2007 Guest Authors

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

 

Tracy Gallup

STONE CRAZY and SHELL CRAZY are the first two books in a series written and illustrated by Tracy Gallup and published by Mackinac Island Press in 2007. TREE CRAZY and SNOW CRAZY will be available in the fall of 2007. Tracy also is the author and illustrator of KING CAT published by Mackinac Island Press in 2006. She illustrated BEASTLY BANQUET in 1997, which is a book of poetry written by Peggy Munsterberg and published by Dial Books for Young Readers. Tracy has a BFA from Eastern Michigan University and she completed her MFA at Syracuse University.

Deborah Garrison

Deborah Garrison is the author of A Working Girl Can't Win. Born in Ann Arbor, Michigan, she worked on the editorial staff of The New Yorker for fifteen years and is now the poetry editor of Alfred A. Knopf and a senior editor at Pantheon Books. She lives with her husband and three children in Montclair, New Jersey.

Lilly Ghahremani

Lilly Ghahremani is an attorney who now "uses her powers for good" as a founder and agent with Full Circle Literary. She represents whatever she falls for - to date this includes lifestyle (crafting, cookbooks), relationship, parenting, business, pop culture, children's and more. She is particularly interested in well-paced literary fiction, books with multicultural themes and characters, fresh and hip children's novels, and books that promote green living. Please see fullcircleliterary.com for representative titles we've sold and a blog with updated tips for writers. Please note that Full Circle does not represent genre fiction, poetry, or screenplays. Lilly warmly welcomes submissions from fellow Wolverines and fans -- Go Blue!

Steven Gillis

Steven Gillis is the author of the novels Walter Falls (2003), The Weight of Nothing (2005), and Temporary People (due 2008). Steve is a 2-time IPPY and ForeWord Book of the Year Finalist, a 6 time Pushcart nominee, and 3 time winner, Best Of... Notable Stories. A collection of Steve's stories, Giraffes, was published in 2007. Steve teaches at EMU, is a member of the Ann Arbor Book Festival Board of Directors and founder of 826michigan and Dzanc Books.

Jason Glover

Jason Glover is the author of The Perception Experiment. When one man is forced to confront the holes in his worldview head on, what starts with skipping Church becomes a full-fledged battle for sanity. A poetic and imaginative work of literature, by the editor of Thirdeye Magazine, an independent art publication based in Traverse City.

Susan Golomb

Susan Golomb represents literary fiction and nonfiction, including National Book Award winning novels THE CORRECTIONS by Jonathan Franzen and EUROPE CENTRAL by William T. Vollmann, and bestsellers SPECIAL TOPICS IN CALAMITY PHYSICS by Marisha Pessl, ICY SPARKS by Gwyn Hyman Rubio, CARTER BEATS THE DEVIL by Glen David Gold and LET MY PEOPLE GO SURFING by Yvon Chouinard, founder of Patagonia Inc.

William A. Gosling

William A. Gosling (B.A., Bates College, M.L.S., University of Pittsburgh) is currently Curator, Children's Literature Collection, Special Collections Library. He served previously as University Librarian, University of Michigan Library for eight years, and prior to Michigan, worked at the Library of Congress and Duke University. He is a member of the Board and Treasurer of the Ann Arbor Book Festival. An avid collector and reader, he is currently focusing his collecting interests on playing cards and books about the history of playing cards.

Matthew Graff

Matthew is a long time Ann Arbor resident, having come to town in the fall of 1971 to attend the Residential College. He eventually graduated from the UofM School of Business Administration in 1991, after twenty years of fun. He married the best classroom teacher in the Ann Arbor School District and they have twelve year old twins. He is currently working as the Director of Accounting and Information Systems for a local medical group. Matthew enjoys sailing and bicycling, the outdoors in general, and is an avid reader.

Sanjay Gupta

SANJAY GUPTA, MD, is a practicing neurosurgeon and associate chief of neurosurgery at Grady Memorial Hospital and an assistant professor at Emory University Hospital in Atlanta. He is a columnist for Time magazine, a contributor to CBS News, and a chief medical correspondent at CNN, where he plays an integral role in the network's medical coverage, including daily reports, the half-hour weekend show House Call with Dr. Sanjay Gupta, and coverage of breaking medical news. He also cohosts Accent Health for Turner Private Networks, provides medical segments for the syndicated version of ER on TNT, and contributes health news stories to CNN.com. He recently launched a weekly podcast on iTunes called Paging Dr. Gupta. Before joining CNN, Gupta was a neurosurgeon at the University of Tennessee's Semmes-Murphey clinic, and before that at the University of Michigan Medical Center. He became a partner in the Great Lakes Brain and Spine Institute in 2000, and in 1997, he was chosen as a White House Fellow, one of only fifteen fellows appointed. He served as special advisor to First Lady Hillary Rodham Clinton. Gupta has been published in a variety of scientific journals and has received numerous accolades. In 2006, he won an Emmy Award and four National Headliner Awards, the most an individual journalist has ever received. In 2004, the Atlanta Press Club named him Journalist of the Year. His coverage has led to prestigious Peabody and duPont awards for CNN. He has won the Humanitarian Award from the National Press Photographers Association, a Gold Award from the National Health Care Communicators, and a finalist honor for the International Health and Medical Media award known as the FREDDIE.

Masha Hamilton

Masha Hamilton is the author of three novels: Staircase of a Thousand Steps, The Distance Between Us, and The Camel Bookmobile. As a journalist for the Los Angeles Times, Associated Press and others, she has reported from the Middle East, Russia, Afghanistan and Africa. Most recently, she traveled to Kenya to hike into the bush with the real camel library.

Renee Hand

Renee Hand writes because it is a passion that fills her heart. Having a creative nature, writing gives her a chance to express what is in her mind. Renee is also the author of the award winning novel, Magic Hearts. For more information about the author and some of the things that she has done, look at her website at www.freewebs.com/reneehand.

Janice Harrington

Janice N. Harrington's book of poetry, Even the Hollow My Body Made Is Gone, appeared this year. The recipient of a 2007 National Endowment for the Arts Fellowship for Poetry, Harrington is also the award-winning author of two children's books, Going North (2004) and The Chicken Chasing Queen of Lamar County (2007). She is a librarian in Champaign, Illinois.

Monica Harris

Monica was born in Kalamazoo, Michigan around the time when playing outside was still cool and video games were non-existent. When she was in the fifth grade, she was a good student who often finished her work early. So what did she do to keep busy? She caused problems, of course! Her teacher began sending her to the school library where she was immediately put to work repairing book bindings and shelving books. It didn't take long before she mastered these skills and was bored again. That's when the librarian started recommending books for Monica to read. One of the suggestions was Roald Dahl's James and the Giant Peach. It was upon completing that book that Monica vowed to one day write a book for children. Several years later, she found herself repeating a phrase to her children that her Grandmother had often said to her. That phrase was "you’re loud enough to wake the dead." From that inspirational moment, Henry and his story came alive in her picture book, Wake the Dead. Monica has lived in Canada, Germany and Switzerland where she always tries to learn something new. Besides writing and teaching creative writing to students, she enjoys hiking, belly dancing, rollerblading, skiing, and eating chocolate. Monica currently lives in Kalamazoo, Michigan where she writes picture books, young adult novels, and educational articles on sparking creative writing.

Susan Hartung

Ann Arbor native Susan Kathleen Hartung, is the critically acclaimed illustrator of such award winning titles as One Leaf Rides the Wind and Dear Juno (both Viking). A graduate of the School of Visual Arts in New York City, Susan has been illustrating picture books for over thirteen years. Visit her on the web at susanhartung.com.

Melanie Lynne Hauser

Melanie Lynne Hauser lives in Chicago with her husband and two sons. Her first novel, CONFESSIONS OF A SUPER MOM was chosen as a literary Guild Main Selection; the sequel, SUPER MOM SAVES THE WORLD, will be out in March 2007. Her work appears in the anthology It's A Boy: Women Writers on Raising Sons.Please visit her at www.melanielynnehauser.com.

MaryBeth Hicks

Marybeth Hicks is the weekly family columnist for The Washington Times. Her first book, The Perfect World Inside My Minivan - One Mom's Journey Through the Streets of Suburbia, was published in 2006. Her second book, Bringing up Geeks - How to Raise Happily Uncool Kids will be published in 2008 by Penguin/Berkley. Marybeth lives in Michigan with her husband of 19 years and their four children.

John Hilton

Editor of the Ann Arbor Observer since 1986, John Hilton also has written for Newsweek, Car and Driver, and Automobile. A native of Marquette, Michigan, he earned a Bachelor of General Studies degree from the University of Michigan in 1974, and worked as a handyman and as an assembler at Ford's Wayne Assembly Plant before joining the Observer staff in 1982. He serves on the boards of the North Central Property Owners Association, the Kerrytown District Association, and the Kerrytown BookFest.

Lisa Himle

Lisa Himle grew up in Ann Arbor, Michigan. She earned a Bachelor's Degree in Elementary Education and a Master's Degree in School Administration, both from Eastern Michigan University. She has been involved in education for the past 22 years. She has taught preschool, kindergarten, and first grade. She was a school administrator for 9 years at Daycroft Montessori School in Ann Arbor. Currently, she teaches second grade at Cornerstone Elementary School in Dexter, Michigan. Lisa married her high school sweetheart and lives in Ann Arbor with her daughters, Lauren and Jennifer. She two cats, 6 fish, and endless amounts of yard work. She enjoys golfing, gardening, traveling with her family, and writing children's books.

Craig Holden

Craig Holden's sixth novel, Matala, will be published by Simon & Schuster in December. He is a recipient of the Great Lakes Book Award in Fiction, and was a featured guest at the Festival International du Roman Noir in Frontignan, France. He teaches occasionally at the University of Michigan, and lives with his wife, four kids and two dogs in Milan.

Travis Holland

Travis Holland's stories have previously appeared in Ploughshares, Glimmer Train, Five Points, and The Quarterly. His first novel, The Archivist's Story, is published by Dial Press. A graduate of the University of Michigan, where he received his M.F.A., he lives in Ann Arbor.

Keith Hood

Keith Hood is founder and director of Critical Connection Fiction Workshops, a nonprofit organization devoted to development and promotion of new and emerging fiction writers. One of his short stories appeared in a recent issue of Blue Mesa Review and he has fiction forthcoming in Quick Fiction . Keith has received awards and fellowships from the Indiana University Writers Conference, Cranbrook Writers Retreat for Writers, and the Provincetown Fine Arts Work Center. Keith's photograpy has been published in Ontario Review and been exhibited in juried shows at the Michigan Photography Exhibit and the Toledo Museum of Art. Keith also serves on the board of directors of 826 Michigan, a nonprofit writing center designed to help students aged 6-18 develop their writing skills. Checkout the 826 Michigan web site at www.826michigan.org.

Sylvia Hubbard

Sylvia Hubbard has independently published 4 paperback books and over 10 e-books. Her foundation genre has always been romance, but she has ventured into suspense, erotic, mystery, paranormal and I/R. Always urban and contemporary styled, her writing is enjoyed all over the world by all nationalities. She also has a blog called How To Love A Black Woman. .

Elizabeth James

Elizabeth James is from Detroit with roots around the world. She is responsible for programming in the Center for Afroamerican and African Studies at the University of Michigan. A third generation storyteller and a second generation librarian, her love of words guides her to advocate literacy by working with community organizations such as Peace Neighborhood Center and the Detroit Pistons' Read to Achieve Program.

Laura Kasischke

Laura Kasischke has published four novels, most recently BE MINE (Harcourt, 2007) and six collections of poetry, most recently GARDENING IN THE DARK (Ausable Press, 2004), and a novel for young adults, BOY HEAVEN (HarperCollins, 2006). Her writing has been published in POETRY, THE AMERICAN POETRY REVIEW, BEST AMERICAN POETRY, HARPER'S, THE NEW REPUBLIC and elsewhere. She has twice been the recipient of fellowships from the National Endowment for the Arts. Her novel, THE LIFE BEFORE HER EYES is currently in production for a film starring Uma Thurman, to be released in the fall. She teaches at the University of Michigan.

Jeff Kass

Jeff Kass is a teacher of English and Creative Writing at Pioneer High School in Ann Arbor MI and currently works as the Poet-in-Residence for Ann Arbor Public Schools. A graduate of Yale University with a Masters in Journalism from Columbia University, he has been awarded a Certificate of Excellence for Ann Arbor District employees for his teaching and organizing of poetry programs; and was also named the 1995-96 California Education Placement Association's New Teacher of the Year for Northern California Secondary Schools. In April of 2007, he will be recognized by the American Civil Liberties Union as Michigan's Teacher of the Year. In addition, Jeff directs the Creative Writing Program at Ann Arbor's Teen Center, The Neutral Zone, where he founded and continues to direct The VOLUME Youth Poetry Project; The VOLUME Summer Institute; The Ann Arbor Youth Poetry Slam; Poetry Night in Ann Arbor; NO COMMENT magazine and NO COMMENT Press; the performance poetry troupe Ann Arbor Wordworks; and The Second Tuesdays Visiting Writers Series. He was the Ann Arbor Grand Slam Poetry Champion in 1999 and 2000 and the runner-up in 2001 as well as the Champion at the inaugural Ann Arbor Book Festival Poetry Slam in 2004. He was selected by readers of Current Magazine as the runner-up for 2006 Best Poet of Washtenaw County and also by readers of the Ann Arbor News as the runner-up for Best Poet of Ann Arbor for 2006. He has performed his work all over the country and has delivered keynote addresses at numerous conventions and conferences. His poems have been published in several literary reviews, magazines and anthologies and he has taught poetry workshops to thousands of young people in schools, juvenile detention centers and synagogues. He was also the winner of the 2005 Current Fiction Contest, a runner-up in the 2006 Georgetown Review Fiction Contest and an editor's honorable mention for the 2006 E.M. Koeppel Short Fiction Award. He is the Poetry Director in the acclaimed theatrical production Lay Your Comfort Down and recently co-edited the anthology Unsquared: Ann Arbor Writers Unleash Their Edgiest Stories and Poems.

Judith Kerman

Judith Kerman has published eight books or chapbooks of poetry, most recently Galvanic Response (March Street Press, 2005) and the bilingual collection, Plane Surfaces/Plano de Incidencia (Santo Domingo: CCLEH, 2002), with Spanish translations by Johnny Durán. Her book of translations, A Woman in Her Garden: Selected Poems of Dulce María Loynaz (Cuban; Cervantes Prize laureate, 1992) was published by White Pine Press in 2002. Her prose-poem book, Mothering (Allegany Mountain Press, 1978), received Honorable Mention in the 1978 Great Lakes Colleges New Writers Award competition and was reissued in 1996 in print as Mothering & Dream of Rain by Ridgeway Press and as a hypertext in Eastgate Quarterly Review of Hypertext 2:2. Kerman was a Fulbright Senior Scholar to the Dominican Republic in 2002, translating the poetry and fiction of contemporary Dominican women. She runs Mayapple Press (1980-present) and was founding editor of Earth's Daughters (1971 to present). A Jewish Buddhist Quaker Feminist Clown in passionate pursuit of the Cheshire Cat called "Truth," she is halfway through a phased transition out of university administration and teaching.

Kenneth F. Kiple

Kenneth F. Kiple received his PhD in history and a PhD certificate in Latin American studies in 1970 from the University of Florida. He is currently a Distinguished University Professor at Bowling Green State University, has been a Guggenheim Fellow, and is the author of four monographs and editor of seven more volumes including The Cambridge World History of Food with K.C. Ornelas. The latter has been translated into Japanese, Chinese, and Spanish.

Sheila Klein

Sheila Klein is a Bloomfield Hills native and graduated in 2004 from Andover High School as a Valedictorian and was voted "Outstanding Senior" by her teachers and peers. She now resides in Ann Arbor where she is a junior at the University of Michigan, dual-majoring in dance and psychology. Her career ambitions include dancing professionally and working as a motivational speaker specializing in women's self-image. On campus, Sheila is a member of the Michigan RhythM Tap Ensemble, serves on the Martha Cook Building House Board, and is actively involved with Campus Crusade for Christ. Sheila has trained extensively in dance for the past 18 years, and has studied at the Edge Studio in Los Angeles, as well as with the Ailey School, the American Ballet Theater, and Broadway Dance Center in New York City. She performed a tap dance to capture the title of Miss Washtenaw County. Sheila has performed with the Lakes Area Ballet, with the University Dancers, and represented the U of M Dance Department at the American Collegiate Dance Festival in 2006. "Building Heart-Healthy Communities" is Sheila’s platform. She has volunteered extensively with the American Heart Association, works as a Health Ambassador for the Project Healthy Schools Program, and is a coach for Girls on the Run of Southeastern, MI. Last June, Sheila helped raise over $500,000 for cardiac research at the Washtenaw County Heart Gala, and she continues to raise funds as a volunteer with the Washtenaw County Heart Walk. Sheila hopes to get the message out that the risk of heart disease can be significantly reduced by making an individual commitment to a heart-healthy lifestyle, and plans to convey this message with her "Learn, Live, and Give" program. Sheila will be representing Washtenaw County at the Miss Michigan Pageant on June 10-16, 2007.

Steve Kleinedler

STEVE KLEINEDLER, a Michigan native, is Senior Editor of the American Heritage® dictionaries. In addition to reviewing and revising thousands of entries, he was in charge of the pronunciation, abbreviation, and computer science programs for The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition. Steve has spoken about the American Heritage® dictionaries on over 200 radio programs.

Joan Knoertzer

Joan Knoertzer is retired from the Ann Arbor Public Schools after 35 years of teaching music and performing arts. Her three major interests have always been books, music, and athletics. She is the owner of the Library Bed and Breakfast, a book-themed inn in Ann Arbor. She is currently the President of the Book Club of Detroit and serves on the advisory boards of the Clements Library, the Fellowship of American Bibliophiles Society, and the Miniature Book Society. She is also a member of the Board of Directors of the Ann Arbor Book Festival.

Ron Koertge

A faculty member for more than 35 years at Pasadena City College, where he has taught everything from Shakespeare to remedial writing, Ron Koertge is the author of several acclaimed novels, most of them for young adults. That Ron Koertge is a master at capturing teenagers' voices - often in witty repartee - is fully evident in MARGAUX WITH AN X, the story of a sharp-tongued beauty and a quirky, quick-witted loner. "MARGAUX WITH AN X started as a short story, but the heroine wouldn't let me alone," the author says. "She had a story to tell, and she wanted a whole novel to tell it in." Another unlikely pairing is found in STONER & SPAZ, Ron Koertge's funny, in-your-face tale of a young cinephile with cerebral palsy and the stoner who steals his heart. "My wife works with the disabled," the writer says of his inspiration for the novel, which quickly garnered critical acclaim. "One night she came home and told me about a young man she'd been working with. He had C.P. and a terrific sense of humor. Coincidentally, that day I had talked to a former student of mine who'd recently been in rehab for substance abuse. What would happen, I wondered, if those two knew each other?" In addition to his young adult novels, Ron Koertge writes poetry, and has been dubbed "the wisest, most entertaining wiseguy in American poetry" by poet-laureate Billy Collins. The author's first book with Candlewick, THE BRIMSTONE JOURNALS, is also a novel written in free verse, with 15 different teenage characters narrating four or five poems each. "The book started to nag me a few months before the shooting at Columbine High School in Colorado, and I started to make notes in the form of poems," he says of the hauntingly prescient work. "BRIMSTONE needed to move at high velocity, and this form is perfect for that: no tail fins, no leather seats, no moon roof. Just get in and go." Ron Koertge grew up in an agricultural area in an old mining town in Illinois, just across the Mississippi from St. Louis, Missouri. There he learned to "drive a tractor and buck hay bales, which are clearly useful skills in Los Angeles," he quips. He and his wife live in South Pasadena, California.

Kathe Koja

KATHE KOJA is the author of several notable books for young adults, including The Blue Mirror and Buddha Boy, both ALA Best Books for Young Adults, and, most recently, Going Under. She lives near Detroit, Michigan.

Janice Law

Yield: A Judge's Fir$t-Year Diary, is shocking non-fiction of Judge Law's tumultuous rookie year on the criminal bench in America's fourth largest city: Houston, Texas. Law, a former print journalist, is a Michigander and a University of Michigan graduate. She is a former federal and state prosecutor who has done indigent criminal defense. She currently serves as a visiting judge. Her website can be seen at www.judgejanicelaw.com.

Steve Lehto

Steve Lehto is a writer, historian and attorney of Finnish descent. His family has roots in Michigan's Upper Peninsula. Lehto's grandfather, "Pops" Lehto, was dean of Finlandia University which was founded in 1896 as Suomi College by Finnish immigrants. Currently he resides in southeast Michigan with his wife Amanda and two dogs, Milo and Wolfy. Lehto obtained a B.A. in history from Oakland University and his J.D. from Southwestern University School of Law in Los Angeles. He is also an adjunct professor at the University of Detroit Mercy School of Law in Detroit, where he teaches consumer protection and trial practice. He wrote Bobby Isaac: What Speed Looks Like and A Most Unusual Experiment: Chrysler's Turbine Car, both published by Tarheel Press, LLC.

Doreen Lichtman

After fifteen years, Doreen Lichtman retired from her career as a medical social worker in the rehabilitation department of Botsford General Hospital to pursue the childhood promise made to her mother. Her first novel, Survival From Malice, is based on her mother's tragic story of being victim to a drunk, hit-and-run driver. Doreen hopes her book will deter people from drinking and driving. Mrs. Lichtman earned a Masters Degree in social work from the University of Michigan. She is a certified leader for the Arthritis Foundation Self-Help Course and resides in Orchard Lake.

Liesel Litzenburger

Liesel Litzenburger is the author of Now You Love Me (Three Rivers Press/Crown, February 2007) and The Widower (Shaye Areheart Books/Random House, 2006), a novel. Her writing has appeared in numerous magazines and anthologies, and she has taught writing at several colleges and universities including the Interlochen Arts Academy, New College and the University of Michigan.

Diana Loevy

Diana Loevy is the author of The Book Club Companion, the definitive guide to the book club experience. A writer and editorial executive with an extensive career in publishing and media, Diana was the Reading Groups Editor for The Literary Guild and Black Expressions and recently wrote a guest blog for Powells.com. She can be contacted at her website dianaloevy.com.

Return to Top