We have 168 local authors in our directory!
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| Author | Biography | Book Cover(s) |
|---|---|---|
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. |  |
Stephanie Tharp | Stephanie Tharp is an industrial designer and educator— currently an Associate Professor and an Undergraduate Program Co-Director at the University of Michigan’s Stamps School of Art & Design. Her recent research surrounds the theory and practice of discursive design. One current project is a collaboration with chronic pain specialists exploring public engagement with medical research and challenging popular stigmas of pain sufferers. |  |
Irene Butter | Irene Butter was born in Berlin and grew up as a Jewish child in Nazi-occupied Europe. A survivor of two concentration camps, she came to the US in 1945. Since the late 80s Irene has been teaching students about the Holocaust and the lessons she learned during those traumatic years. Her memoir, Shores Beyond Shores, details her journey. Irene is a co-founder of the Raoul Wallenberg Medal & Lecture series at the University of Michigan, and one of the founders of Zeitouna, an Arab/Jewish Women's Dialogue group in Ann Arbor. |  |
Christine Hume | Born into a military family and constitutionally restless, Christine Hume lived in over 25 places in the U.S. and Europe before landing in Ypsilanti. Her latest collection of essays on sex offenders and women’s bodies, Everything I Never Wanted to Know, will be available from Ohio State University Press (21st Century Essays Series). She is also the author of a lyric portrait of girlhood, Saturation Project (Solid Objects, 2021), which The New York Times says, “arrives…with the force of a hurricane,” as well as several books of poetry. She has guest edited two issues of the American Book Review, on #MeToo and Girlhood, and is currently guest editing a folio for The Hopkins Review on walking. Since 2001, she has been a faculty member in the Creative Writing program at Eastern Michigan University. | |
Bernice Baran | Bernice Baran started her website, Bakery Baran, as a place to document all of the adventures in her everyday life. It was a creative outlet on days off of working as a nurse, and a place to come and look back on 10 years from now and see all her photos and thoughts from this time in her life. That quickly and exclusively turned into her baking and sharing her recipes. Over the last five years, Bernice stopped nursing, had two babies, and took Baran Bakery full-time. She wrote a cookbook, Frosted, and hosts cake decorating workshops. She can't wait to see what the next five years bring, but whatever it is, she knows it'll be sweet. |  |
DC Armijo | A lifelong Michigan resident, DC Armijo is an accomplished executive with over 25 years of nonprofit leadership experience. He is married, has a college-aged daughter, and currently splits his time between Milford, Michigan and Naples, Florida. DC has a bachelor’s degree from Oakland University and a master’s in health services administration from the University of Michigan. After beginning his career in hospital administration, he transitioned to working for nonprofits focused on environmental and public health concerns. DC’s dedication to purpose-driven work is founded in a childhood marked by poverty and a father’s illness. Those early challenges gave him the lifelong gifts of resilience, empathy, and purpose. He believes the nonprofit sector has grown increasingly important because of declines in governmental effectiveness and floundering public policy. As a result, we need more nonprofit leaders who are driven and equipped to make a difference. DC’s book, The Nonprofit Dilemma explores why nonprofit management is so challenging. It is based on the simple idea that nonprofit leaders frequently encounter a choice between advancing their organization's impact or its financial health. Nearly every decision comes with the same underlying question—which aim to prioritize? |  |
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. | |
Peter G. Stipe | Peter G. Stipe was born and raised in Ann Arbor, Michigan. He retired from the Ann Arbor Police Department in 2004 as its most highly decorated officer. His assignments included the Special Tactics Unit, Detective Division, Field Training Officer and District Coordinator. A writer and Film Noir buff, he is the Author of “Badge 112”, a memoir. He resides in Michigan’s Irish Hills. | |
Steven Harper Piziks | Steven Harper Piziks was born with a name that no one can reliably spell or pronounce, so he often writes under the pen name Steven Harper. He lives in Michigan with his family. When not at the keyboard, he plays the folk harp, fiddles with video games, and pretends he doesn’t talk to the household cats. In the past, he’s held jobs as a reporter, theater producer, secretary, and substitute teacher. He maintains that the most interesting thing about him is that he writes books. Steven is the creator of The Silent Empire series, the Clockwork Empire steampunk series, and the Books of Blood and Iron series for Roc Books. All four Silent Empire novels were finalists for the Spectrum Award, a first! Fortunately, his story “Eight Mile and the City” in the anthology When Worlds Collide won the 2022 Washington Science Fiction Association Award for small press. You can find him elsewhere on-line by searching for his social media. | |
David Jibson | Having grown up in rural Michigan, David Jibson now lives in Ann Arbor where he is the editor of Third Wednesday, an independent quarterly journal of literary and visual arts, a member of the Poetry Society of Michigan and a coordinator of The Crazy Wisdom Poetry Circle. He retired from a long career in Social Work, most recently with a Hospice agency. His poetry has been published in dozens of journals both in print and online. David holds BA degrees in Social Work and Interdisciplinary Communications from Western Michigan University and an MSW from Michigan State University. | |
| Author | Biography | Book Cover(s) |
