News
for All Members
See also:
Writing Opportunities
On-line Resources
Amazon gives in to pricing control demands of Macmillan concerning E-books.
NYTimes, February 1, 2010
Trudy McFarland,
District 1,
Topeka, 84, died on January 22, 2009. A native Topekan, Trudy was a good friend of Kansas Authors Club, attwnding the 2009 KAC Convention in Topeka in October, 2009, where she provided
Ad Astra centerpieces for the banquet and shared them as door prizes at the end of the evening. Trudy majored in journalism in college and was an avid writer. Her story of her mother,
Diary of a German War Bride, received the
2006 J. Donald Coffin Memorial Book Award of KAC and was recognized in
Pen Woman, the national publication of NLAPW. Trudy was also active in the Write Stuff, a Topeka writers group.
Her obituary appears in the
Topeka Capital-Journal.
1/24/2010
Lily Angle,
District 5,
Augusta, passed away on Sunday, January 10, 2010. Lily was a long-time member of KAC and won our "Lifetime Achievement Award" in 2003.
Memorial contributions honoring Lily may be sent to Kansas Authors Club, P.O. Box 296, Kechi, KS, 67067. Her funeral was held on January 13, 2010, at University United Methodist Church, Wichita. Burial is at Maple Grove Cemetery, Wichita.
Lily's obituary can be read at the Wichita Eagle web site.
1/12/2010
Nominate a book for the
Kansas Notable Books List. Kansas Center for the Book, a division of the Kansas State Library, will be accepting submissions of
books published in 2009 for the 2010 Kansas Notable Books List until
January 31, 2010. For more information
contact Roy Bird, KCB Director, or visit the
Kansas Center for the Book web site.
12/15/2009
Stephanie A. Mann,
District 5,
Wichita, author of
Supremacy and Survival: How Catholics Endured the English Reformation, will travel to Birmingham, Alabama, to appear on “EWTN Live” on Wednesday, January 27, 2010, at 7 p.m. CST. Before returning to Wichita , she will also tape an interview on “EWTN Bookmark” to be broadcast later on the international cable network. Also, her article “In the Shadow of Tyburn Tree: Who were the Martyrs of England and Wales” is the cover story in the January/February, 2010, issue of
The Catholic Answer magazine.
12/18/2009
2009 is the
bicentennial of the birth of Edgar Allan Poe. A nice newspaper article on Poe's legacy, including a slide show of artifacts from the Poe Museum, is available: "
For Poe, This Has Been the Year to Die For," by
Edward Rothstein.
NYTimes, December 1, 2009
District #3 of the Kansas Authors Club is having a fund raising project to help defray the costs of the writers' convention to be held in Coffeyville in October 2011. Members of District #3 and the Nightwriters writing group in Coffeyville have written a collection of 19 stories by authors including
Ursula Turner,
Frankie Roland,
Ruth Ames,
Margie Marang,
Carol Murphy,
Louise Click,
Mary (Pinkie) Atkinson and
Grant Williams.
The Family Next Door tells stories about famous people of Southeast Kansas.
Books cost $7.00 each, and all proceeds go to District #3 toward convention expenses. Contact any District 3 member about purchasing copies.
11/18/2009
William J. Karnowski,
District 4,
Wamego, is pleased to announce the winners of the
Karnowski Youth Poetry Contest. The awards will be presented at the Sunday noon awards ceremony of the
Kansas Authors Club convention in
Topeka, October 18, 2009.
- First place: Jessica Renzelman, 14 year old, from District One for her poem "Them." She will receive an award certificate and a check for $100.00.
- Second place: Jake Johnson, 16 year old, from District Six, for his
poem "A Hunter's Morning." He will receive an award certificate and a check for $50.00.
- Third place: Jama Gleue, 9 year old, from District Four for the poem "Hide and Seek." Jama will receive an award certificate and a check for $25.00.
Karnowski reports that the quality of the poems was fantastic! He thanks the District Vice Presidents for their work in judging the entries from their areas.
10/3/2009

KAC writing talent teamed with
Varney's Book Store, Manhattan, on "Poets & Perk"
October 28, 2009
. Poets
Grant Williams,
District 3,
Arkansas City;
Peg Nichols,
District 2,
Olathe; and
Ann Everett,
District 5,
Wichita, signed books. Coffee was provided by Bluestem Bistro. We encourage you to support this new event series with your attendance.
If you are interested in being featured at a future authors' event at Varney's,
contact Rik Tanos, KAC publicity chair, District 3, Coffeyville. 11/18/2009
Justice Dept. Criticizes Latest Google Book Deal, by
Miguel Helft.
While the Justice Department did not explicitly urge a rejection of the deal, its opposition on copyright, class action and antitrust grounds is a setback for Google.
NYTimes, February 4, 2010
E-Book Fans Keep Format in Spotlight, by Brad Stone. Book sellers are making the case that people are reading more because of e-books.
NYTimes, October, 21, 2009
Before Choosing an E-Book, Pondering the Format, by Peter Wayner.
The options are proliferating quickly for readers and the authors they love.
NYTimes, September 23, 2009
A Library to Last Forever
Google's books project is a win-win for authors, publishers and Google, but the real winners are readers, who will have access to an expanded world of books.
—
an op-ed by
Sergey Brin, co-founder and technology president of
Google.
NYTimes, 10/9/2009
Will Books Be Napsterized? E-book hardware is on the verge of going mainstream.
NYTimes, 19/4/2009
Copyright Office Assails Google's Settlement on Digital Books In testimony before a House panel, Marybeth Peters, the Register of Copyrights, said the deal circumvented copyright law and could harm authors.
NYTimes, 9/11/2009
European Opposition Mounts Against Google's Selling Digitzed Books
The settlement would permit Americans to buy online access to millions of books by European authors whose works were scanned by Google at American libraries.
NYTImes, 8/24/2009
Google Rivals Will Oppose Book Settlement
Amazon, Microsoft and Yahoo are planning to join a coalition of nonprofit groups, individuals and library associations to oppose a proposed class-action settlement giving Google the rights to commercialize digital copies of millions of books.
NYTimes, 8/21/2009
Google's big plan for books NYTimes, 7/31/2009
KAC Newsletter, August 2009 Download as a PDF file
Monday evening August 17, 2009,
Albert Goldbarth--the Adelle V. Davis distinguished professor of humanities at
Wichita State University, the only two-time winner of the National Book Critics Circle Award, and most recently, the winner of the Mark Twain Prize for Humor from the Poetry Foundation--was on
Jim Lehrer's News Hour.
Follow this link to read the transcript or view the streaming video.
8/20/2009
Join our new Kansas Authors Club Page on Facebook. Here is your opportunity to discuss the art of writing and your life as a writer with fellow members! Join Facebook, if you are not yet a member—then become a fan:
Kansas Authors Club on Facebook
Kansas Authors Club now has a page on Facebook. If you are already on Facebook, run right over and sign up as a fan. Add the Kansas Authors Club page to your profile. If you are not already on Facebook, you might consider joining (kids and grandkids are great coaches for getting you started if you aren't familiar with the site). Signing up involves sharing your e-mail address, dreaming up a password, creating a space on Facebook about yourself and deciding just how much personal information you'd like to share with the world.
Once you are a member, just do a site search for "Kansas Authors Club" and become a fan of our group.
We are hoping the Kansas Authors Club page on Facebook will be a way to increase member interaction and keep the energy level high within KAC. Check our Facebook calendar for details about upcoming district meetings. Members can add workshops and book signings they've heard about. Any event our writers are involved in can be listed and the site may help potential members to see what a vibrant and active organization we can be. Members can control their own content and leave the work of keeping the official web site to Carol Yoho, who has managed that work for several years.
There is also a discussion board. How this evolves is entirely up to us, but so far there's a spot for members to share publication
success stories, etc.
The Facebook page is NOT intended to replace our regular web site, but to complement our current site.
Your suggestions are also welcome for making this space truly interactive.
The state board of KAC officers hope this site will be a tool for our members and potential members. updated 9/20/2009
Virigina Hays,
D5,
Wichita, reports:
We lost a precious lady Saturday, July 11, 2009:
Claire Sorensen. She had just recently been diagnosed with pancreatic cancer. The
obituary is in the
Wichita Eagle.
7/14/2009
Don Coldsmith, 83, died on
Thursday, June 25, 2009, at the University of Kansas Hospital, Kansas City, Kansas, after suffering a stroke.
Read news story.
Read tribute in
Flyover People.
Read tribute in
Emporia Gazette.
Read obituary from
Wichita Eagle. See also:
Coldsmith honored. Don spoke at Saturday luncheon at the 2004 KAC Centennial Convention held in Topeka and was given an honorary membership in the club at that time.
6/26/2009
Poised to Sell E-Books, Google Takes on Amazon NYTimes,
6/1/2009
By-the-Book Reader Meets the Kindle NYTimes,.
5/30/2009
Scribd invites writers to upload and name their price NYTimes,.
5/18/2009
After 341 Years, British Poet Laureate Is a Woman
NYTimes, 5/4/2009, by SARAH LYALL
With the choice of
Carol Ann Duffy, the post held by such poets as Dryden, Tennyson, Wordsworth and Ted Hughes went to a woman for the first time.
5/4/2009
"With Kindle, can you tell it's Proust?" NYTimes,
4/25/2009
Have you published a book? Google has plans to copy it, and may be trying to reach you in the process. Read the
NYTimes article.
3/4/2009 See also: "
Google’s Plan for Out-of-Print Books Is Challenged," follow-up article, NYTimes.
4/3/2009
KAC MEMBERSHIP AWARDS PROGRAM begins
At the Kansas Authors Club Convention last October in Dodge City, both the Board and general membership voted approval of appropriate awards for longtime members for their time and service to KAC's literary community. This Awards Program acknowledges KAC members for active, continuing service for progressive intervals of 10, 15 and 20+ years.
This program begins January, 2009.
When KAC members indicate to their respective District Presidents that they have belonged for these years of
continuous, active membership, a certificate of achievement will be prepared for each member for those
10, 15 or 20+ year increments of time. The State Archivist will assist the District and State Presidents in verifying the member's length of service. A prepared certificate, pin and a memento will be supplied to the District President for presentation to the qualified members of his/her district.
A list of awards includes not only a nicely-printed certificate -- but also something of a more tangible nature:
- For 10 years of membership , a 10-year pin and some memento, like a coffee mug imprinted with the KAC logo.
- For 15 years of membership , a 15-year pin and a memento higher in quality than the 10-year award
- For 20+ years of membership , an emeritus status with no further annual dues required (unless the member still wants to pay dues) -- plus a 20-year pin and a memento higher in quality than the 15-year award. This category would especially recognize those members who performed active service in State or District offices.
Moreover, annual membership dues will be eliminated for those KAC members over the age of 80.
Names of those given such awards will also be publicly acknowledged and congratulated by the current State President at the annual KAC Convention in a short segment of the Sunday banquet. Those honored will also receive a letter of appreciation signed by the State President. A new-member reception at each State Convention will provide a social mixer for new and established members to introduce themselves and discuss literary ideas.
News of members' length of membership and subsequent awards will also be publicized in the State and District newsletters, the KAC Yearbook and the KAC web page.
Costs of materials, supplies and labor involved in the production of these membership awards will be provided by
an anonymous donor and will not be paid by the Kansas Authors Club.
1/28/2009
‘The Graveyard Book' Wins Newbery Medal, 2009
Caldecott Medal 2009: The House in the Night
From Books, New President Found Voice
"
Much has been made of Mr. Obama's eloquence — his ability to use words in his speeches to persuade and uplift and inspire. But his appreciation of the magic of language and his ardent love of reading have not only endowed him with a rare ability to communicate his ideas to millions of Americans while contextualizing complex ideas about race and religion, they have also shaped his sense of who he is and his apprehension of the world..." —
continued, NYTimes,
1/19/2009
Fiction reading increases for adults.
—NYTimes, 1/12/2009
Related: "
Reading on the rise: A new chapter in American literacy."
— PDF file, National Endowment for the Arts, Jan.2009 report
National Book Awards announced
Annette Gordon-Reed won the National Book Award for nonfiction on Nov. 19, 2008, for
“The Hemingses of Monticello: An American Family,” a sweeping, prodigiously researched biography of three generations of a slave family owned by Thomas Jefferson.
In the fiction category,
Peter Matthiessen won for
“Shadow Country,” a one-volume compilation of three previously released but revised and condensed novels based on the life of Edgar J. Watson, a 19th century ruthless cane farmer in Florida who was said to be a serial killer. It was published by Modern Library. See
NYTimes article.
10/20/2008
French writer
Jean-Marie Gustave Le Clézio , whose work reflects a seemingly insatiable restlessness and sense of wonder about other places and other cultures, won the
2008 Nobel Prize in Literature on Thursday, Oct. 9, 2008.
Read more in the NYTimes.
10/12/2008
Ann Everett,
District 5,
Wichita, 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
KAC logo is
available for download.
Books wanted for Kansas Authors Club Collection
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.
Don Pady
Kansas Authors Club State Archivist
5839 SW Sterling Lane, Topeka, KS 66604
785-271-2489,
send e-mail to Don —2/8/2006
The Spencer Library includes the Kansas Collection in their online catalog << search by title or author's name. Each title's bibliographic record provides classification letters and numbers, author's name, title, place of publication, publisher, imprint date, number of pages, illustrations (if any), series titles (if listed) and subject headings which include genre(s) of the book.
1/1/2009
KAC Domain Name
Have you previously had trouble remembering the complicated address for the Kansas Authors Club web site? Type
www.kansasauthors.org into your browser, and this will take you directly to the Welcome page of the web site.
On-line resources:
Mike Klaassen,
District 5,
Valley Center, announces
"For Fiction Writers," a free monthly e-zine for writers wanting to learn more about the craft of writing fiction. To subscribe
visit Mike's web site and join the mailing list. New subscribers may recieve Mike's special report
"The Secrets of Enhancing Emotion in Fiction." 6/27/2009
Tom Mach,
District 2,
Lawrence, found this
Cure for Writer's Block on-line at WEbook.com.
4/17/2009
WritingRaw.com " is a literary sharing website where writers can upload, view and share their writing. The only restriction is that the material cannot be illegal in any sense of the word (such as child porn, plagiarism, etc.). Feel free to post in any of the following categories: FICTION •
POETRY •
NONFICTION •
REMEMBRANCE • and ASSORTED
9/30/2009
"
Ten Tips for Writing a Feature Press Release," GuideStar.
1/22/2009
"
Local Writers' Associations, by State" includes four groups in Kansas. You may find looking at what is available in other states interesting as well.
9/11/2008
See also our KAC
Hot Links page.
Writing Opportunities:
Children's Series Writer Wanted
Curiosity Cottage, a start up childrens educational toy company based out
of Madison, WI, is looking for talented writers for a series of childrens
historical books.
We would like interested writers to send a sample of 5-7 pages of fiction
work to be considered for this job, so we can get an idea of your writing
style. After reviewing the submissions we will contact selected writers to
begin this project.
Submissions are due Jan 15, 2010, by email, to Molly Bugler- Marketing
Assistant for Curiosity Cottage.
Compensation: writers will be competitively compensated for their work
and be published with the series.
Reply to:
mollybugler@gmail.com 1/5/2010
Writing Raw is a FREE literary ezine dedicated to new and emerging writers of the following categories:
FICTION ,
POETRY and
ASSORTED writings. Their goal at Writing Raw is simple - to serve the literary community with the opportunity to have their work online and out in the world. In this world of disappearing literary magazines, Writing Raw is providing the blank pages for writers to fill.
12/1/2009
Student writers: check out
ScissorTALE Review. They are Looking for Great Plains students interested in submitting
poetry, fiction, and flash fiction.
Deadline is November 15. Prize is $100.
Visit their site to learn details.
10/23/2009
Caryn Mirriam-Goldberg, Ph.D., is the
2009-2011 Poet Laureate of Kansas. Her plan is to share insights on poetry and place on
High Plains radio. Her
"Write from Your Life" piece on past Poet Laureate Denise Low piece at "High Plains in Words" is now available on-line (less than 5 minutes of streaming audio). Caryn challenges poets with a
writing exercise on "Sense of Place," using a poem by Denise as inspiration.
Read details of this appointment on the Kansas Arts Commission web site.
8/25/2009
Pittsburg Editors Revive Little Balkans Review
In 1980,
Gene DeGruson, a special collections library curator at Pittsburg State University, established the
Little Balkans Review. Its main purpose was to highlight history and arts of the southeast Kansas region. Coal mines attracted immigrants from Italy, France, Wales, and English in the 19th century. This was an area where unions evolved, and where Emanuel Haldeman-Julius (1888-1951) published Little Blue Books and the Socialist periodical
Appeal to Reason.
Ted Watts,
Al Ortolani, Jr.,
Wayne Bockelman,
Tom Burns,
Mike Hogard, and
John Laflen are now calling for submissions of poetry, fiction, non-fiction, photographs, and artwork. They write in their letter of solicitation: "Prime consideration is given to works by Kansans and former Kansans, as well as work set in the Little Balkans. However, consideration is also given to work with similar regional flare. Preference is given for non-fiction subjects related to the Little Balkans. At least half of the poetry of each issue will be devoted to poets who have limited previous publication."
For further information, visit the
Little Balkans Review web site, contact
LittleBalkansReview@gmail.com, or write to Editors, Little Balkans Review, 909 S. Olive, Pittsburg, KS 66762.
12/13/2008
For those who write WEIRD:
Strange, Weird and Wonderful e-zine.
Submission guidelines and deadlines are available on-line, as are PDF downloads of the e-zine. Accepted work pays author $25. Contact editors to be put on their mailing list.
11/16/2008
Share writing opportunities with KAC members by sending info you discover to
Carol Yoho.
Items
to be included in News for All Members on the KAC website or in the next State
Newsletter may be submitted to your district president or to Carol Yoho at 3013 SW Quail Creek Dr., Topeka KS 66614.