Dori Chaconas was born in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. The second child in a family of seven, she fell into the role of storyteller, nursery rhyme singer, and general entertainer for her siblings. She claims she learned about story pacing early. If the story action lagged, her fidgety audience would either scatter Read more…
Milwaukee’s Next Door Foundation will be at the Southeast Wisconsin Festival of Books collecting new and gently used children’s books for their Books for Kids program. This program, founded in 1990, works through book drives like this one to increase literacy and academic success among Milwaukee’s central city children by getting Read more…
Mary Lou Santovec is a writer and editor living in Jefferson, Wisconsin. She has published articles in newspapers, newsletters and magazines on a variety of topics including higher education, community banking, lifestyles, health and gardening. She is the co-author of two books, 1,001 Commonly Misspelled Words: What Your Spell Checker Read more…
A graduate of Oberlin College and the Iowa Writers’ Workshop, Kelly Dwyer has written two novels, The Tracks of Angels and Self-Portrait with Ghosts, both published by Penguin Putnam Inc., and two children’s books, Sophie’s Magical Windmill and The Dream Tree, published by ArchitectureKids. She has been awarded a Michener/Engle Read more…
Sharon Coyle is a storytime presenter/storyteller who loves seeing the excited faces of children when they are listening to a tale. She has been doing storytime programs since 2003 at coffee houses, libraries, day care centers, Toys-R-Us and Babies-R-Us and currently at the Children’s Play Gallery in Delafield. She also Read more…
Larry Watson is the author of Montana 1948, White Crosses, Orchard, Sundown, Yellow Moon, and others novels. He has published stories and poems in Gettysburg Review, New England Review, North American Review, and other journals and quarterlies. His essays and book reviews have appeared in the Los Angeles Times, the Read more…
Called the noir poet laureate in the Huffington Post and a hard-boiled poet by NPR’s Maureen Corrigan, Reed Farrel Coleman is the former executive vice president of Mystery Writers of America. He has published thirteen novels in three series and one stand-alone, Tower, co-authored by award-winning Irish author Ken Bruen. Read more…
Lisa Wheeler has written 17 books for children including Dino-Hockey, Sailor Moo: Cow at Sea, When Pigs Fly and Mammoths on the Move. Awards include the Michigan Library Association’s 2004 Mitten Award for Old Cricket, the 2005 Missouri Building Block Award and the 2006-2007 South Carolina Picture Book Award for Read more…
Lisa Rondinelli Albert grew up in Milwaukee where she spent countless hours at Finney Library. Lisa’s most recent nonfiction book, Stephenie Meyer: Author of the Twilight Saga (Enslow 2009), is the very first biography of Stephenie Meyer. Her other books with Enslow include, Lois Lowry: The Giver of Stories and Read more…
Ann Angel has written many young adult biographies including the forthcoming Janis Joplin, Rise Up Singing (Abrams 2010). She served as contributing editor for the highly acclaimed Such a Pretty Face, Short Stories About Beauty and is currently working with her daughter, Amanda Angel, to edit a series of essays Read more…