We have 170 local authors in our directory!
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| Author | Biography | Book Cover(s) |
|---|---|---|
Mary Ceccanese | Mary Ceccanese is the owner and principal consultant of Dynamic Connections LLC. Celebrating almost fifteen years of presenting interactive seminars and workshops to all levels of staff in both for-profit and non-profit organizations, she engages attendees with research-based practices applied to work-life scenarios. She has a BA in Human Resource Administration and recently retired from working at the University of Michigan for more than thirty years. In 2019 she was presented with a University of Michigan Staff Impact Award. In addition, she was one of the 2019 "Top Ten Business Women" in the country of the American Business Women's Association. Mary published her first book for staff titled, YOU Can Create Positive Change at Work, and in 2020 released her first product, High-Quality Connection Cards. |  |
Linda W. Fitzgerald | Linda Wirtanen Fitzgerald grew up in Garrison Keillor country, primarily Michigan's upper peninsula. After graduating from Northern Michigan University, she headed to Ann Arbor and a graduate fellowship at the University of Michigan. With a master's degree in hand and a national recession raging, she tried her hand at magazine editing, newspaper reporting, even script writing for sales seminars and consoled herself in off hours by devouring mystery novels. Ultimately, she found her professional home as senior copywriter in an Ann Arbor ad agency and, from there, went on to launch Fitzgerald Communications. Twenty-some years and thousands of projects later, one career goal still eluded her: she had never written a mystery novel. In the summer of 2016, she crossed that item off her life list with the publication of Death at the Doorstep, the debut adventure of Ann Arbor freelance writer and amateur sleuth Karin Niemi. The second novel in the series, A Superior Way to Die, is set in the Upper Peninsula. | |
Jay Fiondella | Jay was born in a suburb of New Haven, Connecticut. He moved to Detroit in the early 1980s to pursue his dream of becoming a successful rock drummer. Thank God he became an electrician, or as he puts it, “My kids would have starved!” He has three children, Shane, Corin, and Victoria, who enjoy poking fun at their dad. He is also a proud grandfather of three beautiful young ladies who happen to love their Poppa Jay! He has continued his musical endeavors through the years and began entertaining thoughts of pursuing his love for prose, starting with his first book, But Dad, a personal narrative of fatherhood. In 2023, he retired, and he and his wife, Jenine, moved to Northern Michigan, where he continues to follow his passion for writing. Project Earth is his third self-published work and his first full-length science fiction novel. He enjoys beating the drums, now governed by his aching anatomy, and is currently working on a sequel to Project Earth. | |
Frances Kai-Hwa Wang | Frances Kai-Hwa Wang is a journalist, poet, artist, essayist, and activist focused on issues of Asian America, race, justice, and the arts. Her writing has appeared at PBS NewsHour, NBC AsianAmerica, The Emancipator, PRI GlobalNation, AngryAsianMan, Cha Asian Literary Journal, Kartika Review, and Drunken Boat. She teaches Asian/Pacific Islander American Studies at University of Michigan and creative writing at Washtenaw Community College. She co-created multimedia artwork for the Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center. She has written three chapbooks and a new book of poetry, “You Cannot Resist Me When My Hair Is in Braids,” at Wayne State University Press. |  |
Nancy Shaw | Ann Arbor author Nancy Shaw got the idea for her best-selling picture book Sheep in a Jeep while stuck in the back seat on a family car trip. Seven more sheep books have followed. She also wrote Raccoon Tune (a Michigan Reads! book) and Elena's Story. She's received School Library Journal and Parents magazine Best Books of the Year citations, and the Reading Magic Award, among other honors. A Hopwood Award winner, she holds degrees from the University of Michigan and Harvard University. | |
Katherine Larson | Katherine Larson illustrated the covers for the Ann Arbor Observer for 22 years and her book “Ann Arbor Observed, the stories behind the Ann Arbor Observer Covers” tells her unique story. Katherine is also a classical singer and muralist who is known to many from her solo guest appearances with the Ann Arbor Symphony and UMS. She is an accomplished fine artist as well as an illustrator and has made her living as an artist from her youth. Her book about Ann Arbor is unique in that it reveals her painting techniques as well as what was happening in her life at the time of each painting. It gives the reader an inside look at life in Ann Arbor from the perspective of an artist and singer. The book is a large, hardbound “coffee table” size which showcases each cover illustration in a large format. Subjects include the University of Michigan, local events, neighborhoods and downtown landmarks. It makes a great gift for anyone who loves Ann Arbor. |  |
Patti Smith | Ann Arbor townie Patti Smith is a former legal aid lawyer and current special education teacher. She earned a bachelor’s degree from Adrian College with highest honors in 1994, a Doctor of Law from University of Wisconsin-Madison School of Law in 1996, and a Master's Degree with Highest Honors from Eastern Michigan University in 2012. She is the author of four history books: Images of America--Downtown Ann Arbor, A History of the People's Food Co-op Ann Arbor, Vanishing Ann Arbor, and Michigan Beer: A Heady History. She has written for Concentrate, Mittenbrew, The Ann, AADL's Pulp blog, and the Ann Arbor Observer. Patti serves as a commissioner for the Recreation Advisory Commission, as a storyteller in the Ann Arbor Storytellers' Guild, and as a volunteer DJ for WCBN. Patti is a frequent public speaker around town, curating HERsay (an all-woman variety show), GROWN FOLKS READING (storytime for grownups), MAY IT PLEASE THE COURT? (all-lawyer show) and telling stories at Ignite, Nerd Nite, Tellabration and Telling Tales Out of School. She lives with her husband, Ken Anderson, and dog Pugsley Anderson-Smith, in the Village--truly vintage living in her favorite city on earth. | |
Liz Crowe | A Kentucky native and graduate of the University of Louisville living in South Carolina, Liz Crowe lived in Ann Arbor for almost 20 years. Many of Liz’s books take place in southeast Michigan, and one in Ann Arbor specifically. She's spent her time as a three-continent expat trailing spouse, mom of three, real estate agent, brewery owner and bar manager, and is currently a digital marketing and fundraising consultant, in addition to being an award-winning author. With stories set in breweries, on the soccer pitch, inside fictional television stations and successful real estate offices, and even in exotic locales like Istanbul, Turkey, her books are compelling and told with a fresh voice. The Liz Crowe backlist has something for any reader seeking complex storylines with humor and complete casts of characters that will delight and linger in the imagination long after the book is finished. | |
Dave Coverly | Dave Coverly, a native of Plainwell, Michigan, earned his BS with a double major in Imaginative Writing and Philosophy at Eastern Michigan University in 1987, and received his MA in Creative Writing from Indiana University in 1993. In 2011, EMU awarded him an Honorary Doctorate in Fine Arts. He is the creator of the cartoon panel Speed Bump, which runs internationally in about 400 newspapers and websites, including the Washington Post, the Los Angeles Times, and the Detroit Free Press. His cartoons have also appeared in The New Yorker, USA Today, The New York Times, Newsweek, Esquire, and were a regular feature in Parade. Speed Bump has been named "Best in Newspaper Panels" by the National Cartoonists Society in 1995, 2003, 2014, and 2022. In 2009 the same organization gave him its highest honor, the prestigious Reuben Award, for "Outstanding Cartoonist of the Year". He has also traveled extensively with the USO, drawing cartoons for wounded soldiers and those stationed at bases in the Middle East. Coverly is also the author and/or illustrator of numerous children's books published by Macmillan, including Sue MacDonald Had a Book (with Jim Tobin), The Very Inappropriate Word (with Jim Tobin), and How to Care for Your Pet T-Rex (with Ken Baker). His chapter book series began with Night of the Living Worms: The Misadventures of Speed Bump & Slingshot, and continued with Night of the Living Shadows, and Night of the Living Zombie Bugs. His most recent cartoon collection is Speed Bump: A 25th Anniversary Collection (IDW). His cartoons are also featured on hundreds of greeting cards with NobleWorks, RSVP (including calendars), American Greetings, and Woodmansterne (UK). He has two daughters, Alayna and Simone, and lives with his wife, Chris in Ann Arbor, Michigan. | |
Ellen Craine | Grief and Loss Expert Ellen Craine is a licensed clinical and macro social worker in the State of Michigan, founder of Craine Counseling and Consulting Group, and has over 25 years of experience working with couples, families, groups, and individuals in a variety of capacities. She has been a divorce and family mediator and parenting coordinator, working with high-conflict parents to improve their ability to co-parent more effectively. She is a relationship and life coach and therapist, incorporating the science of success with her social work experience. Ellen is a #1 International Bestselling author of Women Who Dream, Women Who Empower, and Leading with Legacy. All are in the Kate Butler’s Impact Book Series. Ellen writes on the topics of childhood cancer, her breast cancer journey, the loss of her husband to a brain tumor––and how to rise above the challenges presented by life. She is a Co-Associate Producer of the documentary, Authentic Conversations: Deep Talk with the Masters, written, directed, and produced by LA Emmy-nominated Dr. Angela Sadler Williamson. Ellen is a co-coordinating producer on the documentary, Authentic Conversations: Voices Rise in Unity, also written, directed, and produced by LA Emmy-nominated Dr. Angela Sadler Williamson. This is a documentary about social justice and pays tribute to the civil rights icon, Rosa Parks. | |
| Author | Biography | Book Cover(s) |
