Kelly Holden
A Cincinnati, Ohio, native, Kelly Holden earned a degree in journalism at Franklin College in Indiana and had always dreamed of publishing a novel. She had written short stories, novels, and wannabe books. But this is her first published book, which she started as a cathartic exercise to process the grief of losing her husband, Nick, to leukemia in 2013. Since then, she has shared her journey with many and hopes this book will help others heal from tragedy and loss.
Kelly was blessed to find love again and shares her life with her husband, Keith, their four wonderful children, and a dog. She loves to travel any chance she can and spends her free time reading, attending concerts, and hosting pool parties and cookouts for friends and family.
She attended Salmon P. Chase College of Law at Northern Kentucky University and is an attorney. She proudly lives in Cincinnati, and is a fan of the Cincinnati Bengals, Cincinnati Reds, and FC Cincinnati.
Terry Ahwal is a native of Palestine who lived under Israeli occupation until 1972, when as a teenager, she was sent to live with her uncles in Detroit. She was born in Ramallah, Palestine, where her mother and maternal grandparents relocated after being forced to leave their home in Yaffa in 1948.
She holds a Bachelor of Arts degree from the University of Michigan, as well as certifications in leadership training from Notre Dame University, Michigan Political Leadership Program, and Michigan Leadership Program. Now retired, she served as the executive director of the American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee. She worked more than fifteen years in Wayne County (Michigan) government, where she rose to be an assistant county executive. She also worked as a Director of Development at Madonna University and Vice President of Development at the Detroit Medical Center.
She has broad experience in comprehensive fund development and worked on more than twenty national and local political campaigns, including the Bill Clinton for President campaign. She was a convention delegate for Clinton. Terry has extensive volunteer experiences in the United States and abroad. She is a former president of Habitat of Humanity in Detroit, vice president of the YMCA in Livonia, president of the American Federation of Ramallah, Palestine, and numerous board positions. She volunteers with four nonprofit agencies in the Detroit area. She also climbed Mount Kilimanjaro in September 2021.
Lifelong Michigander Bob Morris has spent his entire career involved in public service. He was a middle school teacher in the Detroit Public Schools before moving to Lansing in 1976 to work for the Michigan House of Representatives. For the next 38 years, he represented public institutions to the state legislature in the pursuit of setting good public policy for Michigan. He also worked for Gov. James Blanchard and the Michigan departments of transportation and education. During his time with the state, Bob fought for greater funding of Michigan’s transportation infrastructure and tougher high school graduation standards and promoted strong labor policies.
In the 1990s, he was Assistant County Executive to County Executive Edward McNamara, where he was a key player in establishing the Wayne County Airport Authority Act. Bob ended his career as a policy advisor to the Southeast Michigan Council of Governments.
He grew up in southeastern Michigan during the 1950s and 1960s at the knees of some of the greatest labor and political leaders in the state. He graduated from Birmingham Seaholm High School and earned a teaching degree and master’s in public administration from Western Michigan University. Bob wrote the nonfiction book, Built in Detroit: A story of the UAW, a Company and a Gangster, which was published in 2013.
He is retired and lives in Farmington Hills, Michigan, with his wife, Terry.
For more about Bob and this nonfiction book, check out www.builtindetroit.net. Books can be purchased at your local bookstore or online at Amazon.com or BarnesAndNoble.com.
Ashleigh Nowakowski was born in 1984 in southeastern Wisconsin. Growing up with a sibling who struggled with substances created a home environment that was less than ideal.
Once her brother found recovery, Ashleigh, along with her parents, created Your Choice to Live Inc., a non-profit organization specializing in drug and alcohol prevention education.
For more than a decade, Ashleigh has been speaking in middle and high schools educating parents, teachers, and community members, and working with high-risk youth. Ashleigh is the voice of many who are silently suffering through their siblings’ addiction.
Ashleigh has a Master of Public Administration, a prevention specialist certification, and is working towards her substance abuse counselor certificate.
Bill Wynne is retired and a white antiracist activist in the Rochester, New York, area. A first-time author of Understanding and
Combating Racism: My Path from Oblivious American to Evolving Activist, the foundation of Wynne’s experiential insights in this
memoir is premised on the human networks and friendships he developed in his business career and then his subsequent work in the
nonprofit sector for many years. This was further complemented through extensive decades-long engagement and leadership roles
with many church and community organizations. Bill’s social and racial justice activism is a lived example demonstrating the
importance and power of diverse and meaningful relationships which is one of the key through lines of his memoir.
Raised Catholic by second generation German and Irish parents and the oldest of six siblings, Bill had a full array of Catholic
education from the Sisters of St. Joseph in elementary school, to the Jesuits in high school, and then the Franciscans in college. He
eventually received his MBA at the more secular University of Rochester during his over thirty-year career in telecommunications.
Before moving on to the nonprofit sector for ten years, he walked the 500-mile-long pilgrimage in northern Spain known as the
Camino de Santiago. The physical, mental, and spiritual challenges he faced during this month-long trek were complicated by the
timing … departing ten days after “9/11” and returning shortly after the bombing of Afghanistan, the beginning of a twenty-year war.
After retiring in 2014, Bill immediately began searching for ways to be more “hands-on’ with social and racial justice activism as
well as to broaden his knowledge about racism. He read countless books and led book reviews, attended scores of programs and
conferences, and got educated on the disturbing racial history of this country that was not taught when he was growing up.
The timing could not have been better given the tragic Mr. Michael Brown police killing in St. Louis that year, then the political
transition from a Black to white President, the many resulting tragic impacts during that shift from the incident in Charlottesville, to
the Mr. George Floyd murder, and the Capitol insurrection to name just three. With his knowledge deepened, Bill got more active by
developing several racism awareness programs and antiracism advocacy.
Eventually by mid-2020, the “call” for Bill to tell his story came at him in several ways and he was led to tell the story of how he
came to understand the impact of whiteness through his life and his personal obliviousness.
Serving as essential guides on his most current pilgrimage were several Black friends most of whom Bill had just met over the
past seven years. Some thought his voice needed to be heard through the lens of a white Catholic male who went from virtually
complete unknowingness about the depths of racism (just like most whites) to become an informed and participative antiracism
advocate. One white friend in his Fr. Richard Rohr discussion group calls Bill a “contemplative activist.”
Bill’s most important support, however, emanates from the love and support of his wife of almost fifty years, Sandy, and their
three children and four grandchildren. Similar to the Camino but much more demanding, he could not have written this book without
them “walking” in solidarity on this challenging and ever-changing road to understanding and moving towards a full antiracism
commitment. A living example of his family’s participation was through the establishment in 2018 of the ‘Wynne-Strauss Fund for
Social and Racial Justice’ through the Rochester Community Foundation. The process has been established for grants from this fund
to be made for virtually the rest of this century and to assist with this, all proceeds from the sale of this memoir will be directed to the
fund.
Please consider joining him on this essential antiracism movement for our country, the world, and most importantly our children
and grandchildren. Bill can be reached at the website www.wewynneauthor.com or via email at william
wynneauthor@gmail.com.
Michael P. Balzano’s journey with dyslexia has not always been an easy one, especially as a child, when the learning disability went undiagnosed and led to an abundance of antisocial behavior. But with help, he learned how to navigate his way through the challenges dyslexia put in his way.
In Dyslexic: My Journey, Balzano tells his own tale, from the son of working-class immigrants in New Haven, Conn., who got kicked out of two schools and the military to a well-respected man who eventually served as a director of a federal agency and a counselor to U.S. presidents and CEOs of Fortune 100 companies.
Dyslexic also includes the testimonies of parents who have found various approaches to deal with their child’s learning disability. Balzano’s story illustrates that with the appropriate education or training, young people can capture the American Dream.
This book would make a great gift for anyone who has a child or who is someone living with dyslexia or similar learning disabilities. Look for it here or ask for it at your local bookstore.
Read more about Mike at his website.
See a KATU-TV (Portland, Ore.) interview with Mike here.
A member of the Heroes Writers Group, Fritz has written several books as well as had stories and articles published in local newspapers and magazines.
He was also a newspaper columnist in the early 1980s with the University Journal, one of the student newspapers at the University of Virginia. Then, Fritz was the marketing manager and editor for the advertising firm, Word Merchants. Later, Fritz designed, edited, produced, and wrote for the employee newsletter of Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Virginia. Recently, he has written and edited numerous IT technical articles and documents for the University of Virginia and other technical and marketing documentation in both the private and public sectors.
Fritz is a graduate of the University of Virginia’s McIntire Commerce School (1983) with a double concentration in Management Information Systems and Human Resource Management and an undeclared minor in Psychology. He pursued additional coursework in creative writing from UVa and resides in Shadwell, Virginia.
Gary D’Amato spent more than forty years as a sportswriter, the last 28 twenty-eight at the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. His assignments included eleven Olympic Games, twenty-six consecutive Masters Tournaments and three Super Bowls. He is a three-time Wisconsin sportswriter of the year year, and in 2017 was inducted into the Wisconsin Golf Hall of Fame. D’Amato’s writing has been honored by the Associated Press Sports Editors, Milwaukee Press Club, Wisconsin Newspaper Association and Golf Writers Association of America. He works for Killarney Golf Media, writing primarily for the website Wisconsin.Golf, and lives in Caledonia, Wisconsin, with his wife, Dee Dee.
Growing up in the football-rich state of Texas, Tim Chapman has spent most of his life around sports, both professionally and for pleasure. In addition to being a teacher and a coach, his true passion and expertise is in college football, where he’s written more than 100 preseason previews, covering teams all across the nation for websites like Wildcat Report and NationalChamps.net. He’s been a guest on several college football podcasts, in addition to hosting his own.
He is a graduate of Central Michigan University, with a masters from Eastern Michigan University, and currently lives in southeastern Michigan with his proudest accomplishments, his two daughters.
You can find his weekly college football comments on Twitter @champion_lit and on Facebook (@ChampionLiterature).
You can email him at championlitwriter@gmail.com.
Bonnie Atwood started out as a newspaper reporter for a daily newspaper, The Journal Messenger in Manassas, Virginia.
She is a freelance writer for Tall Poppies Consulting, specializing in legislative communication and advocacy. She has won state and national awards, and is a past president of Virginia Professional Communicators. She is the author of hundreds of articles, co-author of several books, and is the author of one book.
Bonnie is a human rights advocate, particularly in the area of
women’s rights and disability rights. She is a governmental consultant for the Virginia Retired Teachers Association and Virginia Voice.
“I have to feel that the world is becoming a better place. I want to feel
each day <BR>that I have had a part in the positive evolution of the human race. I want to leave a mark of value.”
Greg Stidham is a pediatric intensivist (intensive care unit physician) who retired in 2012 after a 32-year career in academic medicine. In retirement, he has resurrected his passion for literature and creative
writing. He has published a memoir, numerous pieces of short fiction, and creative nonfiction. But his real passion has been and is poetry.
Dr. Stidham grew up in Cleveland, Ohio, and attended the University of Notre Dame in South Bend, Indiana. He graduated with a degree in English while completing prerequisite courses to attend medical
school. He received his MD and pediatrics training at the University of Toledo College of Medicine in Toledo, Ohio, before continuing his training in pediatric critical care medicine at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, Maryland.
Following his training, Dr. Stidham joined the Department of Pediatrics at the University of Tennessee Health Sciences Center and LeBonheur Children’s Medical Center in Memphis. He started the Critical Care Program at LeBonheur and was Chief of the Division of Critical Care. Later in his tenure in Memphis, he started the hospital’s Pediatric Palliative Care Program and chaired the Biomedical Ethics Committee for more than a decade.
After twenty-eight years at the children’s hospital in Memphis, Dr. Stidham moved to Kingston, Ontario, where he assumed the position of Professor of Pediatrics at Queen’s University and Kingston Health Sciences Center. He currently serves as a volunteer grief counselor for bereaved parents through Bereaved Families of Ontario. He continues to live and write in Kingston with his wife, Pam, and Dexter, the last survivor of their ever-evolving pack of rescue dogs.
An accomplished writer, Dr. Stidham has published a memoir, numerous pieces of short fiction, and creative nonfiction. But his real passion is writing poetry. His books include the memoir, Blessings and Sudden Intimacies: Musings of a Pediatric Intensivist (PathBinder Publishing 2021), and a poetry chapbook, Doctoring in Nicaragua (Finishing Line Press 2021).
Born to Holocaust survivors in Cincinnati, Ohio, and raised in New York City, Dr. Michael Simon’s childhood was greatly affected by the pain and suffering his parents had encountered. When he was 13, his father died unexpectedly, hurtling him into a whirlwind of anger and depression. He barely made it into college. But in his second year at C.W. Post College, he discovered psychology and began to understand his emotions, how they were shaped, and how to manage them.
Overcoming those early setbacks, he graduated with high honors and went directly into his clinical psychology doctoral studies.
He received his doctorate in School, Community, Clinical Psychology from Hofstra University, where he specialized in Cognitive Behavioral Approaches to Treatment. He also holds certificates from the Institute of Rational Psychotherapy and from the Milton Errikson Institute. In addition, he is recognized as a Qualified Psychologist from the Association of State and Provisional Psychology Boards.
Dr. Simon is a member of both the American and Washington, D.C., Psychological Associations and is proud to have served a term as president of the Nassau County Psychological Association. He worked for New York State’s office of Mental Retardation and Developmental Disabilities, is a former member of the New York Psychological Association, and was also employed by the Salvation Army within its programs for juvenile delinquency. His private practice began in 1976.
Along the way, he learned to accept that each of us is a work in progress, from our first day until our last, and this understanding has become a fundamental part of his teaching approach to psychotherapy. Dr. Simon believes that each of us needs to do our emotional work each and every day, continuing to learn from our experiences to stay focused on being an adult.
During his 43-year career as a clinical psychologist, Dr. Simon tried to employ those fundamental ideals in his activities outside of his practice, and continues to do so now as he keeps moving forward along the Experience Road to Life. He enjoys hiking and serves as a hike leader with numerous hiking clubs. He also enjoys photography, sports, and science fiction. Having recently relocated to the Washington, D.C., area, with his wife, Maria, he is excited to further explore the region’s stunning natural areas and endless museums. He also has two sons and two grandsons.
He invites you to learn more about him, his work, and his adventures at his website, DrMichaelJSimonPsychologist.com, and his blog, Drmjsimon51.medium.com.
John Bukowski is an accomplished writer in both fiction and nonfiction. His short stories have been published in numerous notable venues such as Dark Secrets, Makarelle, and Land Beyond the World. In a previous life, he wrote hundreds of medical publications, including handbooks, websites, and radio scripts, translating technical topics for the general public. He leverages his expertise in scientific research and public health in his debut novel, Project Suicide, blendingmedical authenticity with suspenseful fiction for an exciting ride.
When he isn’t tapping his computer keyboard, he’s tapping his feet to music, singing pop,Broadway, and opera–in multiple languages. Originally from Detroit, he resides in easternTennessee with his wife and a dysfunctional dog named Alfie.
Earle Kirkbride was born on a dairy farm in upstate New York in the 1920s and started his education in a one-room country schoolhouse. He enlisted in the U.S. Navy just before his 18th birthday, and after discharge, earned a chemistry degree from St. Lawrence University in Canton, New York.
After exploring several occupational fields, his professional life was linked for decades to the U.S.Navy, first as a technical writer at the Naval Ordnance Test Station at China Lake, California. He eventually became head of the Technical Information Division and was the first Director of Navy Technical Information at the Naval Research Laboratory in Washington, D.C. When he retired in 1985, he was presented the Navy Civilian Service Award.
After retirement, Earle traveled extensively and indulged his interest in cowboy life. He volunteered for assignments with the U.S. Forest Service and was able to play cowboy in Wyoming, Montana, Colorado, Oregon, Washington and Utah.
During this time, he wrote ranch-related magazine articles and a nonfiction book about his late wife’s experiences in Japan as the first American woman to be part of a team auditing the assets of the Bank of Japan immediately after World War II.
Ranch Legacy is Earle’s first novel, and it reflects his love for the people and places of the American West.
Kyle Willis studied communications, business, and creative writing at Hanover College, where he had several poems and short stories published in Kennings Literacy Journal.
When he wasn’t competing for the Hanover College track and field team, studying, or working, he was busy writing stories. While the Columbus, Indiana, resident is a supply chain associate at Fastenal Co., his true passion is storytelling.
Sandy Adams was born in Seymour, Indiana, and raised on a Jackson County farm between the small towns of Freetown and Spraytown. Living on a 200-acre farm with only neighbor boys made her a tomboy. And growing up in the sparsely populated area also caused her to develop an active and vivid imagination.
A graduate of Freetown High School and a resident of Trafalgar, Sandy has held down forty-two jobs, including thirty-two different lines of work, from janitor to residential home builder, substitute teacher, secretary, beautician, and many more. She contributed columns to the Indian Creek Scout, a weekly newspaper, in the 1990s.
A 4-H club leader for more than forty years, Sandy is a member of a garden club, Trafalgar United Methodist Church, Moving Forward with God, and carried the Olympic Torch during the 1996 Atlanta Olympic Torch Relay.
She has a cosmetology degree and also enjoys crocheting, vegetable and flower gardens, writing poems for her own pleasure, singing in the church choir, and drawing.
She was married for fifty-four years to the “love of her life,” Coy, who passed away in 2021. She has two sons, two granddaughters, three great-grandchildren, and a stepgreat-granddaughter.
Having celebrated her seventy-sixth birthday earlier this year, one of her
bits of advice is: “You’re never too old to do something in your life. Find your passion and make it happen!”
One Crazy Connection is her first book.
Ritu Anand started writing when she could hold a pencil, but life kept getting in the way. For the past four years, she has chosen Writing as her career. She draws her inspiration from nature around her and her scripture – Sri Guru Granth Sahibjee.
When she sat down to write Kara’s Dreams, her pen flowed its ink onto paper, as a river floods its banks. The beautiful verse within the scripture that guided her story provides – Pavan Guru, Paani Pita, Mata Dharadh Mahat, Divas Raat Duii Dayee Daya, Khaileh Sagal Jagat. It means the Wind is the Guru. Water is the Father. Earth is the Mother. Day and Night are caretakers. All the elements – Wind, Water, Earth, Night and Day work in concert to enable creatures to play and enjoy this playground called Earth.
Ritu Anand lives in Sarasota, Florida with her loving husband. Her interests include reading, writing, singing Indian classical music, dancing to Bollywood music, traveling and playing golf.
Shelley Larkin was born and raised in Southern California and resides in San Diego. She tells herself this is a dream come true to be able to walk on the sand and smell the glorious salt sea air. The ocean inspires Shelley, and while walking she delves into multiple story ideas.
Pursuing her writing ambitions is like starting an encore career, according to Shelley, having started later rather than sooner in life. Before becoming an almost full-time writer, she pretended to be a normal adult by holding down jobs that included bank teller, airline reservationist, retail sales, and owner of a successful event planning company.
Since doing so, she has co-written the children’s books The SockKids Say No to Bullying and The SockKids Stop a Bully, stories inspired by her own experiences dealing with a bully and her desire to help others learn how to overcome the trauma. She also co-authored Nick Knitley and The SockKids, which offers another life lesson with the help of the talking socks.
Shelley’s most recent accomplishment is the award-winning The Lizard Who Loves a Blizzard that tells the tale of an adorable lizard from Down Under who dreams of snow on Christmas Day. Mom’s Choice Awards honored the book for excellence.
And now, Shelley introduces her first solo endeavor, an engaging new adventure, Princess Investigators: The Case of the Missing Crown, that follows sisters Eva and Lucy and their insatiable curiosity to solve mysteries.
Kimberly S. Hoffman, children’s author, not only writes stories with themes of overcoming obstacles, thinking outside the box regarding disabilities, self-sacrifice and more, but she speaks on these topics at schools, libraries and civic clubs, often incorporating dance into the programs.
She grew up in Columbus, Indiana, where trips to the library happened nearly every week of her childhood. She loves to read and thinks the library is a wonderful place to be. She knows that books can teach us, transport us to new realms, inspire us, cause us to cry, or make us fall over laughing.
Kimberly loves to dance and can often be found dancing around her house (and sometimes in public), creating choreography to whatever song is playing. She works a fulltime job at Cummins in Columbus and also creates essential oil diffuser jewelry, which she sells through Queen Bee Designs.
Her previous titles are:
Emma’s Dancing Day
Sigmund Stanley Spider Squared
Cleo and Roger Discover Columbus, Indiana
Pete the Brave
She is married to Paul J. Hoffman, an author and publisher. Together, they have six children, one grandchild, and many grand-fur and feather babies.
Be sure to find Kimberly on Facebook – Kimberly S Hoffman – Author, Twitter @SpiderAuthor, Instagram @kimberlyhoffman_author or at her blog – kimberlyhoffmanblog.wordpress.com, and invite her to
speak to your group. She can also be reached at khoffmanauthor@gmail.com.
Angela Childs loves children, art, and music. She loves helping children expand their imaginations while remaining grounded in who they are as individuals. It is important to her that children know who they are, where they came from, and where they are going. Angela hopes that, by reading this story, children will think about their family histories and customs and share them with others. “Always know that no matter where you came from, you can always go somewhere; just use your imagination,” she says.
A retired music and art teacher, Ms. Childs has lived in many places, but she calls the Redwood Forest of Northern California home.
LYNN COULTER is part owner of a pizza restaurant and co-producer of tribute concerts for theatres and festivals. This is her inaugural children’s book about her three rescue cats. She was, for many years, an executive assistant for a research company located in the city of Mississauga, Ontario Canada before embarking on a self-employed venture in the Tourism and Hospitality industry in Toronto.
Lynn resides in the town of Bobcaygeon, part of the Kawartha Lakes, with her husband Paul, their son Bob and his wife Angela, son Bill and, last but not least, the stars of her story, the impish and daring Furgy, the sweet and sensitive Abby and their guardian angel and loving companion Holly.
Boston and the Bullfrogs was penned by Joe “Biggie” Silvestri, who was born in a small town north of Boston. Although he’s back in Revere, Massachusetts, he moved to Richmond, Virginia, for a time, and that’s where he found his dream dog, Boston, a baby bulldog who inspired him to write this story. Biggie has always loved telling stories and at one time in his life his friends called him “Joe Stories.”
He credits his creative side to his dad who always told Biggie and his three brothers bedtime stories. He credits his writing to his mom, who always loved to write poetry. Biggie is a father to one son and married his high school sweetheart, Kelly.
He hopes to bring a positive message to all who hears his story.
