Ralph W. Dagenais was a District 5 member of Kansas Authors Club who long played an active role in both district and state leadership. After joining KAC in 1992, he served as State Financial Secretary from 1993-2001. He also served several terms as district secretary and state contest chair.

Ralph helped secure the first KAC website in 1995, housed on the KU Department of History website. Ralph, along with wife, Julia (KAC President from 1992-xxx), and son, John, acted as webmaster for this site.

In 1995, Ralph received a service award for his many roles in Kansas Authors Club. He was recognized as a 20 year member in 2013.

In his last correspondence with the current Financial Secretary, Tracy Million Simmons, he stated (via Facebook message) that at 95 years of age, he was retiring his membership with Kansas Authors Club. He enjoyed his many years of active participation with the club and valued the friends and supporters he had gained there.

Ralph wrote memoir, non-fiction, and technical writing.

His obituary can be found here.
_______________________________

Members are invited to submit memories and details of Ralph's work with KAC. Please send in an email to Tracy.

In an attempt to improve our ability to write with clarity and communicate convincingly with our fellow authors, as well as our readers, I am posting the following challenge to all members of KANSAS AUTHORS CLUB. (I plan to learn a great deal from your responses to my challenge.)

Please take into consideration that all excellent definitions of concepts contain both a genus and differentia, when you compose and send me your own definition of the concept, “IRONY.” Also, include your best written examples of: (1) verbal irony (2) situational irony and (3) dramatic irony. All entries must be sent to my email box, randfan@cox.net by August 31, 2019 at midnight.

I will judge the Kansas Authors Club members entries and award the winner of this exercise with a plaque at our Kansas Authors Club, monthly meeting at Larksfield Place, 7373 E. 29th, Wichita, KS, 67226 on September 14, 2019 at 1:30 pm. (For out of towners, I will give the winner of the award their plaque at the Convention in Wichita on October 4-6, 2019 if they can’t come to town on 9-14-19.)

PLEASE SHOW ME YOUR INGENUITY AND WRITING SKILLS CONFINED TO ONE 8”x10” PAGE!

Don Marler (District V)

Updated 8/3/2019

Dan Close is an associate professor in the Elliott School of Communication at Wichita State. He has taught many forms of journalism for 30 years and presented at conferences nationwide. Close was a reporter and editor at The Wichita Eagle and other newspapers for a dozen years. He is the winner of national and regional awards for writing and reporting. Close covered multiple homicides, F-5 tornadoes, race riots, union strikes, plane crashes, ice storms, flooding, the homeless, the elderly, and the mentally ill. He has interviewed four presidents and many music celebrities. He has been editorial consultant or editor for three books, including Bind, Torture, Kill: The Inside Story of the Serial Killer Next Door [HarperCollins, 2007].

At the 2019 KAC convention in Wichita, Close will offer a seminar on Interviewing Celebrities--Great and Small.

Ever need to talk to an soldier accused of murder (they confessed in front of their lawyer), global rock stars (they shared their beer and drugs) or any number of U.S. presidents (results may vary)? How about dealing with slippery politicians, striking meatpackers, venomous Hollywood movie stars, or a small-town arsonist who burned down the only school in town? Learn from a journalist with decades of experience interviewing and researching the good, bad and pitiful. Plenty of tips and handouts on asking the right questions, cold-calling, death-knocks, weaseling your way backstage, and getting to the truth—including when to ask the “Did you kill your wife?” question.

Contact Close at dan.close@wichita.edu
​
http://www.KansasAuthors.org

Like us on Facebook: Kansas Authors Club
​
Hotel information:
KS Authors Club

Register for the convention today!
Click here! Early Registration Deadline (with discount) is due postmarked by August 1, 2019. You may also pay online.

Separate reservations for the hotel should be made as soon as possible. You can reserve online by clicking this link: KS Authors Club

​Or call the hotel directly. Mention Kansas Authors Club for convention pricing of $94 nightly. Holiday Inn, 550 S. Rock Road, Wichita, KS 67207 - Phone: 316-686-7131

Review this page for more convention details.

Ken Ohm, long time member of District 1, Kansas Authors Club, has earned The Kansas Notable Book Award for 2019 for his recently published novel, Brown Enough. Ohm’s book is available in all 377 Kansas public libraries, as well as from Amazon and selected retail outlets across the area - 
Flinthillsstories.com, or direct from the author: Ken.ohm@hotmail.com.



​Brown Enough: A Tale of a Mixed-Race Baseball Team Summer of ’56, by Ken Ohm (Topeka)

​Part historical fiction, part memoir, this novel takes place in the summer of 1956 in a small town in the mid-west. It is based on a true story of the social and athletic achievements of an eleven-man mixed-race baseball team, seven African-American, three Hispanics, and one Caucasian. Under the leadership of an aging charismatic African-American manager, the Brown Bombers tolerate the nearness of racism as part of the price they pay for the privilege of playing the game they love. The game itself offers a comforting quiet apart from the daily lives of this diverse group of young men. With a “magic” bat, a lucky arrowhead and an expanding fan base, the Bombers ultimately achieve a success beyond expectations.

The complete list of Kansas Notable titles for 2019 can be found here.

During each cluster of classes a panel of presenters will share different topics with ample time for taking questions. Want to learn more about blogging? Don’t miss the blogger panel Saturday morning. What about the rehabilitative power of poetry? Come learn about the poetry program at the Douglas County jail Saturday afternoon. Have you submitted your books to a previous contest only to watch another writer receive the award? Sunday morning learn tips from past winners about what they think helped their writing.
There will be workshops for everyone. Are you interested in research techniques for historical novels or biographical tales? Don’t miss Michael Graves, HB Berlow, or David Nichols.
Are you working on a memoir? Mike Hartnett will share his journey writing a memoir in his workshop.
What about historical romance? Check out Tracy Edingfield.
Suspense novels or thrillers? Paul Bishop, Curt Bohling, HB Berlow, Mike Graves and Tracy Edingfield.
Interested in juvenile or YA writing? Don’t miss Clare Vanderpool, Claire Caterer or Tracy Dunn.
Are you a poet at heart? April Pameticky, Kevin Rabas, Ronda Miller and Diane Wahto.
Journalism? Dan Close
All workshops are open to writers of all ages and all genres, with presenters sharing ideas that could be applied to any writing effort. Each workshop possesses appeal for every one of us.
Registration for this fantastic writing convention is now open.
Details: http://kansasauthors.org.
Hotel reservations: KS Authors Club
We hope to see you in October in Wichita!

A special opportunity for a few lucky registrants will be a one-on-one conference with Paul to get feedback on the first pages of their current work-in-progress.
Join Clare Vanderpool, Wichita’s own Newbery Award-winning author, for a special catered lunch on Saturday as she reminisces about the special books throughout her life.

Tickets for this lunch are available with registration.
A special opportunity for poet members of KAC will be the juried poetry/music event on Saturday morning, Rhythm-A-Ning: A Poetry & Music Event. Poets will read their poems through once while two accompanying musicians and the audience listen; then the same poem will be read through again with the two musicians improvising to the poem. This will result in a spontaneous ekphrastic experience for all; poets, musicians, and audience. Join us in this unique auditory experience! The accompanying musicians are Bill Glenn on percussion and Seth Carrithers on acoustic bass, two well-known Wichita improvisatory musicians.
Poetry selection for this event is via a blinded juried submission process. It is open only to KAC members (statewide or out of state) who will be attending the convention. Your submission is your guarantee you will be in attendance. Though the selection is by juried submission, this is not a contest. No prizes are awarded (except you get to participate!) and a rejection does not reflect on the quality of the submitted work, but rather what works best for the program. Deadline for submission to this exciting opportunity is July 15. Don’t wait too long!
For complete details: http://kansasauthorsclub.weebly.com/news-for-all-members/rhythm-a-ning-a-poetry-music-event
Of course there will be the awards presentations. Youth awards are scheduled on Saturday afternoon, and adult awards are split between the Saturday banquet and the Sunday luncheon.
Another first for KAC is a trolley tour sponsored by the city of Wichita.

Dear Members,

Please take a moment to submit your nominations for Awards of Merit. The deadline is July 1, 2019. Details (and nominating form) are on the 3rd to last page of your 2019 yearbook, or you can submit as detailed below. 

Awards for achievement in writing, service to Kansas Authors Club, or a special accomplishment are presented to deserving Kansas Authors Club members at the Annual Conference. Nominations should be sent no later than July 1st of the year to be considered. Forms may be sent either by e-mail or by regular postal mail. Award winners will be selected by ballot by a committee of Kansas Authors Club members chosen by the Awards Chair. The Awards Chair will present the names of those members nominated to a selection committee before reporting final results to the KAC board as soon as possible after the deadline for nomination.

Please give careful consideration to your reasons why the nominee is worthy of an award and list them below. If this person is to be considered for the achievement in writing award, then please list publications of the person’s writing, either published and/or self-published. For the service award, list what services were done both on the district and state level, how long the person held an office, etc. For the special accomplishment award, list when, where, and what this was, and describe the accomplishment. You may add more details on attached pages. Contact the  Awards Chair if you have questions. Nominations may be made by any individual member of the Kansas Authors Club, by a group or a district.

I nominate (full name) ________________________________

District ____

for an award in (circle one) Service, Achievement, or Special Accomplishment. 

The reasons I feel this person is worthy of this award are:
_______________________________

Nominated by: ____________________

Send completed form to:
Diane Wahto
KAC Awards Chair
1912 Park Place
Wichita, KS 67203

or email.

Norm Ledgin was an active member of Kansas Authors Club, District 2, from 2007 to 2019. 

Norm was the author of the following books:

Asperger's and Self-Esteem: Insight and Hope through Famous Role Models (with Temple Grandin)

Diagnosing Jefferson

Sally of Monticello, Founding Mother (a novel)

The Jayhawker, a novel

Heart Deco, a novel

Disharmony, A Sally Freberg Mystery 
Link to Obituary.

Norm on Wikipedia​

Norm's Amazon Page

Writing a poem is the easiest thing to do and, at the same time, the hardest. District 5 is excited to announce a workshop at the October convention aimed at claiming those varied moments of inspiration for poetry. The class, “Capturing the Poetic Moment,” will look at methods of capturing poetry. Presenters Diane Wahto and Ronda Miller plan to illustrate ideas with poems they have written. They will share how they managed to hunt down the poems and let them loose in the world.
“Poetry is everywhere—in nature and in our families. We write about lovers, children, mothers, fathers, grandparents, animals. A poet will snap to attention, salute, and write  when that poetic moment appears.”

Ronda Miller is a Life Coach who works with clients who have lost someone to homicide. She is a graduate of the University of Kansas and continues to live in Lawrence. She is a Fellow of The Citizen Journalism Academy, World Company, a Certified Life Coach with IPEC (Institute of Professional Empowerment Coaching), a mother to a son, Scott, and a daughter, Apollonia.
She created poetic forms loku and ukol. She was the co-chair, along with Caryn Mirriam-Goldberg, for the Transformative Language Arts Conference at Unity Village September, 2015. Miller was poetry contest manager for Kansas Authors Club (2011-2014), District 2 President of Kansas Authors Club (2015 – 2017), state Vice President (2016 – 2017), and is the club’s current State President (2018-2019).  When she isn’t coaching clients, volunteering time to Kansas Authors Club, or writing poetry, she is busy learning life skills from those she works with. Miller presents workshops throughout the U.S.
She has three published poetry collections, Going Home: Poems from My Life, Moon Stain, and Water Signs.

Since then, her work has been published many times in various journals and magazines, and she regularly places in poetry contests. Most recently she won the poetry division of the 2019 Kansas Voices contest.
After graduating from WSU in 1985, she taught journalism at Winfield High School and English Composition and creative writing at Butler Community College.
Her book of poetry, The Sad Joy of Leaving, was published in October 2018.

The book launch was held at Watermark Books and Café, where she read with Michael Poage and Kelly Johnston.
Other recent publications include “Empty Corners” in Same, “Persistence,” in The Ekphrastic Review, and “Yellow Music,” in Heartland. She is co-editor of two issues of 365 Days: A Poetry Anthology.

Registration for the 2019 Kansas Authors Club convention is now open. Registration forms are available on the convention page and/or the registration fee can be paid online.


This blog post first appeared at AnnChristineFell.com.

Greetings from Nimrod International Journal. I’m writing with some information about the Francine Ringold Awards for New Writers. This contest offers prizes of $500 and publication in both the poetry and the fiction categories, and it is open only to writers who have had no more than two previous publications in the genre in which they are submitting.
  
One of the oldest “little magazines” in the country, Nimrod has continually published new and extraordinary writers since 1956. We have always been dedicated to the discovery of new voices in literature, and we offer the Francine Ringold Awards as an opportunity for writers at the same place in their writing careers to compete only against each other.

I am including the contest rules with this email, and hope that you will make them available to the members of your group.  Feel free to pass the information along in any way you like—be it in emails, newsletters, or on your website. For more information about Nimrod, please visit our website at https://nimrod.utulsa.edu. 

The postmark deadline for submission is July 15th.  Thank you for your help in spreading the word about the Francine Ringold Awards to the writers in your writing group. We hope to see your submissions soon!

Best,
Eilis O’Neal
Editor-in-Chief
--

The Francine Ringold Awards for New Writers 
 
The Francine Ringold Awards for New Writers honor the work of writers at the beginning of their careers.
 
Prizes: $500 prizes will be awarded in both the fiction and poetry categories, and the winning manuscripts will appear in the spring issue of Nimrod. Winners will have the chance to work with the Nimrod board of editors to refine and edit their manuscripts before publication.
 
Contest Rules
 
Eligibility: Open only to writers whose work has not appeared or is not scheduled to appear in more than 2 publications in the genre in which they are submitting. (Self-published works or works with a distribution of less than 100 copies are not considered toward the count of 2 publications.)

• Poetry: Up to 5 pages of poetry (one long poem or several short poems)
• Fiction: 5,000 words maximum (one short story or a self-contained excerpt from a novel)

• All work submitted must be unpublished. 
• Work submitted may be on any theme, any subject.
• The contest is open internationally.  
• Include a cover sheet containing title(s), author’s name, full address, phone, and email.
• Omit author’s name on manuscript.

 
Dates: Contest opens May 1st, 2019. Postmark Deadline: July 15th, 2019.
 
Online Submissions: Work may be submitted online using our online submission manager system: https://nimrodjournal.submittable.com/submit.


Postal Submissions: Clearly indicate “Ringold Contest Entry” on both the outer envelope and the cover sheet. Staple manuscript if possible; if not, please bind with a heavy clip. Include SASE for results only; manuscripts will not be returned. The results will be posted on Nimrod’s website.
 
Mail to:
Nimrod International Journal 
Francine Ringold Awards for New Writers—Fiction or Poetry (indicate the appropriate category)
The University of Tulsa
800 S. Tucker Dr.
Tulsa, OK 74104   
 
Entry Fee: Each entry must be accompanied by a $12 fee, which includes both the reading fee and a copy of the spring issue of Nimrod. Make checks payable to Nimrod. Writers may submit multiple entries, but each entry must include its own $12 fee.

​

Have you ever wondered how busy people manage to produce regular articles, poems, stories, and books? How do they find time to craft quality work if you can’t squeeze in a few minutes now and then? What is the secret for managing the minutes in a day to allow time for your passion of writing?


Kevin Rabas has suggestions for you. With numerous published books of poems and stories, an active life as instructor in poetry and playwriting, as well as chair of the Department of English, Modern Languages, and Journalism at Emporia State University, speaking engagements in many venues as the Kansas Poet Laureate (2017-19) and an active drummer in a jazz ensemble, Rabas can speak from experience about strategies for squeezing in time to write. How does he manage his prolific writing career?

​Books he has written include Lisa’s Flying Electric Piano, (2009) a Kansas Notable Book and Nelson Poetry Book Award winner.

April Pameticky moved to Wichita in 2003 and was swept up in the creative Vortex. The mother of two shares time between her high school English classroom and the burgeoning community of artists and writers in Kansas. She facilitated the Wichita Broadside Project 2017 and currently serves as editor of River City Poetry, an online poetry journal, and co-edits Voices of Kansas, a regional anthology of work from school-aged children across the state. Her own work can be seen in journals like Malpais Review, KONZA, Chiron Review, and Turtle Island Quarterly. She is also the author of several chapbooks, Sand River and Other Places I’ve Been (Finishing Line Press); and Anatomy of a Sea Star (Casa de Cinco Hermanas Press).

At KAC 2019, she will offer two seminars:

Let Poetry inform your Prose: The Art & Craft of Telling a Tale:  How could the poetic lens inform your writing? Are there ways of training the ear and eye to better turn a narrative line? Sonya Chung, teacher and blogger, writes “Fiction is a Trudge, Poetry is a Dance” and that good literary fiction is “language-rich, language-precise, language-driven.” Is she right? We’ll explore some common poetry techniques that translate well into a variety of written forms, including memoir and long-form fiction.  Attend this session and expect to do a little writing and responding to a prompt.  We’ll use revision to demonstrate the power of repetition and metaphorical language.

Poet as Farmer–how journaling plants seeds of Creativity:  Whether you ascribe to Natalie Goldberg’s Zen daily practice, or Julia Cameron’s Artist’s Way, journaling can be an incredibly productive tool.  But how do writers get started?  Are prompts part of the process?

  What of word lists?  When do you know that a seed might be ready for harvest?  In this session, we’ll explore sparks for creativity and examine some possible resources and activities.  Expect to write and journal as part of the process.

Contact April at:

aprilpameticky@hotmail.com

rivercitypoetrysubmissions@gmail.com
​
Hook ‘Em!

​

Rhythm-A-Ning: A Poetry & Music Event, will take place at the 2019 Kansas Authors Club state convention, on the Saturday, October 5th, from 11:00-11:50 AM. Poets will read their poems through once while two accompanying musicians and the audience listen; then the same poem will be read through again with the two musicians improvising to the poem. This will result in a spontaneous ekphrastic experience for all; poets, musicians, and audience. Join us in this unique auditory experience! The accompanying musicians are Bill Glenn on percussion and Seth Carrithers on acoustic bass, two well-known Wichita improvisatory musicians.
 
Poetry selection is via a blinded juried submission process, open to all KAC members statewide and out of state who will be attending the convention. It is open ONLY to KAC members, and your submission is a guarantee you will be at the convention to participate. Though the selection is by juried submission, this is not a contest. No prizes are awarded (except you get to participate!) and a rejection does not reflect on the quality of the submitted work, but rather what works best for the program.
 
Submission guidelines:
1: You may submit up to two poems in your submission.
2: Each poem must time out at less than three minutes max when read aloud (be sure to read your poem aloud and time it before submitting). Any poems over the three-minute limit will be automatically rejected.
3: Author’s name and personal information must not appear anywhere in the pages containing the poems.
4: Include a cover page with your name and complete contact info (including email address) and the titles of the poem(s) in your submission, along with your KAC district number and a brief bio of about 50 words or less. This should be the ONLY place identifying information appears. The bio will have no effect on the outcome of the judging (the judges will not see it) but may be used in the program should your work be accepted and space allows.
5: Poems may have been previously published. Just send us your best short work, new or old.
6: We will not be publishing your poems, so you need not worry about whether reading a new poem at Rhythm-A-Ning will constitute a first publication for that poem; it will not.
7: No multiple submissions please.
8: Send your submissions in .doc, .docx, .pdf, or .rtf format via email to Connie White at craepa@cox.net. In the email header, put the following: Rhythm-A-Ning submission from (your name here).
9: The submission period opens May 15th and closes July 15th. Any submissions received before or after those dates will not be considered.
10: Notifications will go out via email in mid or late August at the latest. Notification may come from an email address other than Connie White’s.
 
If you have any questions you may email either Connie White, or Bob Dean at bobdean@swbell.net.
 
We recommend that you don’t worry about trying to write something “musical” as this is an improvisatory event and there is no way to predict what the end product will be. Just send us your best short poems, and have fun!
 ​

Kansas Authors Club District 5 is pleased to host a seminar at the October convention by Dr. David A. Nichols,  A “Who Dunnit – Why Dunnit” Approach to Writing History.
​
A William & Mary Ph.D., Dr. Nichols is a Kansas native and the author of Ike and McCarthy: Dwight Eisenhower’s Secret Campaign against Joseph McCarthy; A Matter of Justice; Eisenhower and the Beginning of the Civil Rights Revolution; and Eisenhower 1956: The President’s Year of Crisis – Suez and the Brink of War.  All Eisenhower books were published by Simon & Schuster. Nichols is also the author of Lincoln and the Indians: Civil War Policy and Politics (Minnesota Historical Society, 2012).

​Revealed for the first time, Ike and McCarthy is the full story of how President Eisenhower masterminded the downfall of the anti-Communist demagogue Senator Joseph McCarthy. Behind the scenes, Eisenhower loathed McCarthy, the powerful Republican senator notorious for his anti-Communist witch hunt. In spite of the public’s perception that Ike was unwilling to challenge the senator, the president decided that dealing with the challenges behind the scenes, operating with a “hidden hand” to bring an end to the witch hunt, was a better approach. In Ike and McCarthy, a 2018 Kansas Notable book, Nichols uses documents previously unavailable or overlooked to authenticate the extraordinary story of Eisenhower’s anti-McCarthy campaign in an eye-opening and fascinating read.

Lincoln and the Indians remains the only thorough treatment of a much-neglected aspect of Lincoln’s presidency. Placing Indian affairs in the broad context of Civil War politics and the settling of the West, Dr. Nichols covers the Sioux War of 1862 in Minnesota, the forced removal of the Navahos from their homeland to the deadly concentration camp at Bosque Redondo, and the massacre of Cheyennes by volunteer troops at Sand Creek. He also examines Lincoln’s inept handling of  the Five Civilized Tribes in Indian Territory and the corrupt “Indian System” of government aid that mainly benefited ambitious whites.

Thanks in part to Nichols’ impact on the reassessment of Dwight Eisenhower as president; a poll of 193 historians in 2017 rated Eisenhower fifth among American presidents, following only Lincoln, Washington, and the two Roosevelts. David A. Nichols began his serious research and writing in his mid-60s after retiring from Southwestern College in Winfield, where he served for 25 years, including eleven as Vice President for Academic Affairs.

At the Wichita convention, Dr. Nichols will share about his most recent book (Ike and McCarthy) and related research, exploring research design, dealing with all kinds of sources, and finding a publisher. “Who Dunnit? And Why Dunnit?” You won’t want to miss his inside information and tips on meaningful research.

Like us on Facebook: Kansas Authors Club.
Hotel information:
KS Authors Club
Book ‘Em!

Rhythm-A-Ning: A Poetry & Music Event, will take place at the 2019 Kansas Authors Club state convention, on the Saturday, October 5th, from 11:00-11:50 AM. Poets will read their poems through once while two accompanying musicians and the audience listen; then the same poem will be read through again with the two musicians improvising to the poem. This will result in a spontaneous ekphrastic experience for all; poets, musicians, and audience. Join us in this unique auditory experience! The accompanying musicians are Bill Glenn on percussion and Seth Carrithers on acoustic bass, two well-known Wichita improvisatory musicians.
 
Poetry selection is via a blinded juried submission process, open to all KAC members statewide and out of state who will be attending the convention. It is open ONLY to KAC members, and your submission is a guarantee you will be at the convention to participate. Though the selection is by juried submission, this is not a contest. No prizes are awarded (except you get to participate!) and a rejection does not reflect on the quality of the submitted work, but rather what works best for the program.
 
Submission guidelines:
1: You may submit up to two poems in your submission.
2: Each poem must time out at less than three minutes max when read aloud (be sure to read your poem aloud and time it before submitting). Any poems over the three-minute limit will be automatically rejected.
3: Author’s name and personal information must not appear anywhere in the pages containing the poems.
4: Include a cover page with your name and complete contact info (including email address) and the titles of the poem(s) in your submission, along with your KAC district number and a brief bio of about 50 words or less. This should be the ONLY place identifying information appears. The bio will have no effect on the outcome of the judging (the judges will not see it) but may be used in the program should your work be accepted and space allows.
5: Poems may have been previously published. Just send us your best short work, new or old.
6: We will not be publishing your poems, so you need not worry about whether reading a new poem at Rhythm-A-Ning will constitute a first publication for that poem; it will not.
7: No multiple submissions please.
8: Send your submissions in .doc, .docx, .pdf, or .rtf format via email to Connie White at craepa@cox.net. In the email header, put the following: Rhythm-A-Ning submission from (your name here).
9: The submission period opens May 15th and closes July 15th. Any submissions received before or after those dates will not be considered.
10: Notifications will go out via email in mid or late August at the latest. Notification may come from an email address other than Connie White’s.
 
If you have any questions you may email either Connie White, or Bob Dean at bobdean@swbell.net.
 
We recommend that you don’t worry about trying to write something “musical” as this is an improvisatory event and there is no way to predict what the end product will be. Just send us your best short poems, and have fun!
 ​

Yearbooks were delivered via email and print/postal mail during the month of April. District presidents were in charge of delivering the paper copies this year. If you were not able to pick up your copy at a meeting and have not yet received it via postal mail, please contact your district president. 

Please take a moment to thank Reaona Hemmingway (D1) for her many hours of work on our publications. We are fortunate to have members like Reaona willing to share so much time and talent for the betterment of Kansas Authors Club.

The yearbook is printed by Mennonite Press in Newton. Tracy Million Simmons (D2) helped to coordinate printing and delivery of the yearbooks. Thanks to all of the state and district officers who helped by preparing the reports and materials required to complete our annual yearbook. 

Former Kansas poet laureate Wyatt Townley launches her new book of poems, Rewriting the Body.

ABOUT THE BOOK: The body is a poem we rewrite with every breath. Wyatt Townley, who in her dual life has taught yoga for decades, explores the body as place—as home—leading us from room to room, from trauma to revelation.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR: Wyatt Townley is the fourth Poet Laureate of Kansas. Her work has been read on NPR, featured in “American Life in Poetry," and published in venues ranging from The Paris Review to Newsweek. Rewriting the Body is her fourth book of poems, the first in seven years.

You can visit with Wyatt and purchase copies of her book on May 7, 7-8:30pm, at The Raven bookstore in Lawrence, and on May 8, 6:30-8pm at the Johnson County Kansas Library. (The above links are to event pages on Facebook.)

Children’s Book Award Guidelines


Page 67, Guideline #3—should read, “The entry must have been published, issued in print, and available for public distribution within the two years prior to June 1, 2019.”