Mercy Strongheart grew up in Northern New Mexico. A child of hippie folk musicians, she spent her childhood making up stories and searching for sugar. Mercy lives and writes in Portland, Oregon. A Boy Named Trout is her first novel.
Richard D. Bank received his BA from Temple University and his Juris Doctor from University of Pennsylvania Law School. He is the author of nine books including his most recent book, The Tree of Sorrow, which along with Feig and I Am Terezin, comprise his Holocaust Trilogy. He has also written one play, The Old Jew Who Wouldn’t Sit Down. Richard has published more than one-hundred articles, short stories, essays, OP-ED’s, and book reviews for a wide variety of publications including The Philadelphia Inquirer, Moment Magazine, Midstream, Philadelphia Jewish Exponent, Writer’s Digest, and Philadelphia Forum. Richard is a past president of the Philadelphia Writer’s Conference and has taught writing and publishing law courses at the University of Pennsylvania, Temple University, Rosemont College’s graduate program, and other venues.
Frances Schoonmaker: Winner of the 2019 Agatha Award for Best Middle Grade/Young Adult Mystery, Frances Schoonmaker is author of The Last Crystal Trilogy, Auctus Publishing: (2018, 2019). The trilogy combines history, mystery, and fantasy around the central theme that there are some things only a child can do.
Since her early years as an elementary school teacher, Schoonmaker has drawn on imagination and the arts to engage children in making sense of the world around them.
As a professor at Teachers College, Columbia University, she directed the graduate program in elementary and middle school education, a program drawing heavily on story and children’s literature. Schoonmaker headed the curriculum development team for The Lincoln Center Institute’s Teaching Artists program (now Lincoln Center Education) and
a doctoral seminar that explored children’s literature and spirituality, funded by the Spencer Foundation. She has taught, lectured, and consulted internationally, particularly in the Middle East and in Asia.
Her curiosity about places and interest in people and their ways of doing and being inform her fictional writing, a second career that has been a natural segue from her years as a teacher and professor. Childhood memories of growing up in rural Oklahoma and family stories inform place and context. While the trilogy spans the years 1846-1944, books two and three take the reader back into pre-European, America. Schoonmaker completed her bachelors degree in elementary education, speech and
communication; her master’s degree in early childhood education; and her doctorate in curriculum leadership, theory, and development. She lives in Baltimore, MD with her family, including three contentious cats.
Learn more about her and The Alabaster Box at her blog: https://fourleavesandtales.blog
Miriam Segal Shnycer is a journalist and freelance writer. She has written numerous articles published in magazines and newspapers and worked as an editor for a publishing company.
She is an Emeritus board member of the Philadelphia Writers’ Conference’s Emeritus Board. She received her BA from Temple University, School of Communications and Theater (now School of Media and Communication). She is a member of Kappa Tau Alpha, the journalism honor fraternity. Of Love and Death: Young Holocaust Survivors’ Passage to Freedom is her first book.
Nikki MacCallum is a New York City based writer, performer, and avid runner. She conceived and co-wrote the script to Matchmaker Matchmaker I’m Willing to Settle! – a musical about internet dating that premiered at the American Repertory Theatre’s Second Stage, OBERON and has since had multiple productions both Off-Broadway and in various parts of the country. In 2016, she was one of fifty-one entrepreneurs world-wide (including NFL Running Back Jonathan Stewart, NBA power forward Anthony Tolliver, and Morgan Stanley’s Executive Director, Kimberly Hatchett) interviewed in the book, Hustle Believe Receive,an 8-Step Plan to Changing your Life and Living your Dream. Shortly after the release, she was one of four individuals highlighted in the book selected to speak on a panel for a featured segment aired on ABC news. Her essay, Passing A Parent, based on Dry Run, was published in an anthology titled The I’Mpossible Project. As a performer and lover of show tunes, her original solo acts have appeared at 54 Below, Lincoln Center, Birdland, and she’s been featured on VH1. As a standup-comic she’s played The Comedy Cellar, Dangerfield’s and Caroline’s. Outside of the arts, Nikki is an established talent expert and career coach in the field of litigation technology and has spoken on panels globally (American Express, International Legal Technology Association, Coalition for the Homeless) about networking, career development, and how to capitalize on rejection. Originally from the Boston area, she holds a Bachelor of Music from New York University but remains a die-hard New England Patriots’ fan.
Ayesha F. Hamid is a Philadelphia-based poet and creative nonfiction writer, published in Big Easy Review, Philly Flash Inferno, and Rathalla Review. Her memoir, The Borderland Between Worlds. published by Auctus in 2020, was awarded a Thesis Distinction by Rosemont College (Bryn Mawr, Pennsylvania). Ayesha has an MFA in Creative Writing and MA in Publishing from Rosemont College and also received an MA in Sociology from Brooklyn College of the City University of New York. She is the Editor-in-Chief at The City Key. Aside from writing, Ayesha loves photography and traveling to far places.
Harry Ringel’s publication story begins many years ago when he still had the energy to walk pitches for articles into offices for Philadelphia-area magazines and newspapers including Metropolitan, The Evening Bulletin, and The Drummer. Nationally and internationally, his feature articles appeared in periodicals as varied as Sight and Sound, Cinefantastique, and Country Music magazine. His novel, The Tender Seed, which dealt with a psychically gifted child, was highly praised and widely received. Harry has written much in the ESL field. His textbooks are published by New Reader Press. Harry Ringel currently works with international students in Bucks County Community College’s Continuing Education Department in Pennsylvania.
Mike Metzler was born in the small Western New York town of Salamanca and is one of eight children. Mike grew up being interested and loving sports. His love of sports would influence his career choices later in life.
Due to his tenaciousness and positive attitude, Mike’s professional history has been one of accomplishments, including playing football at Tufts University, earning a doctoral degree from Ohio State University, and becoming a university professor and researcher where he enjoyed a long and productive career, training physical education teachers, conducting research, and being a leader in professional associations. He has earned numerous awards and been invited to be a speaker, consultant, and visiting professor in many countries around the world. For two years, Mike served on the Science Board of the President’s Council for Sports, Fitness, and Nutrition in the Obama Administration.
Though Mike retired from full-time duties at Georgia State University in 2017, he still works part-time to help GSU faculty do research on their own teaching. Mike’s many interests still drive his pursuits in semi-retirement, including a lifelong interest in many types of music, designing and building, repairing stereo speakers in his basement shop, a lifelong interest in many types of music, which has led him to have one of the largest recordings of Grateful Dead concert recordings, and preparing chili as a competitive chili cook where he has won several major contests over the years.
Mike and his wife Terry were married in 2006 on the Honduran island of Roatan. They now live in Decatur, Georgia; they love to spend time at their getaway cabin in the mountains of Northern Georgia, gazing at the clear night skies, hiking, and enjoying the wonderful wines of the area.
A prolific writer in his profession, My Two Journeys in Cancer World is his first work of creative nonfiction.
Tracy Kauffman Wood received her Master of Fine Arts in Creative Writing from Rosemont College and Master of Arts in Education from Maharishi International University. A third-generation Philadelphian, her family has influenced the street-food scene since 1935. She is a graduate of Temple University. Tracy has been a freelance photographer and writer for thirty years. She is a storyteller, memoir writer, and a staunch advocate of the open mic. Her work has appeared on WHYY TV, Womensmemoirs.com, Rathalla Review and various blogs and websites. She has taught writing at Temple University, facilitates memoir writing workshops and currently works with writing students at Delaware County Community College.
Dipti Chakrabarti was born in Bhatpara, West Bengal, India in 1939. She was a house wife. After her husband passed away, she used her time to put her thoughts into writing. In 2012, she decided to compile a book of her writings and thus came out her first book in Bengali, Parijaye Pakhi. She learned to use computer solely for this purpose of creating her manuscript for the book. She has continued to write since and her second book, Nirer Maya, is a compilation of poetry and prose in Bengali. The name of the book, Nirer Maya, reflects her feeling of nostalgia for her home and memories in India. Presently she lives with her son, daughter-in-law, and grandson in Wallingford, Pennsylvania.
Scott Spires is a writer, a translator, and a nomad at heart. Born in India, he has since enjoyed a transatlantic life, living in the United States, Argentina, Great Britain, the Czech Republic, and Russia. He studied linguistics and Slavic languages at the universities of Chicago, St. Andrews, and Oxford, and works as a translator from Russian and German into English. Currently he lives just north of Chicago in charming and bucolic Lake Bluff, a few minutes’ walk from Lake Michigan.
As a writer he has an extensive publication record, which includes academic articles on linguistics, as well as articles on such diverse subjects as the Czech beer industry, the New Urbanist movement in America, minority languages in Russia, and many others. His literary side is manifested in numerous book reviews and short stories. Abandon All Hope is his first novel.
You can visit his website and blog at swspires.weebly.com.
Cristina Utti, Ed.D. is a Philadelphia-born writer and educator. She is one of five children born to immigrant parents and has five children of her own. She has over 200 articles published on the topics of mental health and addiction. Dr. Utti has written articles for Dyslexia Magazine on the topic of education and has articles featured in Reflections Magazine. She received her BA in English from Temple University, her Instructional Certification and MA in Philosophy from West Chester University, an MFA in Creative Writing, and recently completed her Ed.D. in Policy, Planning, and Administration from West Chester University. Her recently published dissertation, Mass School Closures in the School District of Philadelphia: Personal Narratives and Impacts focused on hearing collective voices in relation to the public-school closures. Her debut novel, Breaking Infinity, is a coming-of-age memoir that delves into the darkest emotions of adolescence. The novel won a Novel of Distinction Award. She currently teaches 11th grade English, Journalism, and Creative Writing in Chester-Upland School District. Besides her love of writing and education, she is an avid long-distance runner, passionate about gardening, canning homegrown foods, spending time traveling with her children, and helping her students attain love of reading and writing.
Patrick Vitullo is a writer, poet, essayist, and world traveler who lives in Havertown, PA. He was awarded the 1979 John T. Fredericks Prize in Literary Criticism by the University of Notre Dame where he graduated with a B.A. in liberal arts. He also has a law degree from Villanova University and limits his law practice to representation of injured workers. Patrick has been published in The Philadelphia Inquirer and The Antigonish Review. He is the author of The Lighthouse, scheduled for publication by Auctus Publishers in August 2022.
James L. Merriner wrote five books about politics and history before turning his talents to historical fiction. A magna cum laude graduate of Harvard, Merriner has served as the James Thurber Writer in Residence at Ohio State University and as president of the Society of Midland Authors. He covered presidential politics as the political editor of the Chicago Sun-Times and the Atlanta Constitution. Stumbling in the Public Square is his first novel. Merriner lives in the North Shore suburbs of Chicago with his partner, the artist Itala Langmar.
Marlene K. Kushner, Ed.D., a native of Brooklyn, New York, Marlene traveled westward as she completed her education to become a psychologist. She earned a B.A., cum laude, at Hunter College of the City University of New York, and was inducted into Psi Chi, The National Honor Society of Psychology. Following that, she was awarded a M.A. in Clinical Psychology from Fairleigh Dickinson University. Marlene became a New Jersey Certified School Psychologist through a program at Montclair State University and then earned a national certification. During this time, she learned, quite incidentally, that she herself had a number of learning disabilities. She concluded her formal studies at Indiana University of Pennsylvania, receiving an Ed.D, with a specialization in The Neuropsychology of Learning Disorders.
Throughout her studies and career, Marlene has sought to advance the knowledge about and opportunities for individuals who learn differently. She has served as an accommodation specialist in disability centers at a number of colleges and universities. In addition to working with students, she has given presentations to faculties and authored papers for professionals as well as for the general public
Marlene was a pioneer in the emerging field of post-secondary disability service. She was appointed to The Advisory Board of the New Jersey Department of Higher Education. Its mission was to establish guidelines for programs serving college students with learning disabilities. She also has been a longstanding member of The Association on Higher Education and Disability. Marlene was awarded Ushkow Foundation grants to evaluate cognitive remediation programs and programs for learning disabled college students. The Association for Children and Adults with Learning Disabilities has honored her with a Certificate of Recognitio
Benjamin Kassogue was born in Danadougourou, in one of the remotest village averaging a 1000 people in Mali. He went to school at the age of seven in another small village close to his birthplace called Pomorododiou when his dad was transferred there to be the pastor of the local church. He studied so hard and made breakthroughs and went from villages to towns, from towns to cities, from cities to the capital city, Bamako. From Bamako, he travelled to the United States, visited Canada, and followed training in India. He studied English at university and attended the Teachers’ Training College in Bamako. In 2015 he obtained the prestigious Fulbright Scholarship to study Curriculum and Instruction at Portland State University, in the USA. As an avid reader, he became inspired by many writers, namely Muhammad Yunus, Jeannette Walls, and Trevor Noah. He started writing in 2019 and completed his first book, A Pleasant Journey, a memoir in 2023.
Ms. Blessing Amu is pursuing her Master’s degree in Mass Communication with emphasis in Creative Writing at the University of Ghana, Accra, after finishing her Undergraduate Studies with Honors in Broadcasting Journalism with emphasis in Creative Writing from Multimedia Institute of Ghana, Accra. She completed her Senior High School education at Apostle Safo School of Arts and Sciences and moved from Adeiso to Accra for better opportunities to advance her academic passion. She hawked on the streets of Accra with second-hand clothes and sometimes wholesome snacks. She then settled herself as a Bead Weaver and sold her creative jewelry in the nearby markets. She managed to enroll in Media School with the support of her friends and well-wishers.
“I am a born writer,” she claims. She completed her debut fictional novella, Autocracy in Democracy, while still in college. She is currently working on another frictional manuscript, Brightest Morning Dew, anticipated to be published by the end of Sept./Oct. 2024.
Sylvia Maultash Warsh was born in Germany to Holocaust survivors and came to Canada as a child. She graduated from the University of Toronto with an MA in Linguistics. She is the author of the Dr. Rebecca Temple novels, the second of which won an Edgar award from Mystery Writers of America. The other two were nominated for a Crime Writers of Canada award and a ReLit Award. Her historical novel, The Queen of Unforgetting, was chosen by Project Bookmark Canada for a plaque installation on their literary map. Her fifth book is a young adult mystery novella, Best Girl. Her short stories have appeared in Ellery Queen Mystery Magazine, Down & Out Magazine, Vautrin, Murder Most Geographical (a Malice Domestic anthology), Cold Canadian Crime, as well as five Mesdames of Mayhem anthologies. Six of her stories have been shortlisted for Derringers and Crime Writers of Canada awards. She teaches writing to seniors.She lives in Toronto with her husband, a psychiatrist and resource for medical questions that arise in her books.
You can find her at http://www.sylviawarsh.com
Phil Davis has obtained a Master’s Degree in Education from Troy University and a Master’s Degree in Business Administration from Georgia Southern University. He has one daughter, now twenty-six, and a beautiful wife. They reside in a small community just a few minutes outside of historic Savannah, Georgia and enjoy spending time exploring the area and its rich history and culture. He has written two manuscripts to date and enjoys centering his works around the equally historic areas of the Golden Isles and Glynn County, Georgia. Phil looks forward to continuing the creative processes and a deeper focus on the history surrounding his native Georgia and Georgia’s coasts. His weekends are spent in the fall cheering on his beloved Georgia Bulldogs. Beautiful Entrapment is his debut novel while he is working on another fictional novel, The Shadows Behind the Mystery.
Nick Sweeney’s stories are scattered around the web and in print. His novels and shorter works reflect his interest in Eastern Europe and its languages, people and places. He is a freelance writer and musician, and lives on the English coast
Nick Sweeney’s books include a romantic jaunt around Poland in Laikonik Express (Unthank Books, 2011), an opportunist’s wander into Silesia in The Exploding Elephant (Bards and Sages, 2018), and a look at 1960s genocide survivors in A Blue Coast Mystery, Almost Solved (Histria Books, 2020). The Émigré Engineer (Ploughshares, 2021) follows an escape from the Russian Revolution, while Cleopatra’s Script (2022) traces the murderer of a Roma child in 1990s Rome. The Fortune Teller’s Factotum (Hear Our Voice Books, 2023) looks at a friendship between two young women, and the horrors in their family backgrounds. Out soon: The Dali Squiggle, with high and not so high jinks in the middle of a Spanish love story rapidly going kaput. See more about him at http://www.nicksweeneywriting.com
Christie Goodman is a writer and horse breeder from western Montana. She has an MFA in English from Queens University in Charlotte, North Carolina and a Bachelor’s degree in Philosophy from North Central College in Naperville, Illinois, USA. She spent twenty years running an off-grid horse ranch in the mountains of Montana. She and her husband moved from Chicago to their ranch in Montana with no experience running a ranch or living on a farm. She lives with her husband, two cats and her Service Dog, Kaladin, and in close proximity to countless chickens, one duck, seven goats, a sheep, and four horses. She likes to take baby sheep, dress them in diapers and onesies and raise them in the house. She has an author website at www.christiegoodman.com
Richard R. Koepsel, PhD, is a retired research professor from the University of Pittsburgh and Carnegie Mellon University. He is the author or coauthor of 122 scientific papers in the area of Microbiology, Bioengineering, and Molecular Genetics.
Dr. Koepsel is a lifelong avid reader of science fiction books. Since his retirement, he has finally had time to write a story of his debut, The New Origin. He is currently working on a sequel, which may be available by the end 2025 or early 2026. He presently lives in the Squirrel Hill area of Pittsburgh with his wife, Jill Rook.
Richard Jeffery Wagner, PhD, has found that becoming a writer has helped him become a better reader. He was born in Carmel-by-the-Sea in California and grew up in Salinas, graduating from Salinas High School, the same high school that John Steinbeck attended. Dr. Wagner graduated with a BSME from the College of Engineering at the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa in 1979. He earned his PhD in computer science in 1997 from the University of Southern California, where he then taught computer science full time for two years before going back to industry full time.
Dr. Wagner built spacecraft with the Northrop Grumman Corporation and managed the integration and test portion of the winning proposal for the James Webb Space Telescope before managing integration and test for Project Redwood. He has mentored students in competitive robotics for over 20 years. He retired in 2010 and now lives in Honolulu, Hawaiʻi, in a modest house in a middle class neighborhood with his wife, Andrea, two cats, and several bonsai. He and Andrea are volunteers in their community.
Dr. Wagner began reading science fiction at the age of 12. He started publishing his own fiction with the novella The Zombie Philosopher (published in 2022). That was followed by the sequel and full length novel, Brent and Edward go to Mars (published in 2023). He is a member of the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers Association (and is on the Emerging Technologies Committee). His Erdős number is four.
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