East Texas Book Fest 2011

Alexandra Powe Allred is a former Olympic athlete, author, screenwriter, pet-lover, mother, and activist, whose most recent proactive work has been before Congress advocating for clean air with a most compelling argument that her own son suffers asthma as a result of polluted air in Midlothian, Texas, where she resides. The range of her body of written work spans all genres, including self-help books for mothers, pet owners, women in business, and sportsmen, as well as books for children. Allred does freelance writing forMature Living,Muscle&Fitness Hers, and Columbus Parent magazines. But both her athletic and writing skills were put to the test whenSports Illustrated asked Allred to join and write about a women’s professional football team. She did just that, going all the way to the WPFL (Women’s Professional Football League) Playoffs with her team, the Austin Rage.

Doyle Barnes was a comptroller at a large manufacturing company and later was a personnel manager at another, where he enjoyed meeting many different types of people. He also has been a business consultant for small companies. He and his wife of some fifty years live in East Texas. His memoir OUR JOURNEY IN LIFE covers much of his business and personal life.

Borgstedt's moving story of an abusive parent: I Love You, Mom: Please Don't Break My Heart. John Borgstedt is a native Texan with a special love for nature, blue skies overhead, and a unique brand of protective maturity for the young and innocent. His flight and fight for survival throughout young years instilled a heartfelt desire to help another. After much contemplation on how to accomplish this goal, John felt he must share the unspeakable horrors that he had survived throughout his childhood. Perhaps the exposure of truth would heal and mend the society that had failed him. During the research through medical and legal records, flashbacks of long buried memories sprang forth, re-opening deep dark wounds of physical and emotional atrocities, but John did not waver from his objective. Thus I LOVE YOU, MOM, Please Don’t Break My Heart is among fine literary works written for ‘righting wrongs’ and improving the world for future generations.
Borgstedt is rapidly becoming a noted motivational speaker for young and old alike. From school children and faculty to correctional institutions with hardened criminals to devout Christian church groups, John’s message of hope, love, and determination touches the hearts and minds of his audience. Indeed, fans and followers of John Borgstedt patiently awaits the day that his vision for establishing a boys ranch becomes a reality. This warrior for ‘right’ is not a quitter. Borgstedt’s web site is iloveyoumom.net

A Texas historian has called Bob Bowman “the people’s historian” because his writings reflect down-to-earth East Texas history--forgotten towns, good ol’ boy expressions, historic murders, unusual Cemeteries, home remedies and other subjects beloved by East Texans. Born at Hickory Grove in Anderson County and reared in logging and sawmill towns, Bob wrote for newspapers at Diboll, Tyler, Lufkin and Houston before embarking on a successful public relations and marketing career at Lufkin. Bob and his wife Doris have written almost 40 books, won numerous awards, and are among the most popular speakers in East Texas. They also own Best of East Texas Publishers of Lufkin, which publishes books for authors throughout Texas.
Bob is a former member of the Texas Historical Commission, former president of the East Texas Historical Association, and served on the Texas Sesquicentennial Commission and the Texas Capitol Centennial Commission. He and Doris have also served as chairs of Humanities Texas. 
Bowman's website is bob-bowman.com

Writing is William Carl’s third career: first banking, then chemistry, and now a novelist.  He has just published his fourth novel, DEMON IN THE DARK, an action adventure story. First was UNTIL TOMORROW, a Christian Mystery; second, DARING TO LOVE, a poignant romance; third, MY PRIZE, a murder mystery. He has many other active projects.

Martha (Marti) Chrisp was a language and reading teacher for 26 years in Hallsville, Texas. The year before retirement she wrote a mystery novel set in East Texas, her lifetime dream.Characters and personalities in CIRCLE SECRETS are loosely based on many of the students she taught over the years. As part of her mission to spread the love of reading, Chrisp said she plans to donate copies of CIRCLE SECRETS to school and public libraries in the area. Her larger goal is to get the novel in school libraries in all 50 states. Chrisp lives in Longview with her husband David.

Another East Texas jewel, and author of NIGHT KEEPER and I'M DREAMING OF A BLACK CHRISTMAS, April Coker has loved to write since she was ten years old and began composing stories. Thinking she would become a journalist, she majored in journalism in junior college until she realized she wanted to become a teacher. Writing fell to the background as she married, finished college, and started a family and career. April has taught junior high and high school for the past 27 years and is still teaching. However, with her children grown, she has found time to return to her first love of writing and was excited to see her first two books published. NIGHT KEEPER (2010, Publish America) is a romantic suspense novel about a young female zookeeper who works the night shift at the city zoo.  Frightening events begin to occur at the zoo just as Josie meets the perfect man to take care of her and her daughter. I’M DREAMING OF A BLACK CHRISTMAS: A HOLIDAY SURVIVAL GUIDE (2006, Publish America) is a humorous look at ways to have a memorable holiday season without going bankrupt. When she isn’t teaching or writing, Coker enjoys spending time with  husband Jimmy, son Matt and daughter-in-law Taylor, and her daughter Natalie. She also enjoys her three Boston terriers Whitey, Molly, and Maggie, as well as reading, decorating, junking, hunting deer and hogs, and restoring her 1978 Scamp camper.

Ellen Driskoll was born and reared in Illinois, lived ten years in the Pacific Northwest, and returned to Texas in 1999. She is the single parent of Michael, age 2, and infant Cody. Playing with her nephew Keven, she began to write about Prince Kevin and his dragon Fire. The  stories evolved into DRAGONS OF CANDLEWOOD and THE HAUNTING OF CANDLEWOOD. The third book in the series is THE LEGEND OF THE DRAGON SWORD. She also co-authored with her mother Barbara Newton WHEN CHRISTIANS DIVORCE, a self-help book for victims of divorce. Driskoll lives on a five-acre farm with her husband, son and daughter-in-law, grandson,  parents, collie dog, cats, donkey, and two goats. So far, no dragons. Read more at candlewoodbooks.com

Sharon Ellsberry is the author of three children's books, THE SPANIEL FAMILY GOES TO THE STATE FAIR, and THE SPANIEL FAMILY'S PEN PAL ADVENTURE and her most recent book, THE MYSTERY OF THE SPANIEL FAMILY'S DOG HOUSE. Ellsberry is a member of the Society of Children's Book Writers and Illustrators, and participates in several writers critique groups. Her Pen Pal book was honored at the North Texas Book Festival in the spring of 2008 by being a finalist for the children's book award from this group. Prior to the publishing of her first book, Sharon had a long career in the Gift and Decorative Accessories Industry,with a gift store in downtown Plano for several years and later the wholesale gift industry, owning a showroom in the Dallas Market Center. She enjoys presenting her books with her creative storytelling and skits. Sharon has done numerous programs for schools, libraries, bookstores, and organizations. Her web site is gospaniels.com

A native of the Lone Star state, Ann Everett is a former school secretary and for many years did stand-up comedy for businesses, corporations, and non-profit organizations. She is an active member of Northeast Texas Writers’ Organization, where she currently serves as Director for their twenty-sixth annual writers’ conference. Ann is an award-winning short story author and has been published in on-line e-zines as well as several newspapers.
  Her first novel, LAID OUT AND CANDLE LIT, a humorous romance mystery, has recently been released by Briona Glen Publishing.She lives on a small lake in Northeast Texas with her husband. Her website is anneverett.com

Since 1990, Patti Foster’s focus has been radio. She was the morning show host at WFRN, an inspirational Christian station in South Bend/Elkhart, Indiana. Before that, she served as the afternoon-drive host for KVNE/KGLY, two non-commercial Christian music stations in Tyler. In 2002 Patti was severely injured in a horrific traffic crash and suffered traumatic brain injury (TBI). For six weeks she was in a coma. She has had to learn to live again. The story of Patti’s recovery from injury is chronicled in several titles: MODERN-DAY MIRACLES, a collection of 50 true stories of miracle personal accounts, and GETTING THINGS DONE: Successful Women Speak. She also figures in the book AMAZING FAITH. See Foster’s web site at pattifoster.com

Dorothy Franks is the mother of two grown daughters and grandmother to two grandsons. With the daughters in college, Dorothy sat out to obtain a degree in nursing from Texas Woman's University. While at TWU, school she volunteered to help teach prenatal classes at Parkland Hospital in Dallas. These sparked an interest for Dorothy to write a book pertaining to teen age pregnancy. Teaching OB classes at Kilgore and Panola Colleges increased Dorothy's awareness of teen pregnancy problems and how prevalent these problems are in today's society. Frank's Master's thesis, "Self Esteem and Adolescent Pregnancy" focused on teen pregnancy to ascertain how self esteem affected the girls' lives. The survey included over 300 first-time pregnant teens of all ethnic groups. Thus, evolved this Christian fiction book RED FLAGS FLYING, written at the pre-teen reading level. The book emphasizes choosing friends carefully and increasing self-esteem based on a Christian attitude. It is the author's hope that the book will guide young teens. 

Heather Hepler, Tyler's own young adult writer, is the author of THE CUPCAKE QUEEN (Dutton, 2009) and the co-author of SCRAMBLED EGGS AT MIDNIGHT (Dutton, 2006), DREAM FACTORY (Dutton, 2007), JARS OF GLASS (Dutton, 2008).
Hepler says that in 4th grade was sent to the hall for reading instead of paying attention in class. She was almost kicked off her little league softball team for hiding a novel in her glove when she was supposed to be playing right field. And more than once she missed her bus stop because she was too engrossed in reading. But this didn’t detour her from her passion for books. She worked for a time as a librarian and then returned to school to obtain a second masters degree; this one in creative writing. She now teaches literature and writing courses for several universities, including The University of Texas at Tyler and The University of Maine. She is working on two other novels that will be released in 2011 and 2012. She works as a reviewer for various publications, including Southwest Review and Cinncinnati Review. Her website is www.heatherhepler.com.