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Meet the Author: Hannah Jane Weber

By Hannah Jane Weber
Star Rating
★★★★★

Rated by Helen H.
Mar 7, 2018

At Johnson County Library, we love local authors. And when that local author is one of our own, we can't help but celebrate! Before transferring to our Leawood Library to work in the Youth Services Department, Hannah Jane Weber was active in our writing programs. We are proud to share that Hannah Jane had been awarded the 2017 Dylan Thomas American Award for the poem "Scenic Rail Tour" which is published in issue 63 of Rosebud. Of Hannah Jane's work, Grand Prize Winner, Judge Molly Peacock says "it is a twenty-first century nature poem" and she chose it "because of the double helix of its form

Time Writing Contest Winner

By Frank Higgins
Star Rating
★★★★★

Rated by Helen H.
Feb 19, 2018

The Readers Advisory committee is pleased to announce that Frank Higgins has won our TIME poetry contest with his poem "The Summer We're All Sixteen". We love way the poem circles back on itself and illustrates both the universality of time and its unique passage for each of us.

Frank Higgins writes plays, and occasionally poetry and haiku.

 

The summer we’re all sixteen

we buy bathing suits we hide from our mothers.
And in the deck chairs at the town pool
we each let a boy rub baby oil
over our shoulders and backs.
And those boys, who gulp so hard
you can hear their Adam’s apples

Ain't It the Truth Writing Contest Winner

By Lisa Allen
Star Rating
★★★★★

Rated by Helen H.
Jan 11, 2018

The Readers Advisory committee is pleased to announce that Lisa Allen has won our Ain't It the Truth writing contest in the open category for her poem "Adoration."  With precise yet smoldering language, Allen's narrator carefully unravels the "secret histories" of the women who raised her--what remains hidden beneath the facades they were forced to adopt to survive.

Allen's choice of perspective allows readers to put themselves in the narrator's shoes and imagine the inner-workings of the matriarchs in their own lives.  "Adoration"'s truth doesn't come from absolute fact as much as lived

Ain't It the Truth Writing Contest Winner

By Kristin Pitts
Star Rating
★★★★★

Rated by Helen H.
Dec 18, 2017

The Readers Advisory committee is pleased to announce that Kristin Pitts has won our Ain’t It the Truth writing contest in the short story category. In Last Night, Pitts develops her two characters nicely, primarily through effective use of dialogue; without further explanation, we know who they are and how they see the world.  Pitts’ response to the theme of truth is subtle, showing us that we can’t always rely on memory and, at times, we must rely on the evidence. 

Kristin Pitts is a Kansas City-based writer and editor. She is currently working on a novel about a summer camp romance gone

Ain't It the Truth Writing Contest Winner

By Marcia Hurlow
Star Rating
★★★★★

Rated by Helen H.
Oct 20, 2017

The Readers Advisory committee is pleased to announce that Marcia Hurlow has won our Ain't It the Truth poetry contest for her poem Maps. We love how simply so much is conveyed and how well the poet utilizes maps to illustrate a shrinking world.

Marcia L. Hurlow is the author of six collections of poetry. Her most recent chapbook, Brushstrokes on Water, was published by Finishing Line Press in January, and her full-length collection, Anomie, won the Edges Prize at WordTech. Her poems have appeared in various journals, including Poetry, Poetry Northwest, Nimrod, Poetry Wales, Stand, Miramar

Meet the Poet: Natasha Ria El-Scari

Star Rating
★★★★★

Rated by Michelle H.
Oct 16, 2017

Natasha Ria El-Scari is most known for her honesty about motherhood, womanhood, politics and love. Once asked in an interview what makes her unique she replied, "most people lie to themselves, but I like to reveal myself.” Born and raised in Kansas City, Missouri, Natasha El-Scari has a BA from Jackson State University and a MA from the University of Missouri-Kansas City. Her poetry, academic papers, and personal essays have been published in anthologies and journals. She lives in Kansas City.

Ria El-Scari will offer a poetry critique session at our 2017 Writers Conference.

When and how did

Meet the Poet: Eric McHenry

By Eric McHenry
Star Rating
★★★★★

Rated by Michelle H.
Oct 11, 2017

Eric McHenry is the immediate past Poet Laureate of Kansas. From Topeka, Kansas, McHenry attended Beloit College and then earned a MA in creative writing from Boston University. His work has been featured in The Harvard ReviewSlatePoetry NorthwestThe New York Times Book Review and Salon. He lives in Lawrence and teaches at Washburn University of Topeka. McHenry will offer a poetry workshop at our 2017 writers conference.

I’m always curious about how someone starts out on a creative path in life. What do you think your first motives were for writing poetry?

I’ve often said that I think

Build a Better World Writing Contest Winner

By Geneann Newcomer
Star Rating
★★★★★

Rated by Helen H.
Oct 6, 2017

The Readers Advisory committee is pleased to announce that Annie Newcomer has won our Build a Better World writing contest in the open category for her poem Caregivers. We find the poem an interesting and new take on our theme that works to capture a very specific type of "Building a Better World." The imagery is powerful and the author captures how our bodies can sometimes be forces of nature that suck us in and spit us out. And that some are able to witness this process of unknowing and struggle in others and stick around, trying to find what good they can in the uncertain mess. 

These

Build a Better World Writing Contest Winner

By Barbara Roberts
Star Rating
★★★★★

Rated by Helen H.
Aug 17, 2017

The Readers Advisory Committee is pleased to announce that Barbara K. Roberts has won our Build a Better World essay contest. We enjoyed how "Sisters Building a Better World" sheds light on the amazing rehabilitative work being done at Kansas City's Journey House, a prison re-entry program run in large part by a group of area nuns.  Roberts's ability to capture the women of Journey House--both those who work there and those who come to stay--gives readers a vibrant example of the impact one can have when they try to build a better world.

Barbara Kietzer Roberts writing includes short story

Build a Better World Writing Contest Winner

By Kayla Wiltfong
Star Rating
★★★★★

Rated by Jo F.
Jun 12, 2017

The Readers Advisory Committee is pleased to announce that Kayla Wiltfong has won our Build a Better World poetry contest. We enjoy Politics for both Wiltfong’s skill and confidence. She employs double-meanings to great effect, referencing multiple news items seen and heard in both social and mainstream media. On the surface, it’s a very short and simple poem, that evolves with each reading and teases our understanding. It’s clever in its aphoristic, tweet-like form, and addresses the theme of Build a Better World in an interesting way. You build a better world by saving what you value.

Kayl

Meet the Author: Ann Ingalls

By Ann Ingalls
Star Rating
★★★★★

Rated by Helen H.
Jun 5, 2017

Ann Ingalls first started making appearances at Johnson County Library in 2009 with the release of her picture book The Little Piano Girl, a biography about the childhood of jazz prodigy Mary Lou Williams. She has another round of appearances coming soon in conjunction with her latest title. Read on to learn more about the book and the author.

This July you are spending a day traveling to some Johnson County Library locations to share your new book, Fairy Floss: The Sweet Story of Cotton Candy. Can you tell us a little about the contents and creation of the book, as well as what attendees can

The Many in One Writing Contest Winner

By Kent Moore
Star Rating
★★★★★

Rated by Helen H.
May 10, 2017

The Readers Advisory committee is very pleased to announce that Kent Moore has won the Open Category of our The Many in One writing contest with his entry "Rooted and Grounded in Love". In it, our protagonist Grace, is caught between the conflicting identities of wife and mother. The complexity of those relationships adds layers to Grace that we, as readers, get to know, but her daughter may never understand. The physicality of an old woman working in her garden foreshadows her intimate connection to the land and Moore's skillful dialogue brings humor upon a second reading, changing the

Meet the Author: Amy Engel

By Amy Engel
Star Rating
★★★★★

Rated by Helen H.
Apr 12, 2017

Amy Engel was born in Kansas. Over the next couple of decades, she boomeranged around the world – to Iran and back to Kansas City, to Taiwan and back to Kansas City, from the University of Kansas to Georgetown University in Washington D.C., and finally back to Kansas City. Phew! With a law degree in hand, she worked for ten years as a criminal defense attorney.

After marrying a fellow attorney and having children, she decided to be a stay-at-home mother and writer. The writing took a little longer to become a reality than the mothering. One day, a flash of inspiration hit, and she wrote her

Zines

Star Rating
★★★★★

Rated by Helen H.
Apr 5, 2017

In this world of ever-increasing digitization, self-expression has largely gone online. Books and other artistic works are shared in electronic formats. Socializing happens through networked media. Magazines, newspapers, and other serial paper publications are struggling to maintain readership.

That does not mean that all forms of paper expression have disappeared, though. One form--that has always been an underground format--retains a thriving community in the Kansas City area: Zines.

Just as the online term "blog" is a shortened form of "web log," "zine" is a shortening of the word

The Rabbit Hole

Star Rating
★★★★★

Rated by Helen H.
Mar 28, 2017

Did you know that the United States does not have a writers museum? We celebrate authors and have museums for visual arts (among many other things), but we don't really have a museum for writers and their books.

An article from Smithsonian.com recently caught our eye, not only for its content but because it also resembles something happening locally.

America’s First Writers Museum Is Slated to Open in May - A new home for celebrating American literary titans, titles and traditions takes root in Chicago. The key to the project, say its developers, has been figuring out how to bring the

Meet the Author: Stephanie Morrill

By Stephanie Morrill
Star Rating
★★★★★

Rated by Helen H.
Mar 27, 2017

Today we get to feature a writer who splits her time between authoring fiction and offering guidance to aspiring authors. Booklist described her most recent release as an enjoyable yet sobering mystery with a surprising twist for inquisitive readers. Her book Go Teen Writers: How to Turn Your First Draft into a Published Book has been rated 29 times on Amazon; one of them is 4-stars, the rest 5. Meet Stephanie Morrill.

Your website introduces you with: “I write books about girls who are on adventures to discover their unique place in the world.” Have you discovered your unique place in the

Meet the Author: Jody Jensen Shaffer

By Jody Jensen Shaffer
Star Rating
★★★★★

Rated by Helen H.
Mar 22, 2017

It's not often you visit an author's website and find six forthcoming books featured, but such is currently the case with Liberty, Missouri's Jody Jensen Shaffer. To find out how she's managed to accomplish such a feat, read on . . .

You recently did a children’s program for Johnson County Library called “Write Something Delicious” that compared the writing and baking processes, springboarding from your book The Way the Cookie Crumbled, about the history, science, and math of cookies. Can you tell us a little about the creation of both the book and the program?

Sure! This book came to me a

The Many in One Writing Contest Winner

By Charlotte Henderson
Star Rating
★★★★★

Rated by Helen H.
Mar 15, 2017

The Read Local committee is very pleased to announce that Charlotte Henderson has won our The Many in One short story contest for her entry "Diversity Club." "Diversity Club" meticulously captures the complex and ever-evolving nature of identity. Musician, mother, friend, sinner--no aspect is as simple as it seems, and Henderson's story gives a powerful glimpse into the multifaceted self in only a few short pages. Caught between all of the lives she's lived and all of the lives she isn't living, Henderson's protagonist Maggie poses questions about alienation and loneliness that might make even

Meet the Author: Jan Duncan-O'Neal

By Jan Duncan-O-Neal
Star Rating
★★★★★

Rated by Helen H.
Mar 9, 2017

Jan Duncan-O’Neal was born and raised in Kansas City, has lived most of her adult years around the Midwest and in southern Colorado. She majored in English and theater in college and received a Master’s Degree in Library Science at the University of Iowa, where she later taught storytelling and children’s literature classes. She has authored 11 professional books (published by Libraries Unlimited) and conducted workshops nationally for teachers and librarians. As a professional storyteller, she encouraged others to pass on their own stories and retell the world’s great folk tales. Upon

Meet the Author: Sue Lowell Gallion

By Sue Lowell Gallion
Star Rating
★★★★★

Rated by Chris K.
Dec 7, 2016

Sue Lowell Gallion has recently celebrated the publication of her first book, Pug Meets Pig, a picture book illustrated by Joyce Wan. A sequel is already on the way. We asked Sue a few questions to learn more about who she is, her journey to publication, her thoughts on being an author, and her plans for the future.

Tell us about Pug Meets Pig. What is it about, what inspired it, and what was its path to publication?

Pug Meets Pig is a story about change. Pug’s happy home life disappears when Pig arrives. She disrupts his world in every way, whether she’s eating out of his bowl or making

Meet the Author: Eve Brackenbury

By Eve Brackenbury
Star Rating
★★★★★

Rated by Helen H.
Nov 9, 2016

Everyone knows poetry is a literary form with distinct sounds and rhythms meant to be read aloud. Eve Brackenbury, local poet and bookseller, will help participants who might never have spoken in front of a crowd learn to read poetry out loud. Her passion is evident in our interview and we hope you'll join us in learning how to turn your reading into a performance.

Tuesday, November 15th
6:00 - 8:00 pm
Central Resource Library - Logan Conference Room

Tell us about yourself. How did you get started writing?

Like many writers, I don’t really remember when I started writing. I don’t

Meet the Author: Danyelle Ferguson

By Danyelle Ferguson
Star Rating
★★★★★

Rated by Helen H.
Oct 18, 2016

Danyelle Ferguson discovered her love for the written word in elementary school. Her first article was published when she was in 6th grade. Since then, she’s won several awards and has been published world-wide in newspapers, magazines and books. She’s grateful every day to work in her dream jobs – author, editor, and nurturing her readaholic tendencies.

Ferguson will present Let the Words Fall Out: a Study of Music Lyrics for NovelistsVoice: Making Your Manuscript Sing and will sit on a panel discussion on Writing Dialogue with Kristin Huston and Nathan Jackson at our 2016 Writers

Meet the Author: Mary Lane Kamberg

By Mary Lane Kamberg
Star Rating
★★★★★

Rated by Helen H.
Oct 13, 2016

Mary-Lane Kamberg is the author of more than 30 nonfiction books, including many for young adult readers. She has been writing since second grade. She published her first poem at the age of 10. She has a B.S. in Journalism from the University of Kansas and roots for the Jayhawks during March Madness. In addition to her nonfiction books, she has published hundreds of articles, a poetry chapbook, and some short fiction. Her books include the I Love to Write Book: Ideas and Tips for Young WritersThe I Don't Know How to Cook Book, and Seed Rain. She is founder and director of the I Love to Write

Meet the Author: Nathan Louis Jackson

By Nathan Louis Jackson
Star Rating
★★★★★

Rated by Helen H.
Oct 11, 2016

Nathan Louis Jackson is the playwright in residence at the KC Repthrough the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation National Playwright Residency Program grant. A Kansas City, Kansas native, he is a graduate of Washington High School. He is also an alum of Kansas State University and did his graduate work at The Juilliard School.

His plays include Broke-ology (Lincoln Center 2009, KC Rep 2010), When I Come to Die (Lincoln Center in 2011, KC Rep 2014), and Sticky Traps (KC Rep 2015). He has received commissions from both Lincoln Center and The Roundabout Theater Company. At K-State, he was actively

Meet the Author: Sean Demory

By Sean Demory
Star Rating
★★★★★

Rated by Helen H.
Oct 6, 2016

Sean Demory, the brains behind Pine Float Press, was the first author I reached out to when we started Read Local. His original interview holds up just as well today as it did last year. He joins us again in preparation for our 2016 Writers Conference. Demory, with Scott Novosel and CW Cook will discuss how each of them have successfully used Crowdfunding to fund projects.

Introduce yourself. Where do you live and work?

My name's Sean Demory. I live and work in Kansas City, Missouri, where I work for the Public Works Department by day and write by whenever. I'm also the founder of Pine Float

Meet the Author: Gregg Luke

By Gregg Luke
Star Rating
★★★★★

Rated by Helen H.
Oct 4, 2016

Gregg Luke's work as pharmacist prepares him well for writing medical thrillers. As he researches new drugs, "what if? reigns supreme." 99% of the science in his novels is real and he strives to make it "easy to understand to a lay audience yet have it remain complex enough to fascinate and add credence to plausibility."

Luke will present sessions on suspense writing, prose writing, and offer a 3 Page Critique session at our 2016 Writers Conference.

Introduce yourself. Where do you live and work?

I live in a small town next to Logan, UT in beautiful Cache Valley. I have lived here since

Meet the Author: JoAnn Farb

By JoAnn Farb
Star Rating
★★★★★

Rated by Helen H.
Sep 21, 2016

JoAnn Farb is the author of Compassionate Souls: Raising the Next Generation to Change the World and Get Off Gluten. JoAnn was a small child when the murder of Kitty Genoveseshocked our nation, causing her to vow that she would never ignore injustice or harms, if her speaking up might prevent them. Years later, as a microbiologist working for big pharma, JoAnn saw first hand, that choices she was making every day were fueling terrible injustice and violence that she'd been taught (like everyone else) to "Not see" and an activist was born. When those who profited from the things that JoAnn was

Meet the Author: Mary B. Lucas

By Mary B. Lucas
Star Rating
★★★★★

Rated by Hannah Jane W.
Sep 14, 2016

When John Bichelmeyer passed away in 2004, his daughter Mary Lucas started writing down the lessons she had learned from her father. Originally intended as a way to share her father’s advice with family and friends, interest was so great that Lucas sought out a publisher. She took some time to tell us a little bit about her journey to “accidental author.”

Tell us a little about Lunchmeat & Life Lessons.

After my father passed away, I was afraid that all his wonderful bits of wisdom would be lost. I began to write a book about him as a gift for my family and myself. All my life, I listened to

Meet the Author: CW Cooke

By CW Cooke
Star Rating
★★★★★

Rated by Helen H.
Sep 8, 2016

CW Cooke is a comic book writer living in the Kansas City area who has been working in comics since 2007. He has been published by Action LabBig Dog InkViper, Bluewater, Arcana, and Devil’s Due Entertainment with his creator-owned series Solitary. He is a featured writer for Project-Nerd Publishing with two new series, Clock Puncher and Barrens, both scheduled for release in early 2016. He has successfully Kickstarted his series Solitary and helped successfully Kickstart the series Barrens.

Cooke, along with Sean Demory and Scott Novosel, will share their experiences successfully using

Meet the Author: Alan Proctor

By Alan Proctor
Star Rating
★★★★★

Rated by Helen H.
Sep 5, 2016

Alan Proctor is a poetry editor for Kansas City Voices and a former humor columnist, tree surgeon, fundraiser, and college administrator. He serves on the board of The Writers Placebased in Kansas City. Proctor will share his work at the September Thomas Zvi Wilson Readings series.

Tuesday, Sept 20
6 p.m.
Central Resource Library

In anticipation of the reading, Proctor shares some thoughts about writing:

Tell us about yourself. How did you get started writing?

I wrote my first poem when I was eight years old. It was a sing-song and plodding piece to convince my mother to stop smoking