Guest Authors
The Books in Bloom authors will read from their work, make presentations, and sign books. Check the Author Events Schedule for times and locations for each author's presentation. When not reading either in the Conservatory or Author's Tent, authors will be in the Crescent Gardens.
Please click on author's name for further information.
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John Brummett
John Brummett has been writing for Arkansas newspapers for 39 years, since
going to work as a part-time sportswriter for the Arkansas Democrat on his
16th birthday. A native of Little Rock who attended the University of
Arkansas at Little Rock and the University of Central Arkansas, he has been
writing about Arkansas politics for four decades. He became a columnist in
1986, and, since July 2000, has been syndicated by the Stephens Media Group
in Little Rock. He spent 1993 in Washington working on a book about Bill
Clinton's first year as president. Called Highwire, the book was called
by the Library Journal: "The best book to date on the Clinton presidency,
better than Bob Woodward's The Agenda."
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Laura Parker Castoro
www.laurawrites.com
Bestselling and multi-award winning author Laura Parker Castoro has authored (39) thirty-nine books. She has written historical romances, westerns, sagas, romantic suspense, category romance, Young Adult nonfiction, and mainstream women’s fiction. She also writes articles for magazines and newspapers. Her books have been translated into 15 languages, including Chinese, Japanese, Russian, Icelandic, and Czech. She has written articles for magazines, including The Writer, Writer’s Digest, LOVE Mag, and Soiree. She has a short story published in Good Housekeeping.
Love on the Line, Harper/Collins Avon, 2009, is her most recent release. Icing on the Cake, MIRA, 2007, and Rose of the Mists, CVS Pharmacy exclusive re-release, are also available. Her next release is titled Stormy Weather, part of an anthology called Cougar Tales, Parker Publishing, June 2009.
A sought-after speaker and writing workshop leader, Laura puts her passion for the written word to good use. She teaches creative writing workshops around the country. Her most thrilling award was being named recipient of the Arkansas Writers Hall of Fame Award for 2005. Laura likes to say, “Be being a writer is the best thing in the world. You spend your days working with people, your characters, whom you like while making them doing things you think they should do. If you're lucky, they listen. If you're even luckier, you get paid. Now that's a dream job!"
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Jennifer Chiaverini
www.elmcreek.net
Jennifer Neidenbach Chiaverini was born in Cincinnati, Ohio, but grew up in Waterford, Michigan and Thousand Oaks, California. She received her BA in English from Notre Dame and her MA from the University of Chicago, then went on to teach writing at Penn State and Edgewood College. She married Martin Chiaverini, Ph.D. rocket scientist, and moved to Madison, Wisconsin where they are raising two sons.
In 1996 she took up quilting, and found the inspiration that led to her best-selling series centered around a quilting workshop in Elm Creek, Pennsylvania.
Her popular books use quilting as the framework upon which she pieces together intricate stories about the diverse people who are drawn to the art of creating quilts, exploring their lives, interests, conflicts, and intertwined relationships in a way that is both entertaining and enlightening. Fans don’t have to be quilters to enjoy her books, but are likely to find a new appreciation for the art of creating quilts after reading them. Her newest book in the Elm Creek Quilts series, The Lost Quilter, Simon & Schuster, will be released March 2009.
In addition to writing 13 volumes in the Elm Creek Quilts series, Jennifer is the author of 3 quilt pattern books, and also designs the Elm Creek Quilts fabric lines for Red Rooster Fabrics.
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Billy D. Higgins
Billy D. Higgins is professor of history at the University of Arkansas - Fort Smith and a member of the Society of American Baseball Researchers. His newest book, The Barling Darling: Hal Smtih in American Baseball, was published by Butler Center for Arkansas Studies in 2009. His previous book, A Stranger and a Sojourner: Peter J. Caulder, Free Black Frontiers-man in Antebellum Arkansas (University of Arkansas Press), won the Ragsdale Award for excellence in historical writing about Arkansas.
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Marilyn H. Collins
www.mhcollins.com.
Marilyn H. Collins is an award-winning author of three history books and over 100 magazine and newspaper features. She is currently on tour leading workshops based on her latest book, Write History Right. Her professional background is marketing and publishing. Collins held executive positions with the American Association of University Women, Washington National Cathedral Association and the Beaufort (NC) Historical Association. She owned Wilson Collins Marketing & Management Consultants in the Washington, DC area and currently is owner of CHS Publishing. Collins is available for speaking engagements at conferences or workshops on a variety of topics related to history, writing, publishing, or marketing.
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Janis F. Kearney
www.writingourworldpress.com
Janis F. Kearney, publisher, author, educator and literacy advocate, is one of 19 children born to Arkansas Delta Sharecroppers. She served as Personal Diarist to President William Jefferson Clinton for five years, from 1995-2001. Her job entailed chronicling the Clinton presidency on a day to day basis - the first time in history a President had made such an appointment.
Her education history includes the completion of a B.A. in Journalism, from the University of Arkansas at Fayetteville; 30 hours toward her Masters in Public Administration – at both UA, Fayetteville, and the University of Arkansas at Little Rock.
She also served as a consultant for the Arkansas Department of Heritage and Conservation, where she honed her love for history, as an Oral Historian for the Delta Cultural Center – now located in Helena, Arkansas. In that role, she traveled the Arkansas delta interviewing African Americans about their memories of life in the Delta, and researched the history of all aspects of Arkansas’ delta region.
She's taught Memoir Writing, Writing Arkansas Culture, The Clinton Presidency, and the American Presidency: Inside the White House.
The author of a number of books, including the 2008 release Once Upon a Time There was a Girl: a Murder at Mobile Bay; and: Something to Write Home About: Memories from a Presidential Diarist.
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Mary L. Kwas
Mary L. Kwas is a research associate for the Arkansas Archeological Survey and has worked for the Survey since 1996. She received her Master's degree in Anthropology from the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee. Her work in archeology and museums has taken her to Ireland, Mississippi, Tennessee, and now Arkansas. Although born and raised near Lake Michigan, she is a descendant of Arkansans from Pulaski and Carroll counties.
Kwas has had articles in many publications, including American Antiquity, Southeastern Archaeology, The Archaeology Education Handbook, Arkansas Archaeology, SAA Archaeological Record, Arkansas Historical Quarterly, Tennessee Anthropologist, and the on-line Encyclopedia of Arkansas History and Culture. She is a recipient of the 2007 Presidential Recognition Award from the Society for American Archaeology.
Her new book, Digging for History at Old Washington (University of Arkansas Press, April 2009) joins the historical record of the town of Washington with archaeological findings such as uncovered construction details, evidence of lost buildings, and remnants of everyday objects to bring an uncommon view of this antebellum town.
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Mara Leveritt
www.maraleveritt.com
Mara Leveritt is well known in Arkansas for her investigative journalism. Named Arkansas Journalist of the Year in 1994, she has an extensive track record of digging down to expose the flaws in the criminal justice system, as well as extensive follow-up on the cases that interest her.
In 2002, Simon and Schuster published Devil's Knot, Leveritt’s examination of the legal irregularities that followed the sensational murders of three eight-year-old boys in West Memphis, Arkansas. Leveritt considers the case as much a travesty—and as important to American history—as the Salem witch trials. Boys on the Track is her revealing look at the mysterious circumstances surrounding the death of two Arkansas youth.
In 2003, Leveritt was awarded a second Booker Worthen Prize. Leveritt opposes the death penalty, in part due to her familiarity with faults in the legal system. In 1999, she was named Arkansas Abolitionist of the Year. While she is often labeled a true-crime writer, she stresses that, more than bloody ones, she is interested in crimes by public officials.
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Robert C. Mainfort, Jr.
Robert C. Mainfort, Jr. is an archaeologist with the Arkansas Archeological Survey and professor of anthropology at the University of Arkansas. He is the author of a number of books, including Arkansas Archaeology and Ancient Earthen Enclosures of Eastern North America. His newest book, Sam Dellinger: Raiders of the Lost Arkansas (University of Arkansas Press, 2008), chronicles the career of Samuel C. Dellinger (1892–1973) who made it his life’s work to ensure that future Arkansans would remember their state’s prehistoric past. The book includes a detailed biography of Dellinger, as well as a discussion of his work, an overview of major collecting efforts in Arkansas by out-of-state institutions, and a history of the University of Arkansas Museum.
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Carla Killough McClaffery
www.carlamcclafferty.com
Carla Killough McClafferty's path to becoming an author followed the death of her youngest son, Corey. Her first book, Forgiving God, deals with the Spiritual battle she faced after her loss. She went on to write two award-winning middle grade nonfiction books: The Head Bone’s Connected to the Neck Bone: The Weird, Wacky and Wonderful X-ray (Farrar, Straus & Giroux, 2001), and Something Out of Nothing: Marie Curie and Radium (Farrar, Straus & Giroux, 2006) Both have been recognized widely and are included on an impressive number of recommended reading lists.
Her latest book In Defiance of Hitler: The Secret Mission of Varian Fry (Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2008) about an American Holocaust rescuer, has received a starred reviews in Booklist and Jewish Book World. It is a NCTE Orbis Pictus recommended book and an International 2008 Society of School Librarians International Book Award Honor Book.
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Jack Riggs
www.jack-riggs.com/
Award winning southern writer, Jack Riggs, is the author of The Fireman’s Wife and When the Finch Rises (Random House/Ballantine). A native of Lexington NC, and a huge fan of “Honey Monk BBQ”, Riggs’ is known for his edgy but honest character portrayals, as well as immersing the reader so deeply into the setting and locations of the books, that they almost become characters in themselves. Winner of Georgia Author of the Year-First Novel, Best Southern Fiction, and A Top Ten First Novel, Riggs has been chosen as an “Emerging New Southern Voice”. As author Terry Kay described Riggs’ writing, “ The Fireman’s Wife is the kind of book that reminds you of the reason you love reading—a story wonderfully told, with memorable characters and tense and tender moments…” Riggs is the Writer-in-Residence at Georgia Perimeter College in Atlanta, where he lives with his wife and two young children.
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Jory Sherman
www.jorysherman.com/
Jory Sherman’s long and celebrated career began with writing poetry in San Francisco during the heyday of the Beat Poets. Now a resident of Pittsburg, Texas, he lived for two decades in the Ozarks, and still feels a deep connection to the area.
Described by fellow writer Loren D. Estleman as a “national treasure,” Spur Award-winner and Pulitzer Prize-nominee, Jory Sherman, is a unique author. In his celebrated career he has written 300 books, 1000 magazine articles, and over 500 short stories. His prose approaches poetry and, even when chronicling a violent and gory revenge story, a reader cannot help but wonder at his command of the language and the ease with which he evokes a given setting through a mixture of imaginative metaphors and fast-paced action.
He is more than a prolific and popular Western author. He has also published fantasy novels, historical fiction and books that pay tribute to the Ozarks region and way of life. Another interest is in helping others to uncover their own writing talents, and he has developed a video writing workshop designed to guide writers in discovering or strengthening their skills.
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Laura A. Shoffner (writing as Laura Abbot)
Laura grew up in suburban Kansas City, earned a bachelor’s degree from Kansas State University, and taught high school English for over twenty-five years, ending her career as Dean of Faculty at an Oklahoma City college preparatory school.
When she and husband Larry retired to Beaver Lake near Eureka Springs, Arkansas, Laura began her second career as a romance novelist, selling her first book to Harlequin in 1994. With fifteen Harlequin Superromances to her credit, she has twice had books final in the Georgia Romance Writers’ Maggie Award contest, and one of her titles, You're My Baby, won the Colorado Romance Writers’ Award of Excellence. Her latest book, A Letter for Annie, is an April 2009 release. Between entertaining her grown children and grandchildren, curling up in the hammock with a good book, and spinning stories that always end happily. Laura says life doesn’t get much better.
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Doug Stowe
www.dougstowe.com
Doug Stowe has been a self-employed craftsman in Eureka Springs since 1975. Starting as a studio potter, he quickly transitioned to woodworking where he became widely known for his intricately inlaid wooden boxes and his hand
crafted furniture. He is the author of five woodworking books including Creating Beautiful Boxes With Inlay Techniques, Taunton's Complete Illustrated Guide to Box Making,and Basic Box Making. His newest book and DVD, Rustic Furniture Basics, will be released in Fall 2009 by Taunton Press.
He is a contributing editor of Woodwork-A Magazine for all Woodworkers and also writes for American Woodworker, and Fine Woodworking. He is a two-time Golden Hammer Award winner for best how-to
writing from the National Association of Home Workshop Writers. He continues to produce small boxes and custom furniture for customers while teaching in a program called "The Wisdom of the Hands" at The Clear Spring School. The
innovative program is designed to integrate woodworking activities with other areas of curriculum to increase interest, and excitement in learning. In 2009, Doug was named an "Arkansas Living Treasure" by the Arkansas Arts Council for his work in traditional crafts.
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Eliott Young
Elliott Young is an author and popular speaker in the areas of fitness, nutrition, and weight loss. In her popular book, Kiss Dieting Goodbye (Harvest House Publishing, 2007), she brings a fresh approach to weight loss and lifestyle change. An instructor, trainer and consultant with over 20 years of work in the fitness industry to her credit, Young offers a wealth of practical knowledge and expertise in her field. She holds a master’s degree in exercise and health-related fitness, and is currently a personal trainer certified by the American College of Sports Medicine.
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Lin Wellford
www.linwellford.com
Lin Wellford is the author of a series of how-to books on the art of painting on rocks that have sold more than 1.65 million copies worldwide, including translations in Japanese, Korean, Thai, Norwegian, and Italian.Her work has been featured in such diverse publications as Birds & Blooms, National Geographic's World, Woman's Day, I Love Cats, The Artist, Grit, Ranger Rick and many more.
She has appeared on nationally televised programs, including multiple segments of The Carol Duvall Show on HGTV, Your Home Studio, and Handmade by Design. She was also featured on AETN's Crafting in Arkansas.
In addition to her art and writing, Lin enjoys teaching and speaking about the vital role of creativity in daily life. The mother of three grown daughters, Lin and her husband have made their home in Green Forest for the past 31 years.
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Barbara Youree
www.barbarayouree.com
Barbara Youree’s most recent book, Courageous Journey, Walking the Lost Boys Path from the Sudan to America, came out in September 2008 by New Horizon Press. Her co-authors, Ayuel Leek Deng and Beny Ngor Chol, are the subjects of this incredible story about children caught up in the atrocities of civil war. Courageous Journey has been endorsed by former President Jimmy Carter, among others. It has been named a finalist in USA's The National Best Books, 2008 Awards in the category of Current Events - Political/Social. The book has become required reading in sociology classes at Avila University in Kansas City.
Barbara Youree has written four historical romances for Heartsong Presents, which were later combined under the title Renaissance Brides and sold over 33,000 copies. She has also written six children’s books for Beacon Hill Press. Her many magazine articles have appeared in such diverse publications as Fate, True Reports of the Strange & Unknown; Miracles Magazine; Mature Living; and Spider, the Magazine for Children.
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