Sharon McElhone is the author of five books: The Bride’s Daughter, a collection of short stories (2005); Hunger in the Canyon (2006), a collection of poems and semi-finalist for the Crab Orchard Series in Poetry First Book Award competition; A Year in the Life of Pallas Villalobos (2010), a novel; My Baby Talking Mouth, a collection of poems (2011); Hide All Things That Make Her Human, a collection of poems (2013). From Hunger in the Canyon, “Ciara: Courtship” was a finalist for Atlanta Review’s International Poetry Competition 2008. She co-founded Orchard Valley Review, a San Jose State University student run magazine and co-edited Mary Andrade’s Dia De Los Muertos-A Passion for Life, which won “Best Documentary” at the Los Angeles International Latino Book Awards. Her articles have appeared in La Oferta Review, Orchard Valley Review, The Cupertino Courier, The Sunnyvale Sun; and her fiction has appeared in The New Short Fiction Series, Los Angeles, and Label Me Latina/o. Notable figures interviewed include Mayor Chuck Reed, Former Vice-Mayor and Supervisor Cindy Chavez, Vice-Mayor Madison Nguyen, Lt. Gov. Gavin Newsom, Representative Zoe Lofgren, Air Force pilot Kim Campbell, and Supervisor Dave Cortese. She was the keynote speaker for La Rosa, a program dedicated to increasing college attendance among Latina students. Sharon is half Ecuadorian and half Irish and lives in Silicon Valley with her husband and children. Currently, she is working on a collection of essays and poems. www.sharonmcelhone.com
Joan Reinhardt Reiss
Joan Reinhardt Reiss has a renaissance resume as: scientist; public policy advocate for environment and breast cancer; and an award winning marathon runner. Today she is a writer, traveler, cyclist, and skier. Her NPR radio commentaries, travel tales, and writing are on her website jrreisswriter.com
Currently she’s writing a profile and biography of a Canadian physician who first used lumpectomy and radiation therapy instead of mastectomy for breast cancer and also initiated the radiation cure of Hodgkin’s disease. “Vera Peters, MD – Quiet Feminist, Radical Innovator.”
KJ Landis
KJ Landis is her first success story. She lost 50 pounds in 60 days and has kept it off for years. Daily research and coaching has fueled her to help others dive into their own better existences.
KJ Landis is an educator, former model, health and life coach, photographer, and role model. She has inspired many with her holistic approach to health and wellness. Her ability to communicate effectively, compassionately, and with patience has helped build the self esteem and attainment of others’ life goals.
She developed a guide based upon her post weight and fat loss journey called Superior Self’s Guide to Wellness from Within. It is simple and effective in energy rejuvenation and fat loss. The guide provides a guide to overall wellness and vitality. She teaches wellness workshops all over the San Francisco area based upon the guide.
Currently KJ Landis lives and works in San Francisco with her husband and two children.
Her book is available now! Superior Self: Reaching Superior Health For A Superior Self, published by Balboa Press. Available at
https://www.amazon.com/dp/1452521352/ref=cm_sw_r_awd_UVClub134AYDK
http://m.barnesandnoble.com/w/superior-self-kj-landis/1120403615?ean=9781452521350
http://bookstore.balboapress.com/Author/Default.aspx?BookworksSId=SKU-000939112
Websites and social media:
superiorselfwithkjlandis.com
SuperiorSelf channel on YouTube
SuperiorSelf on Twitter
superiorself on Instagram
Superior Self with KJ Landis on Facebook
KJ Landis on LinkedIn
Colleen Rae
Colleen Rae has finished her fifth novel and is busy rewriting. She works for a newspaper in Saugatuck, MI writing business and human interest articles. Living in Western Michigan near Lake Michigan with her husband Larry and cat Bubba Bear gives her lots of inspiration.
New email address: raecol35@gmail.com
Website: colleenraenovels.com
Henri Bensussen
Henri Bensussen writes from the California’s Mendocino Coast. She has published poems and stories in various journals and anthologies, including Blue Mesa Review, Skin to Skin, Sinister Wisdom, So to Speak, and Bridges: A Jewish Feminist Journal. Her themes are love and relationships, aging, and the comic aspects of the human condition from the viewpoint of a birder, biologist, and gardener. She earned a B.A. in Biology at the University of California, Santa Cruz, and serves on the board of the Mendocino Coast Writers Conference, and manages its blog (blog.mcwc.org). Her first chapbook of poems, “Earning Colors,” will be published by Finishing Line Press in November 2014.
Martha Conway
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Martha Conway’s historical novel, THIEVING FOREST, has been called “extraordinary” by the Akron Beacon Journal and “hypnotic” by Kirkus Reviews. Her first novel 12 BLISS STREET was nominated for an Edgar Award, and her short fiction has appeared in The Iowa Review, The Mississippi Review, The Quarterly, Folio, Puerto del Sol, Carolina Quarterly, and other publications. She graduated from Vassar College and received her master’s degree in Creative Writing from San Francisco State University. She has reviewed fiction for the San Francisco Chronicle, The San Francisco Review of Books, and The Iowa Review, and is a recipient of a California Arts Council fellowship in Creative Writing. Martha teaches creative writing at UC Berkeley Extension and at Stanford University’s Online Writer’s Studio, and lives in San Francisco.
Web site: www.marthaconway.com |
Ana Manwaring
Ana Manwaring writes a monthly column , In the Shadow of Sonoma Mountain, for the Petaluma Post, teaches creative writing through Napa Valley College and is a founding editor at JAM Manuscript Consulting. She’s the Treasurer for Sisters in Crime NorCal and is active in Redwood and Napa Valley Writers. Ana’s thriller, The Hydra Effect is currently being considered for publication. Early reviews say: The Hydra Effect is a great first novel—a romantic thriller that takes PI JadeAnne Stone and her dog Pepper deep into Mexico and deeper into trouble. Funny, sexy, hip, tragic—and replete with gorgeous scenes of gracious dining, The Hydra Effect gets an extra jolt from Manwaring’s deft unraveling of a complex criminal conspiracy—Clark Lohr, The Devil’s Kitchen. Please visit Ana at www.anamanwaring.com.
Terye Balogh
27 years with the Santa Clara County Library District, and still going strong. I am an adult librarian at the Milpitas Public Library,
and have been the facilitator of our book group since 2004. What is better than a library book group? A library book group
that has authors to speak to the group and to the public! I have been very fortunate to have had Khaled Hosseni as my first
author visit, and just last June Karen Joy Fowler was our guest speaker. Between those authors, we have had 20 other authors as a guest
of our book group, which opens our author events to the public.
I am passionate about reading, and about showcasing authors at our library. I am always looking for authors to highlight within our library
system and our community.
Renate Stendhal
Renate Stendhal, Ph.D. is the author of the award-winning photobiography “Gertrude Stein: In Words and Pictures” (Algonquin, 1994). She is a German-born, Paris-educated writer and writing coach in the San Francisco Bay Area. In Paris, she worked as a cultural correspondent and translated works by Gertrude Stein, Adrienne Rich, Susan Griffin, Audre Lorde et al into German. Her multimedia show “In the Beginning…of the End,” toured throughout Europe in the 80s and was produced as an award-winning film by the Canadian Film Board. Her essays appeared in many international magazines. Among her publications are “Lesbian Marriage: A Love & Sex Forever Kit” (New Leaf, 2014, www.lesbianloveforever.com), co-authored with her life companion Kim Chernin, and “True Secrets of Lesbian Desire” (North Atlantic, 2003). Renate also works in private practice as a relationship expert and coach for couples and individuals.
Her Gertrude Stein blog “Why Do Something If It Can Be Done” is at http://quotinggertrudestein.com. Her cultural reviews are on http://scene4.com. She blogs for Epochalips Magazine and the Huffington Post.
Carla Danziger
Retired from writer/editor position at a national non-profit in Washington, DC, Carla is the author of HIDDEN FALLS, a romantic suspense novel set in Norway (published 2004; Kindle 2013). She edits memoirs and is a contributing writer to the Norwegian American Weekly, a national newspaper based in Seattle. Carla divides her time between Albany, CA and McLean, VA.