LIT FEST PANELISTS

pulp & poetry: tales of romance & adventure at the joslyn features the following poets:

Susan Aizenberg is the author of Muse and Peru in Take Three/2: AGNI New Poets Series and co-editor, with Erin Belieu, of The Extraordinary Tide: New Poetry by American Women. Recent poems and translations appear or are forthcoming in The Journal, Prairie Schooner, Provincetown Arts, Blackbird and elsewhere. Aizenberg is Associate Professor of English in the creative writing program at Creighton University.

Kelly Madigan Erlandson is the author of Getting Sober: A Practical Guide to Making it Through the First 30 Days. Her poems and essays have appeared in Best New Poets 2007, Crazyhorse, The Massachusetts Review, and Prairie Schooner. She was awarded the Distinguished Artist Award in Literature from the Nebraska Arts Council in 2006, and a National Endowment for the Arts Fellowship in 2008.

Katie F-S has posed as many things in her many lives, including poet, playwright, preschool teacher, muppet, and person who needs glasses to see. She is generally overcaffeinated and has more tattoos than her mother knows about. She has a scar on her chin from proving she can fly. Furthermore, she plans to now speak exclusively in the third person; it's the most fun she's had all day.

Sarah McKinstry-Brown studied poetry at the University of New Mexico and the University of Sheffield, England. Her poems have been published in The Chicago Quarterly Review, Cimarron Review, The Sow's Ear Literary Journal, Nebraska Presence: An Anthology of Nebraska Poets and other numerous poetry anthologies.

Todd Robinson teaches in the Writer’s Workshop at the University of Nebraska-Omaha, where he has landed after stints at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln and Creighton University. His poems have appeared in Hospital Drive, Margie, The Potomac Review, Mankato Poetry Review, and The Southeast Review, and his prose in Prairie Schooner, M/C: A Journal of Media and Culture, and The Lincoln Journal-Star.

Marjorie Saiser was named the Distinguished Artist for Poetry by the Nebraska Arts Council in 2009. Her books are Bones Of A Very Fine Hand and Lost In Seward County, both from The Backwaters Press, and also a chapbook, Moving On, from Lone Willow Press. Her awards include the Nebraska Literary Heritage Award, the Nebraska Book Award, the Leo Love Award, Vreelands, and an award from the Academy of American Poets. She is co-editor of Times of Sorrow/Times of Grace, an anthology of writing by women of the Great Plains, and co-editor of Road Trip, a book featuring interviews of a dozen Nebraska writers.

Mark Scott has published two collections of poetry, Tactile Values (New Issues, 2000) and A Bedroom Occupation: Love Elegies (Lumen Books, 2007). He is Associate Professor of English at College of Saint Mary.

The Saturday afternoon panels at KANEKO feature the following participants:

Belinda G. Acosta, a Nebraska native, lives and writes in Austin, Texas where she is a columnist for the Austin Chronicle. Her non-fiction has appeared in Poets & Writers, Latino USA, the radio journal of news and culture, AlterNet, the San Antonio Current, and Latino Magazine. She is a member of Macondo, the writers' collective launched by acclaimed writer Sandra Cisneros, and is the author of the novel Damas, Dramas, and Ana Ruiz.

New York Times bestselling author Victoria Alexander was an award winning television reporter until she discovered fiction was much more fun than real life. She turned to writing full time and is still shocked it worked out. Since the publication of her first book in 1995, she has written twenty-one full length novels and six novellas. The Perfect Wife—originally published in 1996 and reissued in March 2008—hit #1 on the New York Times list. Her books regularly appear on that list as well on the USA Today and Publishers Weekly bestseller lists. With books translated into a dozen different languages she has readers around the world and has twice been nominated for Romance's Writer's of America prestigious RITA award. Victoria credits much of her writing success to her experiences as a reporter. Victoria claims her love of romance and journalism is to due to the influence of her favorite comic book character: Lois Lane, a terrific reporter and a great heroine who pursued Superman with an unwavering determination. And why not? He was extremely well drawn.

Joi Brozek lived her entire life in New York before moving to Kansas this past April. She is the author of Sleeveless and just finished her second novel, I’ll See You Soon at Coney Island. She holds a BA from New York University and an MFA from Brooklyn College. Fearing that she was too New York-centric, she decided that a change of pace was necessary and moved to Lawrence, Kansas, where she enjoys writing to the sounds of cicadas and thunderstorms as opposed to car alarms and rats squealing in the garbage outside her window. She also acknowledges it is an entirely different experience reading In Cold Blood while living in Kansas. A fan of noir (her chapbook,Strays in Pompeii was inspired by obsessive reading of Patricia Highsmith) and intrigued by her first visit to Omaha last April, she is honored to be a part of the (downtown) omaha lit fest.

Caniglia's art has been featured in the Washington Post, CNN, Spectrum Fantastic Art Annuals, Magazines, Books, and CD covers. He has worked with such authors as Stephen King, Ray Bradbury, Peter Straub, Douglas Clegg, F.Paul Wilson and many other great fantasy and horror writers. Caniglia was nominated in 2003 and 2004 for the International Horror Guild Award for best artist in dark fantasy and horror. In 2004 he won the prestigious award. In 2005 he received his first World Fantasy nomination for Best Artist in Fantasy. Shocklines Press also in 2004 released Caniglia's first art book, As Dead as Leaves—the Art of Caniglia.

Lauren Cerand is an independent public relations representative specializing in innovative campaigns, dynamic events and strategic consultation. She has been described as one of the “cultural gatekeepers in the literary world” by Time Out New York and as the “Best of New York” by the Village Voice. She is often asked to share her perspective with audiences, such as at Book Expo America in New York and Penguin Books in London. Her current publicity projects include Barnes & Noble's "Upstairs at the Square" series and two new books by Ogallala native Terese Svoboda: Weapons Grade, a collection of poems that have appeared in The New Yorker, Paris Review, American Poetry Review, Tin House, Yale Review and elsewhere (University of Arkansas Press, Fall 2009), and Trailer Girl (University of Nebraska Press, Fall 2009), stories set in Nebraska.

Joy Castro's first book, The Truth Book: A Memoir, was named a Book Sense Notable Book by the American Booksellers Association and was adapted and excerpted in The New York Times Magazine. Her short fiction, poetry, and creative nonfiction have appeared in several anthologies and in journals such as North American Review, Cream City Review, Chelsea, Quarterly West, and Puerto del Sol. Castro has recently completed a collection of short stories, How Winter Began, and is working on a novel, The Desire Projects. She teaches at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln.

Emily Danforth is currently completing her PhD in creative writing at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. Her short stories have recently been seen in dogwood, Willow Springs, and 971 MENU, and two have been nominated for Pushcart prizes. In 2007 Emily was named as one of the top six emerging lesbian fiction authors from the Astraea International Foundation for Justice and Sarah Waters selected her as the 2008 recipient of Chroma Magazine's International Queer Fiction Award for her short story "The Truest Way to Name Something."

Sean Doolittle is the author of the crime thrillers Burn, Rain Dogs, The Cleanup, and Safer. His short fiction has appeared in a variety of publications, including The Year's Best Mystery Stories 2002 (James Ellroy, guest editor). His first novel, Dirt, was a Book Sense Book of the Day, and named one of the 100 Best Books of 2001 by the editors of Amazon.com.

Marcus Galloway has ghostwritten entries in several popular western series. His first western series includes The Man From Book Hill, Burying the Past, Dead Man’s Promise, No Angels for Outlaws and The Reaper’s Fee. The Accomplice series is published by Berkley and features Doc Holliday. These books include The Accomplice, Bucking the Tiger, and The Silent Partner. He lives in Omaha.

Ricardo Garcia, a professor at UNL, has led presentations on how cowboy culture was developed in Mexico by Mexican, Indian and African slaves and rich landholders, teaching about the Hispanic traditions of ranching, branding, roping, trail driving, horsemanship and the roundup, from which the "rodeo" developed. Garcia shows how Mexican storytelling and singing led to cowboy yarns, tall tales, poetry and ballads. He is the author of the novels Coal Camp Days, Brother Bill’s Bait Bites Back, Coal Camp Justice, and Montana’s Top Bananas.

D. Lee Hatchett is the author of The Black Angel Trilogy. As a marketer and a self-published, African-American, science fiction and fantasy author, Hatchett is well aware of the opportunities that exist to increase the visibility of speculative fiction and the literacy rate within the urban community. To this end, he founded the Urban Speculative Fiction Literary Foundation, which is a non-profit, tax exempt, organization with a single mission: to stimulate and cultivate the hopes, imaginations, literary talents, and life skills of our youth through speculative fiction.

Since joining The Omaha World-Herald in 1989, Jeffrey Koterba has been a finalist for Editorial Cartoonist of the Year from the National Cartoonists Society (2002) and his work has appeared in such publications as The New York Times, Chicago Tribune, Chicago Sun-Times, Newsweek, USA Today, Dallas Morning-News, and the San Diego Union-Tribune, as well as on CNN. Koterba's Inklings, a memoir about cartooning, a complicated father, Tourette's Syndrome, and bad weather, is out this fall.

Harley Jane Kozak, who has had starring roles in film, theater, and television (including a stint as a 1980s soap-opera queen, her most notable role being that of a conflicted, impassioned, and battered nun on Santa Barbara. For YouTube music-montages/mashups of her love scenes, go here), is the author of four award-winning comic-tinged mystery novels, most recently A Date You Can’t Refuse.

Kim Louise is a hopeFULL romantic who still cries at the end of When Harry Met Sally even though she’s seen it a gazillion times. She’s written 10 cheap paperback romance novels and 5 cheap paperback romance novellas for Kensington/BET Books, Genesis Press, and Harlequin. Her stories range from sweet hand-holding in the inspirational genre to sizzling and seductive in erotica. Her books have been required reading for college sociology and humanities courses and nominated for 3 Emma Awards. Her most recent cheap paperback, Sweet Like Honey, was nominated for 2008 Multicultural Romance of the Year by Romantic Times Magazine.

Cody Lumpkin is currently a graduate student at UNL in Creative Writing Poetry. His work has appeared in New Orleans Review and Tar River Poetry.

A native of Omaha, Nebraska, Stew Magnuson is a Washington, D.C.-based journalist and the author of The Death of Raymond Yellow Thunder. The Center of Great Plains Studies nominated the work as the 2008 Great Plains Book of the Year and it won ForeWord magazine’s bronze medal in the regional nonfiction category. In 2006, Amazon.com Shorts posted an abridged excerpt of the book, “The Battle of Whiteclay,” which was named by the editors as one of the top five nonfiction pieces published during the website’s inaugural year. Magnuson is a former foreign correspondent who has filed stories from Japan, Cambodia, Burma, Laos, Thailand, the Philippines, Singapore, Mali and Indonesia. He has worked as a reporter for The Cambodia Daily, the Asahi Shimbun, Kyodo News Service, Space News, Education Daily, and is now managing editor of National Defense Magazine. He has contributed articles to the Christian Science Monitor, Reuters, Defense News, and numerous other publications.

Amelia Maria de la Luz Montes, Associate Professor of English and Ethnic Studies at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, has published short stories in journals and anthologies such as Hers 3: Brilliant New Fiction by Lesbian Writers and Chicana Literary and Artistic Expressions. Among her most recent scholarly publications is "Tortilleras on the Prairie: Latina Lesbians Writing the Midwest" (Journal of Lesbian Studies). Her current writing projects include a collection of short stories, While Pilar Tobillo Sleeps, and a memoir.

David Philip Mullins grew up in Las Vegas, Nevada, and is the author of the forthcoming novel True Love Versus the Cigar Store Indian (Sarabande Books). He is a graduate of the Iowa Writers’ Workshop and the recipient of the 2009 Mary McCarthy Prize in Short Fiction. His short stories have appeared or are forthcoming in The Yale Review, The Massachusetts Review, New England Review, Cimarron Review, Fiction, and North Dakota Quarterly and have twice been nominated for a Pushcart Prize. He has received awards from Yaddo, MacDowell, the Sewanee Writers’ Conference, and the Bread Loaf Writers’ Conference, and teaches creative writing at Creighton University.

Chloe Neill is the author of the Chicagoland Vampire series, which includes Some Girls Bite, Friday Night Bites, and the forthcoming Twice Bitten. She is also author of the forthcoming Firespell: A Novel of the Dark Elite.

Marcus Pelegrimas is the author of the Skinners series published by Eos Books. The first book, Blood Blade, is currently available and the second entry, Howling Legion, will hit stores on October 27. His previous work includes short stories that have appeared in anthologies ranging from the mystery and western genres. During his ten year career as a professional writer, he has done extensive ghostwriting work but prefers to write about ghosts instead. He lives and works in Omaha with his wife and #1 editor, Megan.

Evie Rhodes is a novelist and an award-winning songwriter and music video scriptwriter. Her books include Criss Cross, Street Vengeance, Expired, Out A Order, Expired, and The Forgotten Spirit. She is currently at work on a trilogy, The Messiah Chronicles, a religious mystery. Her novel Criss Cross, was the inspiration for one of the rocking chairs as part of the Rocking Chairity fundraiser.

Timothy Schaffert is the author of three novels, most recently Devils in the Sugar Shop. His novels have been a Barnes and Noble Discover Great New Writers selection, a Book Sense pick from the American Booksellers Association, and a New York Times Book Review Editors’ Choice. His short fiction has been shortlisted for the O. Henry Prize. He is serving as a guest editor for a forthcoming edition of the Fairy Tale Review, and serves as a contributing editor for Prairie Schooner. He is the director of two literary nonprofits: the (downtown) omaha lit fest and the Nebraska Summer Writers’ Conference of the UNL English Department, and is currently completing his fourth novel.

Jonathan Segura is the deputy reviews editor at Publishers Weekly, and the author of Occupational Hazards, a noir set in Omaha.

Rachel Shukert is a playwright and author based in New York City. She is the critically-acclaimed author of Have You No Shame? And Other Regrettable Stories and currently at work on her second book, The Grand Tour, as well as a new feature film project for Yarn Films in Los Angeles. Rachel's plays include Bloody Mary, The Nosemaker’s Apprentice (with Nick Jones), Johnny Applefucker, and Sequins for Satan, and have been produced at Ars Nova, Ice Factory/Soho Think Tank at the Ohio, the Prelude Festival, the Williamstown Theater Festival, 365 Plays at the Public Theater, the Culture Project, the Ontological/Hysteric, the EVOLVE series at Galapagos, and the Omaha Lit Fest, among others. In 2003, she was the Playwright-in-Residence at e74 productions in Amsterdam, and her work was performed extensively throughout the Netherlands. As a performer, she has appeared with Richard Foreman's Ontological/Hysteric Theater, in New York and internationally; Les Freres Courbusier, the T.E.A.M., Salt Theater, e74, and with her own company, the Bushwick Hotel, which she founded in 2002 with the director Stephen Brackett. She is also, with Nick Jones and Peter James Cook, a co-founder of the theatrical supergroup Terrible Baby Theater Company. With Julie Klausner, she is the co-creator, co-writer, and co-star of Wasp Cove, New York City's only live soap opera about the glamorous world of Gentiles in the mid 1980's. Rachel is also contributing editor at Tablet Magazine and Painted Bride Quarterly. She was born and raised in Omaha, Nebraska.