Author Biographies
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Alexander, Dorothy
Imagination at Play in the Fields of Imagination-Friday 10:00
Dorothy Alexander is a poet, publisher and storyteller living in Cheyenne, Oklahoma, where she is the co-owner of Village Books Press, a two-woman publishing house. She has published four collections of poetry: The Dust Bowl Revisited, Borrowed Dust, Rough Drafts and the latest, Lessons from an Oklahoma Girlhood, a collaborative effort with twenty women artists of Oklahoma. She also writes non-fiction, and has edited two collections of published stories.
Bardsley, Michele
Vampires, Werewolves & Demons - the sexy side of paranormal - Friday 4:15
Nationally bestselling author Michele Bardsley is multi-published in several genres, but she is best known for her vampire mom series set in the fictional town of Broken Hearts, Oklahoma. She currently lives in Tulsa with her family, two cats, two guinea pigs, and a sweet dog named Naomi.
Brown, Nathan
Two Southwests:Poetry, Stories and Photography from the U.S. and China - Friday 11:15
Nathan Brown is a poet, musician, performer, and photographer from Norman, Oklahoma. He holds an interdisciplinary Ph.D. in Creative and Professional Writing from the University of Oklahoma and teaches writing there as well. Mostly he travels now, though, performing readings and concerts as well as speaking and leading workshops in high schools, universities, and community organizations on creative writing, and the need for readers to not give up on poetry. He has published five books: Two Tables Over(2008) - Winner of the 2009 Oklahoma Book Award, Not Exactly Job (2007) - a finalist for the Oklahoma Book Award, (2005), Ashes Over the Southwest (2005), Suffer the Little Voices (2005) - a finalist of the Oklahoma Book Award, and Hobson's Choice (2002). Nathan can be contacted through his website at www.brownlines.com
Bracken, Pamela
Film Imagines Oklahoma - Friday 11:15
Pam Bracken is the publisher of a small Oklahoma press dedicated to Oklahoma's story and people. Her 46th-Star Press has published three books, (nominated for the 2009 Oklahoma Book Award), It Wasn't Much: Ten True tales of Oklahoma heroes; The Ghost of Mingo Creek and Other Spooky Oklahoma Legends; and Sooner Cinema: Oklahoma Goes to the Movies within the first year of official business. Her books are "conceived, written, and printed in the 46th state of the union," no small feat in the competitive global market of printing and publishing. Her press' mission is to offer an opportunity for writers, scholars, educators, artists, and critics to show off what H.L. Menchken called an "Oklahoma manner." Her other job is Professor of English, where she occasionally gets to sprinkle in Oklahoma writers and Oklahoma personalities.
Calhoun-Mish, Jeanetta
Re-Imagining Oklahoma: Putting Our Past to Work for our Future - Friday 4:15
Jeanetta Calhoun Mish is a native Oklahoman returned home after twenty years to grow good tomatoes; she also completed her Ph.D. in American Literature at the University of Oklahoma. Her poetry collection, Work is Love Made Visible, was published by West End Press (in distribution partnership with the University of New Mexico Press) in March 2009. Jeanetta has participated in poetry reading and workshops for more than 20 years, including repeat performances as a founding member of the Woody Guthrie Poets at the Woody Guthrie Free Folk Festival in Okemah, Oklahoma. Other venues include Telluride Institute's Native American Writers Program; The Taos Poetry Circus Invitational Reading; Red Dirt Book Festival; Scissortail Creative Writing Festival; and C.S. Post Poetry Center at LIU; New York State Writers Institute Community Voices Series and Readings Against the End of the World, both in Albany, NY; and The Knitting Factory in New York City. She lives in Norman, Oklahoma, with her husband, an engineering professor; they have a combined family of three sons, all between the ages of 17 and 19. Her mother and grandmother live just down the road.
Charlson, David
Film Imagines Oklahoma - Friday 11:15
David Charlson teaches English and Documentary Film at Oklahoma City Community College. He is the author of Charles Bukowski: Autobiographer, Gender Critic, Iconoclast (2005), a book based on his doctoral dissertation at the University of Kansas. Currently he serves as Vice Chair of the Two-Year College English Association - Southwest, continues to publish poems in various journals, and presents at humanities conferences across the United States
Cronley, Connie
Dishing the Dirt: and other small town delights -Saturday 10:00
Connie Cronley is a writer in Tulsa, Oklahoma, who has worked in newspaper, television and advertising. She has been a university instructor, restaurant critic, and manager of a professional ballet company. Cronley is a commentator for public radio and a Tulsa magazine columnist. Her books include Light and Variable (OU Press) and Sometimes a Wheel Falls Off (HAWK Publishing.) She is the collaborating writer of Mr. Ambassador: Warrior for Peace, a memoir of Ambassador Edward J. Perkins, published by the University of Oklahoma Press. She is a native Oklahoman and a citizen of the Cherokee Nation. In Tulsa, she volunteers with organizations devoted to animal rescue, the performing arts, and books. She is Executive Director of Iron Gate, a soup kitchen and food pantry that feeds the homeless and hungry. Cronley has won numerous awards for print and television writing, but says her highest honor was having an Oklahoma City restaurant name a hamburger in her honor. For more, visit www.conniecronley.com
Culver, Galen
Is This a Great State, or What? - Friday Evening Banquet - $25.00 - Tickets available through the Red Dirt Store. Limited quantities available during the Festival.
Galen Culver is a reporter and photographer for Oklahoma's NewsChannel 4. He joined KFOR's team as a photojournalist. Prior to joining NewsChannel 4, Galen worked as a reporter, photographer and weekend anchor in Fort Smith, Arkansas. He broke into the television business as a reporter and photographer in Missoula, Montana. Galen earned his degree in Journalism and Communications from Washington State University. Galen has received many photojournalism accolades including the Western Heritage Award from the National Cowboy and Western Heritage Museum in Oklahoma City. His coverage of the first Gulf War won an Oklahoma Associated Press Award for Best General Reporting. In July of 1991, Galen began a unique assignment to find and showcase amazing Oklahoma sights and stories. Since that time the Is This a Great State or What! segment has aired nearly every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday on various NewsChannel 4 broadcasts. Galen continues his search on the 6:30pm newscast these days, producing, shooting, writing, and editing feature stories from every corner of Oklahoma. Galen is married to NewsChannel 4 anchor and producer Tara Blume. They and their Oklahoma born daughters, Evelyn and Holly, live in Oklahoma City.
Daley, Margaret
Christian Fiction for the 21st Century - Friday 10:00
Margaret Daley is an award winning, multi-published author in the romance genre and is the volunteer officer for ACFW. While she has written for a number of secular publishers, Margaret felt compelled to follow her faith and passion to the Christian romance market, and currently writes inspirational romance and romantic suspense books for "Steeple Hill's Love Inspired" and "Love Inspired Suspense" series. She has authored 65 books to date, and enjoys mentoring aspiring authors through ACRW. Until her retirement last year, Margaret taught special needs students. As an active member of the outreach committee at her church, Margaret is involved in several community projects. For more information, please visit www.margaretdaley.com
Dane, JordanWomen's Roles in Fiction and Society - Friday 10:00, What Makes a Thriller? - Friday 3:15
Avon/Harpercollins launched Jordan Dane's debut suspense novels in a back to back publishing event in Spring 2008 after the 3-book series sold in auction. Ripped from the headlines, Jordan's gritty plots weave a tapestry of vivid settings, intrigue, and dark humor. Publishers Weekly compared her intense pacing to Lisa Jackson, Lisa Gardner, and Tami Hoag - romantic suspense that "crosses over into plain thriller country". Pursuing publication since 2003, this national best selling and critically acclaimed author received awards in 33 national writing competitions. And recently, her debut novel No One Heard Her Scream was named Publishers Weekly Best Book of 2008 and Romantic Times Magazine nominated No One Lives Forever as Best Intrigue Novel of 2008. Formerly an energy sales manager in the oil and gas industry, she now is following her passion to write full time. Jordan and her husband share their residence with two cats of highborn lineage and the sweet memory of an impossible-to-forget canine. For more, visit www.jordandane.com
Day, Judy
Reading Red Dirt - Saturday, 9:00 & 10:00 OBU Geiger Center
Judy Day is the Reference and Information Services manager at the Norman Public Library and discussion leader of the Wednesday Afternoon Book Group. Prior to that, she worked as an archivist at the carl Albert Congressional Archives and the Western History Collections.
Dennis, Mildred
From Imagination to Reality - writing your family story - Friday 11:15
Growing up on the oil leases around Seminole in the 30s and 40s gave Mildred Dennis all the experiences necessary to write the book, It's Gonna Be OK: a lease child's legacy. Graduating from East Central State College began a 30-year teaching career, but writing was always a part of her life. Author of four other books, award-winning newspaper columnist, and several magazine articles, her latest award was two honorable mentions in this year's OWFI conference. Currently living in Ohio and a traveler of this beautiful country, her deepest loyalties and love will always be with the red dirt country of Oklahoma.
Dunbar, Dayna
Women's Roles in Fiction and Society - Friday 10:00, Unlocking Your Imagination and Freeing Your Authentic Voice - Friday 3:15
Dayna Dunbar began writing screenplays in 1994 and published her first novel, The Saints and Sinners of Okay County, which won the Oklahoma Reads Oklahoma award, in 2003. Her second novel, The Wings That Fly Us Home, was also published by Ballantine and continues Dunbar's interest in telling stories about real people overcoming great odds. Dunbar has her Master's Degree in Spiritual Psychology from the University of Santa Monica and has spoken to audiences about her writing and her life at over 100 events. These events have included presentations at both men's and women's correctional centers, librarian's conventions, universities, high schools and writer's conferences. Dayna has also been a writing and life coach for over three years and focuses her practice on helping clients get in touch with and write from their authentic inner voice. She is currently working on her fourth novel. For more, visit www.daynadunbar.com
Dunbar-Ortiz, Roxanne
Re-Imagining Oklahoma: putting our past to work for our future - Friday 4:15, Imagine Your Oklahoma Self: a memoir writing workshop - Saturday 9:00 OBU Geiger Center
Roxanne Dunbar-Ortiz is an Oklahoman historian, university professor, and author or editor of 12 books, including Red Dirt: growing up Okie from University of Oklahoma Press.
David Farris
Did I Imagine That? Ghost Stories - Why we love 'em - Friday 3:15
2009 President of Oklahoma City Writers, Inc David Farris is a native Oklahoman and graduate of Bishop McGuinness High School and the University of Central Oklahoma with a degree in Communications. Since the early 1990s, he collected tales of Oklahoma outlaws and the state's spooky past. He is the author of three books: Mysterious Oklahoma, More Mysterious Oklahoma and Oklahoma Outlaw Tales. All titles are available through the Oklahoma Historical Society and the Oklahoma Department of Tourism in addition to most book stores. Farris was a featured speaker at such varied events as the Red Dirt Book Festival in Shawnee Oklahoma to the International UFO Museum at Roswell, New Mexico. In addition to being a popular lecturer, Farris has been featured in many TV and radio interviews, and more than 30 articles. He has written for True West Magazine, Norman Living and Edmond Life and Leisure.
Glancy, Diane
Imagine It on the Silver Screen- the art & craft of screenwriting - Friday 10:00
Diane Glancy is professor emeritus at Macalester College in St. Paul, Minnesota. She was the 2008-09 Visiting Richard Thomas Professor of Creative Writing at Kenyon College in Gambier, Ohio. Glancy's 2009 books are The Reason for Crows, a novel of Kateri Tekakwitha, a 17th century Mohawk converted by the Jesuits (Suny Press); Pushing the Bear; and After the Trail of Tears (University of Oklahoma Press). In 2007, the University of Arizona published a collection of poems, Asylum in the Grasslands. Her 2005 books are Room: New and Selected Poems (Salt Publishers); The Dance Partner; Stories of the Ghost Dance (Michigan State University Press) and In-Between Places: essays (University of Arizona Press). Glancy's novels include Stone Heart: a novel of Sacajawea (Overlook Press); Designs of the Night Sky (University of Nebraska Press); and Pushing the Bear; the 1838-39 Cherokee Trail of Tears (Harcourt Brace). In 2009, Glancy received an Expressive Arts Fellowship from the National Museum of the American Indian to write a play on the history of Indian education. Her recent play, Salvage, was performed at the Autry National Center in Los Angeles, October 31-November 23, 2008, and at the Origins Festival, Riverside Studios in London, May 12-17, 2009. She currently is working toward the production of The Dome of Heaven, an independent film set in Vici, Oklahoma. Two "hand-made films", Ride Between the Worlds(nine minutes), and On the Shore of Their Country (three minutes), are on her website www.dianeglancy.com
Hada, Ken
Two Southwests:Poetry, Stories and Photography from the U.S. and China - Friday 11:15
Ken Hada is an Associate Professor at East Central University where he teaches Humanities and American Literature as well as directs the annual Scissortail Creative Writing Festival. His poetry collection, The Way of the Wind, was published in 2008. Other poems appear in Oklahoma Today, Many Mountains Moving, Two Southwests, Poesia, RE;AL, Flint Hills Review, Crosstimbers, Westview, Kansas City Voices, Meridian Anthology of Contemporary Poetryamong others. Some of his interpretive writing appears in College Literature, Southwestern American Literature, Ethnic Studies Review, American Indian and Culture Research Journal and Journal of American Studies of Texas.
Hagen, William
Film Imagines Oklahoma - Friday 11:15
Bill Hagen is on the English faculty at Oklahoma Baptist University. He has written a number of articles on film and adaptation for Literature/Film Quarterly and for such collections as Sooner Cinema and Hollywood as Historian. He has participated in the planning and programs of the Red Dirt Book Festival since its inception in 2003 and is active as a discussion leader in "Let's Talk About It" programs throughout the state.
Hale, Doug
Pitfalls, Opportunities of Writing Oklahoma History - Saturday Luncheon, OBU Geiger Center
Tickets available through Red Dirt Store This event and meal is free, but requires preregistration. Tickets limited - register early
Douglas D. Hale is Emeritus Professor of History from Oklahoma State University, where he taught from 1963 until 1982. His focus is the social and economic history of immigrants to the United States, as evidenced in two books: Wanderers Between Two Worlds: German rebels in the American west, 1830-1860, Philadelphis :Xlibris, 2005; and Germans from Russia in Oklahoma, University of Oklahoma Press, 1980. He also authored Third Texas Cavalry in the Civil War, University of Oklahoma Press, 1993. He and his wife, sculptor Lou Moore Hale, live in Stillwater.
Hoover, PJ
Blueprints for Creating New Worlds - Friday 11:15
P.J. Hoover grew up visiting museums and dreaming of finding Atlantis. She eventually married and had two children, shifted her dreams to reality, and began a writing career. Her middle grade science fiction novels, The Emerald Tablet and The Navel of the World (Blooming Tree Press), tell the story of a boy who discovers he's part of two feuding worlds hidden beneath the sea. Prior to writing full time, PJ worked as an electrical engineer designing chips in Austin, Texas. For more, visit www.pjhoover.com
Horton, Andrew
Imagine it on the Silver Screen - the art & craft of screenwriting - Friday, 10:00
Andrew Horton is the Jeanne H. Smith Professor of Film and Video Studies at the University of Okalhoma, an award winning screenwriter, and the author of twenty books on film, screenwriting and cultural studies including, Screenwriting for a Global Market, Henry Bumstead and the World of Hollywood Art Direction, Writing the Character Centered Screenplay, The Films of Theo Angelopoulos and Laughing Out Load; writing the comedy centered screenplay. His films include Brad Pitt's first feature film, The Dark Side of the Sun and much awarded Something In Between (1983, Yugoslavia, directed by Srdjan Karanovic.) He has given screenwriting workshops around the world including Norway, Germany, England, the Czech Republic, Greece, New Zealand, Switzerland and throughout the United States. The Library Journal wrote about his Character Centered Screenplay, "Horton walks away with an Oscar in the valuable books for the prospective scripter category with his latest rendering."
Hunt, Steven
Christian fiction for the 21st Century- Friday 10:00, Writing the Perfect Crime - Friday 11:15
With over nineteen years of Oklahoma law enforcement experience, Steven Hunt has been a detective, a SWAT team member, a firearms instructor, and a tactics instructor. He is currently employed as a criminal investigator for the State of Oklahoma. By including his police experience and knowledge into his inspirational suspense novels, his stories border the fine line between fiction and reality. His novel, Guardian of Light, has been touted as a new genre: Sam Spade meets Jesus Christ. Steven holds a bachelor degree in Criminal Justice from the Northeastern Oklahoma State University and is the vice-president of his local chapter of American Christian Fiction Writers. He reside in Broken Arrow, OK, with his wife, Cindy. For more, visit www.stevenhuntbooks.com
Hussey, Mary-Theresa
Conversation with an Editor - Saturday 9:00, OBU Geiger Center
Mary-Theresa Hussey graduated from Villanova University with a major in English, and minors in French, History, Education and Honors (she was always curious!). She started as an editorial assistant for Silhouette Romance in 1989. A voracious reader, she was thrilled to be surrounded by stacks of books and friendly people. Now an executive editor for Silhouette Books, she is still surrounded by books, terrific colleagues and has had the pleasure of working on thousands of entertaining, enlightening and exciting novels. Mary-Theresa - sometimes known as Matrice - works with authors on both series and single title imprints, and is always eager to share more great stories.
Inman, Crystal
Vampires, Werewolves & Demons - the sexy side of paranormal - Friday 4:15
Crystal Inman is a multi-published bestselling Oklahoma author of romance. She writes paranormal, contemporary, time travel and fantasy romance. Crystal also writes erotic romance under the pen name, C'ann Inman. She has the number one bestselling title of 2006 for Whiskey Creek Press Torrid with What He Wants, an erotic paranormal romance. What He Wants also received four stars from Romantic Times Magazine. She continues to broaden her spectrum in her writing with fantasy romance, One Enchanted Evening, is available now and a four-book Elemental Guardian series is now complete. Her paranormal romance, The Portrait, garnered four and a half stars from Roamantic Times Magazine and was nominated for the Reviewers' Choice Awards for 2007. All her books are available from Whiskey Creek Press, Whiskey Creek Press Torrid, Amazon, Fictionwise and Barnes and Noble. 
Johnson, Hannibal
Imagine If We Wrote Our Own History - Friday 10:00, Imagine Oklahoma As An All Black State - Friday 3:15
Hannibal B. Johnson is a graduate of Harvard Law School. He did his undergraduate work at the University of Arkansas, where he completed a double major in economics and sociology. Johnson is an attorney, author, and independent consultant. Johnson has also served as an adjunct professor at The University of Tulsa College of Law (legal writing; legal ethics), Oklahoma State University (leadership and group dynamics; business law), and the University of Oklahoma (ethic; cultural diversity in the world; race and reason). Johnson is past president of Leadership Tulsa, past president of the Metropolitan Tulsa Urban League and past president of the Northeast Oklahoma Black Lawyers Association. He served as Chairman of the board of directors of The Community Leadership Association, an international leadership organization, during 2001-2002, and is a founding director of the Oklahoma Appleseed Center for Law and Justice. He currently serves on the Oklahoma Advisory Committee for the United States Commission on Civil Rights, and as a member of the board of directors of the Oklahoma Department of Libraries. Johnson is the director of Anytown, Oklahoma, a statewide human relations camp for teens sponsored by The Oklahoma Conference of the Southwest. Johnson, a member of The Rotary Club of Tulsa, serves on the Institutional Review Board for Oklahoma State University Center for Health Sciences, on the Tulsa Public Schools Fine Arts Advisory Board, and on the Programs Committee for the John Hope Franklin Center for Reconciliation. In 2004, Mr. Johnson graduated with the inaugural class of the national "Connecting Community Fellowship Program" based in Richmond, Virginia. Johnson's books include: Black Wall Street: From Riot to Renaissance in Tulsa's Historic Greenwood District; Up From the Ashes: a story about community; Acres of Aspiration: The all-Black Towns in Oklahoma; Mama Used to Say, Wit & Wisdom from the Heart & Soul; No Place Like Home: a story about an all-black , all-American town; and IncogNegro: Poetic Reflections on Race & Diversity in America. Johnson's play, Big Mama Speaks - a Tulsa Race Riot Survivor's Story, has performed at the Tulsa Performing Arts Center. Johnson's honors include: the "Don Newby/Ben Hill" award from Tulsa Metropolitan Ministry; the "Keeping The Dream Alive" award from the Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Commemoration Society, the "Outstanding Service to the Public Award" from the Oklahoma Bar Association; the "Ten Outstanding Young Tulsans" award from the Tulsa Jaycees; the "Distinguished Leadership Award" from the national Association for Community Leadership; the 2005 "Ralph Ellison Literary Award" from the Black Liberated Arts Center; the 2006 Oklahoma Human Rights Award from the Oklahoma Human Rights Commission; induction into the 100 Black Men of Tulsa, Inc. "Hall of Honor" in 2007; and the "Goodwill Appreciation Award" from the Islamic Society of Tulsa in 2008. For more, visit www.hannibalbjohnson.com
Jackson, Rachel C.
Re-imagining Oklahoma: putting our past to work for our future - Friday 4:15
Rachel C. Jackson is currently a doctoral student in Composition, Rhetoric and Literacy in the English Department at the University of Oklahoma. For the last two years, Ms. Jackson has taught the Kiowa Clemente Course in the Humanities for USAO. She was the Pilot Program Director for the 2008 Oklahoma Humanities Council Teacher Training Institute, and also served the OHC as the Lead Scholar for the 2009 Humanities Forum Pilot, a series of five public dialogues regarding civic issues addressed within the humanities. With the help of several friends, Rachel also works as the managing editor of her own quarterly local cultural journal and people's almanac entitled The Oklahoma Revelator which is a literacy project dedicated to cultivating marginalized voices in Oklahoma's public discourse and promoting critical literacy of Oklahoma's history.
Joyce, Davis D.
Imagine Oklahoma History - Without Danney Goble - Friday 4:15
Davis D. Joyce was born in Greenwood, Arkansas, June 19, 1940. He attended colleges in New Mexico before becoming an "Okie" for good. He received his Ph.D. from the University of Oklahoma and began his teaching career at the University of Tulsa, where he taught from 1966 to 1983. Dr. Joyce holds the position of Professor Emeritus of History at East Central University in Ada, Oklahoma, where he taught from 1987-2002. His career also included part-time teaching at Rogers State University in Claremore, Oklahoma. He was Visiting Professor of American Studies, University of Keele, England, 1981, and Soros Professor of American Studies, University of Debrecen, Hungary, 1994-1996. Dr. Joyce is the author, co-author or editor of nine history books, including An Oklahoma I Had Never Seen Before and Alternative Oklahoma. He has retired, with his wife, Carole to Lake Spavinaw, located northeast of Tulsa, Oklahoma.
Kates, Susan
Women's Roles in Fiction and Society - Friday 10:00
Susan Kates is Associate Professor of English at the University of Oklahoma where she teaches a variety of courses, including one called Reading and Writing Oklahoma: Region and Representation. She is writing a book of creative non-fiction called Plains Country Women.
Kemp, Phil
Writing the Perfect Crime - Friday 11:15
Phil Kemp is the co-author of Twin Motives with Mark Robinson. He is the Director of Laboratories for Analytical Research Laboratories in Oklahoma City doing forensic toxicology in the private sector. He is also the director of a pharmaceutical laboratory. Formerly, he was the Chief Toxicologist for the State Medical Examiner's Office. Phil and Mike met in 1995 working in the rescue zone of the Murrah Bombing in Oklahoma City. For more, visit www.2writingguys.com
Kidney, Jennifer
Imagination at Play in the Fields of Memory - Friday 10:00
Jennifer Kidney was born in Clarksburg, W. Va., and grew up in Arlington, Va. She has a B.A. with Highest Honors in English from Oberlin College and a master's and Ph.D. in English from Yale University. She has more than twenty years of college-level teaching experience and has also worked as a poet-in-the-schools for the Oklahoma Arts council, a technical writer, and an arts administrator. Since 1988 she has been director of "Let's Talk About It, Oklahoma", for which she received a Special Project Award from the Oklahoma Library Association in 2007. Currently, she is Director of Literature Programs (including "Let's Talk About It, Oklahoma") for the Oklahoma Humanities Council. She is the author of five books of poetry; her most recent book, Life List, was published in 2007. In 2004, she was one of twelve poets invited to read from her work at the Sundown Poetry Series, which is part of the annual Spoleto Festival hosted by the City of Charleston, South Carolina, and in 2006 and 2008, she was one of several poets nominated for Oklahoma Poet Laureate. She has won awards for her poetry, technical writing, and brownie baking. She shares her home in Norman with three cats and her dog, Lizzie.
Leonard, Carolyn
From Imagination to Reality - writing your family story - Friday 11:15
Carolyn B. Leonard is a former rural newspaper editor. She is the winner of hundreds of journalistic contests, published in local, state and national publications, contributor to the best seller "In Their Name," a state-endorsed book on the Murrah Federal Building bombing in Oklahoma City, and for several years has remained a commissioned writer for Persimmon Hill, the award winning magazine of the National Cowboy and Western Heritage Museum.
Letts, Billie
Saturday 11:00, OBU Raley Chapel
Internationally recognized, award-winning author Billie Letts is a true Oklahoma original. A native Tulsan and retired teacher of English and Creative Writing at Southeastern Oklahoma State University in Durant, Billie has handled the last few years in the national and international spotlight with amazing poise, humility and a delicious sense of humor. Author of four screenplays and numerous short stories, Billie is best know for her four internationally acclaimed novels: Where the Heart Is; The Honk and Holler Opening Soon; Shoot the Moon and most recently, Made in the U.S.A. Published in fourteen countries with more than three million copies sold worldwide, her first novel, Where the Heart Is, reached the coveted number one slot on the New York Times paperback bestseller list. In addition, Where the Heart Is was selected for Oprah Winfrey's Book Club in December, 1998 and screen rights for the book were sold to 20th Century Fox. The movie starring Natalie Portman, Ashley Judd and Stockard Channing, was released in theatres in April, 2000.
Even though she did not start writing her first novel until age 54, Billie has made an indelible mark among her peers. In 1994 she won the prestigious Walker Percy Literary Award at the New Orleans Writers Conference. In 1996 and again in 1999, she won the Oklahoma Book Award for Fiction. In 2004 The Honk and Holler Opening Soon was the first book selected for the Oklahoma Reads Oklahoman statewide library program.
Billie now lives in Tulsa and is the proud parent of three sons: Dana, a librarian at Northeastern State University, Tahlequah, OK, Shawn, a musician living in Singapore and Tracy, an actor and award-winning playwright living in Chicago. 
Levy, David
Pitfalls & Opportunities of Writing Oklahoma History - Saturday Luncheon, OBU Geiger Center
Tickets available through Red Dirt Store This even and meal is free, but requires preregistration. Tickets limited - register early
David Levy, who retired from full time teaching in June 2006, joined the History Department at the University of Oklahoma in the fall of 1967. He became a David Ross Boyde Professor in 1987; the Sam K. Vierson Presidential Professor, 1999-2003; and the Irene and Julian Rothbaum Professor of Modern American History, from 2003 until his retirement. He is the co-editor of seven volumes of the letters of the Supreme Court Justice, Louis D. Brandeis. In addition, he has published five other books with Princeton University Press, Johns Hopkins University Press, the University of Oklahoma Press, and Penguin Books. Professor Levy has written numerous articles in scholarly, popular, and legal journals and many encyclopedia entries and reviews. Currently he is working on a short biography of the American writer Mark Twain. But his main scholarly interest in recent years has been the story of the University of Oklahoma, and he hopes to publish a full history of the school in three volumes. The first volume, covering the period up until World War I, appeared in 2005. He is now working on the second volume, which will continue the story until around 1960. In this connection, he has published twenty articles in The Sooner Magazine, exploring particular aspects of the University's history.
Loughlin, Patti
Pitfalls & Opportunities of Writing Oklahoma History - Saturday Luncheon, OBU Geiger Center
Tickets available through Red Dirt Store This event and meal is free, but requires preregistration. Tickets limited - register early
Patti Loughlin is Associate Professor of History at the University of Central Oklahoma and specializes in twentieth-century U.S. history, American Indian History, and the history of the American West. Her book, Hidden Treasures of the American West: Muriel H. Wright, Angie Debo and Alice Marrriott (University of New Mexico Press, 2005), offers a concise examination of Oklahoma historiography and the place of women public intellectuals in shaping regional identity. Hidden Treasures received the Outstanding Book on Oklahoma History from the Oklahoma Historical Society and the Director's Award and Finalist in Nonfiction from the Oklahoma Center for the Book in 2006. In addition, she coauthored Building Traditions, Educating Generations: A History of the University of Central Oklahoma (Oklahoma Heritage Association, 2007) with Bob Burke as an official Oklahoma Centennial Commission project. Currently, she is completing an Angie Debo Children's book.
Lovett, John
Pitfalls & Opportunities of Writing Oklahoma History - Saturday Luncheon, OBU Geiger Center
Tickets available through Red Dirt Store This event and meal is free, but requires preregistration. Tickets limited - register early
John Lovettis the Curator of the Western History Collections and Director of Special Collections, William J. Welch is a professor of Bibliography at the University of Oklahoma Libraries. Lovett is a Native Oklahoman and University of Oklahoma graduate. He worked at the Western History Collections for 26 years. He is the author and co-author of one book and numerous articles on Oklahoma pioneer photographers, settlers in Oklahoma, American Indians in Oklahoma and Indian ledger art. Lovett is also co-author of a book on the photography of Annette Ross Hume that is forthcoming from the University of Oklahoma Press in spring 2010.
McDonough, Vickie
Christian Fiction for the 21st Century - Friday 10:00
Award-winning author and native Oklahoma, Vickie McDonough, has had 16 novels and novellas published. Her favorite genre is Christian historical romance. Her stories frequently place in national contests, such as the ACRW Book of the Year contest, the Inspirational Readers Choice Contest and Heartsong Present's annual readers' contests. She is a wife of thirty-three years, mother of four sons, and grandmother to a feisty three-year-old girl.
Miller, Susan
State of the Arts in Oklahoma - Friday Luncheon - $20.00 - Tickets available through the Red Dirt Store. Limited quantities available during the Festival.
Susan Miller is a broadcast journalist with 20 years experience. She began her career at Oklahoma City's ABC affiliate, KOCO TV in 1989 where she worked on-air on Good Morning, Oklahoma. After 18 months at KOCO, Susan moved to northeast Tennessee where she worked for ten years at a network affiliate anchoring the prime time evening newscasts and reporting from the field. While in Tennessee, Susan discovered a passion for documentary work when she single-handedly put together a one hour documentary about a family murder she had covered over the course of a year for her newscast. That one hour show ended up winning best documentary from the Tennessee Associated Press. Two years later Susan found out that OETA needed a documentary producer. Susan returned home to Oklahoma and began her dream job, producing documentaries for the state's PBS affiliate. Since coming to OETA in 2000, Susan has helped the station garner a Best of the Best award from the National Educational Telecommunications Association, an Emmy from the Regional National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences, a national Clarion Award from Women in Communication, and several first place awards from the Oklahoma Association of Broadcasters, the Oklahoma Associated Press and the Oklahoma chapter of the Society of Professional Journalists. Today, Susan continues her work at OETA, a station she loves, in a job she feels blessed to hold. She currently produces for "Gallery," a program dedicated to covering the arts and culture of Oklahoma.
Nesbit, Romney
Taking Care of Your Favorite Author - YOU! - Friday 4:15
Romney Oualline Nesbitt, author of Secrets from a Creativity Coach, is a creativity coach, artist, teacher and ordained minister in the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ). She teaches a series of classes on living the creative life for Tulsa Community College and writes a coaching column for Art Focus Oklahoma Magazine titled "Ask a Creativity Coach." Romney is a popular speaker and workshop leader on the subject of creativity. Nesbitt is President of the Tulsa NightWriters, a member of Oklahoma Writer's Federation, Inc., Oklahoma Visual Arts Coalition, Romance Writers, Inc., OK Mystery Writers, and Creativity Coaching Association. 
Nourse, Victoria
In Reckless Hands: Skinner v Oklahoma and the near-triumph of American eugenics - Friday 3:15
Victoria Nourse teaches criminal law, legislation, and constitutional law & history at the University of Wisconsin Law School. She has been a visiting professor at Yale Law School, where she taught constitutional law in 2003 and at NYU Law School where she taught criminal law in 2004. Her first book, In Reckless Hands, a history of the controversial constitutional case, Skinner v Oklahoma, was released in July 2008 by WW Norton.
Nyikos, Stacy
Blueprints for Creating New Worlds - Friday 11:15
Stacy A. Nyikos is the award-winning children's author of three picture books - Squirt, Shelby and Dizzy - and a middle grade novel - Dragon Wishes. Currently she is working on a middle grade historical fiction story set in New Zealand during the late 1800's. Stacy lives in Tulsa, Oklahoma, with her husband, two daughters, and most loyal writing partner, her dog, Mulligan. For more information please visit www.stacyanyikos.com
Odom, Mel
Bl;ueprints for Creating New Worlds - Friday 10:00 Master Class for Writers - Saturday OBU Geiger Center, 9:00
Mel Odom has written over 150 books, with publications in many different genres ranging from fantasy and science fiction to suspense, romance, comic books, and blog writing. He has also published many novelizations of TV shows, video games, and movies. Odom has also been inducted into the Oklahoma Professional Writers Hall of Fame and continues to write an average of 6-8 novels a year. Odom teaches professional writing courses at the University of Oklahoma and other writing courses at the Moore Norman Technology Center. Odom now lives in Moore, and claims that he intends to continue teaching and writing until he dies.
Price, Byron
Pitfalls & Opportunities of Writing Oklahoma History - Saturday Luncheon, OBU Geiger Center
Byron Price holds the Charles Marion Russell Memorial Chair and is Director of Charles M. Russell Center for the Study of Art of the American West at the University of Oklahoma. Price is the author of more than three dozen journal articles on western American history and art and has written several books including Fine Art of the West; The Chuck Wagon Cook Book: Recipes from the Ranch and Range for Today's Kitchen; Cowboys of the American West and Erwin E. Smith: Cowboy Photographer. Price is Director of the University of Okalhoma Press.
Reese, Linda
Pitfalls & Opportunities of Writing Oklahoma History - Saturday Luncheon, OBU Geiger Center
Tickets available through Red Dirt Store This event and meal is free, but requires preregistration. Tickets limited - register early
Dr. Linda Reese received a B.A. in history from the University of Oklahoma and an M.A. in history/education from the University of Kansas. She taught at New Mexico Military Institute in Roswell, New Mexico, for nine years. She returned to the University of Oklahoma where she completed a Ph.D. in 1991. Since 2002, she has taught United States History, Oklahoma History, and Women's History at East Central University. She also directs the Oklahoma Studies Program and the Teaching American History Grant Program. She is the author of Women of Oklahoma: 1890-1920 (Univerity of Oklahoma Press, 1997) as well as journal articles and book reviews in The Chronicles of Oklahoma and Western Historical Quarterly. She has won teaching excellence awards at NMMI, OU, and ECU, and in 2003, she received the American Historical Association Coordinating Council for Women in History Catherine Prelinger Award. In 2006, she was chair of the Oklahoma Association of Professional Historians/Phi Alpha Theta program committee, and she has served on the Oklahoma Humanities Council. Her research involves issues of race, gender, and culture in the American West.
Robinson, Mark
Writing the Perfect Crime - Friday 11:15
Mark Robinson is the co-author of Twin Motives with Phil Kemp. He has written radio spots for a nationally syndicated radio program, which he refers to as "money minutes." Mark met co-author, Phil Kemp, in 1995 when he was delivering supplies to the rescue workers at the Murrah bombing in Oklahoma City. For more, visit www.2writingguys.com
Rodgers,Greg
Oklahoma, Land of Migration and Exodus - Friday 4:15
Greg Rodgers is a writer and Choctaw storyteller currently living in Oklahoma City. His first book, The Ghost of Mingo Creek and other Spooky Oklahoma Legends was released by Forty-sixth Star Press in September of 2008 and is a collection of short-stories based on actual legends from around the Sooner State. Forthcoming publications include a story contribution, Giddy Up, Wolfy appearing in the graphic-anthologyTrickster scheduled for release by Fulcrum Publishing in Spring of 2010.
As a storyteller and workshop presenter, Greg appears at schools, libraries, festivals, conferences, universities, and tribal events throughout the country sharing Choctaw and other American Indian tales, personal stories, and the illustrious lore of Oklahoma's past. For more information visit his website at: www.gregrodgers.info
Russell, Randy
Did I Imagine That? Ghost stories - why we love 'em - Friday 3:15
Randy Russell is a full-time writer and ghostlorist from Commerce, Oklahoma. With nine books published, he currently collects and shares true ghost encounters from his home in Asheville, NC. His latest title, Ghost Cats for the South was published in 2008. Randy is presently researching ghost and witch lore from both Eastern and Western band of the Cherokee Nation. For more, visit www.ghostfolk.com
Sala, Sharon
Women's Roles in Fiction and Society - Friday 10:00
Sharon Sala is a long-time member of RWA, as well as a member of OKRWA. She has 80 plus books in print, written as Sharon Sala and Dinah McCall. First published in 1991, she's a seven-time RITA finalist, winner of the Hanet Dailey Award, four-time Career Achievement winner from Romantic Times Magazine, National Reader's Choice Award, and Colorado Romance Writer's Award of Excellence winners five time each. Her books are New York Times, USA Today, Publisher's Weekly, and WaldenBooks mass market best-sellers. Writing changed her life, her world, and her fate. For more information about Sharon and her works, visit www.sharonsalabooks.com
Sasser, Charles
Writing the Perfect Crime- Friday 11:15
Charles W. Sasser has been a full-time freelance writer/journalist/photographer since 1979. He is a veteran of both the U.S. Navy (journalist) and U.S. Army (Special Forces, the Green Berets), and is retired from the military after 29 years active and reserve service. A combat veteran and former combat correspondent wounded in action, he also served fourteen years as a police officer (in Miami, Florida and Tulsa, Oklahoma, where he was a homicide detective.) He has taught at universities, lectured nationwide, and traveled extensively throughout the world. He is the author of more than 50 published books and 3,000-4,000 magazine articles and short stories, and is included in more than 30 anthologies. He is a regular columnist for The Storyteller magazine. His books have been translated into Chinese, Russian, Serbian, French, Spanish and other languages.
Schreiner, Carol Dean
Taking Care of Your Favorite Author - YOU!! - Friday 4:15
Carol Dean Schreiner is a nationally known speaker/trainer/author/radio talk show host. She was the first woman president of the Oklahoma Speakers Association, a chapter of the National Speakers Association. She was awarded their Chapter Member of the Year twice. She earned Toastmasters International's Distinguished Toastmasters and has spoken for the Toastmasters International Conventions three times! She's listed in the 1993 Oxford's Who's Who Elite Registry of Extraordinary People. She's authored, Wonder Woman Doesn't Live Here Anymore; Laugh for the Health of It; Steps to Storytelling; and Fabulous at Fifty, Sexy at Sixty and Sin-Sational at Seventy. Besides speaking she has conducted many workshops for speakers plus is a trainer for various companies. Carol has studied with some of the nation's top trainers in areas of motivation, injecting use of humor, and self-improvement. She shares her humor across the US, Canada and Europe, speaking from experience as a former cosmetics director, executive director for a non-profit organization, secretary, and even a truck driver on wheat harvest. You will discover she is a forceful but gracious presence that is blessed with the kind of humor and down-home warmth that has rightfully had her referred to as the Erma Bombeck of Oklahoma. She is the mother of five grown children. Carol makes a living by what she gets out of life, but she makes a life by what she gives to others. She's real, she's funny, she's inspiring, she's motivating, she's exciting and energetic. Find something to smile or laugh about daily. It's good for your health! Visit Carol Dean at www.caroldean.com
Schroeder, Steven
Two Southwests:Poetry, Stories and Photography from the U.S. and China - Friday 11:15
Steven Schroeder is Visiting Professor in the School of Foreign Languages at Shenzhen University (China) and Instructor in Asian Classics and the Basic Program of Liberal Education for Adults at the University of Chicago. His poetry has appeared in After Hours, Cha, Concho River Review, Rhino, Shichao, Sichaun Literature, Texas Review, TriQuarterly and other literary journals. His most recent poetry collection is Six Stops South . . On Not Founding Rome, a philosophical meditation on the virtue of hesitation, is forthcoming from Cascade Books. There's more on his website at http://vacpoetry.org/schroeder
Soli, Sandra
Imagination at Play in the Fields of Memory - Friday 10:00
Sandra Soli spent many years in radio broadcasting and regional theater, completing an honors M.A. in creative studies. After a decade in Oklahoma's artist-in-residence program and nine years as columnist and poetry editor for ByLine magazine, Sandy continues to facilitate poetry workshops and enjoys collaborative projects with artists in other disciplines. Her second chapbook, What Trees Know, received the 2008 Oklahoma Book Award. Among her honors is a citation from Papier Mache Press for her dedication to mentoring other writers. Sandy's work appears regularly in literary journals, has been featured on NPR, and twice nominated for the Pushcart Prize. Recent publications include Oklahoma Today, Cross Timbers, and two anthology collections. Her article on prose poems is featured in the 2009 edition of Poet's Market. Sandy is an avid amateur photographer and a member of the OKC Civic Center "Stars" volunteer program.
Stahl, Ron
Opening Session - Friday 9:00
Ron Stahl is a native of Rector, Arkansas, who began his broadcasting career as a disc jockey in 1968 at KBXM Radio station in Kennett, Missouri. Ron served as a Radio-Television Production Specialist for the United States Air Force from 1962 to 1972, producing, directing, writing and appearing in USAF training films. During that time, he also worked in commercial radio at WROA in Gulfport, Mississippi and KTRN in Wichita Falls, Texas. In 1972, Ron became a news anchor and reporter at KFDX-TV in Wichita Falls. In 1978, Ron moved to Oklahoma City where he began an 18-year stint with KOCO-TV, Channel 5. At KOCO, Ron anchored the noon and 5:00 PM newcasts and was the host of several popular feature series, including "Assignment Oklahoma" and "On the Road with Ron". Ron joined the Oklahoma Tourism and Recreation Department in June 1998. He is co-host with Jennifer Reynolds on the Integris Discover Oklahoma television show.
Ron's work has been honored by The Associated Press, United Press International and The Society of Professional Journalists, Sigma Delta Chi. He was part of a news team at KOCO-TV that won three Edward R. Murrow Awards, two National Headliner Awards and, The George Foster Peabody Award.
Ron is married to Valerie Stahl, a native of Norman, Oklahoma. They have two children.
Stenis, Jenny
Reading Red Dirt - Saturday 9:00 & 10:00, OBU Geiger Center
Jenny Stenis is currently the Children's Coordinator for the Center for Reader's Services for the Pioneer Library System. She received her Masters of Library and Information Services from the University of Oklahoma in 2001. Ms. Stenis reviews books professionally for the journal Reference & Users Services Quarterly. She has worked for Pioneer Library System for 20 years.
Teague, Gloria
From Imagination to Reality - writing your family story - Friday 11:15
As a little red-haired girl I used to live in what was to become known as "The Zone", a place never to singularly hear the voice of Rod Serling, see the profile of Alfred Hitchcock, or feel the jet-stream of a passing super-hero, but rather a blend of all of the above in a cacophonous wave of imagination. In "The Zone" I sang with Alvin and the other Chipmunks, rode with the Lone Ranger on my trusty stick horse, and wore my mother's voluminous half slip on my head, visualizing it as long golden tresses sure to capture the heart of my prince. I was born in the foothills of the Smoky Mountains into the most wondrous, crazy family ever to bless a child. My family told me that my imagination could be my best friend. I've never had any reason to dispute that since it's helped me to cope with life's bumps and bruises. It's even boosted my checking account a few times. I've been published in both fiction and nonfiction and won awards in several different genres. One of my awards was first place in the America Nostalgia Prose category at the OWFI conference in May, 2005 for a short story that became a book, Saturday Night Cocoa Fudge. I have a story in Shades of Tulsa, an anthology, am contributing author to the book, Book Marketing from A to Z and the January 2009 issue of The Odd Mind magazine. It is my pleasure to be editor of Nightscripts, newletter for Tulsa NightWriters. I'm also a member of Oklahoma Writers' Federation, INC and Oklahoma Mystery Writers. More information can be found at my website, www.gloriateague.com
Terry, Tom
Guided Tour of the Stained Glass in Raley Chapel - Saturday 9:00, OBU Raley Chapel
TomeTerry is university archivist at Oklahoma Baptist University, a part time position. He retired as vice president for business affairs and assistant to the president in 1995. Terry has been associated with OBU since joining the administration in 1967. He is an active member of Friends of the shawnee Public Library and is a past president of Friends of Libraries in Oklahoma (FOLIO). He was chairman of the Pioneer Library Board while a memeber of that board. Currently he is director of the Oklahoma Department of Libraries. In 2007 OLA honored him with their Citizen Recognitions Award. In 2008 Keep Oklahoma Beautiful named him Volunteer of the Year. During the growing season he writes a weekly gardening column for The Shawnee News-Star. Terry and his wife, Patricia, have a son and a daughter and two grandsons. 
Tingle, Tim
Imagine If We Wrote Our Own History - Friday 10:00, Oklahoma, Land of Migration and Exodus - Friday 4:14
Tim Tingle gave his first performance at the National Museum of the American Indian at the outdoor amphitheater of the Smithsonian complex. An appreciative audience, including dozens of Oklahoma Choctaws saw Tingle sing "Shilombish Holitopa Ma," play the native flute, and perform "Crossing Bok Chitto," "The Choctaw Way," and "Turtle Grew Feathers." Tingle is an enrolled member of the Choctaw Nation of Oklahoma, a sought-after speaker and storyteller, and an award winning author of Native American fiction and folklore. Choctaw Chief Gregory Pyle has requested a story by Tingle previous to his Annual State of the Nation Address at the Choctaw Labor Day Gathering - a celebration that attracts over thirty thousand people - from 2002 to the present. Walking the Choctaw Road, Tingle's first book, was released by Cinco Puntos Press in May of 2003. A collection of stories based on interviews with tribal elders, it was Storytelling Magazine's Best Anthology for 2003. Oklahoma Reads Oklahoma selected Walking the Choctaw Road as Book of the Year for 2005, as did Alaska Reads!, marking the first time in the history of the one-book-one-state movement that a single book has been selected by two states in the same year. Tingle has written several children's books: When Turtle Grew Feathers, Crossing Bok Chitto and Spooky Texas Tales. He is also the author of Spirits Dark and Light and Texas Ghost Stories: fifty favorites for the telling. As a storyteller, Tingle brings the lore of the Choctaw Nation to life in lively historical, personal and traditional stories. He plays the Native American flute and often accompanies himself with an assortment of gourd rattles and drums, adding a haunting dimension to a concert. 
Van Meter, Larry
Film Imagines Oklahoma - Friday 11:15
Larry Van Meter is a Literature and Film professor and an Oklahoma Christian College Alumnus. He took an MA at the University of Arkansas and a Ph.D. at Texas A&M Univerisity. A Navy veteran, he counts among his duty stations Moterey, CA; Scotland; Ft. Mead, MD; and three submarines. He has written several books and essays, on topics ranging from legal history to woman suffrage to mainstream cinema to popular music. He lives with his wife, Kara, and their three children, Elizabeth, Asher and Rachel in Edmond, OK.
Wedel, Steve
Vampires, Werewolves & Demons - the sexy side of paranormal - Friday 4:15
Steven E. Wedel is a life-long Oklahoman. Born in Stillwater, raised in Enid and currently living in Moore, with stops in Oklahoma City and Ponca City along the way, he's come to terms with the fact he likely will end up in a red dirt grave. Steve is best known for The Werewolf Saga books: Murdered by Human Wolves, Shara, Ulrik and Call to the Hunt (Scrybe Press). His other books include Darkscapes (Fine Tooth Press), Seven Days in Benevolence (Scrybe Press) and Little Graveyard on the Prairie (Bad Moon Books). Steve has published numerous pieces of short fiction, several how-to articles for writers, literary criticism, and has taught courses in horror writing. He holds a master's degree in liberal studies, creative writing emphasis from the University of Oklahoma, and a bachelor's degree in journalism from the University of Central Oklahoma. He worked as a machinist for 10 years after high school before going to college. Since 1998 he has worked as a reporter, columnist and editor for several newspapers and magazines, including The Oklahoman, and has been a corporate writer and director of public relations for non-profit and government entities. He works as a high school English teacher now. Steve lives in Central Oklahoma with his wife and four children. Visit Steven E. Wedel online at www.stevenewedel.com
Wentworth, KD
Blueprints for Creating New Worlds - Friday 11:15
KD Wentworth has sold more than eighty pieces of short fiction to such markets as FASF, Hitchcock's, Realms of Fantasy, Weird Tales, Witch Way to the Mall, and Return to the Twilight Zone. Four of her stories have been finalists for the Nebula Award for Short Fiction. Currently, she has seven novels in print, the most recent being The Course of Empire, written with Eric Flint and published by Baen. Her next book (also so-written with Eric Flint) will be Crucible of Empire, due out in March 2010. She currently serves as Coordinating Judge for the Writers of the Future Contest and lives in Tulsa with her husband and a combined total of one hundred sixty pounds of dog (Akita + Siberian Husky) and is working on another new novel with Flint. For more, visit www.kdwentworth.com
Whisman, Dale
Imagine It on the Silver Screen - the art & craft of screenwriting - Friday 10:00
As a novelist, screenwriter, playwright, and actor, Dale Whisman stays busy. His first detective novel, Friends, and Other Perishables, was published by Five Star Publishing and released in hard cover December 2004. His second detective novel, Friends on Fire, is completed and ready to submit to publishers, and the third novel in the series, A Witch Among Friends, is nearing completion. He is a member of OWFI, Oklahoma Mystery Writers, and Mystery Writers of America. His feature length film, Down the Road, won the award for Best Feature Filmed in Oklahoma in the 2005 BareBones International Film Festival, and the following year it won the DIGI award at the International Digital Cinema Convention in Kansas City, Missouri. His short screenplay Hookers, won Best Short Screenplay at the 2006 BareBones International Film Festival, and following it's production, Hookers went on to win the Grand Goldie Film Award for excellence and expertise in film. The following year his original teleplay, Home In America won another Grand Goldie Film Award. And, another of his screenplays, Friends on Fire, based on his second mystery novel, won the Illinois International Film Festival Award for Outstanding Achievement in Screenwriting. A strong supporter of community theatre, Dale has had six stageplays produced, and he derives a great deal of pleasure in sitting in the back row during one of his productions, hearing his words being performed on stage, and watching the audience respond. In addition to his writing, Dale has done a great deal of acting, both on stage in community theatres and in several short and feature length films, as well as appearing in several television commercials. His acting experiences and ongoing relationships with area actors prompted Dale and his wife, Sherry, to open their own actor's talent agency, Fireside Talents, where they represent some of Oklahoma's most talented people. His acting has influenced his writing as well. His fifteen years experience as a stage actor and playwright has left him with the ability to write meaningful and believable dialogue. Dale is uniquely qualified to write about detectives and the criminal element in our society. He was a licensed Private Investigator for eleven years, and his writing attests to his thorough knowledge of the human animal and all of our faults, as well as our strengths. Dale and Sherry live in Tulsa, Oklahoma. They have two grown children and six grandchildren. For more, visit www.dalewhisman.com
White, Kelvin
Imagine If We Wrote Our Own History - Friday 10:00
Dr. Kelvin L. White is an Assistant Professor at the University of Oklahoma's School of Library and Information Studies. He received a Master's degree in Afro-American Studies and his Ph.D. in Information Studies from the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA). Using social justice as a framework, his work examines the interconnections between the social, cultural, and historical contexts in which recordkeeping activities exist and the implications they have for marginalized or underrepresented communities. Currently, his research examines issues of memory and remembering in Afro-Mexican communities in the Costa Chica (Mexico); critically interrogates comtemporary archival theory and constructs; and develops ways in which education and pedagogy might contribute to cultural relevancy and sensitivity in archival practice and research.
Woods, Lisa
Reading Red Dirt - Saturday 9:00 & 10:00, OBU Geiger Center
Lisa Woods is the Children's Services Coordinator for the Metropolitan Library System. She likes to read, eat toast and play Boggle. She dislikes shopping and seafood. Lisa would like to learn how to enjoy gardening and to play an instrument someday. Predictably she has five animals and is married to a librarian.