Kathi is a graduate of the Vermont College MFA Program in Writing for Children and Young Adults. In addition to writing, she works part-time as an occupational therapist. In the past, she has worked with teens in crisis and has publications in a variety of occupational therapy journals and books. Read more
Tom Montag is a middlewestern poet and essayist who is interested in place, the way place shapes us, and the way we are shaped by it. Curlew: Home is his memoir of growing up on an Iowa farm. The Idea of the Local is his collection of essays about people Read more
Lori Handeland has written nearly fifty novels, novellas and short stories in several genres–historical, contemporary, series and paranormal romance, as well as urban fantasy–for such publishers as: Dorchester, Kensington, Harlequin, St. Martin’s Press, Harper-Collins and Simon and Schuster. She is a New York Times, USA Today, Waldenbooks and Bookscan Bestselling Read more
Janet Piehl is a children’s librarian and author. A former editor of children’s books, she has written more than ten nonfiction books on topics ranging from Harry Houdini to chipmunks. She currently works at the Wilmette Public Library outside of Chicago.
CANDACE DECKER has worked as a professional actress, singer, storyteller and taught acting workshops for children for the past 22 years. As a storyteller she has served as an artist-in-residence in the Chicago-area school system, performed for children throughout Maryland with BOOKPALS, and as a volunteer reader in the public Read more
Kris Radish fell in love with words as a little girl when she discovered the joy of reading about Nancy Drew. By the beginning of eighth grade she had read every book in her local Wisconsin library and knew she was going to be a writer. With almost a million Read more
Ellen Kort served as Wisconsin’s first Poet Laureate from 2000-2004. She has traveled widely and for decades has been committed to poetry, teaching, giving public readings, and facilitating workshops and retreats. She offers poetry workshops at medical conventions for physicians and psychologist’s. She has a passion for the natural process Read more
Jack is the president of 800-CEO-READ, now an independent company, but longtime partner of the Harry W. Schwartz Bookshops. Hired twenty-five years ago by the late David Schwartz to promote business and computer books to the Milwaukee business community, Jack used his considerable sales skills and innate business acumen to grow Read more
NPR commentator Beth Finke is the author of Hanni and Beth: Safe & Sound” (Blue Marlin Publications) a winner of the ASPCA’s Henry Bergh Award for children’s literature. Her memoir “Long Time, No See” (University of Illinois Press) is featured on the Book Sense Top Ten list of University Press books and Read more
“I always felt I was born into the wrong century,” Patty Pfitsch says. Inspired by her favorite childhood books, Caddie Woodlawn and Little House in the Big Woods, she persuaded her husband to move to a 100 year-old farmhouse in the forgotten hills of southwestern Wisconsin, an hour away from Read more