2023 Author Lineup
Nikki Shannon Smith is an educator, presenter, and the award-winning author of 20 published and forthcoming books, ranging from board books to young adult novels. She is the author of the Azaleah Lane chapter book series (Capstone) as well as the board book series Brown Baby Parade (PRH/Crown). Nikki's work includes two Little Golden Books (OUR BEAUTIFUL COLORS and THE LITTLE CHRISTMAS ELF), A Star Like Jesse Owens, a Smithsonian Historical Fiction title about the 1936 Olympics and five titles in Capstone’s multi-author, historical fiction/adventure, middle grade series, Girls Survive. Her Girls Survive title LENA AND THE BURNING OF GREENWOOD was the recipient of the 2023 Oklahoma Book Award in the Young Adult Category. Her middle grade novel, STRANDED, will be released in 2024 (Scholastic).
Ginny Myers Sain is the author of DARK AND SHALLOW LIES (2021), SECRETS SO DEEP (2022), and ONE LAST BREATH (2024), all from Razorbill Books/Penguin Teen. Her debut novel, DARK AND SHALLOW LIES, is a New York Times bestseller, an Indie Bookstore Bestseller, a Barnes & Noble YA Pick of the Month, an Amazon Editor's Pick, and the 2022 CRYSTAL KITE award winner from the Society of Children's Book Writers and Illustrators (Texas and Oklahoma Region). It is also a WHIPPOORWILL BOOK AWARD winner, which is given to recognize books honestly reflecting the complexity and diversity of rural life. Other honors for DARK AND SHALLOW LIES include being nominated for a THRILLER AWARD (Best YA) from the International Thriller Writers and being a 2022 nominee for the Oklahoma Book Award. Ginny's books are available world-wide in eight countries and counting!
Casie Bazay was born and raised in Oklahoma where she continues to live with her husband and two children today. As a child, she participated in many sports and activities but developed a strong love for animals, the outdoors, and writing, in particular. She attended Oklahoma State University, earning a degree in elementary education with middle school endorsements.
After teaching 6th, 7th , and 8th grade science and English for ten years, she switched gears in order to begin writing professionally--freelancing for mostly equine publications, and also working as a freelance editor. However, her primary writing passion is creating heartfelt and often humorous stories for young adults.
Author of Hannah Goodheart and the Guardian of Time, C. Michael Morrison is a man of many talents. His passion for storytelling began as a boy growing up in a small river valley town in West Virginia, where Mike cultivated an affection for science fiction. It’s no surprise that these days, he can be found on the Trek.fm podcast network, where Mike is co-host of Meta Treks: A Star Trek and Philosophy podcast, as well as an occasional contributor to other shows on the network. In addition to being a devout PEZ collector, Mike is Lead Pastor of Collin Creek Church in Plano, TX.
Mike lives in the Dallas area with his wife, Dorinda, daughter, Hannah, and their standard poodle, Princess.
Hanna C. Howard lives and writes in Tulsa, Oklahoma. She grew up as a passionate reader with a passionate dog obsession, and throughout elementary school, refused any book that wasn’t about dogs in some capacity. Since then she has somewhat expanded her literary palate, but her favorite stories still tend to have a dog in them somewhere.
In college Hanna studied English and Creative Writing, and she has worked as a Barnes & Noble Bookseller, a Scholastic Book Fairs Merchandiser, a community college writing tutor, a plant saleswoman, and an Etsy small business owner (usually at least two of these jobs at a time, alongside her writing)—though she has wanted to be a professional novelist since the 10th grade. In 2020, she saw this dream come to fruition at last with the publication of her debut YA fantasy novel, Ignite the Sun.
Jes McCutchen has been writing since she can remember, and has always been drawn to literary spheres. With degrees in literature and education, she taught public school for 8 years, and is currently the program director for an after school arts program at Arts at 302 in downtown Broken Arrow. She has written and published two novels: Chronicles of My Alien Invasion Life and A Mean Piece of Water. Both are set in Oklahoma and feature diverse casts of queer characters fighting things like aliens and gators. Jes was a speaker at the third annual Local Author's Convention, has spoken with creative writing groups, beena guest lecturer for Tulsa Community College, spoke at a Q&A with The Equality Crew of NW Arkansas, and has put on a writing workshop through the Tulsa City County Library teen services.
She is also one of the founders and co-editors for Horns and Rattles Press in collaboration with Whitty Books.
Elizabeth Santiago grew up in Boston, MA with parents who migrated from San Sebastián, Puerto Rico in the 1960s. The youngest of nine, Elizabeth was entranced by the stories her mother, father, aunts and uncles, and community elders told her. Later, she sought to capture and honor those narratives and share them with the world. She earned a BFA in creative writing from Emerson College, a master's in education from Harvard University, and a PhD in education studies from Lesley University. She still lives in Boston with her husband Kevin and son Ezekiel, but travels to Puerto Rico as often as she can to feel even closer to her ancestors, culture, and heritage.
“Master of the unexpected,” Kathleen Baldwin is a Wall Street Journal and Amazon bestselling author. She’s known for weaving stories with luminous threads of intrigue, love, and light. Her books have delighted readers around the globe—with more than 650,000 copies sold worldwide. A Japanese publisher even made one of her books into a manga, and the Stranje House series is under option for film.
#1 USA Today bestselling author Meg Cabot raves that Kathleen’s A SCHOOL FOR UNUSUAL GIRLS is “completely original and totally engrossing.” And the New York Times Book Review called it “enticing from the first sentence.”
Kathleen’s love of adventure isn’t limited to her writing. She taught rock climbing in the Rockies, survival camped in the desert and in the snow, slept beside a mountain lion, and lost an argument with a rattlesnake. Later, she married her very own hero and raised a pack of wildly adventurous children.
Liese Sherwood-Fabre grew up in Dallas, Texas and knew she was destined to write when she got an A+ in the second grade for her story about Dick, Jane, and Sally’s ruined picnic. After obtaining her PhD from Indiana University, she joined the federal government and had the opportunity to work and live internationally for more than fifteen years—in Africa, Latin America, and Russia. Returning to the states, she seriously pursued her writing career and has published several pieces.
Kate St. Clair is an award-winning author who lives in Austin, Texas. Her previous books Spelled and Cursed were optioned for film rights in 2015.
With The Ptolemy Project, she blends teenage development and relationships with a deeper exploration of social exclusion, mental illness, and the weaponization of correctional programs. Kate is passionate about diversifying the genre of YA fiction by representing marginalized communities and featuring Trans and Queer characters. She loves to educate the public on how they can be a better support system for those with mental illnesses.
Heather Murphy Capps went to an all-women’s college, and after she graduated, she moved to Western Kenya to teach English in an all-boys high school. Heather always wanted to be a writer, but while she was in Kenya, she realized she also wanted to be a reporter, so she came back to the United States to study journalism. After 15 years of reporting on politics, war, wild weather, and everything else in between, she finally decided to transition to her first writing dream: middle grade fiction. She writes about friendship, family, fitting in, and finding yourself, often grounding her stories in history and social justice themes. Heather is biracial and invested in creating diversity in publishing. In addition to her busy writing schedule, Heather teaches writing, English, and public speaking skills to professional adults, and she’s a community leader and activist fighting for public school education equity.
Lori Freeland wrote her first story at age five. It wasn’t good, but it left her with a firm belief that everyone has a story to tell. An author, editor, and writing coach, she holds a BA in psychology from The University of Wisconsin and lives in the Dallas area. A former editor for The Christian Pulse and Armonia Publishing, she’s presented multiple workshops at conferences across the country and has experience in developmental and copy edits in fiction and nonfiction. She writes articles, novels, and everything in between and loves good books, happy endings, and the perfect kiss. When she’s not curled up with her dogs drinking too much coffee, she loves to mess with the lives of the imaginary people living in her head.
Roy Deering is a middle-school English teacher, a lifelong baseball fan and card collector (the latter inspired his first book, Finders Keepers), and an hiking enthusiast. Before becoming a teacher, he spent more than twenty years as a journalist. His debut juvenile novel, Finders Keepers, won the 2015 Oklahoma Book Award and a bronze in ForeWord Reviews’s Best Books of 2015.
His new book, The Day Old Faithful Stopped: A Yellowstone National Mystery, is the first in his National Park Mystery Series.
When Deering isn’t writing, you can often find him exploring one of America’s national parks with his family—he’ll see you on the hiking trail or the next game of Oklahoma City Dogders. Roy makes his home on the wide open plains of Oklahoma, with his wife and children.