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Robert N. Lawson, Ph.D., District 1, Topeka, passed away at home May 8, 2013, at the age of 84. He had been a continuous KAC member since 1978, serving as District 1 President, 1981/82, and 1987/88. "Bob" progressed to State Vice President in 1988, and State President in 1989. He was given a service award in 1996, and in 2004, a lifetime award. He shared his love of literature and theater through his poems, sonnets and plays, as well as the Washburn University Woodley Press, Inscape, and Kansas Authors Club. Dr. Lawson started teaching at Washburn in 1963 and over 31 years, taught Shakespeare, English Literature, freshman comp, and several years of Japanese literature before retiring Professor Emeritus in 1984. His periodical writings were prodigious in number and scope. Two of his more recent books were The Bridge of Dreams(2009) and The Collected Sonnets of Robert N. Lawson(2004). Lawson's poem "Somewhere Near Abilene" was published online on January 18, 2011, as part of Begin Again: 150 Kansas Poems, a celebration of the Kansas Sesquecentennial. He maintained a Kansas Authors collection on his Washburn University web site that included work by several KAC members. Bob was co-founder, with Eleanor Bell and Keith Denniston, of Washburn University's Woodley Press. He edited and funded the posthumous publication of his good friend the late Bob Woodley's novel Cry to Dream Again, in 2010. His obituary is available online. 5-13-2013
Wyatt Townley, District 2, Shawnee Mission, has been officially named as the new poet laureate of the State of Kansas, under the poet laureate program recently embraced by the Kansas Humanities Council. Townley will receive her mantle from the previous poet laureate, Caryn Mirriam-Goldberg, in a ceremony to be held on Thursday May 23, 5:30 p.m., at the Lawrence Arts Center, 940 New Hampshire St., Lawrence, KS. Plan now to attend the festivities! Kansas Authors Club is proud to have a member named as Kansas poet laureate. Congratulations, Wyatt!
Read more about Townley as new Poet Laureate at the Kansas City Star site. 5-6-2013
As Works Flood In, Nation's Library Treads Water
by Jennifer Steinhauer, NYTimes, 5-3-2013
The budget cuts imposed by sequestration are likely to hamper the Library of Congress's efforts to copyright, digitize and store millions of books, photographs and other precious materials.
Donald Eugene Mock, Ph.D., District 4, Manhattan, age 74, passed away Monday, April 15, 2013. Doug joined KAC in 2008. His writing subject interests were: academic, memoirs, poetry, fiction, journalism, non-fiction, and technical publications. He published a book of poetry in 2003 entitled People and Places. His writing included many news articles, extension publications, and entomological research papers. His obituary is available online and he is now included on the KAC In Memoriam web page. 4-31-2013
The Digital Public Library of America, launched in mid-April, 2013, is a free, open-source resource that makes a number of digital collections and archives across the country available in one place. It launched as a series of partnerships with the Smithsonian, the National Archives, New York Public Library, the University of Virginia, Harvard, Digital Library of Georgia, Minnesota Digital Library, Mountain West Digital Library and others. All of the text, photos, videos and audio contained in the DPLA can be searched, or browsed by place or time on the its website. Read more about the new site at the Huffington Post. 4-20-2013
District 5 is planning a Comedy Writing Workshop on Saturday, June 15, 2013, at St. James Episcopal Church, 3750 E. Douglas (Guild Hall), Wichita, from 2-4 p.m. Special guest presenter is California Comedian Dan Edwards.Tickets are $40 for both the afternoon workshop and an evening show, A Rockin' Fusion of Stars. Details of both events are posted as District 5 News. The lineup sounds like great fun! KAC members can attend the afternoon workshop free of charge by preregistering with the contact mentioned in the flyer. Plan now to attend.
"Slow death of the American author" —Op-Ed by Scott Turow, NYTimes. 4-7-2013
Christie Michelle Breault, District 5, Benton, age 45, passed on Sunday, February 17, 2013. She taught elementary school, and later was a substitute teacher. Christie became a KAC member from 2000 to 2008, and enjoyed writing in the genres of fiction, non-fiction and poetry. Shortly after joining KAC, her knowledge and appreciation of children's literature influenced her appointment to chair the "Writers in the Schools" contest and to manage the "Youth Contest" competition. Christie wrote two books, one of which won the KAC prize for the "First Chapter of Book" in 2003. She was Co-Secretary of District 5, 2002-2003. She also penned first-place prizes for children's stories, rhymed verse and whimsy. Christie won a Service Award in KAC's "Awards of Merit" in 2006. Christie's obituary is available online. Christies "Speaker Bio" is posted online for the 2008 KAC Convention. Also, she was featured on NBC's Today Show on Sept. 2, 2010 and a video clip of the honor is available online. 2-21-2013
"Good Fit for Today's Little Screens: Short Stories." The Internet may be disrupting much of the book industry, but for short-story writers it has been a good thing.— by LESLIE KAUFMAN, NYTimes, 2-15-2013
Stephanie A. Mann, District 5, Wichita, will host a pilgrimage to England, September 4-12, 2013, presented by Corporate Travel Services of Michigan. The “Catholic Martyrs of England” pilgrimage will include visits to York, Oxford, London, Canterbury, and Arundel in West Sussex. Mann will make presentations to provide historical context to the tours of sites associated with the Catholic martyrs in the Tower of London, Westminster Hall, Tyburn, York Castle, and other sights. Participants in the tour will receive a copy of her book, Supremacy and Survival: How Catholics Endured the English Reformation. Read more. 2/1/2013
Gail Martin, District 5, El Dorado, passed January 17, 2013. She joined KAC in 1991 and was a continuous and contributing member, author, speaker, and bibliographer. The literary genres of non-fiction and poetry were her early writing specialties, but she shifted to bio-bibliography in later years when she became KAC's State Archivist from 1996 to 2005. During these ten years she collected, organized, described and advertised the extant records which she brought together from all KAC Districts. Gail explained her role as Archivist when she presented papers and research-related book talks to state and district meetings. When she took on the persona of Kansas Authors Club charter member, Margaret Hill McCarter, school children were said to believe that Gail portrayed Margaret exactly as she would have lived, acted and wrote.
December 13, 2003, and held many district and state offices: KAC State Vice President, 2007-2009; State Newsletter editor, 2008-2009; Poetry Contest Manager, 2007. District 3 Treasurer, 2011-2012. In 2004 he was honored with an "Award of Merit" for achievements in writing both fiction and non-fiction. Among his prolific writings were the following books: Another Day (2011); Another Piece of My Mind (2003); Big Willie (2007); The Boys From Hog Heaven (2006); From My Hand to Your Heart (2006); From My Pencil Box: Children's Moral Poetry (2005); Hog Heaven and Home (2008); Marbles (2010); My Favorite Poems (2005); Pigs and Packinghouses: a Collection of Short Stories and Poems (2008); Playing in the Sandbox: Child's Verses—Children's Moral Poetry (2004); Poems by "a Connecticut Yankee" in Kansas (2009); Summer of '59 (2009); Ten Degrees (2012);
Under the Shade Tree: Children's Moral Poetry (2004). Two links to more information online about Grant and his outreach work can be found on the KAC Writers in the Community page and on the Map of Kansas Literature. His obituary and guestbook are also available online. A nice article, "Local author, poet remembered by many," by Foss Farrer, was published on ArkCity.net. A memorial service was Jan. 9, 2013. A memorial has been established with the American Legion Post #18 in Arkansas City. Contributions may be made through the funeral home.1/21/2013 update
Kansas Authors Club is an official Federal 501(c)(3) tax-exempt organization. When members seek donations from the public, donors should receive a receipt for their donations. A PDF copy of a receipt that may be used is attached here. 1/7/2013
2013 will have a "Kansas poem of the week" at the 150 Kansas Poems web site. If you would like your poem considered, please read the guidelines carefully and follow them. 1/2/2013
Q&A Session with a Small Publisher. You can do it, if you really want to!
Publishing Without Perishing, from NYTimes, by David Streitfeld, 1/2/2013
Tracy Million Simmons, District 2, Emporia, is setting up a KAC Google Calendar showing events from all seven KAC Districts and other author/writer events throughout the state.
The plan is to have multiple persons in-the-know serve as event entrants. The goal is to have "what's happening" everywhere within the state in one place where the calendar can be checked prior to events and events will be archived after they are over. The keeper of the KAC web site is hoping to give up responsibility for adding events to particular District News pages because everything will be combined. Members are encouraged to attend anything, anywhere they may find an event of interest. 10/18/2012
As approved at the KAC August board meeting in early August, we have taken advantage of a donation to the Kansas Sampler Foundation that lets us (KAC) be a sponsor and get a link to our website, all for no charge to KAC. Thanks go to Susan Howell, District 5 president, and to an anonymous donor for assistance in allowing this sponsorship to happen. Visit http://www.kansassampler.org/erv/ and select the words "Kansas Authors Club" among the photos at the right side of the ERV ( Explorer Research Voyage) blog to see our link. 8/17/2012
There was a quarterly meeting of the KAC state board of directors on August 4, 2012, at Golden Corral, 11006 E. Kellogg Dr., Wichita, 10:45 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. (with a lunch break).
KAC members were encouraged to attend and participate. 8/14/2012
Internationally-acclaimed poet Albert Goldbarth has been named this year’s recipient of the 2011 Don Coldsmith Award for Lifetime Literary Achievement. The Don Coldsmith Award pays tribute to a distinguished Kansas author whose lifetime contributions have utilized the written word to enhance the proud literary legacy of the Sunflower State. Read news release in the Kansas City Star. 9/20/2011
Fifteen KAC members are among poets with work chosen in celebration of the Kansas Sesquicentennial. Besides this poetry being available online at Kansas Poet Laureate Caryn Merriam-Goldberg's "150 Kansas Poems" website—with poems added regularly throughout this 150th birthday of the state of Kansas—a commemorative volume of the selected poems is being published by Washburn University's Woodley Press. The book will be entitled Begin Again: 150 Kansas Poems. A series of reading by poets included in this volume is being scheduled at locations throughout the state, beginning in early November. Check the online schedule of readings and consider attending a reading near you. You may also visit the book's page on Facebook. 8/25/2011
Kansas Authors Club Speakers Bureau
Do you enjoy speaking about the writing life? Do you conduct workshops or give lectures of interest to writers?
All KAC members are invited to submit their program information and terms of availability to our new Kansas Authors Club Speakers Bureau database, now online.
This database is linked from our KAC web site's Links page. If you want to type in a long address, you'll find the database on-line at http://skyways.lib.ks.us/orgs/kac/speakersbureau.html
By submitting information to this database, you are confirming that you are a KAC member in good standing and you are willing to be contacted by KAC members and district representatives for inquiries about your availability to speak at KAC events and district meetings. 9/30/2010
Need a KAC logo? Find them here in various sizes and formats
KAC Newsletter, Spring 2012 Download as a PDF file
KAC Newsletter, Winter 2012 Download as a PDF file
KAC Newsletter, Summer/Fall 2011 Download as a PDF file
KAC Newsletter, Spring 2011 Download as a PDF file
KAC Newsletter, Winter 2011 Download as a PDF file
KAC Newsletter, Summer 2010 Download as a PDF file
KAC Newsletter, Spring 2010 Download as a PDF file
KAC Newsletter, Winter 2010 Download as a PDF file
Ann Everett, District 5, Haysville, reminds members to share events and accomplishments with Carol Yoho, the KAC web site manager. Check out our "Writers in the Community" page, linked at the left of our Welcome page, for community-related acitiviity postings by members.
Documenting our community-related activities will aid KAC in our goal of gaining 501(c)3 status as a "non-profit" organization. That designation, in turn, will help us in asking for funds from businesses that look for tax incentives when donating.
The 501(c)3 form asks for our web site address, and someone will check online for collaboration of our reported activities.
Our efforts as “Writers in the Community” make us much more than just a social organization! Share your public service as a writer. 7/28/2008
Don Pady, our Kansas Authors Club State Archivist, prepares reviews and synopses of books donated to the Kansas Authors Club Collection in the Kansas Collection at the Spencer Library at the University of Kansas. He delivers books to Spencer Library and encourages members to donate one autographed copy of each of their published books for this collection. Books should be mailed to Don Pady. Questions concerning content of the Archives and the history of the Kansas Authors Club may be addressed to the Archivist.
The Aesthetica Creative Writing Competition is now open for entry, offering both existing and aspiring writers the chance to showcase their work to a wider, international audience. Now in its sixth year, the competition celebrates creative writing and nurtures talent, inviting writers to submit imaginative work that pushes the boundaries of the two categories for entry: Poetry and Fiction. Submissions previously published elsewhere are accepted, there is an entry fee, and the deadline is 31 August 2013.
Prizes include: £500 prize money for Poetry winner, £500 prize money for Short Fiction winner, publication in the Aesthetica Creative Writing Annual, complimentary copy of the Aesthetica Creative Writing Annual, and a selection of books from competition partners. For more information please visit: www.aestheticamagazine.com/creativewriting 5/2/2013
Women Writing the West will hold its 19th Annual Conference on October 11-13, 2013, in Kansas City, MO, at Embassy Suites - Plaza. Read about the organization and their conference plans on their web site. There, you may also register for the conference. They've also shared a conference schedule here. 4/11/2013
'Darker Times Fiction, a monthly short story competition for stories of 3,000 words and less in the horror genre or on the subject of 'darker time.s. All submission information can be found on the website - www.darkertimes.co.uk . It's open to UK and international writers and ends on the last day of each month. There is a £5 submission fee, payable through PayPal on their "Submissions" page. 9/20/2012
www.knowonder.com is a good market for writers who write for children up through age 10. They need a new story for every day of each month. One story each month becomes "Editor's Choice" -- always good publicity. Read submission guidelines online. 8/31/2012
The History Press celebrates local and regional identity with books on Kansas's fascinating history. We are actively seeking residents to tell the stories of their home counties and towns. As a traditional publishing company we handle all parts of the publishing process. Our book series include Brief History, American Chronicles, American Heritage, Landmarks, Food and Beverage, Haunted America, True Crime, Forgotten Tales and Hidden History, as well as several non-series books. To learn more and to view our seasonal catalogue please visit www.historypress.net. 8/27/2012
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