| Author | Biography | Book Cover(s) |
|---|---|---|
Ken MacGregor | When I was a kid, I wanted more than anything to be an actor. To tread the boards onstage, wowing audience members with my ability to slip seamlessly into a character. For a while, I realized that dream. I even had an agent, in St. Louis, Missouri, who got me some TV gigs, including an appearance on the Discovery Channel. All that time, though, I was also writing stuff. And, it crawled further toward the front of my brain. I wrote and performed sketch comedy for about five years, in St. Louis, and when I moved back to Michigan. I wrote a zombie movie (which we made. It’s called “The Quirk and the Dead” and it’s on YouTube. Go watch it. It’s only 16 minutes. I can wait…Pretty good, huh? Thanks. So, eventually, the guy I was making movies with (Hi, Brian!) told me to stop sending him script after script after script and to turn them into short stories. Thank goodness he did, because it turns out I love doing this! | |
Shutta Crum | Shutta Crum is a long-time resident of Ann Arbor who now divides her time between Ann Arbor and St. Augustine, Florida. She served as a public librarian at both the South Lyon Public Library and the Ann Arbor District Library for more than twenty four years and was awarded the Michigan Library Association Award of Merit as the youth librarian of the year in 2002. She is the author of many middle grade novels, picture books, books of poetry, poems, and magazine articles, including THUNDER-BOOMER! an American Library Association and a Smithsonian Magazine “Notable Book” of the year. She’s won four Royal Palm Literary awards, with a gold for her chapbook When You Get Here (Poems for Adults), and she has been nominated for a Pushcart prize. In 2005 Shutta was invited to read at the White House. In 2010 she presented to students in Japan, hosted by the Dept. of Defense Schools. Now she writes the monthly Wordsmith’s Playground newsletter for writers, blogs for the Florida Writers Association, and writes a column on craft for the OPAP magazine (Of Poets & Poetry) for the Florida State Poet’s Association. Her presentations include author talks, lectures, and workshops for writers, teachers, and librarians. | |
Cynthia Leitich Smith | Cynthia Leitich Smith (Muscogee citizen) is a NYT bestselling author and was named the 2021 NSK Neustadt Laureate. Her novel HEARTS UNBROKEN won an American Indian Youth Literature Award, and her recent books include ANCESTOR APPROVED: INTERTRIBAL STORIES FOR KIDS, an ALA Notable Book and winner of the Reading of the West Book Award for Young Readers as well as SISTERS OF THE NEVERSEA, which received six starred reviews and made numerous “best of the year” lists. Her debut tween novel RAIN IS NOT MY INDIAN NAME was named one of the 30 Most Influential Children’s Books of All Time by Book Riot. Her 2023 release is the YA novel HARVEST HOUSE. Cynthia is the author-curator of Heartdrum, an imprint of HarperChildren’s and was the inaugural Katherine Paterson Chair at the Vermont College of Fine Arts MFA program. |  |
Michael A. Ferro | Born and bred in the Detroit area, Michael A. Ferro attended Michigan State University and received a degree in Creative Writing. Michael’s novel, TITLE 13, was published by Harvard Square Editions and chosen as a Best Book of 2018 by the Emerging Writers Network. He was named as a finalist by Glimmer Train for their New Writers Award, received the Jim Cash Creative Writing Award for Fiction, and was nominated for The Pushcart Prize. Michael is also a musician, satirist, and humorist, as well as a book reviewer and critic for numerous literary journals and an editor with the Chicago Writers Association. He is a former sportswriter and a Features Writer for CBS and CBS Detroit, and a national music and sports columnist with AXS. Michael has lived, worked, and written throughout the Midwest; he currently resides in rural Ann Arbor, Michigan. |  |
Pamela Gossiaux | Pamela Gossiaux is the international bestselling author of romance books and women's fiction, as well as several inspirational nonfiction books. Pamela is also a humorist and inspirational speaker who has been writing and working with writers for several decades. She has a dual BA degree from the University of Michigan in Creative Writing and English Language and Literature, and over 20 years of journalism writing experience. She has self-published a book on writing called Six Steps to Successful Publication. The release of The Things We Know in Part, hit the Barnes & Noble Top 100 bestseller list, as well as a #1 bestseller on Amazon in several different countries. An avid horse enthusiast, she enjoys being outdoors and working in her garden. She also loves chocolate, and prefers to curl up with a good book in her downtime. She lives and writes at her horse farm in Michigan, near the town that inspired the Russo Romantic Mystery series, with her family and a variety of pets. | |
Jennifer Traig | Jennifer Traig is the author of Act Natural, Well Enough Alone, and Devil in the Details and the editor of The Autobiographer's Handbook and Don't Forget to Write. She holds a PhD in English from Brandeis, and teaches in the Comprehensive Studies Program at UM. | |
Rick Coppens | Rick Coppens is a retired sales rep who lives on a small farm in southeastern Michigan with his wife, Kathy, a former Ann Arbor educator. He is a musician, songwriter, and storyteller whose free time includes traveling the country with Kathy and spending time with their five wonderful children and four beautiful grandkids. | |
Jennifer Burd | Jennifer Burd has had poetry published in numerous print and online journals. She is author of a full-length book of poems, Body and Echo (2010; PlainView Press), a chapbook of original poems set to music by Laszlo Slomovits, Receiving the Shore (2016, Little Light Publications), and a book of creative nonfiction, Daily Bread: A Portrait of Homeless Men & Women of Lenawee County, Michigan (Bottom Dog Press; 2009). Her newest collection of poetry, Days’ Late Blue, is scheduled to be published by Cherry Grove Editions in July 2017. She is co-author of a children's play based on Patricia Polacco's book I Can Hear the Sun, which was produced by Wild Swan Theatre of Ann Arbor, Michigan, in 2015. Burd received her MFA in Creative Writing from the University of Washington in Seattle. She currently teaches writing and literature classes at Jackson College, Jackson, Michigan, and at Washtenaw Community College, Ann Arbor, Michigan, as well as creative writing classes online through The Loft Literary Center in Minneapolis. | |
Gregory A. Fournier | Literary Classics gold medal award-winning author Gregory A. Fournier received his bachelor and master’s degrees in Language Arts from Eastern Michigan University in Ypsilanti. A writer of creative nonfiction, his books include The Elusive Purple Gang, Zug Island, Terror In Ypsilanti, The Richard Streicher Jr. Murder and Detroit Time Capsule. Fournier writes short history posts for his Fornology.com blog, and he has appeared on the Investigation Discovery Channel as a guest expert on serial killer John Norman Collins for the series A Crime to Remember in an episode entitled “A New Kind of Monster.” Terror In Ypsilanti is currently in development for a movie or miniseries. | |
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. |  |
| Author | Biography | Book Cover(s) |
