Authors appearing at the 10th Annual Writers on the River Book Fair
Deborah Diesen - New York Times Best-Selling Author of The Pout-Pout Fish. Deborah Diesen is the author of The Pout-Pout Fish, a rhyming children’s book illustrated by Dan Hanna and published this spring by Farrar Straus Giroux. This fall, the book spent two weeks on the New York Times best seller list for picture books. Debbie is currently the grants manager for a small nonprofit organization, and she has previously worked as a reference librarian and a bookseller. She lives with her husband and two sons in Grand Ledge.
David Petersen won the 2007 Russ Manning Award for Most Promising Newcomer. In 2008, David won the Eisner’s for Best Publication for Kids (Mouse Guard Fall 1152 & Winter 1152) and Best Graphic Album – Reprint (Mouse Guard Fall 1152 Hardcover). He is the creator of the Mouse Guard series and is excited to be working on projects he dearly loves doing. David and his wife Julia reside in Michigan with their dog Autumn.
Michigan Reads! Author Nancy Shaw is no stranger to Writers on the River, but this year we welcome her back as the author of Raccoon Tune which has been chosen as the 2008 Michigan Reads! children’s book! About Racoon Tunes, “This is perfect from start to finish and impossible to read only once.” -Kirkus Reviews See
Tom Stanton is the author of four baseball books: Ty and The Babe, which is his latest; Hank Aaron and the Home Run That Changed America, a Reader’s Digest pick of the month; The Road to Cooperstown, a poignant true story about a father-and-son road trip; and the Tiger Stadium memoir, The Final Season, which was named best baseball book of the year as winner of both the Casey and Dave Moore awards. He also edited the Detroit Tigers Reader.
Tom Grace, Author of The Secret Cardinal. Don’t miss Tom Grace! Tom Grace’s novels feature intricately woven plots and break-neck pace. They are infused with technology that is either state-of-the-art or just over the horizon. His scenarios often seem eerily prescient, so much so, that Bird of Prey was cited in a National Security Briefing on the Chinese space program and space-based weaponry. As both an author and architect, Grace lives by Mies van der Rohe’s famous aphorism: God is in the details. Painstaking research underpins each of his novels, creating the factual foundations that support the stories. Tom Grace resides in Michigan with his wife, five children, and a yellow Labrador in a modernist home of his own design.
Children’s Authors
Shutta Crum was a librarian for almost twenty-five years. In 2002, she won the Michigan Library Association Children’s Services Award of Merit as youth librarian of the year. She has authored nine children’s books and promises more!
Maria Dismondy encourages children to celebrate their uniqueness in her book, Spaghetti in a Hot Dog Bun.
Cynthia Furlong Reynolds is the author of a series of adult histories, as well as a dozen picture books. Her first Young Adult novel, the semi-autobiographical Across The Reach, was published in the spring of 2007. Her books include: H is for Hoosier: Indiana Alphabet, Winner of Young Hoosier Book Award, 2004-05.
Mark & Brenda Janowiecki - First time authors Mark and Brenda Janowiecki bring their book Mommy, What Does the Tooth Fairy Do With My Tooth?, an enchanting story about the Tooth Fairy’s job and how she helps Santa Claus.
Karen E. Kerr wants to share her well-received Jimmie’s Adventures and her second book Can You See Me? with you.
Tara Michener resides in Novi, MI with her husband Jason. She enjoys working with the youth group at church and writing stories and poetry. She is currently working on more projects for children and teenagers. Michener graduated from Madonna University with a degree in journalism and public relations.
Cyd Moore - “The works of Cyd Moore are an excellent example of the beauty of illustration... her paintings and drawings address not the limitations of the commercial medium, but its limitless bounds. She appears to be an all-too-rare illustrator who demands nothing short of art from her work.”
-- Dr. Christopher Payne, Professor of Art, Huntington College
Jan Wahl graduated from Cornell University and attended the University of Copenhagen on a Fulbright Scholarship. Mr. Wahl has published more than 100 children’s books, many of them illustrated by such renowned artists as Maurice Sendak and Trina Schart Hyman.
Wong Herbert Yee ( DEMONSTRATOR ) is a favorite at Writers on the River. His Fireman Small series is a bestseller and we welcome him back with his latest new Mouse and Mole book.
Cheryl Zuzo lives in Southeastern Michigan with her two children. She holds a Masters degree in education and teaches first grade.
YA Authors
David Anthony & Charles David (DEMONSTRATOR)
Knightscares is a team effort between best friends David Anthony and Charles David. They have been planning, plotting, scheming, and writing stories for almost as long as they can remember. In Knightscares, they combine their favorite things: their families, and adventure and scares to create exciting, spooky stories for young readers everywhere.
Larry Cole has been an airline pilot for over 38 years. He is a graduate of the University of Michigan, and the inventor of educational games for children. His book, Don’t Blame Me! Prepare to Exceed Beyond Your Wildest Dreams is aimed at parents and young adults.
Mark Crilley was raised in Detroit, where he started drawing almost as soon as he could hold a pencil in his hand. After graduating from Kalamazoo College in 1988, where he was befriended by children’s author David Small, he taught English in Taiwan and Japan for nearly five years. His first comic series, Akiko, was published in 1995, leading Random House to invite him to adapt it as a series of chapter books. His latest graphic novel series, Miki Falls, was chosen by the American Library Association as one of the “Great Graphic Novels for Teens” for 2007. His work has been featured in USA Today, Entertainment Weekly, and on CNN Headline News. He lives in Novi, Michigan with his wife, Miki, and children, Matthew and Mio.
Susan Ruellan teaches English as a second language at the university and community college level. The Lost Treasure of Finistere is Susan’s first novel.
Non-Fiction
Lori Adams is a professional vocalist, inspirational speaker, certified personal trainer, songwriter, and author. She has been a favorite National Anthem soloist for the Detroit Tigers Baseball Club for over 20 years. Most importantly, she is the mother of eleven children: 2 biological and 9 adopted from 4 different Russian orphanages. Lori speaks to various groups and organizations about her adoption. Through her stories and music, she can touch others on an intensely emotional level.
John E. Craven is a Michigan resident and a Vietnam veteran. He is an active member of the D.O.V.E. Fund (Development of Vietnam Endeavors), a non-profit organization dedicated to helping the poorest areas and people of Vietnam. John has recorded his memoirs in a book titled A Legacy of Hope - One Veteran’s Journey: Turning My Disadvantage to an Advantage for Others. All proceeds from this book go toward the cost of building a Jr. High School in Vietnam to honor John’s three fallen comrades: George C. Davenport, Jr., Wayne Robert Elkins, Sr., and William F. McLaughlin and their families.
Gary Diehl’s vivid descriptions of post-war suburban Detroit will have you basking in the memories of your own adolescence.
Doc Fletcher took his first canoe trip in 1978 on the Pére Marquette River and gets back into a canoe whenever possible. Weekend Canoeing in Michigan is his first book.
Patti Graham has been teaching for 22 years and is a three time recipient of the Teacher of the Year Award. ...And This Is Why We Teach is a tribute to teachers everywhere.
Dawn Hall (DEMONSTRATOR) Entrepreneur of Cozy Homestead Publishing, she self-published her first cookbook in 1996 to raise money for her husband’s brain cancer treatments, and since then has sold over 1,000,000 copies. Awards include Certificate of Merit from The Writer’s Digest 1998, Best Cookbook of the Year (North American Bookdealers Exchange) for Busy People’s Low-Fat Cookbook 1996 Best Cookbook of the Year (North American Bookdealers Exchange) and one of the “Best Cookbooks in Ohio” for Down Home Cookin’ Without the Down Home Fat 2002, Pinnacle Cookbook of the Year (NABE) for 2nd Serving Low-Fat Cookbook (Note: No longer in print).
Leslie Mertz is a freelance writer and lifelong resident of Michigan. When she is not writing, she is teaching. She holds a Ph.D. in biology and teaches summer, outdoor courses at a field station for Eastern Michigan University.
Deborah Saul is the the editor of The Monroe Evening News, writing a weekly column and overseeing editorial content. Jim Dombrowski is the design editor, overseeing layout and visual quality of the daily newspaper, books and non-newspaper products. Together they have launched a new quarterly magazine, Monroe: Gateway to the Goodlife.
William Murphy is a lifelong resident of Michigan and a Vietnam veteran who served in the Marine Corps. He’s been riding motorcycles for 35 years. His recommended routes in Motorcycling Across Michigan take the motorcycle rider through rural countrysides and small towns on roads that William Least Heat Moon called “blue highways”. He spent a career in the Michigan Department of Natural Resources and later, the Department of Environmental Quality. He currently has four books in print and looks forward to two more in the near future.
Ralph Naveaux
retired as the Director of the Monroe County Historical Museum. He is a lifelong resident of Monroe, former history and French teacher, and has written numerous scholarly publications.
Eric Olsen - E.J. Olsen comes from a long line of sturdy Michigan folk, and has lived in the Detroit area for most of his life. He works as a freelance writer and editor and is currently writing his first novel.
Marcel Poupard
is a 1967 graduate of Monroe Catholic Central and a graduate of Eastern Michigan University. He has four more local history reference books in the works.
Frank Stiles was a detective sergeant with the Toledo Police Division and the lead detective during the investigation of the murders committed by the subjects of the book Evil Brothers. He takes the readers through every step of the investigation, vividly describing the brutal abductions, rapes, and torturous murders.
Tom Treece is the author of two books: the first, The Ghost Closet: Return to Vietnam on the Wings of D.O.V.E., is about his 2001 return to build schools in Vietnam. Tom’s second book - But What Do I Know? Volume I - is a seven-year compilation of his weekly newspaper columns.
Fiction
Lori & Tony Carrington are best-selling, multi-award-winning authors with over 40 published titles and three million copies in print worldwide.
David Claasen writes part-time. His full-time calling is to give spiritual leadership and pastoral care to a group of people called the Mayfair-Plymouth Congregational Church in Toledo, Ohio. Dave and his wife Diann make their home in southeastern Michigan. They have two grown children and a growing number of grandchildren. He also enjoys photography, ventriloquism, tending his flock of white homing pigeons, and maintaining an aquarium and fish pond.
Paul Harrington an automotive parts sales manager for the past 27 years, lives in Michigan with his wife and 2-year-old daughter. Paul enjoys his family, great vacations, computers, football and writing science fiction.
Gail Gaymer Martin - Life-long Michigan resident, Gail Gaymer Martin is a multi-award-winning novelist and author of Writers Digest: Writing the Christian Romance. She writes women’s fiction, including romance and romantic suspense for Steeple Hill and Barbour Publishing. Gail has forty published novels with over two-and-a half million books in print. She is a full-time novelist, popular keynote speaker, and workshop presenter across the United States and abroad.
