October 13 & 14, 2007at the Charleston Civic Center

Program Schedule

PDF version of the programs scheduled for the 2007 West Virginia Book Festival.

2007 West Virginia Book Festival Program Presenter Bios

Allan, Randy

Randy Allan has been the president of the Randolph County Historical Society for 28 years. He is a founding member of the Beverly Landmarks Commission, Historic Beverly Preservation, Rich Mountain Battlefield Association and Staunton and Parkersburg Turnpike Alliance. Allan was presented the West Virginia History Hero Award during Gov. Cecil Underwood's Administration. He is the owner of Lemuel Chenoweth House Antiques and Museum in Beverly. He is the author of Lemuel Chenoweth: Bridging the Gaps and Civil War Legends of Rich Mountain and Beverly. Sponsored by McClain Printing Company.

Anaporte-Easton, Jean

Jean Anaporte-Easton has published most recently in Poiesis, One Trick Pony, and Contemporary Literary Criticism. She is the editor of Breathing From the Belly: Etheridge Knight on Poetry and Freedom, to be published by the University of Michigan Press in 2008. She has taught poetry in universities, schools, prisons and mental health facilities. Presently she is a professor of English at West Virginia State University.

Anderson, Belinda

Her inclusion in the first Literary Map of West Virginia led author Belinda Anderson to an enthusiastic exploration of the state's rich literary heritage and the creation of her program for this year's festival. Belinda is the author of two short story collections, The Bingo Cheaters and The Well Ain't Dry Yet, both published by Mountain State Press. She holds a degree in news-editorial journalism and a master's degree in liberal arts studies.

Banning, Pat

A member of the Central West Virginia Writing Project, Pat Banning teaches English as a Second Language in Putnam and Lincoln Counties. She holds a B.S. in Elementary and Special Education from Marshall University and a master's degree in Elementary Education with an endorsement in English as a Second Language. She is president of West Virginia Teachers to Speakers of Other Languages. This summer she traveled to China as a part of the National Consortium of Teaching Asia that is funded by the Freeman Foundation and directed through the University of Pittsburgh. Pat spent three weeks immersed in Chinese culture, and she will share her experiences of that trip during her presentation. Sponsored by West Virginia Writing Project.

Bentley, Laura Treacy

Laura Treacy Bentley is a poet and fiction writer from Huntington, West Virginia. Her work has been published in the United States and Ireland. Lake Effect, her first book of poetry, was published in December 2006 by an imprint of Bottom Dog Press. Laura received a Fellowship Award for Literature from the West Virginia Commission on the Arts, and her poetry has been featured on the websites of A Prairie Home Companion and Poetry Daily. In March 2003 she read her poetry with Ray Bradbury.

Billheimer, John

John Billheimer, a native West Virginian, lives in Portola Valley, California. He holds an engineering Ph. D. from Stanford University and for 30 years was Vice President of a small consulting firm specializing in transportation research. Over the years, he investigated such diverse topics as commuter lane performance, mobile phone safety, drunk driving countermeasures, DMV service, video surveillance, and motorcycle safety. An early research project took him back to the coalfields of his native state, where he observed the poverty, independence, and resourcefulness that mark the characters of his first novel, The Contrary Blues.

The Contrary Blues was the first book in the "funny, sometimes touching," mystery series set in Appalachia and featuring failure analyst Owen Allison. The second book in the series, Highway Robbery, explores West Virginia road building scandals, while the third, Dismal Mountain, covers the controversial topic of strip mining. The fourth, Drybone Hollow, deals with the false claims and scams that follow in the wake of a devastating flood, while the most recent, Stonewall Jackson's Elbow, tracks the aftermath of a $750 million bank fraud. A non-fiction book on baseball scapegoats, Disgrace Under Pressure, will be published early in 2007.

Billheimer is married with two children, and is an avid tennis player and movie buff. He chaired the Transportation Research Board Committee on Motorcycles and Mopeds, and co-founded the California Motorcyclist Safety Program, a statewide program of mandatory training which saw motorcycle fatalities drop over 70% during its first fifteen years. He is currently teaching a series of courses on "The Modern Mystery in Film and Print" as part of Stanford University's Continuing Studies Program. Sponsored by The West Virginia Book Company.

Bowers, Laura

Laura Bowers, author of Beauty Shop for Rent, recently published by Harcourt, is a full-time mom and an avid horsewoman. She credits her love of horses, farm life, family and friends (not necessarily in that order) with influencing her writing. She lives with her husband, two boys and several four-footed family members in Maryland. Sponsored by Harcourt.

Brosi, George

George Brosi is the editor of Appalachian Heritage, a lecturer at Eastern Kentucky University and proprietor of Appalachian Mountain Books. Sponsored by Appalachian Mountain Books.

Browne, Adele

Storyteller Adele Browne has trained as a mime and worked as a professional clown. She has a background in children's theater and oral interpretation, historical interpretation and character development, vocal music. She has worked as an editor, graphic designer, calligrapher, and as an artist in fiber, clay, painting and papier mache sculpture. She demonstrates and teaches the old time craft of making cornhusk dolls. She is fond of puppets and uses them in storytelling wherever they fit in, along with rhythm instruments and other sound effects.

Busse, Sara Johe

Sara Johe Busse was born and raised in South Charleston and graduated from Wake Forest University. She has worked as a writer, reporter and copy editor for the Charleston Daily Mail, a public relations associate with Charles Ryan Associates, director of Marketing for WV Department of Culture and History and Charleston Town Center, and currently writes a garden column and features for The Charleston Gazette. She is a Master Gardener. Sponsored by Kanawha County Master Gardeners.

Campbell, Beverly

Beverly Campbell graduated from West Virginia University with a B.S. degree in Education and from the University of Charleston with a degree in nursing. She is working on a master's degree in corporate management communications at WVU. She taught in Kanawha County schools for many years and worked as a staff nurse and in graduate medical education for CAMC for 12 years. She is currently the executive assistant to the commissioner for the Division of Culture and History. She is the mother of two boys, both students at WVU. Her older son is the WVU Mountaineer. She is a Master Gardener and the owner of a large koi pond. Sponsored by Kanawha County Master Gardeners.

Conn, Peter

Peter Conn holds the Andrea Mitchell Term Chair in English at the University of Pennsylvania. His publications include The Divided Mind: Ideology and Imagination in America, 1898-1917 (Cambridge University Press, 1983; paperback edition, 1988), and Literature in America (Cambridge University Press, 1989), which was a main selection of Associated Book Clubs (UK). Pearl S. Buck: A Cultural Biography (Cambridge, 1996; Paperback 1998), was chosen as a New York Times Notable Book for that year, was included among the five finalists for the National Book Critics Circle award in biography, and received the Athenaeum Award. Conn's books have been translated into eight languages, including Chinese, Spanish, and Korean. He has lectured on a number of American artists, including Edward Hopper, William Christenberry, Thomas Wilmer Dewing, Maxfield Parrish, Charles Sheeler, and The Eight.

A John Simon Guggenheim Foundation Fellow, Conn has also directed National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) seminars for college and high school teachers. He has received several awards for distinguished teaching, and has served as literary consultant on numerous television projects, including "The American Short Story" series, and adaptations of novels by James Baldwin and Saul Bellow. In 2004, he served as principal literary advisor to "Oprah's Book Club" for The Good Earth.

In 1993, Conn was named visiting professor at the University of Nanjing, in the People's Republic of China.

Conn has served as Dean of the College, chair of the graduate groups in American Civilization and English, Faculty Master of Robert Hill College House and Community House and deputy and interim provost. He is also Board Chairman Emeritus of Pearl S. Buck International.

Conn and his wife Terry have four children: Steven, David, Alison, and Jennifer.

Crutcher, Chris

Chris Crutcher is an author and therapy consultant born in Dayton, Ohio, to a WWII bomber pilot and a homemaker. He grew up in Cascade, Idaho, and graduated from Eastern Washington University with a BA in psychology and sociology and a teaching credential. After teaching in Washington State and California, Crutcher became the director of a "last chance" K-12 alternative school in Oakland, CA before returning to Spokane to write his first book, Running Loose, for Greenwillow in 1982. Eight (soon to be nine) other novels, a collection of short stories and an autobiography followed, all from Greenwillow/HarperCollins. Crutcher's fast-paced fiction - heavily influenced by his work as a therapist and child protection advocate - is known for its expert balance of comedy and tragedy, as well as its unflinching honesty. He has received many awards and is a popular columnist (Voices From the Middle, the Signal Journal, iParenting) and public speaker. Crutcher lectures more than 60 times a year. He makes his home in Spokane, Washington, in the Pacific Northwest. Sponsored by Kanawha County Public Library Book Sale.

Books

• Deadline (Fall 2007)
• The Sledding Hill
• King of the Mild Frontier
• Ironman
• Staying Fat for Sarah Byrnes
• Athletic Shorts
• The Deep End
• Chinese Handcuffs
• The Crazy Horse Electric Game
• Stotan!
• Running Loose

Honors

• 2006 Pen/NEWMAN'S OWN First Amendment Award Nominee
• 2005 NCAC Defender of Free Speech Honoree
• 2005 Catholic Library Association St. Katharine Drexel Award
• 2004 Writers Who Make a Difference Award (The Writer Magazine)
• 2002 Washington State Book Award
• 2002 Pacific Northwest Booksellers Award
• 2000 Margaret A. Edwards Award (ALA)
• 1998 National Intellectual Freedom Award (NCTE/SLATE)
• 1998/1997 Back-to-Back California Young Reader Medals
• 1993 ALAN Award for Contribution to Young Adult Literature

Dadisman, Jo Ann

Jo Ann Dadisman is a professional storyteller and a coordinator of the Undergraduate Writing Program at West Virginia University. A member of the National Writing Project at WVU, she is a native of the Mountain State and has been teaching for more than 30 years. Sponsored by West Virginia Writing Project

DeFoe, Mark

Mark DeFoe is a professor and chair of the English Department at West Virginia Wesleyan College. He has published six chapbooks, and his latest book, The Rock and the Pebble, will be published this summer.

DeFoe has conducted workshops for writers of all ages and has read his work at colleges, libraries and art centers. His work has been published in a number of literary reviews and anthologies and two college texts.

A former Bread Loaf scholar, DeFoe has won awards for his poetry from Appalachian Heritage, The Atlanta Review, Tulane Review, Black Warrior Review, Smartish Pace, Nimrod, Chautauqua Literary Review, and Now and Then. He has received two Artists Fellowships from the state of West Virginia, in 1998 and 2003.

DeFoe lives in Buckhannon with his wife, a pianist and music teacher.

Depta, Victor

A native of Logan County, Victor Depta is a poet, author, playwright, educator and publisher. Depta has written eight books of poetry, the most recent of which is The Little Henry Poems, published in 2005. His novels include The Gate of Paradise, Idol and Sanctuary, and Feasting with Strife, which make up his West Virginia Trilogy. The publisher of Blair Mountain Press, Depta has also written one nonfiction book and two volumes of plays.

Elkinton, David

Dave Elkinton was elected the third president of the West Virginia Highlands Conservancy at age 29 in 1973. A member continuously since 1970, and a board member from 1973 to 1990, his first-hand knowledge of the issues and the personalities gives him a unique perspective to write about the Conservancy's first 40 years, having missed only the first three of those years. Fighting to Protect the Highlands: The First Forty Years of the West Virginia Highlands Conservancy is his new book, to be published in October by Pocahontas Press. Elkinton is a retired social worker with degrees from West Virginia University and the University of Kentucky. His career was split among community development, nonprofit management and state and local government. In one of his position, he served from 1983 to 1998 as executive director of the Pricketts Fort Memorial Foundation, which operates Pricketts Fort State Park in Fairmont. Today he lives with is wife, Jan Hurst, near the Chesapeake Bay in southern Maryland.

Fones-Wolf, Ken

Ken Fones-Wolf is Professor of history, West Virginia University, where he teaches 19th century American history and American working-class history. Previously, he taught for the Institute for Labor Studies and Research at WVU and at the University of Massachusetts. Fones-Wolf is the author or editor of 5 books and numerous articles on American social history. His most recent works are: Transnational West Virginia: Ethnic Groups and Economic Change, 1840-1940 (West Virginia University Press, 2002), in which he published a chapter on Wheeling Germans in the Civil War era as well as a chapter on Belgians in Clarksburg, and the new book, Glass Towns: Industry, Labor and Political Economy in Appalachia, 1890-1930s, published by the University of Illinois Press in 2007.

Foreman, Stephen

Stephen Foreman earned a BA in English at Morgan State in Baltimore, Maryland, and an MFA from the Yale School of Drama. He taught writing at West Virginia University and other universities before moving to California to work as a screenwriter and director. He has trekked across the Alaskan wilderness, bushwhacked through tropical rain forests and hunted for gold mines in Arizona. The son of a Keystone, W.Va., native, he now makes his home in the Catskill Mountains with his wife and two children. His first novel, Toehold, will be published in October.

Gieg, Harry

A recent recipient of a West Virginia Arts Award for Poetry, Harry Gieg has had his work published in journals ranging from Pennsylvania Review on the East Coast to Jacaranda on the West Coast and in a variety of journals and anthologies published here in the Tri-State area, including Wild Sweet Notes II. He recently co-authored a chapbook with Eddy Pendarvis entitled Duets, which was published by Shoestring Press. Referring to his poetry, Gieg explains, "Mostly I'm just singing."

Green, Chris

Chris Green teaches, writes about and edits Appalachian literature and culture at Marshall University where he is an assistant professor of English. His mission is to have students write about their own lives and worlds based on their study of contemporary Appalachian literature. He has edited Coal: A Poetry Anthology (Blair Mountain Press, 2006) and co-edited Radicalism in the South Since Reconstruction (Palgrave MacMillan, 2006). Chris is co-director of Marshall's Center for the Study of Ethnicity and Gender in Appalachia, and his leading the Appalachian Studies Association's 2008 conference, which will be held at Marshall next March. Sponsored by Blair Mountain Press.

Guyer, Barbara

Dr. Barbara P. Guyer is professor of Special Education and the founder and director emeritus of the nationally acclaimed H.E.L.P. Program (Higher Education for Learning Problems). She is the author of several books, the most well-known being The Pretenders: Gifted People Who Have Learning Problems (1997; 2007). She has been a classroom teacher, teacher in a women's prison, principal, tutor, and for the past 32 years she has been a professor of Special Education, coordinating the Learning Disabilities Program at Marshall University. She has made it possible for many college students to learn to read, graduate from college, and finally to become successful professional people. She has spoken at many conferences in the United States and Europe, has authored many journal articles, and has advised many parents regarding their children who have learning disabilities and/or ADHD. She has received many awards for her research, excellence in teaching and in writing. Last year she was the first professor at Marshall University to receive three awards at one time, one being the cherished Hedrick Award for Excellence in Teaching, Research, and Writing. Sponsored by West Virginia Learning Disabilities Association.

Hairston, Alena

Alena Hairston's prose and poetry have appeared in Ensemble Jourine; Drunken Boat; Callaloo; In Our Own Words: A Generation Defining Itself, Obsidian III; dANDelion; BathHouse: A Journal of the Hybrid Arts; nocturnes (re)view, Elixir, SideReality, Doorknobs and BodyPaint, which granted her the Flash Fiction Award, Avoid Strange Men, and QP: Mixed Nuts. She has performed in plays such as A Raisin in the Sun, Jar the Floor, and Better-n-Indins, as well as in films, such as Women Pharaohs for the Discovery Channel. She received her MFA in English and Creative Writing from Brown University where she won the John Hawkes Memorial Prize for Fiction. A 2004 Poetry Fellowship recipient from the Rhode Island State Council on the Arts, a 2006 finalist for the Rona Jaffe Foundation Writer's Award, and a 2007-09 Cave Canem Fellow, Alena is an English instructor at Solano College in Fairfield, Calif. Her collection of poetry, The Logan Topographies, was a Selected Winner for Bear Star Press' Dorothy Brunsman Poetry Award and a publication selection for CavanKerry Press. The collection won Persea Books' Lexi Rudnitsky Memorial Prize for Poetry and is now commercially available.

Harshman, Marc

Marc Harshman is a poet, children's book author and past grade school teacher. His 10 children's picture books include The Storm, a Smithsonian Notable Book for Children and Parent's Choice Award winner. His 11th children's title, Only One Neighborhood, co-authored with Barbara Garrison, is forthcoming from Dutton/Penguin in October. His third chapbook of poems, Local Journeys, was published in 2004 by Finishing Line Press. Periodical publication of his poems includes The George Review, Wilderness, Southern Humanities Review, Shenandoah, Appalachian Heritage, and The Progressive. He holds degrees from Bethany College, Yale Divinity School and the University of Pittsburgh.

Howley, Marged

Marged Howley was born in Liverpool, W.Va., in 1979 and graduated from Marshall University in 2000 with a B.A. in creative writing. Upon graduation, Marged moved to Seattle, Wash., and participated in the spoken word and poetry community there for about five years. She now attends an institiution of higher education in southeastern Ohio and is working towards a master's degree with licensure in the College of Education. Marged performs regularly and lends her hand planning, emceeing, and participating in slam competitions, open stages, readings, rallies and any other event that will have her. Her work appears in Black Bear Review, Adirondack Review, Wild Sweet Notes II, Red Weather, Snowapple, and several other publications.

Marged's first chapbook, Stupid For Dreaming of Alligators, made its way to print in March, 2007. Marged believes in the rhabdos, and that this, too, shall pass.

Kasony-O'Malley, Michael

Michael Kasony-O'Malley is an author, an educator and a full-time professional storyteller. Since 1995, he has told tales to hundreds of thousands of people, both young and old. With more than 35 hours worth of stories in his repertoire, he focuses on Irish and Slovak tales, family stories, Christmas legends, and Earth Mother stories. Michael recently released his first book/CD set, An Irish Tale: Tom Moore & the Seal Woman. He also has a storytelling CD featuring a Slovak Cinderella story, and he is featured on two Story Watchers Club DVDs, World Folktales (vol. 1) and their Christmas DVD. In addition to a variety of storytelling performances for various ages, Michael offers writing workshops, author visits, keynotes, in-services, storytelling workshops, and artist-in-residence programs. For more information, visit MichaeltheStoryteller.com.

Knop, Nancy

Nancy Knop helps students of all ages find school success. She works as an educational therapist and science/math tutor at both the Appalachian Reading Center and Professional Therapy Services in Charleston. Dr Knop retired in 2006 after teaching science for 23 years. During those years, as she recognized the different learning abilities and styles among her students, she developed professional interest in cognitive science and neurobiology. In addition to attending and speaking at conferences on the brain and learning, she conducts ongoing study of the primary research literature, especially in the areas of reading, math, and learning differences. She completed the graduate-level Certificate program in Educational Therapy at the University of California, Berkeley in 2004. Interpreting what she has learned from her experience and study, Dr. Knop has been a speaker in a number of forums for audiences of students, parents, teacher-trainees, and experienced teachers. Sponsored by West Virginia Learning Disabilities Association.

Laskas, Gretchen Moran

Gretchen Moran Laskas, born in Barbour County, comes from a family with ties that go back for eight generations in West Virginia. She is the author of The Midwife's Tale, winner of the Weatherford Prize for Outstanding Contribution to Appalachia, as well as the Appalachian Book of the Year. Her young adult novel, The Miner's Daughter, set in the coal camps during the Great Depression, was published in 2007 by Simon and Schuster Books for Young Readers. Gretchen now lives in Fairfax, Virginia, with her husband and son.

McKernan, John

John McKernan has published poems in dozens of magazines including Paris Review, New Yorke, Atlantic Monthly, and Shenandoah. The author of several chapbooks, his most recent book is the selected poems in Resurrection of the Dust (Backwaters 2007). He edits the poetry magazine ABZ and teaches at Marshall University.

McKernan, Llewellyn

Llewellyn McKernan is a poet, short story writer, children's book author, and teacher who has lived and worked in Huntington for over 30 years. She has a Master's in Creative Writing from Brown University and a Master's in English from the University of Arkansas. She has studied with the poets A.R. Ammons, Michael Harper, and Lucille Clifton. Her work has been published widely in magazines such as Kenyon Review, Nimrod, Appalachian Heritage, Now & Then, and Agni Review.

McKinney, Irene

Irene McKinney is the author of Vivid Companion (WVU, 2004), Six O'Clock Mine Report (Pittsburgh 1989), Quick Fire and Slow Fire (North Atlantic 1988), The Wasps of the Blue Hexagon (Small Plot 1984), The Girl with a Stone in Her Lap (North Atlantic 1976). She edited the anthology Backcountry: Contemporary Writing in West Virginia (WVU 2002). She was appointed Poet Laureate of West Virginia in 1994. Her poems have appeared in leading journals, including ABZ, American Voice, Arts & Letters, The Georgia Review, The Kenyon Review, and Poetry. She recently retired from West Virginia Wesleyan, where she taught for many years.

McKnight, Linda

Linda McKnight, a graduate of Marshall University, is a Title I Reading Specialist at Holden Elementary School in Logan County. A member of Coalfield Writers, she has been teaching for 19 years. Sponsored by West Virginia Writing Project.

McQuade, Rusty

Restona "Rusty" McQuade is a native of West Virginia and attended the College of Health Sciences in Roanoke, Va. She works with home health patients to help them maintain and gain muscle strength. A former Lewisburg fire fighter for eight years, she was also a preschool director for 15 years. She is a ski instructor, soccer coach and referees soccer children of all ages. She lives in Renick with her family. She is the author of Stickyman Movements. Sponsored by Headline Books.

Milnes, Gerald

Gerald C. Milnes is the folk arts coordinator of the Augusta Heritage Center at Davis and Elkins College. He is the editor of Granny Will Your Dog Bite and Other Mountain Rhymes and author of Play a Fiddle: Traditional Music, Dance and Folklore in West Virginia. His latest title is Signs, Cures and Witchery: German Appalachian Folklore.

Moore, Mary

Dr. Mary Moore is a poet, teacher and scholar who came to West Virginia in 1995 for a tenure track job at Marshall University in Renaissance literature and poetry. A native Californian, she has one daughter who remains in the Bay area. Moore believes she "wrote herself into the landscape" of Appalachia, a landscape that inspires much of her recent poetry. She has published a book of poetry, The Book of Snow, and her poetry has appeared in magazines and journals such as Prairie Schooner, Kestrel, and Sow's Ear Review. Prior credits include Poetry, Field, Nimrod, New Letters, and more.

Mountain Echoes
JoAnn Dadisman and June Riffle, Storytellers

JoAnn Dadisman and June Riffle, teachers, best friends and storytellers, form Mountain Echoes. In the 10 plus years they have been telling stories together, they have reached thousands of children and adults in many, many places. Dadisman and Riffle believe that storytelling has always been a means of crossing barriers of time and place, providing a medium not just for entertainment, but also for sharing wisdom, joys and sorrows beyond individual life experiences.

O'Dell, Tawni

Tawni O'Dell is the New York Times best selling author of novels Sister Mine, Coal Run, and Back Roads, which was also an Oprah's Book Club selection. Her critically-acclaimed work has been translated into a dozen languages and been published in more than 20 countries. Back Roads is currently in development to be made into a film by Infinity Media. O'Dell was born and raised in the coal-mining region of western Pennsylvania, the territory she writes about with such striking authenticity. After graduating from Northwestern University with a degree in journalism, she spent many years living and working the Chicago area before moving back to Pennsylvania, where she now lives with her husband and two children.

Pendarvis, Edwina

Eddy Pendarvis writes mostly about life in Appalachia, especially the Kentucky and West Virginia coalfields. Her work appears in journals such as Antietam Review, Appalachian Heritage, Appalachian Journal, Indiana Review, and Pine Mountain Sand & Gravel. She has written three books of poetry: Joy Ride, In Human Landscapes, by Bottom Dog Press; Like the Mountains of China, by Blair Mountain Press; and Duets, a chapbook co-authored with Harry Gieg, by Shoestring Press. She co-edited Coal: A Poetry Anthology, published recently by Blair Mountain Press.

Presgraves, Jim

Jim Presgraves has been buying and selling books for more than 40 years. Customers include national libraries in both hemispheres as well as most U.S. state libraries and esteemed national collections such as the Smithsonian Institute and the Winterthur Museum. Presgraves assists those who wish to purchase or to sell books with collection building; appraisals; sale and purchase of books, letters, papers and diaries; purchase of miscellaneous printed material; and presentations to groups and associations. A participant in national auctions, Presgraves maintains an active knowledge of current price trends and values. He has been an elected member of the Antiquarian Booksellers' Association of America since 1978. Sponsored by Bookworm & Silverfish.

Ross, Ann B.

Ann B. Ross is the mother of two daughters and one son, and the grandmother of four grandsons (including twin boys) and two granddaughters, both of whom are her namesakes. When her children were in college, she decided to complete her own education, enrolling in the University of North Carolina at Asheville where she earned a Bachelor's degree in Literature. Reluctant to return to an empty nest, she continued her education by enrolling in the English Department of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, where she earned both the Master's and Doctor of Philosophy degrees. Afterwards, she taught Literature and the Humanities at the University of North Carolina at Asheville.

Ann's writing career began in the early eighties when two mysteries were published as original paperbacks: The Murder Cure and The Murder Stroke. A few years later, her first hardcover book was published: The Pilgrimage, an adventure story set in the nineteenth century. All three books are now out of print.

The publication of the first Miss Julia book, Miss Julia Speaks Her Mind in 1999, set Ann on a full-time writing career. This book went through six reprintings in less than a year, and was ranked #9 on the Independent Booksellers' seventy-six most highly recommended books for 1999. In addition, the book was named to the Barnes & Noble Discover Great New Writers list. The paperback edition of the same book was listed in The Best Books of the First Five Years by BookSense, as one of the titles independent booksellers most enjoyed handselling. The book was also published by Readers Digest Condensed Books, appearing in twelve foreign languages. Miss Julia Strikes Back, which was published in April, makes the eighth book in the series.

Rowden, Laura

Laura Rowden coordinates the Community H.E.L.P. program at Marshall University. She has a masters degree in Learning Disabilities from Marshall University, and she has worked with students diagnosed with LD and ADHD for more than 10 years at the H.E.L.P. program. She also taught at an Orton-Gillingham school in North Carolina. Sponsored by West Virginia Learning Disabilities Association.

San Souci, Robert D.

Robert San Souci (pronounced San Sue-see, from the French/French-Canadian sans souci, meaning "without care) is the author of more than 95 books, including Two Bear Cubs: A Miwok Story from California's Yosemite Valley, illustrated by his brother, Daniel San Souci. Robert is a renowned storyteller whose folktale re-tellings include The Talking Eggs and The Faithful Friend, both Caldecott Honor and Coretta Scott King Honor books. In addition, he wrote The Hired Hand and Cut From the Same Cloth: American Women of Myth, Legend and Tall Tale, both awarded the Aesop Award from the Children's Folklore Section of the American Folklore Society. The majority of San Souci's books cover regional American folk literature or folk literature from around the world. He also wrote Fa Mulan: The Story of a Woman Warrior and the film story for Disney's animated Mulan. His latest books include: Sister Tricksters: Rollicking Tales of Clever Females; Zigzag: The Story of a Doll Who Found Happiness; The Well at the End of the World; and Triple-Dare to Be Scared: Thirteen Further Freaky Tales. Born in San Francisco, San Souci still lives there.

Scafidi, Steve

Steve Scafidi was raised in Virginia and earned his MFA at Arizona State University. His first book, Sparks from a Nine-Pound Hammer (LSU 2001), was nominated for the 2001 National Book Award, the 2002 Pulitzer Prize, and won the Fifth Annual Larry Levis Reading Prize. His second book, For Love of Common Words was published by LSU Press in the spring 2006. He works as a cabinet maker and lives in Summit Point, W.Va., with his wife and daughter.

Singh-Corcoran, Nathalie

Nathalie Singh-Corcoran is coordinator of the Writing Center and a professor of English at West Virginia University. She is a member of the National Writing Project at WVU, and she originally hails from Tucson. Sponsored by West Virginia Writing Project.

Smith, Jean Edward

Jean Edward Smith is the author of 12 books, including the highly acclaimed biographies Grant (a 2002 Pulitzer Prize finalist and a New York Times Notable Book), John Marshall: Definer of a Nation (a New York Times Notable Book), and Lucius D. Clay: An American Life (a New York Times Notable Book). A graduate of Princeton University and Columbia University, Smith taught at the University of Toronto for 35 years before joining the faculty at Marshall University, where he is the John Marshall Professor of Political Science. Some critics say his latest book, FDR, provides a whole new take on one of the nation's most popular political figures, Franklin Delano Roosevelt.

Smucker, Anna Egan

Anna Egan Smucker is the author of two children's books published by Knopf: Outside the Window, a bedtime story, and No Star Nights, a memoir of her childhood growing up in Weirton, West Virginia that won the International Reading Association's Children's Book Award. She is also the author of A History of West Virginia. Originally published by the West Virginia Humanities Council as a book for adult new readers, it is now out in a Quarrier Press edition for general readers. To Keep the South Manitou Light, her first novel for young readers, is a fast-paced historical fiction novel set on an island in Lake Michigan. Published by Wayne State University Press, it won the 2006 Award of Merit from the Historical Society of Michigan. Her newest book is The Life of Saint Brigid, published in 2007 by Appletree Press in Belfast. Anna is the recipient of a 2005 West Virginia Arts Commission Artist Fellowship Award in Children's Literature. A resident of Bridgeport, West Virginia, she does author presentations and conducts writing workshops throughout the country.

Spangler, Mike

Blessed with an eye for design and a love of gardening passed down to him through the generations, Mike Spangler had the good luck to be able to parlay these assets into a great career. Having learned all he could from two of the area's great gardeners, Mary Price Ratrie and Carter Giltinan, he now works with Cary Levenson and Valley Gardens. In his spare time, Mike enjoys working in his own ever-changing landscape as well as expanding the landscape on his parents' property and is passing the torch of gardening to his two nieces, Meghan and Madison. Sponsored by Kanawha County Master Gardeners.

Stringer, A. E.

A. E. Stringer is the author of a collection of poems, Channel Markers (Wesleyan University Press). His work has appeared in such journals as The Nation, Antaeus, Ohio Review, Denver Quarterly, The Laurel Review, Shenandoah, and in two recent anthologies of West Virginia writers, Wild Sweet Notes, and Backcountry. He is a professor of English at Marshall University.

Thomas, Terre (poet)

Tritt, Sandy

Sandy Tritt is a writer, editor and speaker. The founder and CEO of Inspiration for Writers, an editing and critiquing service for aspiring writers, she has edited hundreds of manuscripts. She serves on the editorial staff of Rosedog.com and Author-me.com, and currently acts as the publication consultant for Confluence Literary Magazine. Each month she contributes the feature article for the Publishing New Writers Newsletter and an "Elements of Craft" article for the Romance Writer's of Australia Newsletter. She is president emeritus of West Virginia Writers, Inc., the state's largest writing organization, and past president of the Ohio Valley Literary Group. She was the recipient of the 2002 Artsbridge Arts Award for Literature.

Living the Legacy, Sandy's first novel, won second place in the 1998 West Virginia Writer's Novel Competition, and an excerpt won first place in the 1998 People's Choice Awards. An excerpt from A Long Way from Saigon (Truman Publishing), a memoir she ghostwrote for Josephine Stockton, has been published by Vietnam Magazine. Sandy's short stories have received many awards and have been published in literary magazines and local journals such as Gambit, Confluence, West Virginia United Methodist, Allegheny Echoes, Mountain Voices, The Northwestern, and Mountain Echoes, in which she was the July 2004 featured writer. In addition, she has published Everything I Know (Headline Books), Inspiration for Writers Tips and Techniques Workbook, and seven technical manuals (Phoenix Software, Atlanta, GA).

Sandy lives in a busy household with her husband Butch and her three teenage daughters. Sponsored by West Virginia Writers.

Van Gundy, Doug

Doug Van Gundy has been an elephant keeper, a copywriter, a country radio disk jockey, a letterpress operator, an arts administrator, and a TV game show winner. He has also taught composition to inmates and college freshmen, helped high school teacher integrate writing into their classrooms, led creative writing weekends for university students and has worked with poets from age 5 to 75. He earned his M.F.A. in poetry from Goddard College. His work has been published in numerous regional literary magazines and has won prizes in both the Eve of Saint Agnes and Lullwater Review competitions. His poems have been included in the anthology Wild Sweet Notes: Fifty Years of West Virginia Poetry. An excerpt from one of his poems appeared in a television commercial for the game show Who Wants To Be a Millionaire. Doug is also a well-known fiddler and banjo player, and he frequently performs and teaches old-time music as half of the duo Born Old. His first book, A Life Above Water, was published by Red Hen Press earlier this year.

Vuranch, Karen

Karen Vuranch weaves together a love of history, a passion for stories and a sense of community. Karen has toured throughout the United States with her award-winning storytelling and living history performances and has completed five performance tours of Wales and England with "Coal Camp Memories." She also participated in a storytelling exchange in China in 2002. Vuranch recreates author Pearl Buck; labor organizer Mother Jones; Indian captive Mary Draper Ingles; Civil War soldier and spy Emma Edmonds; humanitarian Clara Barton; Renaissance pirate Grace O'Malley and performs a World War II play, "Homefront." On her audio tape, My Grandmother's Necklace, Vuranch performs stories she has written and collected. She is currently in production on a new CD of the stories and song show, Potluck: Stories and Songs About Women, Wisdom and Food, which she performs with Julie Adams and Colleen Anderson.

Weatherford, Carole Boston

New York Times best-selling author Carole Boston Weatherford has written 25 books of poetry, nonfiction and children's literature, including Moses: When Harriet Tubman Led Her People to Freedom, winner of an NAACP Image Award, Coretta Scott King Award for Illustration and Caldecott Honor Medal. The Sound that Jazz Makes won the Carter G. Woodson Award from National Council for the Social Studies, and Remember the Bridge: Poems of a People, and Freedom on the Menu: The Greensboro Sit-ins both won North Carolina Juvenile Literature Awards. Her books have also been short-listed by the International Reading and National Council for the Social Studies and named best books of the year by School Library Journal and New York Public Library. A two-time North Carolina Arts Council Writers Fellow, Carole teaches at Fayetteville State University and resides in High Point, N.C., with her family.

West Virginia Youth Symphony

The West Virginia Youth Symphony is a non-profit arts organization that supports five music ensembles and numerous chamber groups. The mission is to provide excellent instrumental instruction and opportunities to present quality performances. Today's West Virginia Youth Symphony consists of over ninety members including players from Ohio, Kentucky and seven counties in West Virginia.

Whaples, Suzi

Suzi "Mama" Whaples of the Mountain Women storytellers has performed at libraries, schools, state parks, storytelling festivals, nursing homes, hospitals, corporate functions, summer camps and workshops all over West Virginia and 16 other states. Using costume, dialect, props, poetry, comedy and drama, she weaves a unique program that has the audience laughing at one moment and wiping away tears the next. A former children's librarian, she is the drama director for a large church in St. Albans and an accomplished craftsman. She is married to Fred, a high school history and English teacher, and they have three sons and six grandchildren.

Whitehair, C. W.

A Civil War re-enactor for the last 14 years, C. W. Whitehair is a volunteer historical interpreter for the Harpers Ferry National Historical Park and a member of the Harpers Ferry Historical Association. Whitehair is the author of Sabers & Roses, a historical novel published in 2006. His second novel, Northern Fire, will be published this year. He is a frequent contributor to The Civil War Courier/Camp Chase Gazette, and he recently had an article published in Civil War Historian magazine. He has appeared in the historical documentary, Hunter's Raid, and the motion picture, Avenel.

Zachos, Ellen

Ellen Zachos is a garden writer and photographer, a garden designer, and coordinator of the gardening program in Continuing Education at the New York Botanical Garden, where she teaches classes on tropicals, orchids, perennials, annuals, and rooftop gardening. She is a Harvard graduate, and received certificates in horticulture and ethnobotany from the NYBG. Ellen's latest book, Down and Dirty: 43 Fun and Funky First Time Garden Projects was published by Storey Publishing in January 2007. She is also the author of Tempting Tropicals: 175 Irresistible Indoor Plants (Timber Press, 2005), and Orchid Growing for Wimps (Sterling Publications, 2002).

Ellen is a former Broadway performer and recently released her first CD, entitled Green Up Time. On this recording, Ellen combines her two passions, plants and music, for a Botanical look at Broadway. Sponsored by Kanawha County Master Gardeners.

Presented by:

- Charter Presenters -

- Secondary Sponsors -

BB&T Foundation
Friends of the Library Foundation of Kanawha County
McJunkin Corporation
West Virginia Library Commission
West Virginia Center for the Book

- Contributing Sponsors -

Bayer MaterialScience
Borders Express, Charleston Town Center
Jackson Kelly PLLC
South Charleston Public Library