889 Utah and is working on a contemporary middle-grade and a humorous picture book.

Nancy Pistorius of Lawrence, Kansas, has published award-winning fiction, poetry, essays, and feature articles in more than seventy-five different literary and mass-market publications, including WOMAN’S DAY, COSMOPOLITAN, and CHICAGO TRIBUNE. She has an MA in English/Literature from the University of Illinois and also attended schools in England (London) and Florida. Her most recent honor was the 2009 Langston Hughes Creative Writing Award (Fiction). She is currently working on a Middle-Grade novel.

You can find her in various places on the Web, including:

http://www.nancypistorius.com

http://www.examiner.com/x-2800-Kansas-City-Getaways-Examiner

http://nancypistorius.wordpress.com/

http://twitter.com/lyriclemon

http://lyriclemon.livejournal.com/

http://www.facebook.com/#!/pages/Nancy-Pistorius/119289758108843?ref=sgm

On the net

Angie Rodesky is new to the world of writting and is currently enrolled with the Institute of Children’s Literature. She has enjoyed making up stories for her children for many years and decided to putting pen to paper, so to speak. She has written a few stories that have sparked some local interest and desires to become a published author.

Judy Schuler’s children’s book, Foxes for Kids, is now out of print, but still available on Amazon. She has published short stories and articles in magazines such as Scholastic Scope, Boys’ Quest, Grit, and Writers’ Journal. She currently does free-lance editing online. She currently does freelance editing from her website, www.editsonline.com.

On the net

Mary Schulte works as a photo editor and children’s book reviewer at The Kansas City Star although her dream job would be to write for children all day! She has published nonfiction and fiction books including nine books with Children’s Press/Scholastic, 4 with KidHaven Press, and 1 with Mason Crest. She writes anything that pops into her head, so her magazine publications include a song, crossword puzzle, rebus, poetry, fiction and nonfiction for Ladybug, Whimsy, My Friend, Our Little Friend, Fun for Kidz, Highlights and Highlights High 5. If she could settle down and focus, she would love to finish her three w.i.p. novels whose characters keep pestering her about finishing their stories.

Bio to come

Katie Speck has published two chapter books with Henry Holt Books, MAYBELLE IN THE SOUP and MAYBELLE GOES TO TEA. She is working on a middle grade novel and the third installment in the Maybelle series. She is represented by Erin Murphy Literary Agency.

(Read more…)

On the Net

Ronica Stromberg is the author of five children’s books: two published and three under contract. The Time-for-bed Angel, a picture book, came out in 2008, published by Lion-Hudson of England. The book follows the humorous adventures of a guardian angel watching over a rambunctious, bedtime-avoiding boy. Ronica reads the story in day cares, preschools, and early education classrooms during story time or before naps. Her mystery for 10- to 14-year-olds, The Glass Inheritance, came out in 2001, published by Royal Fireworks Press of New York. (Royal Fireworks has also contracted for three teen novels.) The mystery reinforces fifth-grade history curricula with a plot that involves the Great Depression, World War II, and Depression-era glassware. Ronica’s stories appear in 18 anthologies, such as Chicken Soup for the Teen Soul on Love and Friendship, and in numerous magazines and newspapers.

(Read more…)

On the net

Barb’s novel CROSSING THE TRACKS, is published by Margaret K. McElderry Books, a division of Simon and Schuster. Release date – July 6, 2010. She also has both fiction and non-fiction accepted for publication in CRICKET MAGAZINE. Barb is represented by Ginger Knowlton of Curtis Brown Ltd., a New York based literary agency representing writers since 1914.

When not writing, Barbara is an art museum docent at the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art. She lives in Kansas City with her family.

Books

Crossing the Tracks
At fifteen, Iris is a hobo of sorts – no home, no family, no plan. After her mother’s early death, Iris’s father focuses on big plans for his new shoe stores and his latest girlfriend, and has no time for his daughter. Unbeknownst to her, he hires Iris out as housekeeper and companion for a country doctor’s elderly mother. Suddenly Iris is alone, stuck in gritty rural Missouri, too far from her only friend Leroy and too close to a tenant farmer Cecil Deets, who menaces the neighbors, and Iris suspects, his own daughter.
Iris is buoyed by the warmth and understanding the doctor and his mother show her, but just as she starts to break out of her shell tragedy strikes. Iris must find the guts and cunning to take aim at the devil incarnate and discover if she is really as helpless, or hopeless, or homeless as she once believed.

Stories, poems, & articles

“Chirping Champions” and “A True Junzi” – CRICKET MAGAZINE. Publication dates TBA

Author Visits

Presentations:
I conduct interactive presentations and hands-on workshops for schools, libraries, art and writing classes.

Topics include:
building characters
discovering plot
creating settings
getting the facts
sculpting a book
seeking inspiration

Speaking experience: Over the past 20 years I have conducted interactive art museum tours and workshops for students of all ages and adults.

Availability: weekdays and weekends
Audience: K – adult

On the net

Jeana Tetzlaff is an ICL graduate and loves to write middle grade fiction. She has one mg novel on submission to Walker Publishing. In the works are an adult thriller and another middle grade novel that is fantasy grounded in the real world. She has been published in Grit Magazine.

Jane True has several non-fiction pieces published in journals or anthologies, including Exceptional Parent magazine and Advance Radiology Journal. She is the editor of the Mirror, a quarterly international publication supporting families affected by duplications of the 15th chromosome. She is currently working on her first major fiction manuscript, a YA novel titled My Skiing Sister.

Marilyn Underwood has written three picture books and is currently working on a middle grade novel. She has had one short story published in Once Upon a Christmas, the Midwest Children’s Authors Guild Christmas Anthology 2009.

Maggie Viles’ current projects include a  chapter book and two picture books.

Lisa Wade McCormick is an award-winning journalist with more than 20 years experience as a newspaper reporter and investigative television producer. She’s worked for The Independence Examiner, The Greeley Tribune, and KCTV. Her stories have won numerous awards, including two Emmy’s and the I.R.E. Medal for outstanding investigative reporting.

(Read more…)

On the Net

Jenny Whitehead is the author/illustrator of Lunch Box Mail (2001—a collection of poems from a child’s point of view), Holiday Stew (2007—poems based on holidays and seasons) and illustrator of Punctuation Celebration (2009—poems about punctuation marks written by Elsa Knight Bruno). She enjoys writing poetry, stories, and young adult fiction. Her artwork style involves painting and collage, layering cut paper and tissue paper.  Her website is www.jennywhitehead.com.

(Read more…)

On the net