Authors
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Paulo Coelho
Paulo Coelho, born and raised in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, is a Brazilian novelist known for employing rich symbolism in his depictions of the often spiritually motivated journeys taken by his characters. Coelho dropped out of law school in 1970 and traveled through South America, Mexico, North Africa, and Europe. In 1972 he returned home and began writing pop and rock music lyrics with Raul Seixas, a well-known Brazilian singer and songwriter. He worked for Polygram and CBS Records until 1980, when he embarked on new travels in Europe and Africa. It was during this trip that he walked the route of Santiago de Compostela, which formed the basis of his first book, O diário de um mago (1987), which was published in English as The Diary of a Magus in 1992 and was reissued as The Pilgrimage in 1995. In 1988 Coelho published O alquimista (The Alchemist), which ultimately became an international best-seller. His other notable works include The Valkyries, Eleven Minutes, Manual of The Warrior of Light, Manuscript Found in Accra, The Devil and Miss Prym, The Fifth Mountain, Veronika Decides to Die, and The Zahir. Source: Britannica
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Peter David
Peter Allen David (born September 23, 1956), often abbreviated PAD, is an American writer of comic books, novels, television, films and video games. His notable comic book work includes an award-winning 12-year run on The Incredible Hulk, as well as runs on Aquaman, Young Justice, Supergirl, Fallen Angel, Spider-Man, Spider-Man 2099, and X-Factor. His Star Trek work includes comic books, novels such as Imzadi, and co-creation of the New Frontier series. His other novels include film adaptations, media tie-ins, and original works, such as the Apropos of Nothing and Knight Life series. His television work includes series such as Babylon 5, Young Justice, Ben 10: Alien Force[5] and Nickelodeon's Space Cases, which he co-created with Bill Mumy.
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Robert Bloch
Robert Albert Bloch was born in Chicago, Illinois, the son of German-Jewish Americans. During the 1930s, he was an avid reader of Weird Tales magazine and H. P. Lovecraft in particular. He wrote to Lovecraft, who responded with advice on writing, and Bloch sold his first published short story, "The Feast in the Abbey" to Weird Tales when he was just seventeen. He continued to write for Weird Tales and went on to become one of its most popular authors, while also contributing to other magazines. In 1946, his first published novel, The Scarf, was released. He received the Hugo Award for Best Short Story in 1959 for “That Hell-Bound Train” (1958). Also in 1959, he published one of his best-known novels, Psycho, which was adapted for the screen in 1960 by Joseph Stefano, directed by Alfred Hitchcock. He wrote the screenplay for the movie The Night Walker (1964), and he also wrote three scripts for the television show Star Trek. Over the course of his career, he wrote hundreds of short stories and over twenty novels, mostly in the crime fiction, science fiction and, horror fiction genres.
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Anne Perry
Prolific London-born author of historical and socially conscious crime fiction.
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David Eddings
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D. E. Stevenson
Dorothy Emily Stevenson was a best-selling Scottish writer. She published more than 40 "light romantic novels" over a span of more than 40 years. D. E. Stevenson was born in Edinburgh in 1892; she was the daughter of one of the ‘lighthouse’ Stevensons (Robert Louis was her father’s first cousin) and lived in Scotland all her life. She did not go to school but was educated by a governess, starting to write stories when she was eight. Holidays were spent at North Berwick, where she was a keen golfer. In 1916 she married Major James Peploe (a nephew of the artist Samuel Peploe). After the First World War they lived in Bearsden near Glasgow and brought up two sons and a daughter. Dorothy wrote her first book in 1923 but her second did not appear for nine years. In 1934 she published Miss Buncle’s Book. Thereafter she wrote a novel a year, selling over four million copies of her books in Britain and three million in the USA. Among them were Miss Buncle Married in 1936 and The Two Mrs Abbotts in 1943. During the war the Peploes moved to Moffat; D.E. Stevenson died there in 1973.
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Gena Showalter
Gena Showalter is a bestselling author of over thirty books in paranormal and contemporary romances, as well as young adult novels. Her novels have appeared in Cosmopolitan Magazine, and Seventeen Magazine, and have been translated all over the world. Source: Goodreads.com "Gena Showalter (born 1975 in Oklahoma) is an American author in the genres of contemporary romance, paranormal romance, and young adult. Showalter sold her first book at the age of 27, and has published over 25 books." - Wikipedia
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Jane Donnelly
Jane Donnelly began earning her living as a writer as a teenage reporter. When she married the editor of the newspaper she freelanced for women's mags for a while. After she was widowed she and her 5 year old daughter moved to Lancashire. She turned to writing fiction to make a living while still caring for her daughter, she sold her first Mills & Boon romance novel as a hard-up singleparent in 1965. She wrote over 60 romance novels for Mills & Boon until 2000. Now she lives in a roses-round-the door cottage near Stratford upon Avon, with four dogs and assorted rescued animals. Besides writing she enjoys travelling, swimming, walking and the company of friends.
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Joan Holub
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Joan Johnston
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Kay Hooper
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Kurt Vonnegut
Kurt Vonnegut, Jr. was an American novelist who wrote works blending satire, black comedy, and science fiction, such as Slaughterhouse-Five (1969), Cat's Cradle (1963), and Breakfast of Champions (1973). He was known for his humanist beliefs as well as being honorary president of the American Humanist Association. He is widely considered one of the most influential American writers of the 20th century.
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Ruth Rendell
Ruth Barbara Rendell is an English crime author (<a href=http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ruth_Rendell>Wikipedia</a>).
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Sabrina Jeffries
Raised amidst the rubber plantations in Thailand with missionary parents, Sabrina Jeffries likes to say she rode to her bestselling success on the back of an elephant. In truth, Jeffries has earned numerous placements on the New York Times and USA Today lists with Regency historicals that readers savor for her trademark sexy blend of witty dialogue and enterprising characters. It’s no accident she has been dubbed “The Queen of the Sexy Regency Romance.” About that plantation business—living in the boonies of Thailand afforded Sabrina endless hours to read Jane Austen novels and other classics voraciously. Not surprisingly, back in the States, she went on to earn a doctorate in English literature from Tulane University—and a craving for Cajun food. While Sabrina is at ease with refined academia types, she enjoys using her literary skills to pen novels of romantic fiction. She sold her first book in 1991 and has 35 published novels to her credit. Whenever she struggles with a plot point, she shuts off the computer and tackles a jigsaw puzzle, and before long, bingo! Problem solved. Another stress-reliever for the inventive author: creating her popular Will and Jane’s Excellent Adventure comics. Displaying Sabrina’s fine-tuned sense of humor, the comics feature a William Shakespeare caricature figure and a Jane Austen action figure. Caffeine addict, Third Culture Kid, chocoholic, and popular novelist with more than six million books in print, Jeffries defies labels. Her biting humor and simultaneous warmth endear her to her 10,000 Facebook fans, Pinterest followers and loyal Goddess blog readers. At home in front of a crowd—any crowd (no really, just hand over the microphone and get ready for some fun)—Jeffries is a sought-after speaker, as evidenced by her 2010 gig as emcee for the National Romance Writers of America’s 30th Anniversary Awards Ceremony. While Sabrina treks through remote locales in the name of research and rubs elbows in the big cities with other industry professionals, she says her favorite destination is home. She lives in Cary, North Carolina, with her two best guys—husband, Rene, and adult son, Nick, who has inspired her to actively champion the cause of autistic children.
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Ann Maxwell
Ann (Elizabeth) Maxwell (born in Milwaukee, Wisconsin), also known as A.E. Maxwell and Elizabeth Lowell, has individually, and with co-author and husband Evan, written over 70 novels and one non-fiction book. These novels range from science fiction to historical fiction, and from romance to mystery to suspense (Evan, exclusively, has covered all kinds of crime - from local to international). Ann and Evan have been married for over 40 years. - Wikipedia
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Dorothy Garlock
Dorothy Garlock has more than 20 million books in print world wide. The author of 49 published books is a native Texan, but considers Clear Lake, Iowa her home since moving here with her husband Herb Garlock Sr. in 1955. The mother of two and grandmother of three started her book-writing career in 1976 after working for 14 years as bookkeeper/columnist for the local newspaper. Always an avid reader and history buff, her success as a novelist came as a complete surprise to her. She has been written about in almost every major newspaper, interviewed on numerous radio and television shows, baked biscuits the old-fashioned way on national television and was selected Oustanding Western writer for 1986. Dorothy Garlock's short stories, INTERLUDE IN BIG BEND and BENEATH THE MIDNIGHT SUN, were selected by Universal Press Syndicate to launch the series, DAY DREAMS. A chapter each day, ran in 57 major newspapers for one month. Dorothy Garlock was one of six authors selected to launch the popular LOVESWEPT LINE for Bantam Books. Dorothy Garlock's books have been translated into 18 different languages and are published in 36 different countries. She receives mail from all over the world. The plunge opening, and use of dialogue in Dorothy Garlock's book, A LOVE FOR ALL TIME, was used as an example in the textbook, Writing Romantic Fiction, by Helen Barnhardt, Writer's Digest Press. With more than 37 books still in print Dorothy Garlock's books have been consistently on the bestseller list, including NEW YORK TIMES, USA TODAY, and WASHINGTON POST. She had received 21 awards from various magazines and writer's groups. Warner Books has been her publisher since 1983.
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Garth Nix
Australian fantasy writer
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Guy de Maupassant
Guy de Maupassant, né le 5 août 1850 au château de Miromesnil près de Tourville-sur-Arques (France) et mort le 6 juillet 1893 dans le 16e arrondissement de Paris, est un écrivain et journaliste littéraire français. Lié à Gustave Flaubert et à Émile Zola, Maupassant a marqué la littérature française par ses six romans, dont Une vie en 1883, Bel-Ami en 1885, Pierre et Jean en 1887-1888, et surtout par ses nouvelles (parfois intitulées contes) comme Boule de Suif en 1880, les Contes de la bécasse (1883) ou Le Horla (1887). Ces œuvres retiennent l’attention par leur force réaliste, la présence importante du fantastique et par le pessimisme qui s’en dégage le plus souvent, mais aussi par la maîtrise stylistique. La carrière littéraire de Maupassant se limite à une décennie — de 1880 à 1890 — avant qu’il ne sombre peu à peu dans la folie et ne meure peu avant l'âge de 43 ans. Reconnu de son vivant, il conserve un renom de premier plan, renouvelé encore par les nombreuses adaptations cinématographiques de ses œuvres. (Henry René Albert) Guy De Maupassant is generally considered to be the greatest French writer of short stories. One account says the location of his birth was the Château de Miromesnil, in Dieppe, though this is not certain. His paternal ancestors were of the minor aristocracy, and his maternal grandfather, Paul Le Poittevin, was Gustave Flaubert's godfather. His parents separated when he was 11 years old. Maupassant was gifted with a photographic memory, which aided him in recollecting events and characters for his stories. As a teenager, Maupassant was shown, by the poet Algernon Swinburne (1837-1909), a mummified hand. He used this haunting image in his early short story La Main Ecorchée (1875). In 1869 Maupassant started to study law in Paris, but soon, at age 20, he volunteered to serve in the army during Franco-Prussian War. After his return to Paris, Maupassant joined the literary circle of Gustave Flaubert, who introduced him to some of the leading writers of his day, including Emile Zola, Ivan Turgenev, and Henry James. Flaubert saw Maupassant regularly and schooled him in the craft of being a writer. From 1872 to 1880, Maupassant worked as a civil servant, first at the ministry of maritime affairs, then at the ministry of education. Toward the end of this time, Maupassant published his first poetry, Des Vers (1880). Later the same year he published his short story masterpiece, "Boule de Suif" (Ball of Fat) in the anthology Soirées de Medan (1880), edited by Emile Zola. The story, set during the Franco-Prussian War, is about passengers on a coach, one of whom is a well-known prostitute, nicknamed 'Boule de Suif.' The story later inspired director John Ford's Western film Stagecoach (1945). During the 1880s Maupassant created some 300 short stories, six novels, three travel books, and one volume of verse. In tone, his tales were marked by precision of style and a range of expression. Although his stories range from moving drama to sometimes bizarre comedy, it is his macabre horror stories that have received much attention. Among Maupassant's best known books is Une Vie (A Woman's Life, 1883), about the frustrating existence of a Norman wife, Bel-Ami (1885), which depicts an unscrupulous journalist. Pierre et Jean (1888) was a psychological study of two brothers. The novel was thought to be immoral, according to the classic definition, because the hero succeeds by doing wrong. Maupassant's most upsetting horror story, "Le Horla" (1887) (not to be confused with another of Maupassant's stories called "The Trip of Le Horla", which is about a hot air balloon), was about vampire-like ghouls, madness and suicide. Maupassant had suffered from syphilis since his 20's, which caused him neurological and mental problem in his later years, and which undoubtedly accounts for his shortened lifespan. Some critics have alleged that Maupassant's developing illness can be seen through a growing preocuppation with mental illness in his stories. However, the theme of mental illness is present even in his first collection, La Maison Tellier (1881), published at the height of his health. Maupassant's horror fiction consists of some 39 stories, only a tenth of his total work. A recurring theme in these is madness: "A Queer Night in Paris" is a paranoid nightmare: its narrator feels compelled to walk the streets. In "Who Knows?" the subject suffers from delusions about the furniture in his house. "Diary of a Madman" is a story about a judge, who commits murder, just for the experience, and condemns an innocent man to death for the crime. "The Inn" has many similarities with Stephen King's novel The Shining. His story, "The Hand," based on his teenage recollection, has inspired later authors and movie directors. Maupassant's writing is sometimes compared with that of Edgar Allen Poe. On January 2, 1892, Maupassant tried to commit suicide by cutting his throat and
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Joan Lowery Nixon
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Laurie John
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Lemony Snicket
Lemony Snicket is the legal nom de plume of American novelist Daniel Handler (born February 28, 1970). Snicket is the author of several children's books, serving as the narrator of A Series of Unfortunate Events (his best known work) and appearing as a character within the series. Because of this, Lemony Snicket is both a fictional character and a real person. Handler was born in San Francisco, California. He attended Commodore Sloat Elementary, Herbert Hoover Middle School and Lowell High School. Handler graduated from Wesleyan University in 1992. He is an alumnus of the San Francisco Boys Chorus. Handler is married to Lisa Brown, a graphic artist that he met in college.They have a son, Otto, who was born around Halloween 2003. They live in an old Victorian house in San Francisco. Handler's mother is retired City College of San Francisco Dean, Sandra Handler, and his father, Louis Handler, is an accountant. He also has a younger sister, Rebecca Handler.
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Patricia Briggs
Patricia Briggs was born on 1965 in Butte, Montana, USA. She has lived in various cities in the Pacific Northwest, and now resides in Washington state. Briggs began writing in 1990 and published her first novel in 1993.
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Patricia Polacco
Patricia Polacco is a New York Times bestselling author and illustrator with around seventy beloved and award-winning books to her credit, including The Keeping Quilt, Pink and Say, The Blessing Cup, Chicken Sunday, and Thank You, Mr. Falker.
42 books
Ron Roy
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Sidney Sheldon
Sidney Sheldon was an Academy Award-winning American writer. His TV works spanned a 20-year period during which he created The Patty Duke Show (1963–66), I Dream of Jeannie (1965–70) and Hart to Hart (1979–84), but it was not until after he turned 50 and began writing best-selling novels such as Master of the Game (1982), The Other Side of Midnight (1973) and Rage of Angels (1980) that he became most famous.<sup>1</sup>
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Susan Childress
Using blunt scissors, pages from a Big Chief tablet, a borrowed stapler and a Number Two pencil, Susan Wiggs self-published her first novel at the age of eight. A Book About Some Bad Kids [I still have this-CL] was based on the true-life adventures of Susan and her siblings, and the first printing of one copy was a complete sell-out. Due to her brother's extreme reaction to that first prodigious effort, Susan went underground with her craft, entertaining her friends and offending her siblings with anonymously-written stories of virtuous sisters and the brothers who torment them. The first romance she ever read was Shanna by the incomparable Kathleen Woodiwiss, which she devoured while slumped behind a college vector analysis textbook. Armed with degrees from SFA and Harvard, and toting a crate of "keeper" books by Woodiwiss, Roberta Gellis, Laurie McBain, Rosemary Rodgers, Jennifer Blake, Bertrice Small and anything with the words "flaming" and "ecstasy" in the title, she became a math teacher, just to prove to the world that she did have a left brain. Late one night, she finished the book she was reading and was confronted with a reader's worst nightmare—She was wide awake, and there wasn't a thing in the house she wanted to read. Figuring this was the universe's way of taking away her excuses, she picked up a Big Chief tablet and a Number Two pencil, and began writing her novel with the working title, A Book About Some Bad Adults. Actually, that was a bad book about some adults, but Susan persevered, learning her craft the way skydiving is learned—by taking a blind leap and hoping the chute will open. Her first book was published (without the use of blunt scissors and a stapler) by Zebra in 1987, and since then she has been published by Avon, Tor, HarperCollins, Harlequin, Warner and Mira Books. Unable to completely abandon her beloved teaching profession, Susan is a frequent workshop leader and speaker at writers' conferences, including the literary institution Fields End and the legendary Maui Writers Conference. Her novel The Charm School was voted one of RWA's Favorite Books of the Year. She is the proud recipient of three RITA awards for Lakeside Cottage, Lord of the Night and The Mistress, and is often a finalist for the prestigious award. Her books appear regularly on numerous "Best Of" lists. Susan enjoys many hobbies, including sitting in the hot tub while talking to her mother on the phone, kickboxing, cleaning the can opener, sculpting with butter and growing her hair. She lives on an island in the Pacific Northwest with her family.
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Albert Camus
Albert Camus was a French Algerian author, philosopher, and journalist who was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1957. He was a key philosopher of the 20th-century and his most famous work is the novel L'Étranger (The Stranger). In 1949, Camus founded the Group for International Liaisons within the Revolutionary Union Movement, which was a group opposed to some tendencies of the surrealistic movement of André Breton. Camus was the second-youngest recipient of the Nobel Prize for Literature - after Rudyard Kipling - when he became the first African-born writer to receive the award. He is the shortest-lived of any literature laureate to date, having died in an automobile accident just over two years after receiving the award. He is often cited as a proponent of existentialism, the philosophy that he was associated with during his own lifetime, but Camus himself rejected this particular label. In an interview in 1945, Camus rejected any ideological associations: "No, I am not an existentialist. Sartre and I are always surprised to see our names linked…"
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Allan Ahlberg
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Holly Webb
British childrens' writer
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Julia James
I live in England with my family. Mills & Boon romances were my first 'grown up' books I read as a teenager, alongside Georgette Heyer and Daphne du Maurier - and I've been reading them ever since! I adore the English countryside - and the Welsh and the Scottish too, of course! It is a source of constant but ever-changing beauty, whatever the season, from the wild grandeur of the Caledonian Highlands to the cultivated farmland and woods of southern England, and a source of never-failing spiritual recharge. I love the history of these islands, from castles to cottages, and the rich tapestry of the changing historical periods, each with its own splendour and fascination. But I love my European heritage, as well as my British heritage.
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Julie Garwood
Julie Murphy was born in 1946 in Kansas City, Missouri. She is the sixth of eight children in a large Irish family. At the age of six, Julie had her tonsils removed and complications from the surgery resulted in a long period of recuperation. She fell hopelessly behind in school and never caught up. "I was a slow, slow reader," Julie says. "I hated it." At the age of 11, her mother discovered her daughter's secret and promptly enrolled her in a summer remedial reading class at the local high school. "When I got there the nuns immediately realized I wasn't even remedial. By chance, Sister Mary Elizabeth passed us in the hall and was drafted to tutor me." They spent the summer together, and Julie came to know Sister Elizabeth as a friend and mentor. The patient teacher eventually unlocked the door to the world of reading. "She taught me to love the written word. First, she introduced me to the Nancy Drew mysteries. One of her favorite authors was O. Henry, and he became one of mine, too. Of course, some of the vocabulary was beyond me so I had to look up a lot of words. I sat on a large dictionary -- got up, looked up a word, sat back down." Julie jumped up and down like a jack-in-the-box all summer. Julie married young with Gerry Garwood and they had three children: Gerry Jr., Bryan Michael and Elizabeth. She began her writing career when the youngest of her three children entered school. After the publication of two young adult books, she turned her talents to historical romance fiction. Her first romance novel, Gentle Warrior, was published by Pocket Books with her married name in 1985 -- there have been over 20 novels since then. Her name appears regularly on the bestseller lists of every major publication in the country, including The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, USA Today, The Washington Post, the Los Angeles Times and Publishers Weekly. The popularity of her books expands with each new publication, and she is now read and enjoyed in many languages around the world. With tens of millions of books in print, Julie Garwood has clearly earned a position among America's favorite fiction writers. Her reputation as a masterful storyteller is solidly founded in her ability to deliver stories with appealing characters, powerful emotions, and surprising plot twists. Readers claim that it's the humor as well as the poignancy of her novels that keep them laughing, crying and thoroughly entertained. Julie attributes much of her success to growing up in a family of Irish heritage. "The Irish are great storytellers who relish getting all the details and nuances of every situation. Add in the fact that I was the sixth of seven children. Early in life I learned that self-expression had to be forceful, imaginative and quick," says Julie. Julie lives with her family in Leawood, Kansas. When her schedule allows time away from family and career, she devotes her efforts to promoting literacy, and especially enjoys sharing her love of reading with student groups.
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L. E. Modesitt, Jr.
L. E. (Leland Exton) Modesitt, Jr. is an author of science fiction and fantasy novels. He is best known for the fantasy series The Saga of Recluce. He graduated from Williams College in Massachusetts, lived in Washington, D.C. for 20 years, then moved to New Hampshire in 1989 where he met his wife. They relocated to Cedar City, Utah in 1993.
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Napoleon Hill
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Richelle Mead
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Robert N. Munsch
Robert Norman Munsch was born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. In 1969, he received a B.A. degree in History from Fordham University. In 1971 he received a M.A. degree in Anthropology from Boston University. After graduating, he studied to become a Jesuit priest, but his experiences in orphanages and day care centers led him to decide he would rather work with children. In 1973, he received a Master of Education in Child Studies from Tufts University. In 1975 he moved to Canada to work at the preschool at the University of Guelph in Guelph, Ontario. He also taught in the Department of Family Studies at the University of Guelph as a lecturer and as an assistant professor. In Guelph, he was encouraged to publish the many stories he made up for the children he worked with. His first book, Mud Puddle, was published in 1979. After his wife delivered two successive stillborn babies, he wrote his most famous book, Love You Forever (1986). He and his wife have since adopted three children. In August 2008, Munsch suffered a stroke that affected his speech. To date, he has written over 50 children's books.
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Sharon Sala
Sharon Sala is a long-time member of RWA, as well as a member of OKRWA. She has 85 plus books in print, written as Sharon Sala and Dinah McCall. First published in 1991, she’s a seven-time RITA finalist, winner of the Janet Dailey Award, four-time Career Achievement winner from RT Magazine, National Reader’s Choice Award, and Colorado Romance Writer’s Award of Excellence winners five times each and has received the Nora Roberts Lifetime Achievement Award from Romance Writers of America. Her books are New York Times , USA Today, Publisher’s Weekly, WaldenBooks mass market best-sellers. Writing changed her life, her world, and her fate.
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Stephen Baxter
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Dorothy L. Sayers
An English crime writer, poet, playwright, essayist, translator and Christian humanist.
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George Orwell
George Orwell, originally born as Eric Arthur Blair, was an English novelist and journalist. His work is marked by keen intelligence and wit, a profound awareness of social injustice, an intense, revolutionary opposition to totalitarianism, a passion for clarity in language and a belief in democratic socialism. (Source.)
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Gilbert Keith Chesterton
Gilbert Keith Chesterton was an English writer, lay theologian, poet, philosopher, dramatist, journalist, orator, literary and art critic, biographer, and Christian apologist.
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Jeffrey Archer
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Joan Elliott Pickart
Joan Elliott Pickart is the author of over 80 novels, including long and short contemporary romance, historicals, and mainstream women's fiction. She also writes under the pen name Robin Elliott. She received the Best New Series Author of the Year award from Romantic Times Magazine in 1985, and is a two-time Golden Medallion (RITA) Award finalist of the Romance Writers of America. The Society of Southwestern Writers awarded Joan a Certificate of Award for Outstanding Achievement and a Certificate of Recognition for Notable Attainment as an Author. Joan's books consistently make the Waldenbooks top-ten bestseller list and often enjoy the number one spot. She has been on the USA Today top 150 bestseller list twice for cross-line series. Joan is the cofounder of the Professional Writers of Prescott, a member of the national Romance Writers of America, the Phoenix Desert Rose Chapter of RWA, and a charter member and copresident of the Northern Arizona RWA. A single mom, Joan has three grown daughters and two fantastic little grandsons. In 1995 she traveled to China and adopted her fourth daughter, three-month-old Autumn. Joan and Autumn live in the high-pine country of Arizona.
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John Flanagan
John Anthony Flanagan is an Australian fantasy author best known for his medieval fantasy series, the Ranger's Apprentice, and its sister series, the Brotherband Chronicles. Some of his other works include his Storm Peak duology, as well as the adult novel The Grey Raider.
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Karen Robards
Karen Robards was born on 24 August 1954 in Louisville, Kentucky, USA. She has been writing since she was a teenager. Karen sold her first short story, when was very young, and was published in the December 1973 Reader's Digest, but she cannot sold her first romance novel until 1981, when she was 24. After it, she dropped out of law school to pursue her writing career. Today, a regular on the New York Times, USA Today and Publishers Weekly bestseller lists, among others, she is the winner of six Affaire de Coeur Silver Pen Awards for favorite romance author, as well as numerous other awards. She writes historical and contemporary romances. Karen lives in native Louisville with her husband, Doug, and their three sons Peter (b. 1983), Christopher "Chris" (b. 1989), and Jack (b. 1994). She says: "I read, I write, and I chauffeur children," she says with a laugh. "That's my life."
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Kathryn Ross
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Lois McMaster Bujold
One of the most respected writers in the field of speculative fiction, Lois McMaster Bujold burst onto the scene in 1986 with Shards of Honor, the first of her tremendously popular Vorkosigan Saga novels. She has received numerous accolades and prizes, including the Nebula Award (for Falling Free), three Hugo Awards for Best Novel (The Vor Game, Barrayar, and Mirror Dance), as well as the Hugo and Nebula Awards for her novella Mountains of Mourning. Her short story, “Labyrinth,” won first place in Analog Magazine's annual awards. The mother of two, Ms. Bujold lives in Minneapolis, Minnesota.
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Marcia Thornton Jones
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Philippa Gregory
Philippa Gregory was born on 9 January 1954 in Nairobi, Kenya, the second daughter of Elaine (Wedd) and Arthur Percy Gregory, a radio operator and navigator for East African Airways. When she was two years old, her family moved to England. She was a "rebel" at school, but managed to attend the University of Sussex. She worked in BBC radio for two years before attending the University of Edinburgh, where she earned her doctorate in 18th-century literature, and she was named Alumna of the Year 2009. She has taught at the University of Durham, University of Teesside, and the Open University, and was made a Fellow of Kingston University in 1994. Philippa wrote her first novel Wideacre while completing her a PhD, and living in a cottage on the Pennine Way with first husband Peter Chislett, editor of the Hartlepool Mail, and their baby daughter, Victoria. They divorced before the book was published. Following the success of Wideacre and the publication of The Favoured Child, she moved south to near Midhurst, West Sussex, where the Wideacre trilogy was set. Here she married her second husband Paul Carter, with whom she has a son. She divorced for a second time and married Anthony Mason, who she had first met during her time in Hartlepool. She was an established historian and writer when she discovered her interest in the Tudor period and wrote the novel The Other Boleyn Girl which was made into a tv drama, and a major film. Her love for history and commitment to historical accuracy are the hallmarks of her writing. She also reviews for the Washington Post, the LA Times, and for UK newspapers, and is a regular broadcaster on television, radio, and webcasts. Philippa now lives on a 100-acre (0.40 km2) farm in the North York Moors national park, with her husband, children and stepchildren (six in all). In her Yorkshire farm, she keeps horses, hens and ducks. Her interests include riding, walking, skiing, and gardening. Her other great interest is the charity that she founded nearly twenty years ago: Gardens for The Gambia. She has raised funds and paid for almost 200 in the primary schools of this very dry and poor African country, and thousands of school children have been able to learn market gardening in the school gardens watered by the wells. The charity also provides wells for womens’ collective gardens and for The Gambia’s only agricultural college at Njawara.
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Trish Morey
Award winning, best-selling author for Harlequin Presents, Trish Morey likes to hammer out her stories while walking through the bushland of the beautiful Adelaide Hills, counting koalas high up in gum trees as she goes. In 2002 Trish entered the Romance Writers of America's Golden Heart contest for the first time and was amazed and delighted to final in the short contemporary section. The same manuscript was already under consideration in London, and in June 2003 (actually June 18th at 6:32 p.m.) the magical phone call came. Mills & Boon wanted to buy her book! According to Trish, selling a book is a major life achievement that ranks up there with jumping out of an airplane and motherhood. All three take commitment, determination and sheer guts, but the effort is so very, very worthwhile.
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Walter Dean Myers
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