A man of many interests, Barry Ralph parlayed his love of music into a successful career as an author. A communications broker by trade, Ralph produces and presents a weekly radio show entitled “All That Jazz” and writes a music column for two major Australian newspapers. The evolution of his first book came through his interest in 1940s music. His devotion to that musical genre grew to include World War II history. While researching his first book, he stumbled onto the Little Eva story and wanted to tell it from the Australian perspective.
Born in Peterborough, England, Ralph's family immigrated to Australia when he was seven years old. He has resided in Brisbane, Queensland, ever since. Leaving formal education at the age of fifteen, he held a variety of jobs before entering the sales field in his early twenties. He enjoyed a successful senior management career in manufacturing before branching out into advertising and promotion.
With his strong appreciation and knowledge in music and general history, Ralph began his radio career in 1990 with a community radio station. Acknowledged as an expert in jazz and the history of popular music, he worked full time in commercial radio for four years, hosting a question and answer program on featured musical artists. Ralph still dabbles in the medium with his weekly jazz show.
Ralph considers himself an interpreter of history. He's an avid nonfiction reader and has gained appreciation for music while studying the clarinet and saxophone.
Lydia Ramsey is a seasoned business etiquette expert, professional speaker, and columnist. She is the president and founder of a Savannah-based business protocol firm offering keynotes, workshops, and seminars to corporations, nonprofit organizations, colleges, and universities. A former columnist for the Savannah Morning News, she serves as a scriptwriter in Voice of America's China department, where she writes scripts on Western business etiquette that are broadcast to China and Taiwan. Ramsey's expertise has been featured and quoted in publications across the country, including Investor's Business Daily, Entrepreneur, The Wall Street Journal, and NPR.
A partner in The Kindness Revolution, a business-based initiative to promote kindness and courtesy and provide recognition to individuals who exemplify kindness, Ramsey is devoted to volunteerism in her community. She is the recipient of the 1995 June Sammons Award for Leadership given by the Georgia Association for Volunteer Administration, and she served as the vice president of Volunteer Resources for the United Way of the Coastal Empire during the late 1980s. She also worked as the director of Volunteer Services for Memorial Health University in Savannah, Georgia. During that period, she was elected president of the Georgia Society of Directors for Volunteer Service of the Georgia Hospital Association.
Ramsey obtained a bachelor of arts degree in French from Agnes Scott College before going on to pursue graduate studies in French and education at the University of Pennsylvania. Active in both professional and civic organizations, Ramsey has served on the board of directors for the North Florida Chapter of the National Speakers Association, the Georgia Hospital Association, and the Association of Junior Leagues International. A former chairman for the Association for Volunteer Administrators International Conference on Volunteerism, she is a past president of the Junior League of Savannah and the Rotary Club of Skidaway Island.
When she is not consulting, speaking, writing, and volunteering, Ramsey enjoys knitting, walking, and feeding and watching her backyard birds, a hobby she shares with her four nonviolent cats. She has two daughters and three grandchildren and lives in Savannah, Georgia.
Lee Brandt Randall has a degree in printmaking from Louisiana State University. She works in graphic design, film animation, and book illustration and is a member of the Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators.
Born in 1887 in Torun, a town in West Prussia, Hermann Rauschning studied history and music in Munich and later in Berlin. After volunteering to serve his country during World War I, Rauschning became mayor of Danzig and later president of the Danzig senate in June 1933. While serving in the senate, Rauschning had many opportunities to interact with Hitler, both in group settings and alone. Alarmed by Hitler's beliefs and his plans for world conquest, Rauschning resigned from the senate in 1934 and fled to Paris. He eventually moved to Zurich, where he spent the remainder of the war.
A former believer in the Nazi party, Rauschning became disillusioned through his conversations with Hitler. Rauschning's notes and transcriptions of conversations between himself and the German leader reveal Hitler's plans for world domination and population control, as well as Hitler's nightmares and fascination with the occult.
While in Zurich, Rauschning began assembling and publishing his notes, many of which contained verbatim transcriptions of his conversations with Hitler. The Voice of Destruction begins in 1932, well before the rest of the world was aware of Hitler's destructive potential. As a member of the Danzig senate and a confidante of Hitler's, Rauschning provides a rare, first-hand glimpse into the mind of the German Fuhrer.
Nora Levin, a Holocaust scholar, described Rauschning as “one of the most penetrating analysts of the Nazi period,” and his writings have influenced many historians and scholars. Leaving Switzerland in 1948, Rauschning traveled to the United States. He continued writing about German politics until his death in 1982.
Prior to becoming a full-time illustrator, Duane Raver worked for the North Carolina Wildlife Resources Commission as a fisheries biologist and served as editor of Wildlife in North Carolina magazine. Raver's artwork, with an emphasis on detailed fish drawings, has appeared in books and magazines, on posters, and throughout numerous publications. In 2002, he was presented with the North Carolina Governor's Conservation Achievement Award and elected to the North Carolina Wildlife Federation's Conservation Hall of Fame. He lives in Garner, North Carolina
Who would have thought that Rednecks needed an instruction book? Well, true Rednecks really do not need one to learn how to act . . . but, they can use it to help remember all of the subtleties and nuances inherent in being a Redneck. For those who were not lucky enough to be born this way, The Redneck Instruction Book now offers hope.
SCRAWLS was himself lucky enough to be born a Redneck in Clarksdale, Mississippi (deep in the heart of God's country). He remained in prime Redneck territory when he attended Florida Southern College and received his bachelor of science degree in speech-journalism. For more than 30 years, he has worked as a reporter, sports writer, and editorial cartoonist for newspapers in both Florida and Georgia, including the Atlanta Constitution.
He is presently an editorial cartoonist for the Rockdale Citizen (Conyers, GA) and Creative Loafing Magazine (Atlanta, GA). The illustrator of the book How to Speak Southern, he is also the creator of Pop's Place comic strip for King Features Syndicate.
SCRAWLS is a past president of the Association of American Editorial Cartoonists, as well as a member of the National Cartoonist Society and the Rockdale Arts Council Board. He currently resides in Conyers, Georgia.
For most of his life, author T. J. Ray has explored ways to not only strengthen his own writing but also help others shape their linguistic abilities. As an instructor, he taught courses in English composition, advanced composition, Chaucer, semantics, medieval English literature, Middle English, historical linguistics, and more. Many of his courses aimed to teach writing using computers, a skill he feels grows increasingly important as technology advances. In order to make computer proficiency more common in educational settings, Apple, Inc. sent Ray around the country to give lectures in high schools and colleges to English professors.
Ray received both his bachelor of arts and master of arts in English from Mississippi College; he went on to receive his doctor of philosophy from the University of Oregon. In addition to teaching, he has also directed several theses, dissertations, and doctorate essays. His own essays on writing topics such as the disjunctive phrase and describing geometric forms have appeared in several publications. For fourteen years, Ray also served as a scoutmaster for the Boy Scouts of America.
Born in Louisville, Mississippi, Ray makes his home in Oxford, Mississippi. His days are spent in front of a computer or behind a camera photographing birds and flowers.
From illustrations and character creations to calligraphy and graphic design, Alejandro Raymond exercises his passion for art in many ways. By experimenting with different media and techniques, he is able to deliver top-notch, out-of-the-ordinary results to his clients. Raymond has also created a portfolio of royalty-free illustrations available worldwide.
Raymond studied graphic design at the Ibero-American University in Mexico City, Mexico. He is the founder of Centauria Consultores en Diseño, a company offering design services to a broad range of clients.
Raymond lives with his wife and children in Corregidora, Querétaro, Mexico.
Stephen Rea is a freelance writer based out of New Orleans who has contributed to national and international newspapers, magazines, and Web sites for over twenty years. He has worked for England's Daily News and Western Daily Press in the features, sports, and entertainment departments. When he was only seventeen, the Sun daily newspaper chose him as their first-ever trainee reporter, and he covered a range of news stories, from the Gulf War and terrorist attacks in London to the resignation of Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher.
Rea attended Campbell College in his hometown of Belfast, Northern Ireland. He studied journalism at the United Kingdom's National Council for the Training of Journalists before joining the Sun. After moving to New Orleans with his wife, Rea won a writing grant from the Tennessee Williams/New Orleans Literary Festival in 2006.
After his move to New Orleans, Rea struggled to find an outlet for his love of soccer. He discovered an Irish bar in New Orleans's Mid-City area called Finn McCool's, an eccentric blend of locals and ex-pats. The men eventually formed a club team and joined a league—the perfect place for Rea to play soccer and express his love of the game. He wrote Finn McCool's Football Club while he was displaced to Houston, Texas, after Hurricane Katrina, and the story follows not only Rea's struggles through that difficult period, but the rest of the team's as well.
Stephen Rea's eclectic life has led him to more than one hundred countries, all seven continents, and all fifty U.S. states. Born in Belfast, Northern Ireland, he spent his childhood against the backdrop of bombings and shootings in that country during the seventies and eighties. At the age of sixteen, he went on tour with rock star Ozzy Osbourne and later traveled the world as his assistant road manager, contributing a chapter to Osbourne's official biography Diary of a Madman. In New Orleans, Rea served as the media relations officer for the Shell Shockers, the city's minor league soccer club. Rea lives with his wife and daughter in New Orleans, Louisiana
Shelly Marie Redmond credits her two grandmothers, Edna and Louise, for her culinary capabilities and influence. In her grandmother Edna’s home, she was no stranger to the ever-present scents of shrimp, white beans and rice, and gumbo in the kitchen. Meanwhile, in her grandmother Louise’s kitchen, one could often find baked delights such as fudge and cake.
Redmond holds a BS from Nicholls State University and an MS from Louisiana Tech University in nutrition and dietetics. She is a registered culinary dietitian, TV media personality, and founder of the Skinny Louisiana brand. She is co-owner of Eberhardt Physical Therapy, where she counsels her patients on a variety of food-related issues.
Redmond stays true to her Cajun roots and loves to cook for her Yankee husband, daughter, son, and two cats. She and her family live in Shreveport, Louisiana.
Lynn Homan and Thomas Reilly bring extensive experience in historical research, writing, and creative design to their work. An important facet of projects undertaken at Homan and Reilly Designs is the development of relationships with individuals featured as exhibition subjects. Insights gained through extensive personal interviews bring the subjects to life. More than 8,000 hours were involved in the production of the nationally acclaimed traveling exhibition, The Tuskegee Airmen.
With over 25 years of experience in the aviation industry, Thomas Reilly has served as an aviation consultant and chief financial officer. A licensed pilot, he has flown both fixed-wing aircraft and hot air balloons. Reilly earned his MBA from Northeastern University.
Lynn Homan earned her BA in history from West Virginia University, and served as the administrative director of a Florida history museum in 1986. She has become involved in the production of museum exhibitions, serving variously as an editor, curator, and designer, and has provided photo-documentation of historic structures to the National Register of Historic Places.
Both authors are active participants in the Florida Humanities Council's Speakers Bureau, and live in St. Petersburg, Florida.
Ronald T. Reuther (1929-2007) was passionate about aviation and animals, actively pursuing these interests throughout his life. He served in the United States Air Force from 1954 to 1956, flying transport aircraft in Europe and North Africa. Following active duty, he was a member of the Air Force Reserve until he retired with the rank of lieutenant colonel in 1981. He was awarded the Meritorious Service Medal for his decades of duty.
As a naturalist, Reuther studied wildlife conservation at the University of California-Berkeley. One of the first to assert that the purpose of the zoos was to educate the public about animal conservation, he became the first director of the Micke Grove Zoo in Lodi, California, in 1957. He believed that zoos should be active in research and not simply locations for entertainment. When he was director of the San Francisco Zoo, he allowed Francine “Penny” Patterson, a graduate student at Stanford University, to attempt to teach the gorilla Koko sign language.
Reuther fostered his love for aviation throughout his life. He had a special interest in Amelia Earhart and was widely recognized for his expertise on her disappearance. He was an active member of the Amelia Earhart Society, organizing several conferences for the group. After he retired, he lectured on aeronautics, aviation operations and management, and Amelia Earhart’s final, fatal trip. He co-authored several books about the history of aviation in northern California, and, in 1981, he became founder, president, and executive director of the Western Aerospace Museum, now known as the Oakland Aviation Museum.
Reuther was born in Miami, Florida, and moved to California in the 1940s with his family. Apart from the decade he spent directing zoos in Cleveland, Indianapolis, and Philadelphia, he lived in California until his death.
Rey is a member of the Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators, the Florida Reading Association, the Martin County Education Association, and the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics. She has had two history projects displayed at the Elliott Museum in Stuart, Florida, during the town’s best attended Old Home Week celebration on record.
A graduate of Ohio University, Rey holds a BS in education with a minor in English. She completed the beginning and advanced writing courses from the Institute of Children’s Literature and spent a summer at the Ballymaloe Cookery School in Ireland. In her spare time she enjoys trail riding with her three grown daughters. Rey lives with her husband in Indiantown, Florida.
With his talent for presentation, it comes as no suprise that Chef Edward Rhinehart was an art student at one point in his academic career. He translates that insight into the art of cooking, where, he says, presentation is an important part of the dining experience. He likes to make food fun, creating an entire dining experience that dazzles all the senses. In fact, it is his interest in presentation that drew him to understand and admire the work of the late Chef Louis Evans.
Both worked at the world-famous Caribbean Room in the renowned Ponchartrain Hotel. During Rhinehart's time as sous-chef, he was privileged to study firsthand the late chef's personal notes cataloged for posterity. Rhinehart's flair for presentation was enhanced by Evans' attention to the aesthetics of fine dining. In his new foreword to Louis Evans' Creole Cookbook, Rhinehart offers his thoughts on Chef Evans' expertise.
As one of only three chefs under the age of thirty to be inducted into the International Association of Culinary Professionals, Edward Rhinehart knew from an early age that his passion was food. He has pursued that infatuation at every turn, even in his leisure activities, raising fresh vegetables in his home garden. Having lost more than one hundred pounds himself, Rhinehart is motivated to eat healthy and exercise daily.
Chef Rhinehart has an associate's degree in culinary arts from the Culinary Arts Institute of Louisiana Professional Cooking and has completed the Raw Lifestyle Coach training course offered by the Raw Vegan Network. Because of his flair for presentation, Rhinehart is a popular guest on two cable television shows, the Scott Rogers Show and Cajun Quest Hookin' and Cookin', as well as WAFB, the Baton Rouge CBS affiliate. He is an adjunct culinary instructor at Nicholls State University in Thibodaux, Louisiana. Professional membership credits include the National Restaurant Association, the Louisiana Restaurant Association, and the International Association of Culinary Professionals. He resides in Destrehan, Louisiana, where he is executive chef at Ormond Country Club.
An avid traveler and sailor, Captain Rick Rhodes has always had a taste for adventure. After his freshman year of college, he hiked a large part of the Appalachian trail, and by the age of twenty-two, he had already traveled to forty-eight states, primarily by motorcycle. After college, he found a job with the government and lived aboard a thirty-three-foot sailboat and a twenty-eight-foot powerboat in the Potomac River. He also was able to take two six-month sabbaticals, in which he sailed to Central America.
Later, he joined the Peace Corps and spent time in Ecuador. After this short term, he decided to look to the sea and rivers for his next adventure. He used his vast knowledge of travel and cruising, as well as further research on specific areas, such as the Great Loop, to create a cruising guide.
He has written several cruising guidebooks, including Cruising Guide from Lake Michigan to Kentucky Lake: The Heartland Rivers Route and Cruising Guide to Florida's Big Bend, both available from Pelican.
Captain Rick Rhodes currently lives in St. Petersburg, Florida, where he continues to enjoy traveling and boating. He is a proud member of the Chesapeake Bay Professional Captain's Association.
Nancy Rhyne is the award-winning author of several books and one of the most popular regional writers in the country. She strives to introduce children to the heritage of their area through local folklore and legends that are designed to inspire children to learn about their own surroundings as well as to entertain them with delightful stories of children, much like themselves, caught in some very unusual circumstances.
In Rhyne's most recent title, The Jack-O'-Lantern Ghost, Ben is drawn to Hell Hole Swamp to find the legendary treasure so his family can pay for his father's medical treatment. Ben's courageous search ends in more than gold.
In The South Carolina Lizard Man, young twins Josh and Matt venture into the dangerous unknowns of the haunted Hell Hole Swamp in search of ghosts; but they find themselves facing a much more frightening and real creature. Concealed among the greenery and moss, they spy a man-sized lizard with radiant green scales and an eerie, somewhat human smile. Terrified but intrigued by their find, the brothers set off to learn more about the monster that lives on the edge of their plantation and to face the mysteries that dwell deep within the swamp. This latest addition to Rhyne's children's books brings to life many of the well-known and little-known legends of the famed South Carolina lowlands.
Rhyne's children's writings also include Alice Flagg, Ghost of the Hermitage, a work of historical fiction dealing with the mysterious sightings of what witnesses have called a ghost near Murrells Inlet, South Carolina. And another popular favorite is Once Upon a Time on a Plantation, the story of the friendship between two twelve-year-old boys—one black and one white—set prior to the Civil War.
A resident of Murrells Inlet, Rhyne is a sought-after speaker and storyteller throughout the region. She actively lectures to school groups, conventions, civic organizations, and other groups who enjoy her tales of the South Carolina Low Country, plantation life in the 1800s, and most recently, the intriguing tale of the infamous creature believed to be half human and half lizard that roams the lowlands.
Rhyne holds memberships in the National Federation of Media Women, the South Carolina Media Women, and the National Association for the Perpetuation and Preservation of Storytelling. She was born in Mt. Holly, North Carolina, and attended Lenoir-Rhyne College in Hickory, North Carolina. Rhyne has appeared in the past on national television, preserving the legends and folklore of her home state, and has become an expert on the history and folklore of the coast of South Carolina through her years of research and writing.
“They say if you can make a living doing what you love then you never have to work.
I haven’t worked in years.”
—James Rice
“Rice is especially good with facial expressions, whether they are on a Texas jackrabbit, a longhorn steer, a dusty cowboy, or the green and long-nosed alligator named Gaston.”
—Library Journal
“Rice’s detailed pictures are captivating.”
—Woman's Day
This outpouring of praise is directed towards James Rice (1934-2004) and the outstanding list of children's books he wrote and illustrated. Widely acclaimed as the South’s leading illustrator of juvenile books, Rice lives through the more than 2.5 million books in print that feature his work—a record that ranks him with top children's authors and illustrators nationally.
Cajun Night Before Christmas®, Rice's first book, has been nationally recognized as a classic in its genre. Rice lent his talents to Pelican Publishing Company's The Night Before Christmas Series, which includes the tremendously popular An Irish Night Before Christmas, Redneck Night Before Christmas, and Gullah Night Before Christmas. It was through Cajun Night Before Christmas® that Rice developed the character of Gaston® the Green-Nosed Alligator, who went on to have his own series of books. Several of Rice's other sixty books are set in his home state of Texas. Trail Drive is just one that both entertains and teaches children about cowboys and Western life.
Rice was born on a farm in Coleman County, Texas, and resided in Hico, Texas. He graduated with a bachelor of fine arts from the University of Texas, a master of fine arts from Stephen F. Austin State University, and a master of arts from Howard Payne University. Rice taught art and music at both high school and college levels at such schools as Southeastern Louisiana State University, Louisiana State University, and Dallas Baptist College. When not working on new books, Rice visited schools throughout the country to teach children the joys of writing and illustrating.
Rice's work has earned several awards over the years, including
Gaston® Goes to Texas, Certificate of
Award from Printer Industries of America, 1979
The Night Before Christmas, Certificate of Merit, Printer Industries of
America 1990
Why Cowboys Sleep with Their Boots On, Certificate of Merit, Printer
Industries of America 1996
Cajun Night Before Christmas, Not Just for Children Anymore Classics, CBC
2002
The Teachers' Night Before Christmas, Children's Choices, CBC/IRA 2002
Why Cowboys Need A Pardner, Children's Books Mean Business, CBC 2002
Ilene Richard worked as a jewelry designer for fifteen years. She was featured in trade magazines for her pieces and was featured in many galleries across the country. She put her jewelry business on hold in order to break into the children’s book market, something she had always dreamed of doing.
Richard attended the University of Massachusetts Dartmouth where she received a BFA in graphic design and illustration. She also attended the School of the Museum of Fine Arts , Boston at Tufts University and the DeCordova Museum in Lincoln, Massachusetts, to continue her education in illustration. She is a member of the Rockport Art Association and a board member of the Massachusetts chapter of the National Association of Women Artists. Richard also paints large mixed media and acrylic paintings on canvas and paper. Her work has been exhibited in galleries and museums from California to Florida and all through New England.
Richard lives in Andover, Massachusetts, with her husband Larry, who is a retired veterinarian, and their two dogs.
Professional photographer Armand J. “Sheik” Richardson was born and raised in New Orleans. A Fire in My Lens is Richardson’s homage to his beloved hometown.
For his undergraduate education, Richardson attended Loyola University and earned a BA in political science with a minor in speech. He went to Tulane University for graduate school and went on to the University of New Orleans for his teacher certification. Richardson earned an additional degree at Delgado College for electronic servicing technology. After his brief period in the military, Richardson worked various jobs before achieving his dream of opening Penumbra Photos—a forensic and commercial photography company—in 1975. He also founded the Arabi Wrecking Krewe, which provides disaster relief, and was able to aid in the Katrina-recovery effort.
Richardson resides in New Orleans, where he has continues to take photographs of the city he loves.
While spreading the words and feelings of a Confederate soldier to the masses has been reward enough for author Elizabeth Whitley Roberson, she has received a surprising bonus, as well. The Children's Book Council has named her book, Weep Not for Me, Dear Mother, as a Notable Children's Trade Book in the Field of Social Studies for 1997.
Ms. Roberson became enamored with the facts and history of the War Between the States when, as a child, she listened to stories about her grandfather, George Llewellyn Whitley, who had served as a sharpshooter with the 17th Regiment of North Carolina Troops. Her passion is evident in her book, Weep Not For Me, Dear Mother. The book is comprised of Confederate soldier Eli Pinson Landers' emotional letters to his mother, Susan Landers, in Yellow River, Georgia, with detailed annotation by the author that sets the letters in historical context.
In Care of Yellow River: The Complete Civil War Letters of Pvt. Eli Pinson Landers to His Mother, also by Ms. Roberson, presents all of the surviving letters. Originally self-published, this book is now available in its first Pelican edition.
Because of her significant effort in researching and writing the story, March 8, 1992, was proclaimed a day honoring both Ms. Roberson and her literary subject by the Georgia legislature. Eli Pinson Landers was a native of Gwinnett County, Georgia.
Ms. Roberson's love for and knowledge of Civil War history flourished while she attended East Carolina University. She continued her education until she earned an MA in Education and an MAEd in History. In addition, the author continues to learn and teach about the War Between the States in a variety of ways. Ms. Roberson is affiliated with the Fort Branch Battlefield Commission, the Martin County Historical Society, and History Associates, all of which are located in North Carolina.
Ms. Roberson often addresses historical groups such as Sons of Confederate Veterans, United Daughters of the Confederacy, and Daughters of the American Revolution. She is widely published in magazines and journals including Tar Heel Magazine, Blue and Gray Magazine, and The New East Magazine. Ms. Roberson is a history professor at Martin Community College in her native Williamston, North Carolina.
“There are no great people, only people who let a great God work through them.”
—Sally-Ann Roberts
Sally-Ann Roberts co-anchors the highest-rated local morning newscast in the nation, Eyewitness Morning News. As a newswoman, she often finds herself acting as the bearer of bad news for the city, but she strives to always include optimism and good news into her program. In one of her favorite segments, “Quiet Hero,” she highlights the extraordinary accomplishments of average people.
Roberts also hosted the teen talk show Our Generation, which discussed important issues and concerns of New Orleans’ youths. Through her work with Our Generation, Roberts recognized that a tremendous number of the city’s children and teenagers were in need of guidance. She went on to co-found the Each One Save One organization, which provides mentors to children in the greater New Orleans area, striving to keep children in school and on track for success.
Despite her many professional and charitable commitments, Roberts remains close to her family. After her younger sister, Good Morning America anchor Robin Roberts, was diagnosed with breast cancer and the pre-leukemia blood disorder myelodysplastic syndrome, Roberts donated bone marrow to her sister. Roberts recalls this incident as an experience that both re-affirmed her faith in God and helped her become an advocate for blood and bone marrow donation.
Roberts has won a number of awards for her work in the community, including recognition from the Youth Leadership Council, YWCA, Junior League, and Kiwanis International. Additionally, she has received the 50 Women of the Year in Greater New Orleans award from City Business for her contributions to the community and the Blue Ribbon Award from the Louisiana Center for Women for her work with Eyewitness Morning News.
Roberts earned both her bachelor’s degree and her master’s degree from University of Southern Mississippi and was given an honorary doctorate from Our Lady of Holy Cross College. She continues to report good news from her home in New Orleans, Louisiana, where she lives with her husband.
Ana Maria Rodriguez is the award-winning author of more than a dozen nonfiction books for children. She has contributed articles to such publications as Highlights, SuperScience, and Current Health 1. Her work has received numerous awards, including the Highlights History Feature of the Year Award. A former volunteer scientist in the childrens Science-by-Mail program, Rodrguez offered students advice on their school science projects.
Rodriguez, born and raised in Argentina, received degrees from Universidad Simn Bolvar and the Venezuelan Institute for Scientific Research before moving to the United States in 1987. There, she received her postdoctoral training from the University of Texas Medical Branch at Galveston. She is a member of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, the Authors Guild, and the Society of Childrens Book Writers and Illustrators.
Rodriguez also studies Kuk Sool Won, a form of Korean martial arts, and is a member of the World Kuk Sool Association. A second-degree black belt, she studies under Choon-Ok Jade Harmon, the highest-ranking woman in the sport. Rodriguez lives with her husband and two sons in Houston, Texas.
Born in October 1926, illustrator Virginia Marsh Roeder grew up in Knoxville, Tennessee. She earned a bachelor's of fine arts from the University of Houston and a master's from the Pratt Institute in New York City, where she majored in illustration. After graduating from Pratt, she stayed in New York.
Working in New York for many years, Mrs. Roeder created fashion illustrations that appeared in a variety of popular fashion magazines such as Vogue, Mademoiselle, and Glamour. She moved back to Houston where she continued to do freelance work, including jobs for the Houston Post and advertising children's clothing for local department stores. She has also accepted commissions for portraits of children, which continue to hang lovingly in homes from as close as Houston, Texas, to as far away as Paris, France.
After moving to Houston, Mrs. Roeder also began teaching art at St. John's School. While there she began a program to take groups of students to Europe every summer in order to study art and history. Now she is retired and has circled back to her first love, children's illustrations.
Mrs. Roeder has illustrated nine children's books. Her most recent additions are Phoebe Clappsaddle and the Tumbleweed Gang, Phoebe Clappsaddle for Sheriff, and Phoebe Clappsaddle has a Tumbleweed Christmas.
In addition to illustrating children's picture books, she gives presentations to kids in grades K-4, and art classes for grades 5-6. Her presentations include “What Makes a Picture Book,” “Developing Picture Book Characters,” and for grades 5-6, “How to Tell a Picture Book Story.”
Mrs. Roeder is married to Richard C. Roeder, a designer. They have four daughters and three grandchildren, who serve as models for her illustrations. She is a member of the Society of Children's Book Writers and Illustrators.
Although his passion has always been writing, Steven J. Rolfes has worked as a teacher, border patrol agent, salesman, jeweler, former ESL teacher for Spanish-speaking immigrants, and detective. He is a volunteer at the Cincinnati History Museum and an employee at the Ohio Regional Transit Authority. At Ohio RTA, he has been a supervisor, dispatcher, clerk, and operator for twenty-eight years.
Rolfes received his BA in English from the University of Cincinnati. He is a member of the Civil War Round Table and the Mount Healthy Historical Society, a Metro Employee of the Year Finalist, and a frequent participant in Books by the Banks. The author of four books on Cincinnati history, he has also been published in National Examiner.
Rolfes lives with his wife and two children in Cincinnati, Ohio, where he was born and raised. He enjoys studying German and reading history and folklore books.
Graduating with honors and selected as a Rhodes Scholar state finalist at Penn State University, she remained there and earned her master's degree in journalism. An Emmy award-winning broadcast journalist with more than twelve years' experience in investigative and feature reporting, she has been recognized with the following honors: an Emmy, the Suncoast Region award for feature reporting, the Edward Murrow, Large Market award for investigative and feature reporting, the Gracie Award for investigative journalism, the Gabriel Award in 2002 and 2004; the Jim Metcalf Award for Best Writing in the Market, and the New Orleans Press Club First Place Award in investigative reporting in 2001 and 2002.
Currently she is the anchor newsperson for New England Cable Television, channels 6 and 28 and lives in Danvers, Massachusetts, with her husband and daughter.
Born in Virginia, Rose graduated from Madison University with a bachelor of fine arts degree in art and art history. After graduating, he spent his time working freelance for newspapers in Manassas, Virginia, drawing mostly sports cartoons. He has previously worked for The Warren (Virginia) Sentinel and Daily News-Record as graphic artist and creative director, respectively.
Rose's cartoons have won awards from the National Newspaper Association, as well as from the Virginia Press Association. His cartoons have been featured in the Best Editorial Cartoons of the Year collections, published by Pelican, every year since 1988.
Currently, Rose inks the daily comic “Barney Google and Snuffy Smith,” a position he took on in 1998, after assisting original “Barney Google” cartoonist Fred Lasswell. After Lasswell's death in 2001, Rose took over the strip.
Rose creates Kids' Home Newspaper, which served as inspiration for three Pelican books that he has authored, namely, Fun with Pup!, More Fun with Pup!, and Christmas Fun with Pup!, a series of activity books that both entertain and educate through word puzzles and drawing games. A member of the National Cartoonists Society and the American Association of Editorial Cartoonists, Rose resides in Harrisonburg, Virginia, with his wife, Karen, and his daughters, Meredith and Sarah.
Joyce M. Ross is the president of Camelion Hosiery, an international direct marketing company. As company co-founder, she has been instrumental in developing numerous sales and management training seminars and is the author of many self-help manuals.
Joyce's direct sales experience began with a brief stint as a Tupperware demonstrator at age sixteen. At age twenty-five, upon the suggestion of a friend, Ross took a job retailing Mary Kay Cosmetics. When her first Mary Kay show brought her zero in sales, Joyce felt that she had to accept the fact that she was a sales failure. However, through the guidance of a very skilled sales manager, she quickly mastered the skills required to successfully build a business. Within six months she received management status and brought her show sales to above the company average. By the middle of her second year with the company, she was driving a pink car, Mary Kay's symbol of success.
In 1984 Joyce Ross and her sister founded Camelion Hosiery, and the company now enjoys international success. Many of the business skills and techniques that Joyce offers in Direct Sales were painstakingly acquired through trial and error, and her solid grassroots experience has given her a unique appreciation for every aspect of direct selling. Familiar with the inherent frustration associated with this occupation, Joyce is able to use her own past experiences to help others overcome the anxiety and stress that is part of the job.
Joyce's business, management, and sales experience serve to make her a master in the field of direct marketing. According to Ross, “the purpose of this book is to save you some of the tribulations that I endured.” Direct Sales: Be Better Than Good—Be Great! will help to ensure success and let you “soar toward accomplishing your goals and dreams!”
“I'm firmly convinced that human well-being is closely allied with Nature and her creatures, I believe it is important to live as naturally as possible and to spend time outdoors and relating to natural things. I am a handspinner and natural dyer and derive great satisfaction from producing a thing of beauty with time-honored methods. My favorite way to live is gypsying around the Ozarks, discovering out-of-the-way beauty spots overlooked by most others, meeting and talking to the people who live here—mostly still very close to Nature. History is my ruling passion and discovering little-known facets of historical events gives me great pleasure.”
—Phyllis Rossiter
This doctrine, according to author Phyllis Rossiter, sums up the intent and message of her latest book, A Living History of the Ozarks. Considered by some to be a travel guide to a land of ever-changing natural wonders, this book is actually a timeless chronicle of the area by one of its native daughters.
A former teacher, public librarian, and newspaper editor, Rossiter has been a prolific writer since the age of sixteen. She has won awards in both fiction and nonfiction categories with local writers' groups in Missouri and Arkansas, in addition to receiving national recognition from the Children's Book Council and the National Council for Social Studies. Spending her time freelancing for magazines such as The Mother Earth News, The Missouri Conservationist, Missouri Life, and The Kansas City Star, she has published a series of articles on the Ozarks region and is featured regularly in The Ozarks Mountaineer with her column “A Sense of Place.”
Rossiter was born in the Ozarks and raised in Kansas City, but she spent virtually every possible moment “at home” in the hills, especially during the summers with her grandparents. She can remember when there were outhouses, kerosene lamps, woodstoves, bedwarmers, and scratch cooking. In A Living History of the Ozarks, she reflects a clear-eyed, down-to-earth picture of the present-day Ozarks from the beneficial vantage point of a native who has lived elsewhere long enough to be able to view the area objectively.
In addition to painting the portraits of distinguished individuals including the recently retired dean of Tulane University School of Medicine, Dr. Neal A. Vanselow; the late Dr. Blackwell B. Evans, Sr., the former dean of Tulane's School of Urology; and the third abbot of the Benedictine Monastery St. Joseph Abbey, Father David Melancon, OSB; she has also illustrated six books. The artist feels that illustration is a natural adjunct to portraiture and mural painting since all three use recognizable imagery to communicate the message and information to the viewer.
Marilyn Rougelot is a native New Orleanian and has lived in Covington for nearly twenty years. She received her degree in art from St. Mary Dominican College, where she studied under internationally recognized sculptress, Angela Gregory. Prior to that, she studied art in the Vieux Carré, the University of Colorado, and at the University of Southwestern Louisiana.
The artist maintains her own private studio in Covington and while not working on the high-profile pieces, she keeps busy with her new work, pushing herself into unexplored areas through challenging subject matter.
Raised in New Orleans, Julie P. Rowley holds a masters of education in early-childhood curriculum and instruction from the University of New Orleans. Her stories were inspired by her daughter’s imagination.
Rue received a bachelor of business administration from Southern Methodist University in Dallas, Texas, and a juris doctorate and MBA degree from Loyola University. He is also a fellow of the Institute of Politics at Loyola University. He is a member of numerous leadership, civic, and philanthropic organizations, including the Kenner Business Association, American Trial Lawyers Association, National Multiple Sclerosis Society (Louisiana chapter), Big Brothers/Big Sisters, American Cancer Society's Professional Support Group (New Orleans chapter), and many more. He has also run several marathons for various charities.
Mr. Rue is the founder of Stephen Rue and Associates, L.L.C., Attorneys at Law, which has four offices in the greater-New Orleans area. He is a skills faculty member at Loyola School of Law and entrepreneur/owner of Certified Mediation, L.L.C.; Louisiana Mediation, L.L.C.; Supervised Visitation Center, L.L.C.; and New Orleans Marathon, L.L.C.
Currently residing in Kenner, Louisiana, Stephen Rue continues to practice family law, assisting thousands of his fellow neighbors through domestic situations. He is a candidate for lieutenant governor of Louisiana and has a personal goal of being licensed to practice law in every state in the nation.
It began as a Christmas card and turned into one of the most extensive and artful compilations of the state's unique architecture. That's how one could describe the birth of Joy Stagg Rust's first book, Old Homes of South Carolina.
Ms. Rust created a pen and ink rendering of a local home as a cover for her family's annual Christmas card. Friends in other parts of the country started asking for copies of their own and found that she did not have any to sell. It was the first time she thought of actually publishing her artwork. She was already working on sketches of Charleston area homes when she realized that the only books on South Carolina's architecture focused on Charleston, not the entire state. She packed up her equipment and roamed the cities and rural areas to come up with 111 homes representing the variety of designs from nearly every European immigrant influence.
A native of Louisiana, Ms. Rust graduated from the John McCrady Art School specializing in ceramics and tole painting. She has taught arts and crafts professionally and was a member of the New Orleans Art Association. After moving to South Carolina in the early 1980s, she established herself as a watercolorist after exhibiting in the Tempo Art Gallery in Greenville, as well as having her pieces added to several private collections in Louisiana, South Carolina, and other states. She has been involved as a member of the Anderson Art Association and the Dutch Folk Art Association in Columbia.
With an avid interest in the history of South Carolina, she hopes her book will attract the attention of artists, historians, housewatchers, and tourists while serving as a reference guide to the state's diverse architectural styles.
As Professor Emerita at the University of New Orleans, where she taught for thirty years, Ms. Salley inspired countless future teachers, writers, and illustrators. She also served as a Visiting Professor at Simmons College, University of Southern California, University of Denver, George Peabody College, and Louisiana State University.
Ms. Salley was a sought-after panelist and presenter who has appeared for groups as diverse as the American Booksellers' Association, the New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival, and Disney Studios. She enjoyed tailoring her program's themes to the needs of her audience; some of her specialties included storytelling techniques, early childhood literature, and promoting books by first-time authors.
A born entertainer, Coleen Salley has even starred in a VISA commercial with Pelican's own Gaston® the Green-nosed Alligator. She was also the inspiration for the ABBY Honor-winning picture book, To Market, To Market, written by Anne Miranda, with illustrations by Janet Stevens.
Who's That Tripping Over My Bridge was Coleen Salley's first book. She was also the narrator of the Cajun Night Before Christmas/Cajun Night After Christmas CD, available from Pelican. Salley passed away in 2008.
Mary Elizabeth Sanders was born in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. She received her education in the public schools of East Baton Rouge Parish and Washington, DC. Sanders also received a bachelor of arts in both history and government and a master of arts in American history from Louisiana State University.
She was a charter member and president of the Louisiana Genealogical and Historical Society, as well as the editor for three years of its publication, the Louisiana Genealogical Register, and was a member of the Louisiana Historical Records Advisory Commission from 1981 to 1985.
Mary Elizabeth Sanders is involved in various national societies. She has been an active member of the Daughters of the American Revolution for nearly fifty years, serving at national, state, and chapter levels. She has also served on the Book Committee of the Colonial Dames of America in the state of Louisiana and is a recipient of the Jefferson Davis Medal of the United Daughters of the Federacy.
Sanders' St. Mary Parish, Louisiana, Heirship series chronicles the history of St. Mary Parish, which dates back to approximately 1800. The series is considered a gold mine for scholars, historians, and students of South Louisiana history.
Mary Elizabeth Sanders is currently the education coordinator of the League of the South. Her hobbies include genealogy and cooking, and she is an ardent preservationist.
Sandusky began formal art training at the age of sixteen, but he did not believe it would be a lucrative career. Therefore he attended Jacksonville University, and earned a bachelor's degree in physics. In addition to these studies, he spent several summers enhancing his artistic talents, training in Madison, Connecticut, and at the Art Students League of New York.
After graduating from Jacksonville University, he worked on offshore drilling rigs out of Lafayette, Louisiana, later being promoted and transferred to a New Orleans location. Falling in love with the city's rich landscape and architecture, he began to immerse himself in painting once again. The culture of his new home inspired New Orleans en Plein Air, a book that not only reveals beautiful representations of the Crescent City, but also includes the author's own perspectives on the artistic journey. His second book, Painting Katrina, offers a vision of the fragility of a city after the 2005 hurricane.
Phil Sandusky is represented by Cole Pratt Gallery in New Orleans, Reinike Gallery in Atlanta, and Stellers Gallery in Jacksonville. His work can be seen in many prominent collections such as the New Orleans Museum of Art, the Louisiana State Museum, and the Danforth Museum of Art in Framingham, Massachusetts. He has published several articles in American Artist and serves as instructor of landscape and life painting at the New Orleans Academy of Fine Arts. He resides in New Orleans with his wife, Michele.
From the revolutionary beginnings of the United States, Scottish-Americans have played pioneering, pivotal roles in its development. Their works, discoveries, and inventions have shaped not just the course of American history, but of world history. Scottish-Americans such as Thomas Edison, Woodrow Wilson, and Neil Armstrong have helped to advance society.
Now, June Skinner Sawyers, herself a Scottish-American, has compiled profiles of thirty such prominent figures in her new book, Famous Firsts of Scottish-Americans.
Ms. Sawyers has immersed herself in writing, often on Celtic topics, throughout her professional career. Currently an associate editor for Loyola University Press as well as an imprint and acquisitions editor for Wild Onion Books, she is also a contributing writer for the Chicago Tribune. She presently writes a biweekly column on travel books for the Tribune and has also written a bimonthly Celtic music column for the Scottish-American newspaper.
Her books include The Scots of Chicago: A History of the Illinois Saint Andrew Society and Its Impact on Illinois and The Celtic Roots of Southern Music.
Born in Glasgow, Scotland, Ms. Sawyers received her bachelor of arts in English literature/British history from Northeastern Illinois University, Chicago. She also studied at the University of Chicago and Cambridge University in England. She currently resides in Chicago, Illinois
Lyle Saxon (1891-1946) is renowned as one of Louisiana’s foremost authors. He was the central figure in the state’s literary community during the 1920s and 1930s and well-known as a raconteur and bon vivant. He divided his time between his house in New Orleans and a cottage on the Melrose Plantation near Natchitoches. During the 1930s he headed the Louisiana WPA Writers’ Project, which produced the WPA Guide to Louisiana and the WPA Guide to New Orleans. According to Chance Harvey in The Life and Selected Letters of Lyle Saxon (available from Pelican), Saxon was also the local patron to fledgling artists who flocked to him with great devotion.
Each of Saxon’s works is a look into the lives of real people through personalized narratives. His books chronicle the lives of individuals and legends that emerged from the bayou country. Lyle Saxon held a deep affection for Louisiana, as clearly evidenced by his prolific writings.
Vincenza Scarpaci was born in Brooklyn, New York. The daughter of a Sicilian immigrant, Scarpaci grew up in an Italian-speaking household. After graduating from Hofstra University with a degree in history, Scarpaci received her Ph.D. in U.S. history from Rutgers University with a specialty in immigration history.
A recipient of the prestigious Ameritan Award from the Maryland Order of the Sons of Italy for her philanthropic efforts, Scarpaci is also an accomplished educator and lecturer. She began teaching at the university level in 1966 and has since taught numerous courses on American and immigration history at such institutions as the University of Oregon, Seton Hall University, and Towson State University in Baltimore, Maryland.
For more than three decades, Scarpaci has been contributing articles, essays, and academic papers to various Italian and American magazines, scholarly journals, and encyclopedias. A dynamic volunteer and civic leader, she has a long history of working with, establishing, and supporting local volunteer corps, museums, theaters, and environmental action groups across the United States. Scarpaci works as a writer and teacher. She resides in Eugene, Oregon, with her husband, Peter.
What exists today as Bayou Town Productions, a multi-media production company producing audio and video productions and literature, was once merely the idea of Chérie D. Schadler. Welcome to Bayou Town! is one of the results of that dream.
In Welcome to Bayou Town!, Mrs. Schadler fulfills her goal of producing wholesome, moral-based entertainment for children. The joie de vivre (zest for life) of the people of south Louisiana provided the inspiration for the characters and setting of this wonderfully fun story.
Mrs. Schadler has not always been interested in children's entertainment and writing, although she has spent the better part of thirty years in development of her artistic talents. In her early years, she spent countless hours in community theater, dancing and acting. Later, her focus turned primarily to singing and songwriting. After marrying her husband, Ron, Mrs. Schadler further developed her musical skills.
As her music career really began to take off, Mrs. Schadler felt the draw of her true calling: producing quality children's entertainment. This manifested itself into Bayou Town, which has steadily increased in popularity regionally as a puppet show. With the publication of the book, kids everywhere can now enjoy the colorful characters who live in Bayou Town!
After graduating from Chalmette High School in St. Bernard Parish, Schaefer studied journalism at the University of New Orleans where he graduated with a bachelor of arts in communications. After graduating, Schaefer worked as a sports producer and an assignment editor at WWL-TV, the CBS affiliate in the Greater New Orleans Area.
In the aftermath of the storm, Schaefer was awarded the Peabody award and the Columbia Dupont and National Edward R. Murrow awards for his efforts in covering Hurricane Katrina. Having worked as a journalist in the New Orleans area for over twenty years, Schaefer is deeply passionate about his region and preserving the culture Katrina nearly destroyed. Schaefer lives in Metairie, Louisiana, and works as an assistant news director at WWL-TV.
Steven “Zeke” Schein is a musician and guitar salesman at the famed Matt Umanov Guitars in New York City. He has been playing guitar for over forty years. An avid collector of blues and rock memorabilia, he is well-known in the music community for his in-depth knowledge and is often called on to authenticate and identify vintage guitars. Schein is considered a historian of the Delta blues movement, one of his greatest passions.
As a teenager, Schein first discovered his love for rock and roll by frequenting legendary New York music clubs. A music enthusiast, he studied classical guitar at both New York University and Brooklyn College. In his nearly thirty-year career at Matt Umanov, where he has built up a devoted clientele, he has sold guitars to countless celebrities, including Bob Dylan, Pete Townshend, and Johnny Depp. He has been interviewed by Vanity Fair, the New York Times, and the Down Home Radio Show. Schein lives in New York City.
As an acknowledged authority on the history of Mardi Gras, Henri Schindler has become synonymous with the annual New Orleans celebration. Sought out by national and international media for his expert commentary, Schindler graciously shares his affection for the mystique and pageantry of the traditional “old line” krewes during numerous interviews in the days leading up to Fat Tuesday. While some Mardi Gras traditions have evolved, others hold fast to the pomp and circumstance of royalty. Schindler is well versed in all facets of the tradition and revels in painting a purple, green, and gold picture for the spectator.
Discovering his passion for the spectacle at age ten, Schindler began working with renowned New Orleans float designer Blaine Kern. A curious child, he followed empty floats back to a storage facility and met Kern. The rest is history, both in the retelling and in the making. A curator for the Louisiana State Museum's Presbytere Mardi Gras exhibit, Schindler also has made his mark as a celebrated float, costume, invitation, and jewelry designer for the Mystick Krewe of Comus, the Krewe of Rex, and Le Krewe D'Etat.
He has contributed several articles to Arts Quarterly, published by the New Orleans Museum of Art, the New Orleans Times-Picayune, and Arthur Hardy's Mardi Gras Guide, not to mention his countless appearances in documentaries. His series, Mardi Gras Treasures, showcases four aspects of the celebration: Mardi Gras Treaures: Jewelry of the Golden Age, Mardi Gras Treasures: Invitations of the Golden Age, Mardi Gras Treasures: Float Designs of the Golden Age, and Mardi Gras Treasures: Costume Designs of the Golden Age. Pelican also offers this series in postcard-book and boxed notecard formats.
Author Joan Schoettler grew up in the San Francisco Bay area, where hikes in the Sierra and late dinners on warm summer nights have been inspiration for her writing. She has been an elementary teacher, school literacy specialist, student teacher supervisor, and professor of reading and writing for elementary teachers.
Schoettler taught children’s literature and storytelling at California State University. She earned a master’s degree in reading and writing from the University of San Francisco and a BS in social science. Schoettler is a member of the Society for Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators and the American Library Association. She won the Asian/Pacific American Award for Literature for the best picture book of the year in 2013.
Joan Schoettler lives in Fresno, California with her husband Bob. She has three adult sons and eight grandchildren with whom she shares her love for nature and children’s literature.
Freelance writer, former schoolteacher, and volunteer Kathleen Schrenk has been involved in New Orleans volunteer organizations for many years. She works with groups such as the Coalition to Restore Coastal Louisiana, the STAIR program (Start the Adventure in Reading), the Tennessee Williams Literary Festival, Juilliard ARTreach Service Team NOLA, and the LASPCA. Schrenk is also a founding member of NOLA City Bark dog park. Inspired by a lifelong love of animals and service, she decided to spread awareness of animal welfare by sharing personal experiences through writing.
Schrenk graduated from Louisiana State University with a BS in speech and language pathology and a minor in English. She worked as a speech therapist and stay-at-home mom before becoming a middle-school teacher at St. John Lutheran School. After twenty years of teaching, Schrenk left to become more involved in the world of volunteering in New Orleans.
When she’s not busy making her hometown a better place, Schrenk enjoys swimming, gardening, going to local music events, and traveling with her husband, Edmund. They have three sons and two grandchildren.
Born in 1890, Natalie Scott became a decorated war hero for her service with the Red Cross in World War I and II and in Korea. A newspaperwoman during the 1920s, Miss Scott also published several cookbooks devoted to New Orleans cuisine and founded a children's nursery in Taxco, Mexico, where she lived in the 1930s and 1950s.
Miss Scott's cookbooks offer the reader authentic New Orleans and Louisiana recipes. Mandy's Favorite Louisiana Recipes is a collection of recipes gathered from her personal cooks. Accompanied by Mandy's commentary, this book offers more than 300 Creole recipes. Gourmet's Guide to New Orleans: Creole Cookbook (F) contains the personal recipes of New Orleans' most celebrated hosts and renowned restaurateurs. 200 Years of New Orleans Cooking (F) is a historical compilation of authentic New Orleans recipes. Together, these books offer an invaluable resource for authentic New Orleans cuisine.
A self-proclaimed history buff with a focus on Louisiana and New Orleans in particular, Scott published articles pertaining to Southern history in the Journal of Mississippi History and the Journal of the Louisiana Historical Association. His dedication to the preservation of Louisiana history earned him the Presidential Memorial Award from the Louisiana Historical Association. He also served as president of the Rapides Arts and Humanities Council. From 1998 until 2009, he was a lecturer at Tulane University and an assistant professor at Louisiana State University of Alexandria
Even considering all his accomplishments, Scott's main interest lay in Natalie Scott and the legacy she left around the world. His book centers on Natalie's life in the early nineteenth century and the era spanning both world wars. Her actions inspired him to write about who Natalie Scott was and what she represents to him—as a family member—and to those she affected.
Scott earned a bachelor of arts degree from Tulane and a master's degree and a doctorate in history from Louisiana State University. A member of the Louisiana State Bar Association, he opened his own practice in 1972. The father of three, Scott lived with his wife, Cynthia, in Alexandria, Louisiana, until his death in May of 2009.
Richard Scott is a resident of New Orleans and a former Rosedown interpretive park ranger. He studied art history and graphic design at the University of Alabama in Huntsville, and earned his BS in biology at the University of North Alabama. Mr. Scott was awarded a Bronze Star for Meritorious Service after two years with the U.S. Army Medical Corps (1966-1968).
His extensive experience over the past decade as an interpretive guide, curator, and historic cooking program coordinator for educational institutions such as Louisiana Nature Center, Hermann-Grima Historic House, Longue Vue House and Gardens, Louisiana Wildlife and Fisheries Museum, and Rosedown Plantation, make him uniquely qualified to discuss and demonstrate the history of decorative and culinary arts of the antebellum South.
The Twenty-seventh Louisiana Volunteer Infantry was the first infantry regiment assigned to the defense of Vicksburg, Mississippi. Inspired by his great-grandfather, Burlin Moore Scriber, who served as a corporal in the Louisiana Infantry's Company B, the author documents the undaunting courage of this regiment during the forty-seven-day siege by Union soldiers before the surrender of Vicksburg.
Mr. Scriber, graduating at the top of the 1992 class of the Louisiana Peace Officers Standards and Training Academy, is a former Orleans Parish, Louisiana Deputy Sheriff. He has also served as the security manager for the Queen of New Orleans/Hilton Flamingo Casino in addition to serving as the director of security and safety for the New Orleans Country Club. He later served as the security/loss prevention manager for Jazzland Theme Park/Six Flags New Orleans. A native of Louisiana, he and his wife currently reside in Knoxville, Tennessee.
A retired anthropologist and a member of the University of Alabama Emeritus faculty, Margaret Zehmer Searcy continues her special mission to teach students of all cultures and ages about the richness of Native American culture.
Searcy's series for the intermediate reader is based upon extensive archaeological data and ethno-historic accounts. All of the details in Eyr the Hunter: A Story of Ice-Age America have been carefully researched. Searcy visited an archaeological site that had been occupied by a band society. She also studied Arctic animals and viewed the bones of the extinct giant animals that are depicted in the story. In addition, she read reports about more modern bands who hunted elephants (closely related to ancient mammoths) with spears.
Ikwa of the Mound-Builder Indians was dramatized on Alabama Public Television and aired numerous times as a part of the school curriculum. In 1976, Ikwa of the Mound-Builder Indians won the Charlton W. Tebeau Prize of the Florida Historical Society for the “best children's or young adults' book dealing with a Florida-related subject.” Pelican has reissued Ikwa and has released the companion volumes to this acclaimed book, Wolf Dog of the Woodland Indians and The Charm of the Bear Claw Necklace.
Her fact and fantasy series for the younger reader adapts Indian myths and legends to the problems of the multi-ethnic classroom, while teaching basic biology.
Searcy is also the author of numerous other publications, including articles, filmstrips, and tapes. The Mysterious Mound-Builder Indians of the Southeast is her most recent filmstrip/cassette. Manuscripts of some of her books are a part of the DeGrummond collection at the University of Southern Mississippi. Her work is known internationally and has been approved for distribution by various institutions such as RIF and the Smithsonian.
Searcy has served as president of the Alabama Archaeological Society, vice-president of the Alabama Academy of Science, and she is active in a number of professional and civic groups. She is a founding member and former chairperson of the Guild of Professional Writers for Children.
In 1979, Searcy was chosen as “Educator of the Year” by the Gamma Psi chapter of Delta Kappa Gamma, and she was also chosen as “Woman of the Year” by the Tuscaloosa chapter of Business and Professional Women.
In 1980, Searcy was named “A Woman of Distinction” for her contribution to Southern culture by Auburn University; in 1984, she received a United States Presidents' acknowledgment—signed by Nixon, Ford, Carter, and Reagan—for twenty-five years of volunteer work with juveniles in crime prevention and diversion programs. The Alabama Humanities Foundation selected her as a Humanities lecturer for 1988 and 1989.
Margaret Zehmer Searcy and her husband, Joseph Alexander Searcy, currently reside in Tuscaloosa, Alabama.
The Civil War and its many complexities have fascinated J. H. Segars throughout his life. Born in Eatonton, Georgia, in 1949, he has held numerous volunteer and teaching positions at historical organizations. In addition to educating others about the intricacies of the Civil War, Mr. Segars is also involved in a number of organizations. He holds memberships in the Phi Kappa Phi Honor Society, Sigma Nu Fraternity, the University of Georgia Alumni Association, and a number of other historical associations. At his leisure, Mr. Segars gives numerous presentations for historical societies and adult education groups throughout Georgia. He is also the founding president of the Civil War Round Table of the Northeast Georgia Civil War Round Table of Lawrenceville, Georgia.
Mr. Segars earned an AB from West Georgia College and an MEd from the University of Georgia. From 1994 to 1998, Segars held the position of senior editor for the Journal of Confederate History Book Series, published by Southern Heritage Press of Murfreesboro, Tennessee. During this time, he worked closely with Dr. John McGlone, the editor in chief, to learn the business of book publishing, contract printing, and trade show marketing. Currently, he is employed as managing editor for a major Civil War and local history publishing company, Southern Lion Books. He also serves as a consultant to first-time authors.
Mr. Segars' vast knowledge of the Civil War can be seen in his many publications. Black Confederates attempts to restore some accuracy to the historical record concerning black Confederate soldiers. The true story of these brave men is told through correspondence, military records, narrative reminiscences, newspaper accounts, and more. Andersonville: The Southern Perspective, presents seldom-seen documentation from Confederates familiar with the camp. While much has been written about Andersonville, this book makes an effort to clarify exactly how the tragedy happened and who was to blame.
Segars and his wife, Marie, reside in Madison, Georgia.
From the time she was a child, Chris Sergi has been fascinated by the history and buildings of Savannah, Georgia. She worked at the Tybee Island Light Station and Museum while attending high school; once she graduated, Sergi obtained her tour guide license so that she could facilitate walking tours, step-ons, scavenger hunts, and other activities that strengthened her connection to Savannah. With each new group of tourists, she gets to see the city through fresh eyes, as if for the first time. By leading scavenger hunts for establishments like the Andrew Low House, she realized how inspiring and exciting it can be to discover history with a hands-on approach.
Sergi studied at the Oklahoma School of Photography, where she learned both traditional and digital photo techniques. She is a docent, interpreter, and tour guide at the Davenport House Museum and the Owens-Thomas House.
Sergi lives in Savannah, Georgia, with her husband and three children.
With a large body of architecture books and magazine and newspaper articles throughout the US and Europe, Richard Sexton has become a noted photographer, artist, critic, teacher, and author in his field. He began his photography career as an undergraduate at Emory University in Atlanta, Georgia. He eventually left Emory, disillusioned by his art-school experience, and took a job working as a darkroom technician. In 1980, he began his commercial photography career near the San Francisco Bay area. Choosing to focus on architecture as a subject matter, he became recognized for his skill despite his marginal prior experience. He was soon in high demand from the leading architecture and design firms in San Francisco and was published in many local and national architecture and design magazines.
In 1991, Sexton moved to New Orleans, Louisiana. His book New Orleans: Elegance and Decadence, published in 1993, was declared “Best Book of the Year” by New Orleans’ major newspaper. Dr. Patricia Brady, director of publications for the Historic New Orleans Collection, called it “the best photographic book ever done on the city.” The Rounce and Coffin Club in Los Angeles bestowed the ambitious project with an Award of Merit for its design. A television feature by Peggy Scott Laborde for the HGTV network found its inspiration from Sexton’s book. In March 2014, the Louisiana Endowment for the Humanities awarded Richard Sexton the Michael P. Smith Memorial Award for documentary photography.
Sexton currently teaches photography at the New Orleans Academy of Fine Arts and has previously taught at the Academy of Art University in San Francisco. He is a frequent guest lecturer at events such as the Planning Conference of the American Institute of Architects and the National Design Conference of the American Institute of Graphic Arts. Sexton has two daughters and calls New Orleans home.
R. Ian Seymour is an internationally acclaimed author, motivational speaker, coach, mentor, and trainer on the issues of leadership, personal development, and sales negotiation. He began his career in sales as a teenager, responsible for closing approximately $33,542,000 in retail sales. Since then, he has trained thousands of professionals, including company presidents from Hewlett Packard, Waterhouse-Cooper, Talent TV, and Telefonica, at sales workshops and conferences.
His seminars and conferences cover a variety of topics, including closing the sale, overcoming objections, motivation, the power of enthusiasm and a positive mental attitude, and many more. Mr. Seymour's writing credits include One on One: The Secrets of Professional Sales Closing , Discover Your True Potential, and Maximize Your Potential , all available from Pelican.
He currently lives in Wokingham, Berkshire, England, with his wife, Suzanne, and their three children, Kimberley, Aaron, and Bethany Faith. He continues to share his inspiring words and wisdom to prominent organizations.
—Melissa Ohlson, registered dietitian, Cleveland Clinic Foundation
Bev Shaffer is an author, food writer, and culinary instructor, as well as the director of Mustard Seed Market and Café Cooking Schools in Akron and Solon, Ohio. Her weekly column “Ask Bev” in the Cleveland Plain Dealer food section, Taste, and her weekly radio spot on Akron, Ohio’s WAKR’s “Morning Drive Time” feature her signature humor and her uncanny ability to create uncomplicated recipes and calm food and cooking phobias.
She has developed more than eight thousand recipes on a wide variety of subjects, including seafood, sides and grains, and desserts and has received many national and local commendations and more than one hundred cooking awards, including the Ohio Dietetic Association Outstanding Contribution Award.
Chef Shaffer’s award-winning Double-Chocolate Raspberry Tart has been featured in Chocolatier magazine, and she has been a chef in residence on www.vanilla.com.
A member of Women Chefs and Restaurateurs, the International Association of Culinary Professionals, and Chefs Collaborative, Chef Shaffer is also a founding member of Les Dames d'Escoffier, Cleveland-Northeastern Ohio Chapter.
In demand as a public speaker and culinary instructor, Chef Shaffer teaches cooking classes for local cancer recovery centers, high schools, and in collaboration with institutions such as the Cleveland Clinic, Cleveland Botanical Gardens, Akron General Health & Wellness Center, and Cleveland Healthspace Museum. Chef Shaffer also hosts “Bev’s Kitchen” on Cleveland’s WCLV.
Born and raised in North Brunswick, New Jersey, Chef Shaffer has been an Ohio resident since 1977
Janice Shay is the owner of Pinafore Press, a book-packaging company located in Savannah, Georgia. Pinafore Press develops and produces illustrated art books, garden books, lifestyle books, gift books, children’s books, and cookbooks. She has won more than fifty awards for her efforts in graphic design, both nationally and regionally, and more than twenty national awards for her efforts in producing children’s books. Her accolades include the Comstock Award, the Jane Addams Peace Prize for Children’s Literature, the Oppenheim Toy Portfolio Gold Award, and the American Library Association’s Notable Children’s Book.
Shay received a bachelor of fine arts from the University of Texas. She has worked as a graphic designer on magazines and books for more than thirty years and served as the art director of Rodale’s Scuba Diving magazine, Texas Monthly Press, Texas Monthly magazine, Third Coast magazine, and Atlanta Magazine. For seven years she was the director of Design Press through Savannah College of Art and Design, where she developed and produced more than fifty books. She has served as both the president and vice-president of the Publishers Association of the South and has contributed many books to Pelican’s Classics Series.
Shay was born and raised in Galveston, Texas. An avid diver, she resides in Savannah, Georgia, with her husband, Patrick, and her two stepsons, Kerry and David.
Patty Sheehan, M.Ed., is a parent-educator and psychotherapist residing in Albuquerque, NM. Through her public speaking and writing, Sheehan deals extensively with topics related to self-esteem and personal growth.
Sheehan earned her master's in early childhood development, with a minor in psychology, from Florida Atlantic University. She later acquired certification as a psychotherapist. Sheehan currently works as a speaker affiliated with the Counselling and Psychotherapy Institute of Albuquerque. She also offers workshops for children, parents, teachers, and others on such topics as high self-esteem, drug- and addiction-free children, positive discipline, removing blocks to creativity, and leadership and communication skills. She brings her years of practice and depth of knowledge together for adults and children, helping them learn to be themselves more fully, joyously, and productively.
Sheehan's writing experience is extensive, and she is the author and producer of numerous children's books, tapes, articles, and training manuals. She is also senior editor and writer for Families in Recovery: A Parenting Magazine. She is a member of the Society of Children's Book Writers, Southwest Writers, the American Mental Health Counselors Association, and the American Association for Counselling and Development, among other groups, and is past president of the Albuquerque Association for the Education of Young Children.
Patty Sheehan offers self-esteem and whole language training for teachers and creative writing workshops for children. She is available for speaking engagements, conferences, and other appearances.
Robert Shosteck was a gentleman of tireless energy, good humor, and excellent ideas. A native of Maryland, Shosteck left a legacy of pleasure, history, and culture that will continue long into the future.
Weekend Getaways around Washington, D.C. is an easy-to-use, comprehensive guide that once again highlights the mid-Atlantic region with interesting weekend excursions around the D.C. area and includes historic taverns, covered bridges, and pick-your-own-fruit-and-vegetable farms. The avid weekend explorer can choose from an endless variety of activities, from the usual to the extraordinary. This book is also comprised of specific chapters for the traveler on a mission, including battlefields, antiquing, African-American heritage, and annual events like Pennsylvania's Sheep Shearing Day and Delaware's Night in Venice. Listed for aid in planning are hotlines, Web sites of tourism offices, visitors bureaus, and chambers of commerce.
Mason Sibley was born in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, in 2002. He has always had a true passion for art and reading and carries around a sketchbook, a pencil, and a novel everywhere he goes. At eight years old, Sibley began creating original characters, and his mother started to write stories accompanying them. He has attracted the notice of several fine artists and animators at Disney and has been hired to design T-shirts for churches and school and athletic organizations. He attends Springfield Middle School, where he is excelling in art, theater, and academics.
Sibley has been named Student of the Year, has received a leadership award and an academic excellence award, and is on the honor roll. He has appeared in five dramatic performances at his school and participates in the Gifted Art Program. He is on the yearbook staff and attends a high school drama class. During his spare time, he plays recreational basketball and experiments with a variety of artistic media. Sibley has been recognized by Duke University’s Duke Tip Program.
Sibley lives in Ponchatoula, Louisiana, with his parents and older sister. He plans to continue developing his artistic skills and hopes to become a book illustrator, storyboard artist, and animator.
“Sillery weaves her stories with a seamless twist of narrative and dialogue . . . Sillery is not merely a storyteller, but a historian as well.”
—Renee Peck, New Orleans Times-Picayune
Barbara Sillery, raised in New York, has always had a passion for antiques. She is fascinated by the story behind each old photo, house, or piece of furniture she encounters. From this passion sprung the inspiration for her first independent business, Keepsake Antiques, which sold refurbished furniture and other relics. In 1989 she became the owner and executive producer for Keepsake Productions and is well-known in the television industry through Lagniappe Media Productions, Inc., a subsidiary of Keepsake, which specializes in award-winning documentaries.
Sillery earned a BA in theatre and speech from Marywood University in Scranton, Pennsylvania, and has spent most of her professional life as a writer and producer. Her work includes such programs as Biloxi Memories and the Broadwater Beach Hotel, City Park Memories, Things That Go Bump in the Night, The Prize, Skyriders: Louisiana’s Aviation Pioneers, and The Meeting of the Courts of Rex and Comus. She is also a field producer for Extra, a syndicated entertainment show, and has contributed articles to Cultural Vistas Magazine, Antiques Gazette, Circle of Friends, and Celtic Informer.
Among her many accolades are a WorldFest-Houston International Film Festival award, several Telly Awards, and an Addy Award. She has received numerous grants and has participated in various festivals and panels, including the New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival, the Arts Council of New Orleans grant review panel, and the Louisiana Endowment for the Humanities media review panel.
Sillery is the proud mother of three daughters. After spending years in New Orleans, she now resides in East Falmouth, Massachusetts, and continues her career as a television producer and writer. In her free time, she plays tennis and is an avid swimmer who enjoys spending as much time as she can near, on, or in the water.
Lynn Sheffield Simmons resides on a small farm in Argyle, Texas, south of Denton. She often draws on her own life as inspiration for her work. Sugar Lump, the Orphan Calf, for instance, is based upon Mrs. Simmons' actual experience of nursing a young steer back to health.
Mrs. Simmons has written four Accelerated Reader Program selection books for middle readers.
She is the founder of the North Texas Book Festival, Inc., a nonprofit organization that raises funds for school libraries, public libraries, and literacy programs in the north Texas area and sponsors a book festival each April with about seventy-five authors participating. She is also the founder and manager of the Argyle Seniors' Activities Center
Mrs. Simmons is a strong advocate of parents and children reading together. Her booklets, Using the Newspaper to Teach Reading Readiness and Newspaper in the Home: Helping Your Child with Homework, have been used in many households. Mrs. Simmons' award-winning column, “Up a Creek,” historical reviews, and feature stories have appeared in a number of newspapers and magazines throughout Texas.
Lynn Sheffield Simmons holds a bachelor's degree in elementary education and a master's degree in special education from Texas Woman's University. A member of Phi Delta Kappa honorary fraternity, Mrs. Simmons has many years of experience in private tutoring and public-school teaching.
Myrtle Simms helped her father start Lafayette, Louisiana's famed Don's Seafood and Steakhouse Restaurant in 1932. Born one of eleven siblings, Mrs. Simms joined the rest of the family in preparing the plate lunches and dishes that ensured the restaurant's popularity.
Around 1965, Mrs. Simms scaled back her active participation with the restaurant. She was involved in various festivals and was active in promoting her family's continuing dedication to the food industry and Cajun culture.
In Mrs. Simms' Fun Cooking Guide, Mrs. Simms takes a laid-back approach to cooking and entertainment. She gives timesaving techniques so cooks can be involved with their guests and not be tied up in the kitchen. The Creole and Cajun dishes she delivers are classics and would be a valuable addition to any kitchen repertoire. The book has also been translated into French and is available under the title La Joie de Cuisiner de Mme Simms.
Having grown up in Lancaster County, author Bill Simpson has learned to live the simple life of the struggling writer. From deep in the heart of Pennsylvania, Simpson has been an avid explorer of the outlying regions, where antique markets, wineries, and covered bridges dot the countryside that is traversed by picturesque tourist railroads.
An outdoor enthusiast at heart, Simpson has viewed much of the area from the unique vantage point of a marathon runner. In training for the more than thirty races he has competed in, Simpson has traversed miles and miles of the state on foot, as well as by bicycle, car, and railroad car as he gathered information, investigated leads, and compiled the listings that make up his latest travel book Guide to Pennsylvania Tourist Railroads.
“Some people don't understand my fascination with trains. I don't know how to explain it either,” says Simpson. “They're transportation, technology, history, adventure, intrigue, song, and romance all rolling down ‘magic carpets made of steel,’ as Arlo Guthrie put it.”
In order to maintain his career as a writer, Simpson has filled his time with activities other than just running. “As a prototype of the struggling novelist, I've worked at a myriad of jobs to support my writing habit—asphalt paver, salesman, and copywriter.” His works include a cyclists' guide to short biking trips in eastern Pennsylvania as well as Guide to the Amish Country, also published by Pelican.
For Julia Sims, photography originally served as an excuse to spend time in the Manchac Swamp. She had turned to the swamp for solace after a family tragedy, and as she put it, “I couldn't go out there and not do anything.” So she visited the swamp frequently, and as her concern for the vanishing wetlands grew, she was inspired to photo-document the swamp and share her love of nature with the world.
For more than twenty years, Sims' work has been the subject of feature stories and reviews. Magazines such as National Geographic, Birder's World, and Reader's Digest have published her photographs. Her work has been exhibited at the New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival, the Louisiana Sportmen's Show and Festival, the Louisiana Wildlife Festival, the Covington Three Rivers Art Festival, and the Pensacola Art Festival. Private-collection works are displayed at Baptist Hospital, the Claiborne Mansion, the Louisiana Land and Exploration office, the Tulane University Law School, the Tulane University Medical School, Magnolia Marketing, and Crescent Crown Distributing. Sims was also commissioned for an Absolut Vodka billboard and the Sierra Club Centennial Campaign.
An active member of her community, Sims cofounded the Richard M. Murphy Memorial Hospice and the Lake Maurepas Society and served on the board of the Coalition to Restore Coastal Louisiana. She was the keynote speaker at an Audubon Society meeting and at the Sierra Club and has frequently given slide presentations at Rotary, Kiwanis, and many other clubs. Prior to realizing her talent for photography, Sims spent many years as a schoolteacher and as a medical social worker. She has a BA in education and an MA in social work from Louisiana State University. She served on the Louisiana State Board of Pardons for twelve years and retired in 2007.
Sims divides her time between Louisiana and Montana. She is married to Joe Arthur Sims and they have two adult children, Scotty and William, and one grandchild, Aidan
Pat Sinclair is a cookbook author and consultant with twenty-five years of experience in the food industry. Throughout her career, she has worked with General Mills and served as recipe editor for two best-selling Pillsbury Classics Cookbooks and one for Land O'Lakes. She is a cooking teacher at the Kitchen Window and Byerly's Cooking School in the Twin Cities, where she provides aspiring chefs with access to her wealth of knowledge.
As a food editor for various cookbooks, Sinclair sampled ingredients, incorporated changes, and customized meals to suit busy lifestyles. Her simple and nutritious recipes are featured in such publications as Best of Times, Chicagolands Senior News, Mature Focus, and 50Plus Senior News and showcased through her regular television appearances on local KARE 11 Showcase Minnesota. Her first cookbook, Baking Basics and Beyond , received the Academy of Culinary Arts Cordon d'Or Gold Ribbon for baking.
Sinclair holds a bachelors degree in food research from Purdue University and a masters degree in foods from the University of Maryland. She is a member of the International Association of Culinary Professionals, Les Dames d'Escoffier, and the Twin Cities Home Economists in Business. Sinclair resides in Edina, Minnesota.
Author Ellie Sipila is a book editor, designer, and producer. She produces children books with her own freelance business, Move to the Write, an editing and book-production company. Sipila specializes in editing books intended for children.
Sipila works as the production manager at Second Story Press and as a senior managing editor with Common Deer Press. She also illustrates books and designs cover art. She is a member of the Editors’ Association of Canada, the Society of Children’s Books Writers and Illustrators, and the Canadian Bookbinders and Artists’ Guild. She worked in the children’s editorial department of Fitzhenry and Whiteside. While there, she discovered a great passion for book design as well as print and digital book production, so she returned to school to further her knowledge in the industry. Sipila graduated from Ryerson University, receiving a degree in publishing.
Sipila resides in her hometown of London, Ontario, in Canada with her husband, Brad, and their three young sons.
Bringing order to large organizations has always intrigued Quentin Skrabec. He spent a large portion of his career defining order in the steel industry, studying the management differences that catapulted successful companies out from the shadows of poorer performing ones. Even Skrabec's hobbies of chemistry and geology strive to formulate order out of the elements. No wonder he would find Michael Owens an enticing subject for research. Acknowledged as the father of project management, Owens typifies Skrabec's ideal.
Dr. Skrabec's long list of academic degrees includes a PhD in manufacturing management from the University of Toledo, an MS in metallurgical and industrial engineering from Ohio State University, and an MS/BS in management, operations, systems, and organizational leadership as well as an MBA in business administration, organizational leadership, and behavior from Robert Morris University. He has written more than fifty articles and five books on history, industrial history, and business. Dr. Skrabec is an adjunct professor at Findlay University and is a sought-after speaker for management conferences, having appeared at over thirty national gatherings.
A senior member of the American Society of Quality Control and American Society of Materials, Skrabec and his wife, Barbara, live in Maumee, Ohio. He prefers to write longhand and leave the initial typing to Barbara. He relaxes by reading science fiction.
Over the years, renowned journalist Bill Sloan has covered everything from scandalous exposés to groundbreaking news. He began his career as an investigative reporter for the Dallas Times Herald in 1958. During his ten-year run there, he covered many major events and personalities of the twentieth century and even earned himself a Pulitzer Prize nomination. In 1968, Mr. Sloan shifted his focus to the tabloid arena, accepting the position of staff writer for the National Enquirer; he quickly became a top writer. He later served as editor of the Globe and the National Tattler. Today the tabloid veteran is a freelance writer.
Mr. Sloan has written over a dozen books, including I WATCHED a Wild Hog Eat My Baby!, a colorful history of tabloids and their cultural impact over the past thirty years. He also published the acclaimed World War II book Given Up for Dead: America's Heroic Stand at Wake Island.
His most recent book, JFK: The Last Dissenting Witness, tells the story of Jean Hill, the last major witness of Pres. John F. Kennedy's assassination to publicly dispute the findings of the Warren Commission. With the help of Bill Sloan, Ms. Hill reveals long-kept secrets that federal authorities tried desperately to suppress. Her gripping, intimate account of that fateful autumn day, and the web of intrigue and conspiracy that followed, reveals more than ever the clumsiness and inaccuracy of the Warren Report. Jim Marrs, author of Crossfire, says of the book, “Jean Hill may well be the most important assassination witness alive today. Her story deserves close scrutiny by every citizen.”
Miles Smeeton has lived a life about which most only dream. He served as a soldier in World War II, at which time he met his wife. He also spent a significant amount of time in Canada helping with the protection of various endangered species. During his lifetime, he also managed to write close to ten books.
Mr. Smeeton spent much of his life sailing the seas aboard his fourty-six-foot ketch, the TZU HANG. While seeing the world, he and his wife had extraordinary adventures on six of the seven continents. During his exploration, he was able to pen several rhymes and poems about alligators. He would send these off regularly to his granddaughter.
The collection of these poems became Alligator Tales. This work, which National Public Radio's Daniel Pinkwater calls, “A crackerjack of a book!” depicts the normally viciously tempered alligator as a comical, laid-back animal. The poems make the characters, which are seen singing and flying, accessible to kids as well as grownups.
As a student at William Carey College, Argile Smith was moved by the excellence of the sermons he heard there. After receiving his bachelor’s degree in religion, he was called to preach and went on to study homiletics at the New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary, where he earned his doctor of theology degree.
Dr. Smith has served as a pastor at First Baptist Church of Lyman in Gulfport, Mississippi, and Trinity Heights Baptist Church in Shreveport, Louisiana. In 1993 he returned to the New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary, where he was named the J. D. Grey professor of preaching. He has served as executive vice-president for integration of faith and learning, associate dean of Christian ministry, dean of chapel, and a Lyndon E. Dawson professor of preaching and pastoral ministry for Louisiana College.
Dr. Smith still preaches in a number of Southern Baptist churches and has served as an interim pastor for more than eleven congregations. He is a member of the Evangelical Homiletics Society and the Academy of Homiletics. Dr. Smith enjoys a wide variety of leisure activities, including writing, fishing, and traveling with his wife. They live in Pineville, Louisiana.
Chef Ben Smith was born and raised in Memphis, Tennessee. Upon high school graduation, he spent three years working in restaurants before deciding to attended the Culinary Institute of America in Hyde Park, New York. He served his externship at the Sherman House Hotel in San Francisco, and eagerly returned there after graduation to work for Jeremiah Tower at Stars Restaurant from 1986 to 1989. Living in San Francisco and working for Jeremiah Tower expanded his awareness of Asian ingredients and cooking techniques and piqued his desire to learn more.
In 1989, Chef Smith embarked on a six-month solo tour of the South Pacific with stops in Tahiti, New Caledonia, New Zealand, and Australia. After a year spent managing a catering kitchen back in Memphis, he accepted a job offer in Hawaii, where he worked for two and a half years at the Lodge at Koele in Lanai. This job opened his eyes to the vast bounty of the Pacific Region, and he was exposed to a greater variety of seafood than ever before. It was in Hawaii where he first began to form his concept for Tsunami Restaurant.
Once back in Memphis he took a series of sous-chef and executive chef positions to reestablish himself in the local market and test his ideas for his future restaurant. He was pleased to discover that Memphis was hungry for the Tsunami Restaurant concept.
Smith opened Tsunami in 1998. Two months after its opening in July 1998, it was voted Best New Restaurant by Memphis magazine. Since that time it has maintained one of the top three spots in the categories of Best Seafood and Most Creative Menu in Memphis magazine's readers' poll every year.
Chef Smith lives in Memphis with his artist wife Colleen, their sons, Brendan and Ian, and their Weimaraner.
From January 2005 until Hurricane Katrina arrived, Bruce Lee Smith was the director of Development and a teaching pastor at Uptown Church in New Orleans. Since the storm, Bruce has focused his energies on writing and speaking about God's providence. He is the founder of StormKat Ministries, an organization devoted to critical thinking, speaking, and writing with the aim of engaging people who desperately need the message of hope revealed in the Gospel.
When Bruce Smith was a teenager, his young (twenty-seven-year-old) stepfather died a painful death from an untreatable form of cancer. As a result, Bruce became a father to his much younger sister and the primary emotional support system for his mother. Rather than turn toward destructive habits and lifestyles, Bruce found his hope in God.
Active in his high-school youth group, Bruce preached for the first time when he was only sixteen years old. He felt called to a theological education in college after a back injury crushed his aspirations of a major collegiate and professional tennis career.
Upon completion of his degrees in preaching and pastoral ministry, which was accomplished while married, raising two children, working in church ministry, and holding down extra jobs, Bruce went on to study at the Reformed Theological Seminary in Orlando and Wheaton College Graduate School outside Chicago. During this period, Bruce spent time ministering in a variety of church settings, including Assemblies of God, Presbyterian, Methodist, and others. His focus for his master's thesis research centered on an intensive evaluation of Willow Creek Community Church.
Since his days in theological education, Bruce's journey has included a number of entrepreneurial adventures, including design, sports memorabilia, and art. For his investment work over most of the last decade he has gained notoriety as &ldquothe top rare coin broker in the country.” In 2004 he gained worldwide recognition for his sale of the 1913 Liberty Head 'V' Nickel for a staggering sum of $3 million. He has appeared on numerous radio and television news programs, including The Tony Snow Show and The O'Reilly Factor, and was featured on NPR's Weekend Edition with Scott Simon.
A native of New Orleans, Bruce is the father of three children and two Labrador retrievers. He spends his free time, when not playing the role of chauffeur, on the tennis court, collecting art and sports memorabilia, pursuing his interests in amateur photography, and enjoying numerous competitive sports. Twenty-five percent of the author's profits from Soul Storm will be donated through faith-based organizations to New Orleans rebuilding efforts.
Cat Bowman Smith's critically acclaimed artwork adorns more than forty books, including Joshua the Giant Frog, Feliciana Feydra LeRoux, Feliciana Feydra LeRoux Meets D'Loup Garou, The Rosie Stories, Old Granny and the Bean Thief, Just One More Story, Bedtime, and Hairdo, among many others.
Ms. Smith lives in Pittsford, New York, with her pup Daisy. She received a Bachelor of Fine Art degree from Rochester Institute of Technology in 1961. She was an editorial illustrator for Rochester Gannett newspapers, and taught illustration at R.I.T.
She has been drawing since she could hold a pencil in her hand and has been illustrating trade books since 1985.
Daniel P. Smith graduated summa cum laude from Vanderbilt University with a BA in English and French. A member of the Phi Beta Kappa Society, he received law degrees from both the Vanderbilt University School of Law and the New York University School of Law. While in law school, he was associate editor of the Vanderbilt Law Review, which published his article on the constitutionality of electronic surveillance orders in the context of criminal cases.
Victims of Dead Man Walking, coauthored by Detective Michael Varnado, tells the true story of Faith Hathaway, a young Louisiana woman brutally murdered by Robert Lee Willie. Unlike Sr. Helen Prejean's Dead Man Walking, which focuses on Willie, Smith and Varnado's book recounts the details of the case from the point of view of the innocent victims' families. It takes on a side of the debate that was neglected in both Dead Man Walking and the film of the same name, starring Sean Penn as the criminal awaiting the death penalty.
Smith is currently a lawyer and freelance writer based in Nashville, Tennessee, where he lives with his wife and children. He is skilled in a variety of languages, including Spanish and German.
J. Jaye Smith has a passion for promoting environmental awareness. She is an active member of Bat Conservation International and the Nature Conservancy, which oversees Eckert James River Bat Cave Preserve in the Texas Hill Country. An active member of the World Wildlife Fund, she enjoys studying nature's creativity and recognizes the importance of protecting it.
Smith moved to Austin, Texas, from Oklahoma after completing a writing course at Harvard University. Her move intensified her interest in nature because she fell in love with Texas's fascinating wildlife, rattlesnakes, longhorns, and especially bats. Aware that Texas houses the largest urban bat colony in the world, she searched for a picture book on the topic for her children.
As a stay-at-home mom with a background in elementary education from Belmont University, she wanted to teach her children about the inhabitants of Bracken Bat Cave. After all, the Mexican free-tailed bats that live in the cave are necessary for balancing Texas's ecosystems. They eat pesky mosquitoes and other flying insects, which means that farmers do not have to use as many pesticides to grow their crops.
Surprisingly, there was not a single children's book about them! Inspired by her children's curiosity, Smith decided to compile the most interesting information about these important mammals so close to home and write a factual picture book.
Smith resides in Austin, Texas, with her husband and three children.
A gifted, self-taught photographer, Kathy Smith travels throughout the world capturing the essence of her surroundings through a lens. She uses the vintage Diana camera (circa 1962) as her lone piece of equipment. Characterized by their soft focus and low-tech simplicity, the photographs imbue her work with a unique, dreamy quality.
Smith journeys from city to city blending her passion for travel with her love for photography. Europe, Alaska, South Africa, and coastal England encompass only a few of the places she has visited. Reading Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil aroused her interest in Savannah, Georgia, and its picturesque cityscape. The nineteenth-century French photographer Eugene Atget inspires the distinguished attributes of Smith's work.
In addition to photography, Smith has worked in the medical field and travel industry. She obtained a BA in speech communication from Gonzaga University in Spokane, Washington, in 1974. She lives in the Seattle area.
Marie Theresa Caroselli Smith (1933-1987) was born and raised in Jersey City. In 1954 she married Hubert Gary Smith, an officer in the US Army. After Smith’s husband’s retirement from the army, he worked as a test pilot for Piper Aircraft in Vero Beach, Florida. His promotion to chief test pilot precipitated the family’s move to Lakeland. Her two daughters grown and her husband frequently traveling for work, it became necessary for Smith to re-learn how to cook all of the things she loved without all of the waste that her previous full-sized recipes produced when prepared for only one person.
Smith was an active volunteer in her community of Lakeland, Florida, and frequently gave microwave cookery classes through the Displaced Homemakers program. Her daughter Tracy carries on her legacy and still receives letters from grateful homemakers.
The music of New Orleans is renowned throughout the country and possibly even the world, which is why it is no surprise that a native of this cultural mecca, such as Smith, would be enamored by the incredible jazz sensation. Smith is known as an amazing award-winning freelance photographer, who prides himself on capturing the beauty and spirit within the New Orleans jazz culture. He also became intrigued with the New Orleans street culture, especially the second line parades and jazz funerals.
Michael P. Smith has worked as a staff photographer for the William Ransom Hogan Jazz Archives at Tulane University and cofounded the Tipitina's nightclub. He is currently the assistant director of the Professor Longhair Foundation, at which he is assisting the preservation of the memory of Roeland Byrd and his contribution to New Orleans music.
Some of his work can be found on display throughout the country. It has been widely collected and remains as a permanent collection within the Smithsonian, Bibliotheque National in Paris, France, the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City, the Historic New Orlenas Collection, as well as other important archives. Michael P. Smith has also been awarded two photographer's fellowships from the National Endowment of Arts. He has written several books, including Jazz Fest Memories, Mardi Gras Indians, New Orleans Jazz Fest: A Pictoral History, Spirit World: Pattern in the Expressive Folk Culture of African-American New Orleans, and A Joyful Noise: A Celebration of New Orleans Music, all available at Pelican.
A History Channel commentator, Robert Barr Smith is the author of more than thirty articles and five books on the American Old West. In addition, he has edited several titles on outlaws, including 200 Texas Outlaws and Lawmen: 1835-1935; 100 Oklahoma Outlaws, Gangsters, and Lawmen: 1839-1939; Ten Deadly Texans; and Arizona Gunfighters.
Including his writings on the Wild West, Smith has published more than ten books and ninety articles on such topics as military and western history and legal writing. His articles have been featured in Wild West, Military Heritage, World War II, and Oklahoma Law Review.
Smith earned a BA and a JD from Stanford University. A former deputy attorney general of the state of California, he serves as a professor of law at the University of Oklahoma College of Law, where he formerly held the title of assistant dean.
Smith, a retired colonel, served more than twenty years in the Judge Advocate General’s Corps and earned the Bronze Star and the Legion of Merit while serving in the United States Army. He lives with his wife in Norman, Oklahoma.
An illustrator, graphic designer, and author specializing in the field of comics, Vernon Smith has been creating art since he was able to hold a pencil. His first illustrated book, One Boat, was printed when he was in first grade. Since then, Smith has worked on several comic book series, including several of his own titles, one of which was completely crowd-funded. He also produces marketing artwork for both independent and worldwide businesses. Smith opened his own studio, El MacFearsome Comic Squares, in 2005.
Smith graduated from the New Orleans Center for Creative Arts and received a bachelor’s degree in fine arts from the University of New Orleans. While attending UNO, he received the Judge’s Award and the Faculty Award for his submissions to the annual drawing competition. Smith is a mainstay in the independent comic book scene, and his work has been featured on GeeksOfDoom.com and ComicsAlliance.com. Smith regularly attends comic conventions and book signings, representing his work around the country.
The author and illustrator lives in Metairie, Louisiana, a suburb of New Orleans. While not writing and illustrating, he focuses on his most important role—being a father.
Gèrard Solís is chef at El Racó in Sant Climent de Llobregat, a restaurant near Barcelona. He also works in several other prestigious restaurants around Spain. In addition to being a chef, Solís promotes special culinary products specific to his region and appears on the cooking show Cuines on TV3. He lives in Barcelona with his wife and daughter.
Crazy About Cherries is far more than an engaging cookbook, it is a complete reference guide for anyone who has wanted to know more about cherries. Working as a chef Solís discovered how diverse and interesting the cherry truly is. In addition to the enthralling history, botanical variety, nutritional properties, and growing tips, this beautifully photographed book provides an impressive list of cherry-based recipes.
Sharon K. Solomon spent 35 years working as an elementary reading specialist in Berkeley Heights, New Jersey, before migrating south and retiring in Lansdowne, VA. Solomon began writing children’s books in her final years as an educator, and has continued writing a variety of children’s genres including plays, picture books, early chapter books, and middle grade fiction and historical fiction. She gets her ideas from her grandchildren and from her travel and everyday experiences.
Solomon is an active member of the Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators, and she is also a member of a local writing critique group in Lansdowne, VA where she resides. She received her BA in Elementary Education from Pennsylvania State University, and she received her MA in education from Temple University in Philadelphia, PA. When she is not writing, she enjoys volunteering at the Loudoun Museum in Leesburg, VA, and tutoring for Spanish speaking adults.
William J. Sowder is the author of several books on both Ralph Waldo Emersonand William Faulkner.
In his book Existential-Phenomenological Readings on Faulkner, Sowder attempts what is thought to be impossible: to make Faulkner and his characters accessible and understandable. In the work, Sowder interprets the Nobel Prize-winning author's complex characters and their motivations in a novel yet very credible way. With the help of existential-phenomenological philosophy, Sowder aims to close the gap between Faulkner and the reader as well as the one between literature and life.
United States Army retiree James L. Speicher traveled the nation serving his country during his thirty-year military career. Assisting as the mobilization officer for the Army Reserve Personnel Center in St. Louis, Missouri, he assembled several hundred individual reservists for Operation Desert Storm. In addition to commanding a 180-man infantry company at Fort Richardson in Anchorage, Alaska, Speicher was stationed in Fort Benning, Georgia, and Fort Bragg, North Carolina.
He has held numerous government positions, including department director for the U.S. Army Command and General Staff College at Fort Leavenworth, Kansas; supervisor for the U.S. government in Kansas City, Missouri; second lieutenant in the U.S. Army; and advisor to the Twelfth Special Forces Group's Second Battalion in Tulsa, Oklahoma. Along with his military service, Speicher served as a law enforcement officer with both the Bloomfield Township Police Department and the Oakland County Sherriff's Department.
He is an active member of the Civil War Round Table of Kansas City, the Sons of the American Revolution, and the Sons of the Confederate Veterans, where he has held office at the national, state, and local levels. In 2000, he helped form and eventually became commander of a camp affiliated with the Sons of the Confederate Veterans called Major Thomas J. Key Camp #1920.
Speicher has contributed to several military publications including Soldier of Fortune Magazine, America's Civil War magazine, Confederate Veteran magazine, and the Civil War Historian Magazine. After obtaining a BA in history from The Citadel, he received an AAS in law enforcement from Oakland County Community College, an MA in public administration from Wayne State University, and an MA in management from Webster University.
Along with his memberships and contributions, Speicher enjoys diving and was a Professional Association of Diving Instructors master instructor for ten years. He has also participated in Civil War reenacting, which is his favorite pastime. He resides in Shawnee, Kansas, with his wife.
Dr. Galia Sperber's family originates from Romania, though she was born in Belgium and was raised in the United States. She attended Liverpool University in the United Kingdom, where she received her M.B.Ch.B., which is equivalent to an American medical degree. She is currently working toward her PhD in biochemistry from University College London in the United Kingdom.
Her first book, The Art of Romanian Cooking, features over two hundred traditional and family recipes for every occasion. It also includes reflections on Dr. Sperber's family and information on her native land.
She is currently a research fellow/medical researcher in the United Kingdom, researching on cardiovascular disorder prevention.
With work appearing in various well-respected magazines and advertising campaigns, children’s illustrator Sally Springer has drawn her way into the public eye. Through retail advertising projects for such notable corporations as McDonald’s, Ringling Bros., Scholastic, and Wendy’s, she learned the benefits of clean design. Springer has received numerous awards for design and illustration, most recently the “My First Hidden Pictures” Illustration of the Year Award from Highlights High Five magazine.
Springer was a partner in the production of dozens of children’s books and was the illustrator of several more. She received her bachelor of science in fashion design at Drexel University, but after one job in the fashion industry she realized that she didn’t like to sew.
Originally from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, her home is in Fort Pierce, Florida, where she lives with her husband, standard poodle, and yellow-naped parrot.
Todd-Michael St. Pierre is the author of several New Orleans cookbooks and children’s books. His works have been featured by various magazines, newspapers, and websites. He was a judge for the Reading Rainbow Young Writers and Illustrators Contest and is a proud Louisianan, avid cook, dedicated gardener, and cat lover.
Alan Stacy's love for art motivated the self-taught artist to quit medical school after two years and redirect his life goals to pursue a career as an illustrator. Stacy was first exposed to art at the tender age of six when his artist mother gave him informal lessons. His father's career as an air force pilot required the family to travel often to many different states and countries before making Texas a permanent home. A profound love of animals and nature, which is reflected in his work, was inspired by the time he spent outdoors in the American West and Pacific Northwest.
His artistic styles and subject matter vary from photorealism to fantasy, mythological subjects, children's books, comics, cartoons, and graphic novels. Mr. Stacy's other work includes costume design, art direction, and makeup artistry for music videos, commercials, theater, and film, and his other talents include sculpting, animating, and photography. His children's book illustrations are included in Texas Zeke and the Longhorn, written by David Davis and published by Pelican.
Stacy worked in broadcast television as a graphic artist for many years before becoming a self-employed illustrator and designer. After providing graphic illustrations for an environmental engineering firm, he worked for ABC and CBS for ten years, providing graphic arts and commercials for children's television. In his next career move, Stacy became a professor at the University of Texas at Arlington. He taught a variety of subjects including advertising, commercial art, comic book art, and drawing and cartooning for kids.
Aside from his freelance art career, Stacy is also a popular public speaker. His regular motivational speeches are enjoyed by schools and amateur writers and artists. He is a member of the Texas Association of Film and Tape Professionals and the Society of Children's Book Writers and Illustrators. He resides in Arlington, Texas.
Gaspar J. “Buddy” Stall is a dynamic speaker who also happens to be a history buff. Adept at writing and speaking before large audiences, he is one of the most sought-after speakers in Louisiana and has captivated thousands, proving his assertion that “New Orleans' and Louisiana's history is much more entertaining than fiction.” Stall presents several hundred historical vignettes each year over the radio and makes an average of twelve live appearances each month.
New Orleanians will fondly remember his highly visible role as vice president of sales and public relations director for Radiofone. In addition to being their on-camera “face,” he also published a monthly newsletter with a circulation of more than one hundred thousand. Excerpts from Radiofone's newsletter were printed in nine publications statewide. Thousands of viewers also tuned into his biweekly television programs Historical Spotlight on WDSU in New Orleans, Louisiana Scrapbook on WBRZ in Baton Rouge, and Louisiana Spotlight on Cox Cable statewide.
Stall has authored numerous historical articles and has been a contributing writer to many publications, including Clarion Herald, Citibusiness, New Orleans Magazine, the Italian American Federation Journal, the New Orleans Times-Picayune, and the Baton Rouge Advocate.
Buddy Stall's French Quarter Montage takes an affectionate look at the historic district that gave birth to many of our country's firsts. Buddy Stall's New Orleans reveals Stall's insider knowledge of New Orleans' history and sights. Through enlightening and entertaining tidbits, Stall shares the glamour and mystery of the Crescent City. Buddy Stall's Louisiana Potpourri details what life was like for the first inhabitants of Louisiana. This book is brimming with little-known facts about the plantations, the weather, the Civil War, and of course, lots of lagniappe (something extra).
Deirdra Stanforth (1924-2013) began her professional career as a commercial artist and illustrator. But, as the daughter of Tess Crager, owner of the fabled Basement Bookshop in New Orleans, it was perhaps inevitable that Stanforth would eventually turn to writing as well. The Basement Bookshop frequently hosted such literary giants as Gertrude Stein, Alice B. Toklas, and Thomas Wolfe.
Born in New Orleans, Stanforth earned her bachelor of arts degree at Newcomb College and completed graduate work at the Tyler School of Art in Philadelphia. Stanforth’s prolific career in both writing and art reflected her love of New Orleans’ colorful atmosphere, eccentric inhabitants, dramatic history, and internationally renowned cuisine. She later moved to New York City with her family, where she wrote extensively on home restoration.
Heather Stanley’s work as director of creative services at Audubon Nature Institute revolves around designs inspired by animals and nature. During her twenty-two years at Audubon, she has used her talents for art and design to educate the public about the natural world and the creatures that live there.
Stanley graduated from the University of Southwestern Louisiana in Lafayette with a BFA in advertising and design. She worked in advertising in Washington, DC before leaving the city to pursue graduate studies at Radford University in Virginia, where she received an MFA in illustration and design.
Stanley’s art continues to be influenced by the natural wonders of our world. Home in Louisiana once again, the Slidell native now lives in Harahan, Louisiana, with her husband, Brian, and their daughter.
“We are today exactly where we deserve to be, and we will be at the same place tommorow unless we decide we want to be somewhere else. It's not so important where we are or where we have been in life, only where we are going. Does your current attitude reflect this kind of thinking?”
In his latest book Power to Win Walter Doyle helps us to achieve that “attitude” needed to be winners, and in doing so gives us the knowledge and wisdom of experience that has made him one of the leading names in personal development theory.
Walter Doyle Staples holds a BS, MBA, and PhD in behavioral psychology. He has had a distinguished career as an author, diplomat, professional speaker, and seminar leader.
Dr. Staples is president of Peak Performance Seminars, a consultancy specializing in personal growth and professional development, dealing with many of America's most successful corporations. An admitted self-help addict, he has devoured at least one book on the subject each week for the past five years. He is also a certified practitioner of Neuro-Linguistic Programming (NLP).
His career as an author, trainer, and professional speaker began in 1981 when his first book, Motivation and Personal Power, was published. He has written four books on personal and professional development including his best-seller Think Like A Winner!. This has become a standard reference text for personal and professional development in many companies, universities, and government agencies in countries around the world. His latest book Power to Win is complementary to Think Like a Winner!. Its message is, that by believing in our power to shape our own negative thoughts and feelings, we can gain control over our ability to suceed.
Dr. Staples is one of America's most highly acclaimed authors on the subject of human potential, as the many testimonies for his books from well-known authorities demonstrate. His success in many fields of endeavor bears testimony to the fact that his ideas and concepts actually work in the real world.
Phillip W. Steele became interested in Ozark and Old West history and folklore many years ago. He has researched and written on several of these subjects. A successful columnist and historian, Steele has had more than fifty articles published in such magazines as True West, Real West, Tombstone Epitaph, The Roundup, The Westerner, True Treasure, and other major newspapers and magazines throughout the nation. In fact, Steele's column, “Hearth Tales of the Ozarks,” appeared in the Ozarks Mountaineer magazine for ten years.
Also a successful author, Steele's books by Pelican Publishing Company include: The Last Cherokee Warriors; Ozark Tales and Superstitions; Jesse and Frank James: The Family History; Starr Tracks: Belle and Pearl Starr; Civil War in the Ozarks with coauthor Steve Cottrell; Outlaws and Gunfighters of the Old West; and The Many Faces of Jesse James written with George Warfel. His self-published works include The Butterfield Run, In Search of the Daltons, and Lost Treasures of the Ozarks.
Outside of his writing, Steele is the president of Good Old Days Food, Inc., of Springdale and Little Rock, Arkansas. He is also one of the owners and an executive producer of American Heritage Productions, Inc., a film company that produces documentary films on Old West, Civil War, and Ozark folklore subjects for the home video and television markets.
A native of northwest Arkansas, Steele attended Kemper Military Academy in Columbia, Missouri, the University of California at Los Angeles, and the University of Arkansas. He is involved in a number of organizations: the Western Writers of America; the Jesse James Historical Society, of which he is president; the Friends of the James Farm and Museum; the National Outlaw and Lawman History Association, for which he serves on the board of directors; the Ozarks Writers League; and the Ozarks Arts and Crafts Fair. He also serves on the board of directors for the Arkansas History Commission, which is appointed by the Governor of Arkansas.
“Skipper” Steely is a longtime history researcher who has written well over a dozen books and manuscripts on subjects ranging from Texas history to Cold War fiction. In addition to writing, he has also worked as an editor on a number of projects, including newspaper publications.
Having been involved in all aspects of the trade, Steely has over twenty years of experience in newspaper publishing. He also started several of his own papers—leading to the establishment of his own business venture. Steely began writing and publishing books in 1980, mainly on historical works pertaining to the Northeast Texas and Southwestern Arkansas region. Realizing the importance of marketing in the book publishing business, he started a press that was aimed at producing and advertising his books.
Steely was attracted to the prospect of writing Pearl Harbor Countdown not only because of Admiral Richardson's historical importance, but also because Richardson was a native of Paris, Texas, Steely's hometown. This enabled him access to much of Richardson's biographical information and gave him substantial material on which to begin his research into the admiral's career in the navy. Steely's account of the post-Pearl Harbor political fiasco is one of the only books to focus solely on Richardson himself and the stand he made despite severe pressure from Washington.
Skipper Steely attended East Texas State University where he earned a bachelor's degree in business and a master's degree in journalism. He served in Vietnam as an air force officer prior to beginning his career in the newspaper business. Before discovering writing as his true passion, Steely held jobs in sales, golf tournament organization, home renovation, and photography. He lives in Paris, Texas.
A doctor of jurisprudence and church law, Leo Stein was teaching at the University of Berlin when he was arrested for treason. His book on the Russian Revolution was viewed as proof of his treasonous ways, and Stein was thrown in jail. While in jail, he had an opportunity to observe another prisoner, Martin Niemoeller. Niemoeller, a German pastor, was an early vocal opponent of Nazism. Despite mistreatment by the guards, Niemoeller maintained his convictions and his faith in God. When Stein immigrated to the United States during World War II, he wrote about Niemoeller's experiences, publishing the account in 1942.
Found guilty of treason in 1937, Niemoeller spent the rest of World War II in Sachsenhausen, Mobait, and Dachau. Hitler Came for Niemoeller: The Nazi War Against Religion relates the details of Niemoeller's fight against Nazism, including his face-to-face discussions with Hitler.
An accomplished educator, Colette H. Stelly has served on the faculty of numerous institutions during her career. As the foreign language department head of the Isidore Newman School, she initiated the Advanced Placement French program. She later served as a member of the Academic Advisory Committee for Educational Testing Service in Princeton, New Jersey. While there, she was appointed reader of AP French Language exams and, subsequently, the teacher training consultant for the College Board in Advanced Placement French Language and Literature. After joining the staff of Dillard University, she was named tenured associate professor of French before her retirement in 2004.
Stelly is a past president of the Louisiana chapter of the American Association of Teachers of French and a former member of the board of directors of the Catholic Book Store. She is a former member of the Louisiana Foreign Language Teachers Association and the Southern Conference on Language Teaching and a member of the Society of Childrens Book Writers and Illustrators. In addition to her involvement with the Friends of New Orleans Museum of Art, she is a member of Friends of Musica da Camera, Friends of the New Orleans Public Library, the Louisiana Endowment for the Humanities, and the Women's Spirituality Group.
As a writer who has been published internationally, Stelly has contributed to numerous French educational texts. She has also served as director of the CODOFIL (Council for the Development of French in Louisiana) scholarship program in Belgium. After earning her BA in French and music and her MA in French literature from Tulane University, she accepted the prestigious Lajealle Scholarship for a year of study in Paris. She went on to earn a PhD in foreign language education from Louisiana State University. Stelly lives in New Orleans, Louisiana.
Joyce A. Stengel’s enthusiasm for telling enchanting tales began at an early age. Her mother was a wonderful storyteller and encouraged Stengel’s strong interest in reading and writing. Now an award-winning author of several books and scholarly articles, her deepest passion is still writing for children.
Two of Stengel’s novels, Mystery of the Island Jewels and Mystery at Kittiwake Bay, were selected as Aladdin Scholastic Book Fair Choices. A member of the Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators, she is a recipient of the Tassy Walden Award for New Voices in Children’s Literature, presented by the Shoreline Arts Alliance.
Before becoming an author, Stengel earned a degree in nursing from Hartford Hospital School of Nursing. While working as a registered nurse, she began to pursue her dream of becoming a writer by taking English courses in her spare time. She earned a BA in English from the University of Hartford, where she graduated cum laude, and eventually received her MA in English from Central Connecticut State University while working as a writing center coordinator.
Stengel believes that writing is a daily commitment, requiring concentration and creativity. She enjoys the process of putting together imaginative ideas and turning them into an inspiring story that children everywhere will adore. Stengel resides in South Glastonburg, Connecticut, where she and her husband cherish the time spent with their family.
Born and raised in the mountains of West Virginia, Eva Steortz was able to achieve her dream-come-true career at Disney where as a vice president she oversaw multiple divisions, including franchise development, retail marketing, and toy sales. With over twenty years of experience in this position, Steortz wrote From the Outhouse to the Mouse House to inspire other young adults to chase their dreams, as she chased hers.
Steortz received her BA in advertising and an MA in mass communication, as well as a minor in business administration, all at West Virginia University. During her time at Disney, she was vice president of retail, seasonal, and digital marketing; promotions director of Disney Consumer Products; and a plethora of other positions that defined the entertainment industry. After she left Disney, Steortz was senior vice president of marketing and strategy at The Equinox Group, where she supported companies like Disney, NBC Universal, and more. This position inspired Steortz to start her own company, Vita Creativa, where she could inspire and aid individuals and teams to achieve their professional goals. Steortz is senior vice president in the Brand Developing Department at Twentieth Century Fox
Steortz lives in Woodland Hills, California, with her husband. She enjoys gardening, antiquing, and yoga.
Robert Stern is a former executive in the entertainment industries. He has worked as a business manager of radio and television stations and spent time as the general manager of a Beverly Hills talent agency. During the final years of M*A*S*H, he served as the vice president of finance at Fox Television. He also served as an officer in the army while stationed in Germany and then as a troop commander when Russia invaded Czechoslovakia.
Stern earned a bachelor of science in accounting from Miami University in Oxford, Ohio, and he performed live at the Emmy Awards as part of an ensemble of singing and dancing accountants. His other endeavors include voice acting for animated characters and writing lyrics to cope with the death of his wife. He has invested significant time in personal growth and self-development. A single father of three grown children, he lives in Henderson, Nevada.
Throughout his law career, Pelican's luxury-travel expert Steven B. Stern spent three months per year researching cruise ships and resorts for his book, Stern's Guide to the Cruise Vacation, which is updated annually. He has traveled all over the world, visited almost every port of call, sailed on each major cruise ship (more than 750 ships to date), and reviewed resorts, hotels, and restaurants around the world.
Stern's guide book has been called “indispensible” and the “bible for cruise vacationers.” Included in each detailed edition are the vital statistics (the layout, physical details, and history), on-board attractions (restaurants, shopping, and recreation), travel necessities (concierges, technology, and medical facilities), and ports of call (including how to make the most of an eight-hour visit) of each vessel.
Steven B. Stern was born in Chicago, Illinois, and received his bachelor of arts degree from the University of Illinois. He went on to earn bachelor of law and master of law degrees from Northwestern University. Stern recently retired from his position as president of the law firm Stern and Hellman, Ltd., in Chicago and currently lives in Florida.
Mary Ann Sternberg is a native of Louisiana. She is a public relations specialist and an accomplished freelance writer. She has contributed to such publications as Louisiana Life, Southern Accents, New York Times, and many more. Her extensive knowledge and interest in the Louisiana area influenced her to write a wonderful guide about her home state.
The Pelican Guide to Louisiana: 2nd Edition is divided into sections that focus on distinct areas of the state. Bayou country, alligators, Cajuns, the Crescent City, old plantations, and local fairs and festivals are just a few of the many places and attractions featured in this extensive guide to Louisiana.
When Larry F. Sternberg's fervent interest in political and religious ideas spurred him to write his first book, Why Jews Should Not Be Liberals, he had no idea what a stir it would create in the political community. Through his unique and educated perspective, Sternberg has explained the modern repercussions of political thought in this carefully stated and well-documented book.
Sternberg was the voice of Jewish heritage throughout his varied career as an accountant, auditor, controller, and vice president of several businesses. He began his writing career in 1997, when he realized that there was a meaningful message that he wanted to share with Jewish and non-Jewish people around the world, a message he knew would impact the voting and political philosophy of both.
An active member of the Tustin chapter of the California Republican Assembly, the Republican Party of Orange County, and Toastmasters International, Sternberg was an accomplished speaker on the subjects of politics and religion. With a firm background in politics, he was nominated for U.S. Congress in 1988, and in 1996 he was a candidate for the Republican nomination to the California State Assembly. Sternberg also had an active military career. He was given the Korean War Ribbon in 1952 and was honorably discharged from the navy in 1995.
Sternberg's successful career included eighteen years at B.I.S. Computer Solutions, as senior vice president of operations and as a consultant. He received his BA in accounting and business from the University of California at Los Angles and later became a CPA.
C. R. Stewart is a global strategist and director of marketing for the prestigious Wolf Management Consultants. A public speaker for more than two decades, he provides professional lectures and workshops. His comprehensive background in business, education, and human development came from studying with more than fifty professional instructors and trainers.
Stewart has been involved with advanced education, personal development, and professional coaches since he was fourteen. He has traveled around the world, studying diverse cultures and international business. After starting his own business at age twenty, he worked for three Fortune 100 companies and gained hands-on experience in business and entrepreneurship while employed by three self-made millionaires. He then launched the Britfield Group, an international consulting firm specializing in executive strategy, leadership, personal development, and knowledge enhancement.
Among many interests and hobbies, Stewart participates in acting and improvisational theater, competes in cross-country and jumping equine events, and holds belts in two martial arts. He received his MBA from Boston College, concentrating in international marketing and strategic management. He took advanced courses in strategic thinking and corporate governance at the Institute of Directors in London, England. He completed post graduate courses in business strategy and comprehensive writing at Harvard University and received his BAs in European history and British literature from Brown University. Stewart is a member of Toastmasters International, Business Network International, and the Society of Professional Consultants. He lives in Santee, California.
Holly Stone-Barker is an illustrator and educator who specializes in cut-paper collage. Her striking work incorporates texture, print designs, and shadow for a unique effect. A prolific designer in a variety of fields, Stone-Barker has worked for such clients as Clubhouse Jr. Magazine, La Capitol Federal Credit Union, and Harris DeVille & Associates, Inc. She combines her illustration experience with her love of education by instructing art programs for school-aged children with the Arts Council of Greater Baton Rouge. She is an instructor of design at the college level for Delta College of Arts & Technology, Inc. in Baton Rouge, as well as a member of the Society of Children's Book Writers and Illustrators.
Since the early 1990s, Stone-Barker has garnered such honors as the Lantern Award for her work with the Louisiana Ammonia Producers. She has also been involved in several exhibitions, including the Arts Council of Greater Baton Rouge Gallery and a juried exhibition at Master Eagle Gallery in Manhattan, and her work has appeared in the twentieth through twenty-second annual editions of RSVP: The Directory of Illustration and Design.
In 1992, Stone-Barker graduated with honors from Pratt Institute in New York with a BFA in communications design with a strong emphasis in illustration. She enjoys experimenting with new artistic media, which she tries to incorporate into a style that coincides with her love of cut paper and visual texture. A native of Valparaiso, Indiana, Stone-Barker lives in Zachary, Louisiana, with her husband, Wayne, and her two children, Ella and Stephen.
Polly Powers Stramm is an award-winning journalist and the author of several books, including Sentimental Savannah: Reflections on a Southern City's Past, a collection of “Polly's People” columns written for Savannah's daily newspapers. A Savannah native, Stramm writes books that revolve around the history of the city and its residents. One of those books is Uncle Bubba's Savannah Seafood, which she wrote with Bubba Hiers, the brother of popular Food Network-star Paula Deen. Another is Memories So Fair: Savannah's Charles Ellis School, which she cowrote with Kay Exley Gunkel.
A graduate of the Grady College of Journalism and Mass Communication at the University of Georgia, she has written for several newspapers, including USA Today, and has contributed to articles in magazines such as Time, Newsweek, and People.
Stramm and her husband, Steve, have two daughters. They enjoy traveling and spending time at their home in Savannah.
A survivor of sexual abuse, satanic ritualistic abuse, and child pornography, Lauren Stratford is asked regularly to advise law enforcement officials, mental health professionals, and parents of abused children on the devastating effects of these atrocities which are difficult to believe but continue to grow in our country.
Agencies such as the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children, the Cult Crime Impact Network, and the National Coalition Against Pornography have used Ms. Stratford's expertise and experience in recognizing satanic ritualistic abuse. Ms. Stratford also provides valuable assistance in the counseling and treatment of survivors of satanic crimes and child abuse.
Since Satan's Underground was first published in 1988, Ms. Stratford has been speaking openly about ritualistic abuse and child pornography in public forums such as law enforcement seminars, counseling seminars, and national talk shows such as "The Oprah Winfrey Show," "Larry King Live," "Sally Jesse Raphael," "Geraldo," and many others.
Satan's Underground has received endorsements from such experts as John Rabun, Deputy Director of the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children; Kenneth Wooden, former special investigative reporter for ABC News' "20/20"; and Hal Lindsey, best-selling author and authority on cults.
Letters from fellow abuse survivors started pouring in after the publication of Satan's Underground. In response to their praise for her encouraging advice, Ms. Stratford wrote I Know You're Hurting, a guide to rebuilding spirituality and self-esteem for victims of ritualistic abuse of any kind—emotional, physical, sexual, or spiritual. The book, like Satan's Underground, was originally published by Harvest House, but was pulled in its first few days after controversy erupted over Satan's Underground.
Ms. Stratford, a member of the Los Angeles County Women's Commission Task Force on Ritual Abuse, helped edit the country's first government-sponsored information booklet on the topic. She is also a member of Make Today Count, an international support group for people with life-threatening illnesses, and has organized a support group called Victims Against Sexual Abuse. She is the founder of Confidential Ministries and has ministered to thousands through the mail, over the phone, and through seminars. She is determined to offer real hope and healing to those with pain of all types through her generous commitment to survivors everywhere.
Gwen Strauss has led a life inspired by a love of adventure and culture. An American born in Haiti, she spent most of her adult life traveling, living, and studying all over the world in places such as Mexico, Japan, Holland, and France. Her travels led Strauss to trust in the consistent power of art and education across cultures. Through this, she was inspired to write about how art can be a symbol of humanity in dark times. Strauss’s stories are also inspired by the heroic and adventurous acts of her family; she is the great-niece of Danny Benedite, who worked with Varian Fry and the American Rescue Committee to save thousands from the Nazi death camps during World War II. By combining art and history, Strauss honors her family, as well as the artists, writers, and scientists who fled Europe during this time and changed American culture forever. Strauss serves as the on-site director of the Dora Maar House for the Brown Foundation Fellows Program in France and is the author of several anthologies, poems, short fiction stories, and children’s books.
Strauss received her BA from Hampshire College and her MS from Wheelock College. Her work has earned her accolades such as the Greg Grummer Award, the Atlanta Review Award, the Allen Ginsberg Award, a Capitol Choices Noteworthy Books for Children selection, an Independent Publisher Book Award, and a Whitney and Scott Cardozo Award for Children’s Literature. She is a member of both the Authors Guild and the Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators.
Strauss lives in Ménerbes, France, with her family and is surrounded by history, beauty, and the richness of language.
An author and a stand-up comedian, Michael Strecker has performed at comedy clubs throughout the US. He is an avid believer that laughter is the best medicine.
In addition to his work as an author and comedian, Strecker serves as the executive director of public relations at Tulane University. He graduated from Louisiana State University with a BA in journalism and Tulane University with an MA in English literature. He has entertained audiences at The Improv in Los Angeles, New York City’s HA! Comedy Club, and Harrah’s Casino in the Crescent City.
Strecker says, “Laughter can make you live longer and better.” The New Orleans native lives in the city with his wife, Jillian, and their two Crescent City kids, Stephen and Joseph.
Ron Stubbs is a leading hypnotherapist/lecturer and instructor in the Pacific Northwest area of the United States. He is an advanced clinical hypnotherapist and certified hypnosis instructor who specializes in Tinnitus (ringing in the ears), depression, adult sexual abuse, child hypnosis, and weight management, among other areas.
Mr. Stubbs is a proud member of the Association for Professional Hypnosis and Psychotherapy and of the National Guild of Hypnotists (NGH) and the president of the Washington State chapter of the NGH. He is certified to practice and instruct others in the area of hypnotherapy and does so for the Washington branch of the Minnesota Institute of Hypnosis and Hypnotherapy. He has published two books: Can't Get Through: Eight Barriers to Communication, available from Pelican, and Transformations: A Guide to Successful Hypnosis.
Currently living on Camano Island with his wife and business partner, Jeanie Taylor, and their two daughters, Stubbs finds pleasure in collecting guitars, playing with his dogs, art and folklore, Native American traditions, and alternative/complementary healing methods.
Jane Sutcliffe is the author of more than twenty books for young people, including early-reader biographies and her first picture book, Leonardos Monster. Her historical and biographical articles for children have been featured in such publications as Life and Highlights for Children. Fascinated by biographies since she was a child, Sutcliffe has written about Walt Disney, Paul Revere, Amelia Earhart, and John F. Kennedy.
Sutcliffe, an audiologist, earned her bachelors degree in communication science from the University of Connecticut and a masters degree in communication science from Penn State University. She serves as a member of the Society of Childrens Book Writers and Illustrators, actively participating in the New England chapter. An avid gardener, she lives in Tolland, Connecticut, with her husband and two sons.
Jane Sutton grew up in Roslyn, New York—a village on Long Island—and began writing stories and poems at a young age. She revealed her humorous side through her writing, and she was elected class comedienne in high school. She received a bachelor of arts in comparative literature from Brandeis University, graduating magna cum laude.
Shortly after completing her degree, Sutton began her writing career. She created reading comprehension tests while serving as a program assistant at a state mental hospital in Wingdale, New York. She later became a staff writer for Mid-Hudson Leisure, a supplement to the NY Daily News, and a copywriter for a medical instrumentation company in Lexington, Massachusetts. Sutton would go on to write and publish eight children’s books.
In addition to writing books, Sutton has worked as a special-education tutor at Diamond Middle School in Lexington, Massachusetts, and as an academic-support tutor at Fisher College in Boston. She also tutors students at the elementary-school level. Her experience in teaching and writing inspires her to give presentations in bookstores, libraries, schools, and senior living centers.
Sutton is a member of the Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators and the Writers’ Loft. She also volunteers with FISH of Lexington (Friendly, Independent, Sympathetic Help) and Brandeis Magazine. Sutton enjoys dancing, riding her bike, traveling, hiking, creating elaborate birthday cards, and writing and staging family plays for special occasions. She lives with her husband, who is an educator and science author, in Lexington, Massachusetts.
“Wherever she tarried, she had camera in hand, focusing its lenses with eyes gifted and long trained to catch what others tend to miss, to detect delicate beauty where others disdainfully see only the banal.”
—Rev. Monsignor Henry C. Bezou, cochairman of the Sesquicentennial Commission
Throughout her life, New Orleans native Betsy Swanson has immersed herself in the study of Louisiana history and art. Swanson earned a bachelor's of fine arts degree from Newcomb College, and after earning a master's of fine arts degree from Tulane University in 1966, she launched her career at the age of twenty-one, freelancing as a photographic and historical contractor. Swanson went on to hold such positions as historian, photographer, archivist, and historical consultant and has contributed to dozens of books, magazines, and catalogs.
As an authority on the architecture of New Orleans, today Swanson is a renowned photographer and historical expert who has exhibited her photography throughout Louisiana and New Mexico. Her passion for Louisiana history and photography can be seen in many of her published works, which expertly feature historic landmarks and buildings throughout the country. Along with her work as a photographer for several volumes in the New Orleans Architecture Series, and William Aiken Walker: Southern Genre Painter, Swanson is also the coauthor of New Orleans Architecture Volume II: The American Sector and editor and photographer for New Orleans Architecture Volume I: The Lower Garden District, all available from Pelican. Ms. Swanson lives in Harahan, Louisiana.
Geoff Swinney is a renowned scholar who specializes in research of fish and other lower vertebrates. He has studied anglerfish collected off Madeira, including two species new to the northeastern Atlantic, and a new species of giant gecko from Jamaica. Mr. Swinney's scientific articles have been published in the Journal of Fish Biology, Journal for the History of Collections, Journal of Zoology, Herpetological Review, and Bocagiana. In addition, he has been instrumental in updating the natural-history collection at the National Museums of Scotland and making it accessible to the public.
Geoff Swinney resides in Scotland, where he is the curator of lower vertebrates for the Royal Museum in Edinburgh. In addition to curation and collections management of fishes, amphibians, and reptiles, he conducts research on mid-water deep-sea fishes and on the history of natural-science collections. Mr. Swinney is also a professional associate of the Royal Scottish Geological Society.
James K. Swisher's previously held long term profession in the school education system as a junior high and high school principle, high school and college teacher and as an assistant supervisor in college reflect his strong support in knowledge and education. The author's apparent thirst for knowledge and his interest in his hometown state Virginia State began his initial research on a biography on Bridge General Daniel Morgan of Winchester, Virginia.
For the author, what began as a simple curiosity turned into a big project when he discovered that a larger story needed to be examined, to clearly understand his initial subject of interest. With such discovery, Swisher directed his previous, singularly set subject of interest into a study of the southern campaign of the Revolutionary War which takes place largely in New York, New Jersey and Pennsylvania.
Swisher has won national and regional awards for his work, including the Jefferson Davis Medal from the United Daughters of the Confederacy and the Virginia State Library Book of the Year Award in 2000 and was a Virginia Society of the Book Nominee. He has published numerous articles in national publications including America's Civil War, Confederate Veteran, Military Heritage, and Military History. Swisher is also known for his books titled Prince of Edisto: Brig. Gen. Micah Jenkins and Warrior in Gray: Robert E. Rhodes of Lee's Army.
He has received both his master's degree in history and an Ed.d. in administration from University of Virginia. Now retired, Swisher lives in Lynchburg, Virginia, with his wife Penny, where he continues to write, and serve on the Lynchburg Museum Board while devoting his time as a member of the Patrick Henry Chapter and Sons of the American Revolution.
Paul Szep is an internationally celebrated, syndicated cartoonist who was born in Hamilton, Ontario, Canada. Szep graduated from the Ontario College of Art, where he specialized in illustration. He played semi-professional hockey and worked part time in Canadian steel mills, which contributed to shaping his political views and opinions.
Szep claims that he really wanted to be a professional hockey player, but realizing that he would probably not reach this dream, he decided to pursue cartooning. He started off doing sports cartoons for his high-school newspaper, combining his love of sports with his love for drawing. He then became increasingly interested in creating political cartoons.
After graduating from college, Szep freelanced as an illustrator and was then hired by the Financial Post in Toronto to do cartoons and illustrations. Soon he received an invitation to join the Boston Globe, and he became their editorial cartoonist in 1967. He has also contributed to Golf Digest and has published fifteen books, including Not Just Another Szep Book, which showcases many of his editorial cartoons. Szep's cartoons have also been featured in many issues of the Best Editorial Cartoons of the Year series, which is published regularly by Pelican.
Besides winning the prestigious Pulitzer Prize for cartooning in both 1974 and 1977, Szep's many awards include two Sigma Delta Chi Awards, a Headliner, the International Thomas Nast Award, and three Honorary Doctorates. Since he retired from the Boston Globe in 2001, Szep's work is now featured regularly in numerous publications, including the St. Petersburg Times in Florida. For more information on Paul Szep, visit www.szep.com.