2007 Guest Authors

A through F | G through L | M through R | S through Z

 

ZaLonya Allen

ZaLonya Allen, PhD is an award winning Speaker/Author specializing in motivation and leadership development. For ten years Dr. Allen has been delivering dynamic high content presentations to audiences throughout the country. She is the author of Dream: A Collection of Inspirational Poetry and Seven Steps to Developing the Leader in You. Visit www.zalonya.com for more information.

Steve Amick

Steve Amick’s first novel, The Lake, The River & The Other Lake, was a 2006 Michigan Notable Book and a Washington Post Best Book of the Year. His work has appeared in McSweeney’s, Playboy, Story, The Southern Review, The New England Review, The New York Times, several anthologies and on NPR. He was born in Ann Arbor in 1964.

Eve Aronoff

Eve Aronoff began cooking professionally while attending Brandeis University in Boston, Massachusetts. After graduating with a BA in Comparative Literature, she continued her hands-on experience, creating a working curriculum for herself - from fish markets, to the pastry kitchen, from prep cook, to line cook, to chef. Eve later attended Le Cordon Bleu in Paris, France where she received diplomas in French Cuisine and Wine and Spirits and is currently working towards becoming a Master of Wine through the WSET in London. Eve lives in Ann Arbor, Michigan where she is chef/owner of eve the restaurant and author of eve - Contemporary Cuisine Méthode Traditionnelle.

Raymond Arroyo

Raymond Arroyo, author of the New York Times bestseller Mother Angelica, is the news director and lead anchor of EWTNews. As creator and host of the newsmagazine The World Over Live, he is seen in more than 100 million households each week. He has worked at the Associated Press and the New York Observer, and for the political columnist team of Evans and Novak. His work has appeared in the Wall Street Journal, the New Yorker, and many other publications. He lives in northern Virginia with his wife and three children.

Sharon Baker

Sharon Baker is the author of “Healing with Hands: Miracles, Inspiration and Science -- Reiki and Other Related Therapies: A Holistic Approach to Healing” Baker is a Nurse and Reiki instructor. Struck with an illness in her early 20's, she began an unconventional healing journey. This is a book about her experience of receiving messages through dreams, vision quests, and divine timing, and about her work as an Energy Healer.

Liz M. Barry

Liz Barry is the Managing Director of the Life Sciences Institute at the University of Michigan. The Life Sciences Institute is a free-standing biomedical research laboratory focused on interdisciplinary scientific problems and solutions. Ms. Barry developed and co-teaches “The Business of Biology” a graduate course on how the trends in life sciences are impacting business, medicine and society. She has authored papers and given recent presentations on scientific authorship, stem cell research policy, the regulation of dual-use technology and genetic discrimination. She worked on the two lawsuits challenging the University’s affirmative action policies and she also oversaw legal services for the University’s technology transfer function. Ms. Barry has served as University Attorney for Harvard University and as an Associate Attorney at Ropes & Gray, a Boston law firm. Ms. Barry received a B.A. degree, summa cum laude, from the University of Michigan in 1983. She received her J.D. with Honors from the University of Michigan in 1988.

Ruth Barshaw

My Work: I worked 17 years for a major university doing all sorts of advertising-related stuff. I loved my job and it was very stressful. I quit about 13 years ago to work out of my home, doing freelance design and illustration. My Tools: I sketch with a pen, rarely a pencil. I'm partial to expensive, luxurious Moleskine sketchbooks but will use anything, including homemade booklets. My Dreams: I've always created little books -- stories I wrote and illustrated for small audiences. And I've always carried a sketchbook everywhere -- school, vacations, the playground. I have chronicled my life in a sketchbook almost daily since I was 15. But creating real books for real publishers seemed so ridiculously pie-in-the-sky-dreaming to me that I barely considered it. I bought books about writing and illustrating kids' books, and would gaze longingly at them and wonder if I would ever have the courage to try it. My Family: I'm married with four kids (23, 20, 17, 9) and one grandson (4), and a bunch of pets. My Book: I got serious about writing/illustrating kids' books four years ago. I went to the big SCBWI MidWinter Conference in Feb 2005, sketched everything I saw, came home and put it all online. It created a buzz... writer and illustrator friends urged me to create books for kids in the same style as my NYC sketchbook. So I am.

Ieva Bates

Ieva Bates is a youth services librarian at the Ann Arbor Distric Library. She currently works at the West Branch. She earned her library degree from the University of Michigan.

Matt Bell

Matt Bell lives in Saginaw with his wife, Jessica. His fiction has appeared in many literary magazines, including Hobart, Barrelhouse, Caketrain, and McSweeney's Internet Tendency, and has been nominated three times for the Pushcart Prize. He is the Reviews Editor for SmokeLong Quarterly, and can be found online at www.mdbell.com.

Jesse Bernstein

Jesse was the Founder and President of Employee Assistance Associates, Inc. which provided human resource services to over 250 companies of all sizes and in many industries. Jesse held many Board positions including Chair of Child Care Network and Hillel of Eastern Michigan University, Arbor Hospice Board of Directors, Ann Arbor Area Chamber of Commerce Board of Directors, Temple Beth Emeth Board of Trustees and numerous professional associations. Bernstein has a Bachelor of Arts in Psychology from the State University College, New Paltz, New York and a Masters in Social Work from the University of Michigan.

Jim Bildner

Jim Bildner is Chairman of the Literary Ventures Fund and General Partner of New Horizons Partners, LLC. He is a trustee of The Kresge Foundation, Case Western Reserve University, Lesley University, Graywolf Press and Lizard Island Research Foundation in Australia. He serves on the boards of The Trustees of the Reservation, Maine Island Trail Association, Ed Nets, Inc. and is Chairman of ABC Wilderness Adventures and Purcell Mountain Lodge. He is an Overseer of the Boston Symphony Orchestra and a member of the executive council of WBUR (Boston Public Radio) and Chairman of its Board of Overseers. He is also a member of the National Council of Environmental Defense and is Chairman of the Coral Reef Science Foundation. He is an Adjunct Professor of Law at Case Western Reserve School of Law and an Entrepreneur in Residence at Clark University. Mr. Bildner earned his AB from Dartmouth College, his J.D. from Case Western Reserve School of Law and his M.F.A. from Lesley University. Mr. Bildner has written numerous articles, op-ed pieces and commentaries for newspapers, magazines and radio including NPR’s Morning Edition, The Boston Globe, The Boston Globe Sunday Magazine, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, Hampshire Daily Gazette and Inc.Magazine. His most recent book, A Visual Cruising Guide to the Maine Coast, was published by McGraw Hill in May of 2006. He is a candidate for an M.S. in Journalism at Boston University, a member of the Writers Room of Boston, Inc. and a member of the Bar of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts.

Karl Bohnak

Karl Bohnak is WLUC TV6 Marquette’s forecasting weather anchor since 1988, a weather historian and an AMS (American Meteorological Society) seal approved meteorologist. He holds a communications degree in broadcasting and the equivalent of a BS in Meteorology at University of Wisconsin. He is a 2007 Michigan Notable Books author . He is married and has two sons.

Roger Bonair-Agard

Roger Bonair-Agard weaves living, breathing tapestries out of politics and the notion of home; a native of Trinidad and Tobago, Roger has lived in Brooklyn for seventeen years and his work reflects the struggles of a man in voluntary exile in a conflicted 21st-century America. A professional performance poet since 1997, Roger has appeared three times on Russell Simmons' Def Poetry Jam on HBO, performed and facilitated writing and performance workshops at colleges, universities and high schools around the country, and stirred audiences at festivals and concerts from Germany to South Africa to Anchorage, Alaska. He recently opened for calypso legend Shadow for an audience of 2,000 in Prospect Park, Brooklyn. Roger aims to blow the hinges off what is considered possible, to create work that discomforts with the truths and lies it exposes down to every forensic detail, and so create a movement of its very own, such that when the poems are read, they birth new mythologies in the reader’s memory. He is co-author of Burning Down the House (Soft Skull Press, 2000), and author of Tarnish and Masquerade, scheduled for publication by Cypher Press in April 2006. He co-founded the louderARTS Project (of which he is also Artistic Director), an organization dedicated to the evolution of poetry through the craft of writing and performance.

Martin Brennan

Martin Brennan’s first book, I Saw It in the Garden, was published in 2006 but he’s been writing ideas in his journal since he was just a boy. He grew up in a household with six sisters and, like many boys, he dreamed of playing professional baseball. A Michigan native, he earned his BS in history from Michigan State. He lives in Howell with his wife Jane and three sons, Joey, John, and Ryan. Today, when he’s not dreaming of baseball, he speaks about writing at elementary schools.

Glinda Bridgforth

Glinda Bridgforth is a leading financial expert who explores the emotional and cultural factors that block financial success. Bringing 30 years of experience to her boutique consulting practice, Bridgforth Financial, she specializes in a holistic approach to money management. Bridgforth is the Essence bestselling author of: Girl, Get Your Money Straight! and Girl, Make Your Money Grow!. She has been featured in USA Today, Essence, Money, and Black Elegance magazines. She has been featured on television and radio shows nationwide including Oprah and CNNfn. Bridgforth conducts workshops and lectures around the country.

Claudia Mair Burney

Unworthy servant, loved by God, amazed by grace. Author of The Amanda Bell Brown Mysteries, Howard/Simon & Schuster. Murder, Mayhem, and Fine Man coming again in February 2008. Death, Deceit, and Some Smooth Jazz coming in April of 2008. And from David C. Cook: Zora and Nicky: A Novel in Black and White coming in March of 2008. Claudia’s blog can be found at: http://ragamuffindiva.blogspot.com.

Betsy Carter

Betsy Carter is the author of a memoir, Nothing to Fall Back On: The life and times of a Perpetual Optimist. Her novel, The Orange Blossom Special, was published in 2005 and this summer, her novel Swim to Me will be published by Algonquin Books. She is the founding editor of New York Woman magazine, and has worked as an editor at Esquire, Newsweek and Harper's Bazaar. She is a contributing editor to O, The Oprah magazine.

The Chenille Sisters

A Chenille Sisters performance is a blending of three uniquely gifted souls into a musical phenomenon that's more poignant, funny and entertaining than any single performer anywhere - and oh, those exquisite harmonies! What these three women have in common are heavenly voices, a lot of witty wisdom and a passion for connecting with their audiences. But as in a constellation, each Chenille shines her own particular kind of light. Cheryl Dawdy draws on her background as a balladeer to tell stories that shimmer with human emotion, from sorrow to wonder to tenderness - all delivered with a sly smile that slowly grows wider, warming the heart. With her broad vocal range, Grace Morand can project a powerful note clear to an auditorium's restrooms. Her performance is as much musical theater as it is singing, with one reviewer inviting the audience to relish the experience of her "silly putty face." Connie Huber's musical acumen is as varied as it is powerful. Her deft guitar playing is a strong element in the musical mix, and her rich vocal presence can transport an audience to places they could otherwise visit only in their dreams. So while these are very different women with very different histories and experiences, it's the union of the three that makes them a bona fide force of nature. Their paths first merged and converged on the small stage of an Ann Arbor bistro in 1985. Over the years they've criss-crossed the map, amassing tens of thousand of fans young and old.

Dr. Dennis Chernin

Dr. Dennis Chernin. Author of “The Complete Homeopathic Resource for Common Illnesses” This is a comprehensive resource book on homeopathic medicine, written by a well-known and respected Ann Arbor physician. Homeopathy is based on the idea of the vital force, the underlying bioelectrical energy that effects a human's mental and physical functioning.

John Churchville

John Churchville. John Churchville is the music director at Go Like the Wind School in Ann Arbor, and has performed with the Michigan Pops, The Gratitude Steel Band, Deep Blue, Like Water Drum and Dance, and the Indian Classical Music and Dance group of Ann Arbor.

Roxanne Coady

Roxanne Coady founded R.J. Julia Booksellers in Madison, Connecticut, 16 years ago creating a business that is recognized as a national leader among independent booksellers. Publisher’s Weekly, a leading industry publication, selected R.J. Julia Booksellers as “Bookseller of the Year” in 1995, and the store continues to strive to be an exceptional model of best practices for independent booksellers.

Craig Common

Craig Common is Executive Chef and owner of The Common Grill in Chelsea, Michigan. He began his career at the age of fourteen as a dishwasher in a Dearborn Heights Restaurant and knew from the first day that a "restaurant was where I would hang my hat." A self-taught chef, Common worked for the C.A. Muer Corporation, eventually becoming Corporate Chef, overseeing sixteen Muer restaurants in Michigan, Ohio, and Florida. After twelve years of cooking in various kitchens, Chef Craig finally settled on one, The Common Grill. On July 26, 1991, The Common Grill opened its doors to immediate success in the heart of downtown Chelsea. Within two years, business was so strong that Chef Craig decided to increase the size of the restaurant by 48 seats (now a grand total of 148) and establish a carryout market. He is author of The Common Grill Cookbook and Return to the Common Grill.

Nicholas Cotsonika

Nicholas J. Cotsonika completed his first book project as a senior at Michigan, co-editing a collection of Michigan Daily work that chronicled the Wolverines' 1997 national football title. He was the main author of Century of Champions, a Detroit Free Press book celebrating 100 years of local sports memories. He wrote Hockey Gods, an inside look at the Red Wings' 2002 Stanley Cup championship, and Red Wings Essential, a collection of short stories and fun facts about the Wings. He has worked for the Free Press since 1998. He lives in Ann Arbor with his wife and favorite editor, Alison, and their two young sons, Jacob and Ethan.

Joseph Coulson

Joseph Coulson, novelist, poet, and playwright, was born in Detroit in 1957. His first novel, The Vanishing Moon (2004) was selected for the Barnes & Noble Great New Writers series and won the Book of the Year Award, Gold Medal in Literary Fiction, from ForeWord Magazine. Coulson is the author of three volumes of poetry: The Letting Go, A Measured Silence, and Graph. His first play, A Saloon at the Edge of the World (co-authored with William Relling, Jr.), a noir drama showcased by Theater Artists of Marin, won both popular and critical acclaim in the San Francisco Bay area. Coulson has been the recipient of a Gray Writing Fellowship (selected by Robert Creeley) and a Ph.D. in American literature from the State University of New York at Buffalo. A teacher for many years, he recently served as Editorial Director for the Great Books Foundation in Chicago. He now lives in Cambridge, Massachusetts.

Mark Crilley

Mark Crilley was raised in Detroit, Michigan, where he began drawing as soon as he could hold a pencil in his hand. After graduating from Kalamazoo College, he taught English in Taiwan and Japan for five years before returning home to pursue work as an author and illustrator. He has since had two series of juvenile fiction novels, "Akiko" and "Billy Clikk", published by Random House, and is currently at work on "Miki Falls", a series of graphic novels for HarperCollins. His work has been featured in Entertainment Weekly, USA Today, and on CNN Headline News. He lives with his wife Miki, and children, Matthew and Mio, in the suburbs of Detroit.

Shutta Crum

Shutta Crum is an award-winning poet and author of one novel, SPITTING IMAGE, and eight picture books including THE BRAVEST OF THE BRAVE which was an IRA/CBC Children’s Choices winner, and listed on the Chicago Public Library’s The Best of the Best. Many of her titles have appeared on the Bank Street College’s Best Children’s Books of the Year lists, and have been short-listed for various state awards. A FAMILY FOR OLD MILL FARM will be released in May, 2007. www.shuttacrum.com

Christopher Paul Curtis

Winner of both the Newbery Award and the Coretta Scott King Medal, Christopher Paul Curtis has become one of the most important voices in children's literature today. Born in Flint, Michigan, Christopher Paul Curtis spent his first 13 years after high school on the assembly line of Flint’s historic Fisher Body Plant #1. Curtis’s writing—and his dedication to it—has been greatly influenced by his family members.

Laura Dave

Laura Dave is the author of the novel London Is The Best City In America, which is currently being developed as a major motion picture at Universal Studios. Her writing has appeared in Blueprint, Self, Glamour and ESPN the Magazine. Her second novel, The Divorce Party, will be released by Viking-Penguin in May 2008.

Kevin Dole 2

Kevin Dole 2 is a lifelong resident of Michigan who happily makes his home in Ypsilanti. His debut Tangerinephant , a novel in the emerging "bizarro" genre of fiction, was published in 2005. A critic as well as an author, his work has appeared in the journals Rain Taxi and The Believer.

Tim Dorsey

Tim Dorsey was born in Indiana, moved to Florida at the age of 1, and grew up in a small town about an hour north of Miami called Riviera Beach. He graduated from Auburn University in 1983 with a B.S. in Transportation. While at Auburn, he was editor of the student newspaper, The Plainsman. From 1983 to 1987, he was a police and courts reporter for The Alabama Journal, the now-defunct evening newspaper in Montgomery. He joined The Tampa Tribune in 1987 as a general assignment reporter. He also worked as a political reporter in the Tribune’s Tallahassee bureau and a copy desk editor. From 1994 to 1999, he was the Tribune’s night metro editor. He left the paper in August 1999 to write full time. He lives in Tampa with his wife and two daughters. He is 45.

Stacy DuFord

Stacey DuFord has appeared regularly as a television personality and host - Now You’re Cooking with Farmer Jack, WXYZ-7 for five years. She was a reporter for, WXYZ-7 (ABC) Action News. Her radio work included On-Air Personality, morning drive, WNIC FM 100.3 She partnered with Jim Harper for more than 8 years as show progressed to become Detroit’s #1 morning radio show among Women and Adults 25-54 years of age. She authored The Fairy Painting Mackinac Island Press, April 2005 was contributing Writer: WNIC Morning Show - Detroit, MI Contributing Writer: Bugg Bytes Comedy Service - Tampa, FL Contributing Writer for Speaker: Mort Crim Roast - Detroit, MI. She received a BA in English - Albion College, Albion, MI and studied Advanced film and writing at Oakland University.

Timothy Egan

Timothy Egan. Mr. Egan is the winner of the 2006 National Book Award for his highly acclaimed book, The Worst Hard Time, which recounts the mostly forgotten difficulties of Americans during the great dust bowl period. In addition, he has also been awarded a Pulitzer Prize for his reporting for The New York Times.

Lori McElrath-Eslick

Lori McElrath-Eslick is an award-winning illustrator. A native of Muskegon, Michigan, she attended the Kansas City Art Institute and Kendall School of Design. Her illustrations have appeared in Highlights for Children, Ladybug, and National Wildlife. Besides Mommy Poems, Lori's book illustrations include Read for Me, Mama by Vashanti Rahaman (Boyds Mills Press); Does God Know How to Tie Shoes? and I Am Christmas by Nancy White Carlson (Eerdman's Publishing), and The Lark Who Had No Song by Carolyn Nystrom (Lion Publishing). Her artwork has been displayed by the Bologna Fair Children's Book Illustration Exhibition: Once Upon a Time Children's Book Traveling Exhibition, by Muskegon Museum of Art and by many prestigious annual art shows. Lori is a member of the Society of Children's Book Writers and Illustrators. She enjoys painting "just for me," camping, swimming, and cross-country skiing. She lives with her husband and children in North Muskegon, Michigan.

Loren Estleman

Loren Estleman has written 60 books and hundreds of short stories and articles. Among them: Writing the Popular Novel, from Writer's Digest Books; the first in a new series featuring Estleman's Los Angeles film detective, Valentino (Frames, Fall 2007); and the nineteen Amos Walker mystery novels, including American Detective, to be published in April, 2007.

Donald Evans

Don Evans has earned a variety of writing awards for his journalistic and literary work, including an Illinois Press Association prize for his humor column “As Far As You Know,” a Best American Short Stories’ citation for “An Off-White Christmas,” and two Pushcart Prize nominations. His first novel, Good Money After Bad (Atomic Quill Press, Feb. 2007) is based in part on his own experiences as a sports gambler and bookie.

Donald Faber

A native of Grand Rapids, Don Faber attended Calvin College and the University of Michigan. He served as an assistant press secretary to former Michigan Gov. George Romney before beginning a career in journalism as editorial write, editorial page editor and author of the popular "Faber's World" column. He retired from The Ann Arbor News in 2003. He and his wife, Jeannette, director of music at Zion Lutheran Church, reside in Ann Arbor.

Cynthia Furlong-Reynolds

Cynthia Furlong Reynolds discovered her calling at an early age, during a visit with her grandmother. An award-winning journalist, Reynolds juggles writing time with motherhood. She has written a series of histories as well as children’s books, which include The Far-Flung Adventures of Homer the Hummer, Rascal Makes Mischief on Mackinac Island, S is for Star: A Christmas Alphabet, and a number of state alphabet books.

Dorothea Benton Frank

Dorothea Benton Frank is the author of six New York Times best sellers, from her debut SULLIVAN’S ISLAND in 2000 to FULL OF GRACE in 2006. She and her husband Peter currently divide their time between the New York Area and her hometown, Charleston, SC, where their two children are in college.

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