Anne Biggs is the author of The Swan Garden, and Garden of Nails written to give a voice to her birth mother and all women who spent time in any of the mother-baby homes throughout Ireland.
She has had the opportunity to meet her birth-mother on various occasions in Ireland. In 2016, she was asked to speak at the Sean Ross Abby Remembrance, where she presented a hard copy of her debut novel to Philomena Lee. In September of the same year she spoke to the Confidential Committee in Dublin, with regards to the mother-baby homes and Irish orphanages. She also spoke before Irish Parliament (Dail Eireanne) with Katherine Zappone, the minister for Children and Youth Affairs, where Anne spoke of her time in Irish institutions during the 1950s, including mother-baby homes, the orphanages, and the foster care system.
Anne taught high school English, and Special Education for 25 years. She currently resides in the Central Valley in California with her husband, her two dogs and three cats. When not writing she spends time with her family, including her two children her three grandchildren. She is currently working on the third novel of the Garden trilogy.
Website: http://annebiggsauthor.com/
Karen J Moore was born in a small town in Texas. She moved to California at the age of six, to an even smaller town. She worked as a Title 1 Instructional Aide for Sierra Unified School District, where she received Employee of the Year for the district in 2009. Her titles include: Journey of the Knight, Pen the Tale, Oogie, A Story for CleoCatra, and Drots the Dragobotosaurus. She loves combining curiosity with imagination and creating word magic.
From an early age I remember being asked, what I wanted to be when I grew up. I would proudly without any hesitation say, I wanted to be a teacher. Finally in 1978 I achieved that dream. I was a teacher. I started what turned out to me a long career in a third grade classroom at Herndon Elementary School. (Long before the small schools unified to create Central Unified School District.) I traveled from Central Unified to Madera Unified to Golden Valley Unified. I taught children from kindergarten through sixth grade.
My teaching career spanned three decades. I retired the summer of 2010. But if you talk to my son or daughter, they’ll tell you I never retired. If you talk to my husband, he’ll tell I changed jobs. If you talk to me, I’ll say, I did retire, for a few months. Now when I meet people, I simply say that I failed retirement. I was hired last year for what I call my dream job. I work part time as a reading intervention teacher at Sierra View Elementary School, in the Golden Valley School District.
My husband, Bill and I are empty nesters. We have one cat, and one dog that belong to our daughter, Alexandra, but didn’t leave with her when she got married. We are also the proud owners of two other dogs. In all we have Kona, Kiwi, Kali, and Mystery. Guess which one is the cat.
We live in a small community not far from the cities of Madera and Fresno. We enjoy the quiet of this area. Kali and Kiwi love going for long walks around our neighborhood.
My journey started as a teacher and moves on to one of a writer.
Website: http://kathywrites4kids.com/
ara Lucas was born and raised in the Central Valley of California, the eldest daughter of farmers. Her family has been farming the same piece of land for over 150 years. You could say that a love for the land and agriculture runs deep in her blood, and the landscapes she grew up with always end up in her books. Social work and a passion for kids in foster care have also always been in her blood. She has a Masters in Social Work and has been a social worker for over twenty years, from homeless shelters to counseling to CPS. She is in awe of many of the families she has worked with, especially the kids. The profound stories of their big hearts and strength are unforgettable, which is partly how FINDING PONY came to be written.
Aside from writing, she loves reading, especially YA, and is obsessed with all things magical, including (in no particular order): fairy gardens, ghost stories, birds in nests, great hiking, the beach, Lake Tahoe, the stars, Bigfoot, great kissing scenes (movies and books), epic hero’s journeys, and growing things. As a kid, it was a treat was to go to the library with her mom. As an adult, she stumbled upon the amazing renaissance that was happening in the world of young adult books, and was instantly hooked, loving the intensity and the immediacy of growing through the teenager years: the first kiss, first love, and first heartbreak.
She and her husband Matt have five kids, ranging in age from eighteen to eight, meaning on any given day, she is running someone to golf, baseball, track, piano, theater, voice lessons, CCD, water polo, or badminton. But she loves the energy that her kids and their friends bring to the house (and admits that it gives her awesome writing material as well…cue devilish laugh….)
Born in Ventura County, California, Jon traveled just about everywhere while his family was in search of employment, giving him a broad, worldly view. Part of Jon’s childhood was spent on his parent’s farm outside of Sanger, California. There he spent a good deal of his time not already taken up with homework and chores, with the assorted animals of the ranch. This is where Jon gained respect for and care for animals.
Income and employment became a challenge for his parents and a move was made to Las Vegas, Nevada, where his parents had been offered employment. Jon’s education continued there until graduation. Upon graduation, Jon joined the USArmy with hopes of becoming a paratrooper. However, he found he was color challenged and was denied the opportunity. He stuck with his military decision, though, and became a medic. The army experience found him stationed at Fort Ord, California, Fort Sam Houston, Texas, and eventually to 97th general hospital, in Frankfurt, Germany.
That is where Jon met a nurse from Minnesota that he felt would be his future wife. However, each attempt to obtain a date was met with “Get lost!”, “Take a hike”, or “Beat it!”. Jon was persistent, however, and the nurse finally relented, allowing Jon to walk her home one day.
A levy came down for Viet Nam and Jon’s name was on it. Jon was assigned to an armored unit and his favorite saying from his tour was, “Everyone else got to ride inside the tank, but I had to ride outside with a big medical target on my helmet”. Halfway through his tour, Jon became eligible for R&R (Rest and recuperation). He was flown to Honolulu, Hawaii. That nurse met him there and they were married. A union that lasted 42 years, until her death from an illness she had carried for thirty-five of those years.
Heartbroken, Jon took to the computer and began to write a short story about a another world. One without so much disease and illness. That short story became a novel. Then that novel became seven. The Lands of Mother novels. It took Jon six years to complete, but it was good therapy.
Jon’s working career consisted of being a salesman, a police officer, marketing and retail management, and now, Author.
Today, Jon lives in California’s central valley and continues to write. He is also an avid reader and writes a review on every book he reads. He posts those reviews on his website and the “Lands of Mother” facebook page.
Website: http://jonlathambooks.com/
Sean McBride grew up in Pittsburgh Pennsylvania, the son of an iron worker and a nurse. It was there while he played in the coal fields, his imagination in overdrive, that he realized his dream was to be a writer. His memories of childhood adventures stayed with him as his family moved to Southern California. In 2010 a few years after graduating from SF State with a Bachelor’s degree in English, Sean self-published his first book, A View of the Edge of the World. In 2013 Sean was married and moved to the Central Valley where The Adventures of Elsie Jones was born.
Website: http://elsiejonesadventures.com/
Author/Artist Vicki Thomas lives in the foothills of the central Sierra Nevadas with her husband, where in addition to writing, she teaches watercolor painting and acrylics. She is well known throughout California as a gifted artist. This is her first novel.
A decade ago, writing fantasy for young adults struck Vicki like lightning. Her passion for writing and plotting the stories in her head drove her to produce seven hand-written books, which she is now rewriting and editing. This is the first book in that series. It is no surprise that JK Rowling’s, author of The Harry Potter Series, is her main inspiration, as well as other fine fantasy writers. Vicki immersed herself in the Potter books as well as the DVD’s. To help keep the characters straight and her protagonist’s journey, she sketched pictures and drew a map. Just where all the ideas, characters, and strange animals came from is still a bit of a mystery.
Website: http://vickithomasauthor.com/
Gayle Taylor Davis was born in Pasco, Washington. She later moved with her family to Ceres, California. After graduating from California State University with a degree in English, she taught in the Clovis Unified School District where she was twice selected Teacher of the Year. Married to her college sweetheart for 32 years, his death in 2005 prompted her to write to survive her grief. Now remarried, she currently lives in Clovis, California with her husband Dave, their dogs Ricky and Lucy, and cat Sophie.
Writing a historical novel in verse feels like time travel, a dreamlike blend of imagination and reality. It is an exploration. It is also a chance to communicate with the future, through young readers.
I love to write about young people who made hopeful choices in situations that seemed hopeless. My own hope is that tales of courage and compassion will ring true for youthful readers as they make their own difficult decisions in modern times.
My connection to the history of Cuba is personal. My American father traveled to the island after seeing National Geographic pictures of my Cuban mother’s hometown, Trinidad. Even though they did not speak the same language, they fell in love and got married. I was born and raised in my father’s hometown of Los Angeles, California, but we spent summers in Cuba, where I developed a deep bond with my extended family. I also developed a lifelong passion for tropical nature, which led me to study agronomy and botany, along with creative writing.
Website: http://www.margaritaengle.com/index.html
Godfrey Coppinger is a five-year-old cleverly disguised as a little old lady. She is a life-long doodler, scribbler, and storyteller. She loves to sing songs, make music, and dance. Godfrey looks funny when she dances, but she doesn’t care.
She likes to spend time in the mountains. Alone.
She has never ridden a horse or an elephant, but both are on her bucket list.
She is variously known as The Frog Queen of the San Joaquin, Woman-Who-Runs-With-Lizards, and Teacher Goofball.
Godfrey is a member of the Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators, The National Storytelling Network, and the Fresno Folklore Society.
Website: http://godfreycoppinger.com/
