| Author | Biography | Book Cover(s) |
|---|---|---|
Marianne K. Martin | Marianne K. Martin is one of the best-selling lesbian romance authors in the history of the genre, and her books have gained a wide international readership. She is the author of eleven novels. Her highly successful novels include the Lambda Literary Award finalists Tangled Roots, Under the Witness Tree, Mirrors, and For Now, For Always. In 2012, she was honored with the Trailblazer Award from the Golden Crown Literary Society and in 2013 she was inducted into the Saints & Sinners Hall of Fame. Marianne is also one of the founding partners of Bywater Books. Her responsibilities include managing general operations, as well as the Bywater Prize for Fiction, and working with Bywater’s new writers. | |
Shari Maser | Shari Maser Piracha is the author of the non-fiction book Blessingways: A Guide to Mother centered Baby Showers-Celebrating Pregnancy, Birth, and Motherhood. She wrote this “how-they” book for women when she was a childbirth educator who was also pregnant herself. Later as the homeschooling mother of two bookworms, she started writing children's stories. Her fiction story The Memory Tree was published in baby bug magazine, and she hopes to publish a picture book someday too. Now that Shari’s children are grown, she serves as an independent educational consultant and founder of YouQuest College Advising, as well as part of the student services team at Washtenaw Community College. When she is not busy supporting students, she enjoys playing Scrabble and ping pong, reading lots of books, walking with dogs or other humans in all kinds of Michigan weather, and traveling the world. |  |
JP McAndrew | I studied media and writing at EMU, focusing on screenwriting. “Venus in Twilight” is my first. I live in corn country south of Ann Arbor with wife Kimberly, two rescue dogs, and an orange cat, also a rescue. |  |
Kelly Murdoch-Kitt | Kelly Murdoch-Kitt is an Associate Professor at the Penny W. Stamps School of Art and Design at the University of Michigan. She is a user experience designer and educator focused on people, systems, and interpersonal interactions. In her work and teaching, human connection drives the creation of effective and socially responsible concepts. She integrates visual communication, user experience, and service design with behavior change and social engagement, drawing on her industry experience as a user experience strategist in the San Francisco Bay Area. Prior to joining U-M, Murdoch-Kitt served as an Assistant Professor in the School of Design at the Rochester Institute of Technology. She also taught in the Graphic Design Programs at the University of San Francisco and California College of the Arts. Her excellence in teaching and contributions to service within the discipline have been recognized by the Design Incubation Communication Design Educator Awards: Intercultural Design Collaborations in Sustainability; and the Decipher 2018 Design Educators Research Conference. Murdoch-Kitt and her research partner, Dr. Denielle J. Emans of Roger Williams University are co-authors of Intercultural Collaboration by Design: Drawing from Differences, Distances, and Disciplines through Visual Thinking (Routledge 2020). Based on their research, the book offers more than 30 visual thinking activities to support effective collaboration among diverse teams. Their research group, ORBIT Labs (Online Resource for Building Intercultural Teams), was recently recognized as a recipient of the 2022 Carol Hollenshead Inspire Award for Excellence in Promoting Equity and Social Change. Murdoch-Kitt and Emans are currently working together on a new book about the intersection of creative practice and psychological resilience, which argues that everyone can learn to become creatively resilient—and put methods of adaptability, flexibility, and optimism into practice. Its 15 case studies include various projects, practices, and activities that show readers how to utilize creative methods to work positively with uncertainty. |  |
Davi Napoleon | Davi Napoleon is a theater historian and freelance writer whose work appears in newspapers and magazines locally and nationally. Regulars include Live Design and American Theatre Magazine, and locally The Ann Arbor Observer, PULP, and an assortment of University of Michigan publications. She holds a BA and MA from Michigan and a Ph.D. in theater history, theory, and criticism from New York University. Her book, Chelsea on the Edge: The Adventures of an American Theater, tells the onstage and backstage story of a theater that thrived in the mid-20th century and folded when funding for the arts decreased radically, even though the theater was drawing critical acclaim and loyal audiences. It reflects the larger story of the not-for-profit theater in America. |  |
Bethany Neal | Bethany Neal is the author of the internationally published young adult novel My Last Kiss (FSG Books for Young Readers/Macmillan). When she's not writing, she is part of the editorial team at Cherry Lake Publishing and teaches writing workshops at the Ann Arbor District Library. | |
Heather Neff | Born in Akron, Ohio, Heather Neff's family moved to Detroit when she was in her teens. After graduating from Cass Technical High School, Heather earned a Bachelor's Degree in English with High Distinction at the University of Michigan. She went on to study French language and culture at the Sorbonne, University of Paris. Heather earned her Lizentiat and doctoral degree in English Language and Literature, Comparative Literature and French Linguistics at the University of Zurich in Switzerland. She then spent two years in St. Croix, U.S. Virgin Islands, where she taught at the University of the Virgin Islands and St. Joseph High School. She joined the faculty in the Department of English at Eastern Michigan University in 1993, retiring as a Distinguished Professor in 2021. The author of eight novels, Heather's books cover topics such as female friendship, lost heritage, love, troubled cultural relationships between Africans and African Americans, addiction and recovery, modern-day human trafficking, and intimate partner violence and its effect on children. Her book Wisdom received a Fiction Honor Book Award from the American Library Association. Heather's poetry from her time in France is collected in The Paris Hours. | |
Sarah Nisbett | Sarah Nisbett is an artist, author and founder of Drawn On The Way. A former professional opera singer, she learned to draw by sketching strangers during her daily commute on the New York City subway. A totally self-taught artist, she has drawn over 5,000 strangers and turned her hobby of drawing “on the way” into a successful illustration career, Instagram account, blog and book. Sarah uses illustration to connect people to their self worth and sense of wonder and her Drawn On The Way project is dedicated to helping people find the extraordinary in the everyday and to see themselves and those around them as works of art. She is passionate about empowering people to discover and enjoy their own creativity. Her work has been shown internationally and she’s a sought after creative collaborator and live-event illustrator. “Drawn On The Way: A Guide to capturing the moment through live sketching” is her first book. Look for @drawnontheway on Instagram, Facebook and Tik Tok. | |
Nancy Nishihira | Nancy Nishihira is an Asian-American artist of Ryukyuan descent. Her poetry is featured in the local anthology Love and Other Futures; Poetry from Untold Stories of Liberation & Love, a women of color poetry anthology of Black, Latinx, Arab, Indigenous, and Asian women in and around Washtenaw County Michigan. Nancy has been published as a writer and photographer in the inaugural issue of Shimanchu Nu Kwii and she exhibits her painting in local art shows. Nancy is a longtime musician and singer/songwriter. Her music can be found on multiple streaming sites including Bandcamp and Soundcloud. | |
Kathryn Orwig | Kathryn Orwig started out writing 400-page novels in her small hometown in Northern Michigan, and now divides her time between novels, short stories, poems, and screenplays. Her work was published in Confined Connections by Z Publishing House (2017) and in the anthology she founded with nine talented writer friends titled Bring Your Words: A Writer’s Community Anthology by Fifth Avenue Press (July 2021). Kathryn has won or placed highly in multiple screenwriting competitions including The Nicholl’s Fellowship, Page Awards, Roadmap Writer’s Shorts Grand Prize Winner, Roadmap’s Diversity Initiative July 2021 Winner, Austin Film Festival Second Rounder, The International Screenwriters Association Fast Track Fellowship Genre Winner, among others. She holds a B.A. in Creative Writing from the University of Michigan and is the recipient of a Summer Hopwood Award. Besides writing, she enjoys spending hours researching ancestors and learning their languages such as Russian, Scottish Gaelic, Italian, and Swedish, among many more. |  |
Robert Pasick | Robert Pasick, Ph.D. is a prolific writer and featured speaker on the complexities of the human condition. Being a Harvard educated psychologist and a University of Michigan trained executive coach, he has helped hundreds of private sector and nonprofit leaders, educators, government officials, and healthcare professionals reach their optimal level of performance. He teaches at the University of Michigan, Ross School of Business and serves as a consultant to the University of Michigan football team. He served as an advisor to companies who lost employees in New York City after 9/11 and provided services to the President of Rwanda following that country’s period of Genocide. Dr. Pasick has written eight books, resulting in appearances on Oprah, The Today Show, and National Public Radio. Dr. Pasick’s books draw on his experience as a human being, a clinical and organizational psychologist, and an executive coach to help people find and express themselves. | |
Judy Patterson Wenzel | Judy Patterson Wenzel grew up in Rogers City, a small community in northern Michigan. After | |
Andre F. Peltier | Andre F. Peltier (he/him) is a Pushcart and Best of the Net Nominee and a Lecturer III at Eastern Michigan University where he teaches writing and a wide variety of literature classes. He lives in Ypsilanti with his wife, children, dog and turtles. His poetry has recently appeared in various publications like CP Quarterly, Lavender and Lime Review, About Place, Novus Review, Fiery Scribe, and Fahmidan Journal, and most recently in Menacing Hedge, The Brazos Review, and Idle Ink. His debut poetry collection, Poplandia, is available from Alien Buddha. In his free time, he obsesses over soccer and comic books. |  |
Aaron Perzanowski | Aaron Perzanowski is the Thomas W. Lacchia Professor of Law at the University of Michigan Law School where he teaches and writes about the intersection of intellectual and personal property law. Much of his work explores the notion of ownership in the digital economy. His books include The End of Ownership, co-authored with Jason Schultz (MIT Press, 2016), and The Right to Repair (Cambridge University Press, 2022). His current book project addresses how shifting conceptions of ownership threaten to undermine the core functions of libraries. Professor Perzanowski also has written about the ways in which informal governance and social norms influence creative production in contexts ranging from the tattoo industry to the clowning community. Creativity Without Law, his 2017 book with Kate Darling (NYU Press), collected much of the growing body of scholarship exploring the interplay between IP and social norms. | |
Isaac Pickell | Isaac Pickell is native Ann Arborite, a biracial poet, and a PhD candidate in Detroit, where he teaches the writing of poetry and the reading of literature. Isaac received his MFA in Poetry from Miami University, where he served as the Poetry Editor of Oxford Magazine, and he is the founding Editor-in-Chief of The Woodward Review. Isaac is the author of everything saved will be last (Black Lawrence Press, 2021) and the collection It’s not over once you figure it out (Black Ocean, 2023). You can find his recent work in Copper Nickel, Crazyhorse, Denver Quarterly, Passages North, Poetry Daily, and various corners of the internet. Isaac has taken a seat in all fifty states and has so much to look forward to. |  |
Deb Pilutti | Deb Pilutti writes and illustrates books for children with humor and candor. She feels lucky to have a job where reading, playing with toys, and watching cartoons is considered “research.” Before becoming an author & illustrator, Deb was a graphic designer and created toys and packaging for Oliebollen.com as well as graphics for SeaWorld and Warner Brothers theme parks. Deb lives in Ann Arbor, Michigan with her husband, Tom, and Australian Shepard, Tater. She enjoys hiking, camping, reading and hanging out with friends and family. | |
Theo Poling | Theo Poling is a transgender author who uses they/them or he/his pronouns. They graduated from the University of Michigan with a degree in creative writing and art and specialize in LGBT issues in their writing. They aim to increase representation in fiction. Theo has been published in numerous literary magazines and has had short films produced. They enjoy writing, participating in LGBT activism, and hiking in local nature preserves. Theo is a self-described cat person and breakfast food enthusiast. | |
Eileen Pollack | Eileen Pollack is the author of several novels and award winning story collections. Of which, Breaking and Entering was named a New York Times Editor's Choice selection. Eileen's work of creative nonfiction Woman Walking Ahead: In Search of Catherine Weldon and Sitting Bull was made into a movie starring Jessica Chastain. Her investigative memoir The Only Woman in the Room: Why Science Is Still a Boys' Club was published in 2015; a long excerpt appeared in the New York Times Sunday Magazine and went viral. Her works have been selected for Best American Short Stories and Best American Essays. Eileen lived in Ann Arbor for 27 years and directed the MFA Program in Creative Writing at the University of Michigan. She now lives and writes in Boston but many of her books, stories, and essays are set in Michigan/Ann Arbor. | |
David Pratt | David Pratt is the author of Bob the Book (Chelsea Station), Wallaconia (Beautiful Dreamer Press), Todd Sweeney, the Fiend of Fleet High (Hosta Press), Looking After Joey (Lethe Press), and a story collection, My Movie (Chelsea Station). His stories have appeared in several periodicals and anthologies. David has performed work for the theater at venues in New York City and Michigan. He recently published Two Plays: The Snow Queen and November Door, and The Book of Humiliation, an "anti-novel" published as a series of zines designed by Ann Arbor, MI artist Nicholas Williams. | |
Stephanie D. Preston | Stephanie D. Preston is a professor in the Department of Psychology at the University of Michigan. She has a master’s degree and a PhD in behavioral neuroscience from the University of California at Berkeley, where she studied the neurobiology and behavior of decisions in food-storing animals. Subsequently, she held a postdoctoral fellowship at the Department of Neurology at the University of Iowa College of Medicine to study how the brain supports emotion-based decisions in humans. Stephanie’s research is interdisciplinary in focus and methods to address how the brain evolved to support complex behavior at the intersection of emotion and decision making. One focus is on empathy and altruism, particularly how others' states impact our own and motivate helping. Another focus is on decisions about resources, such as food, money, material goods, and charitable gifts, to address issues surrounding consumerism, hoarding, and pro-environmental behavior. She is currently fusing her lines of research to determine how best to promote altruism and charitable giving across racial and political divides and for other species and the natural environment, including collaborations with corporations and non-profit organizations. |  |
Lauren Ranalli | Lauren Ranalli is an award-winning children's book author and marketing coach for aspiring and self-published authors. Born and raised in Ann Arbor, Lauren describes herself as "a fully-grown adult who still gets excited about the Scholastic book catalog. I can wander for hours in bookstores. I absolutely love a freshly sharpened pencil. And I have found so much joy in pursuing my dream of being a children’s book author. Inspired by my own high-spirited children, I aim to create stories that excite curiosity and broaden our sense of community." Lauren's current work includes "The Great Latke Cook Off," "Places We Have Never Been," "Let's Meet on the Moon," and "Snow Day at the Zoo." You can order books, download free activity sheets, or sign up for her author services on her website, and follow her journey on instagram: @lauren.ranalli_author. | |
Kamron Reynolds | Kamron Reynolds, of Kam Komics, is your friendly neighborhood comic book artist and rapper. As Kam says, “I JUST WANT TO HELP CREATE DIVERSE NEW CHARACTERS AND STORIES THAT CAN STAND THE TEST OF TIME, LIKE SO MANY ICONIC CHARACTERS FANS HAVE BEEN IN LOVE WITH FOR OVER A CENTURY. THE WORLD AS WE KNOW IS CHANGING EVERYDAY. AS MUCH AS I LOVE SPIDER-MAN, BATMAN, SUPERMAN, X-MEN, THE FANTASTIC FOUR INCREDIBLE HULK, ETC. THINGS HAVE TO CHANGE IN THIS NEW ERA OF COMICS. WE NEED MORE DIVERSE CHARACTERS WITH DEPTH. IT'S NOT JUST ABOUT HAVING BLACK/WHITE CHARACTERS ANYMORE. WE NEED MORE CHARACTERS THAT ARE HISPANIC, ASIAN, INDONESIAN, GAY, STRAIGHT, MALE, FEMALE, TRANS-GENDER, DISABLED, KIDS, TEENAGERS, ADULTS, SENIOR CITIZENS, ETC. AND THE ONLY WAY TO GET THIS TYPE OF DIVERSITY IS TO ENCOURAGE DIVERSE CREATORS AND ARTISTS. THESE ARE THE PEOPLE WHO LOVE COMICS NOW. AND WE AS CREATORS AND ARTISTS HAVE AN OBLIGATION TO DIG DEEPER TO CREATE NEW ART AND LITERATURE. JUST LIKE ANYTHING IT TAKES TIME. AND I JUST HOPE MY WORK REACHES THE MOST DIVERSE COMMUNITY THAT IT CAN.” | |
Scott Rick | Scott Rick is a marketing professor at the University of Michigan’s Ross School of Business, where he has won awards for research and teaching. He holds a PhD in Behavioral Decision Research from Carnegie Mellon, where he was a National Science Foundation graduate research fellow. His research on consumer behavior has been covered in outlets such as NPR, the New York Times, and the Wall Street Journal. He has published in premier journals spanning marketing, psychology, and economics. His first book, Tightwads and Spendthrifts: Navigating the Money Minefield in Real Relationships, was published in January 2024 by St. Martin’s Press. |  |
Sandee Rodriguez | Sandee Rodriguez lives in Ypsilanti Michigan. She started writing at 19 years old with a poem about a French Fry. While continuing to pursue poetry, she responded to an ad about learning to write children's books and began writing short stories. At the age of 24, she sustained a Traumatic Brain Injury, amnesia, and paralysis, among other challenges. One of those challenges was language. Exploring writing, through Speech Therapy, she returned to poetry, children's stories and eventually journalism. Sandee spends her days baking, caring for her 3 dogs, and continuing to write early reader books. She’s also working on a full-length musical about her journey living with Traumatic Brain Injury. | |
Dan Romanchik | Dan Romanchik has been an Ann Arbor resident for more than 35 years and an amateur radio | |
| Author | Biography | Book Cover(s) |
