Idaho Writers' League 2002 Conference

Speakers:

Karol Honas

Karol Honas will provide the Conference Kickoff Speech at the Friday morning breakfast. Karol is a prime-time TV Anchor on KIFI TV 8, and Idaho Falls-Pocatello station. She is a highly regarded toastmistress in the Upper Snake River Valley and has taught media/communications at Idaho State University.

Mikal Lofgren

Mikal Lofgren, from Salt Lake City will tell us how he shapes his poetry. Mikal's degree is in English, his love is poetry. In 1998, Mikal was named Utah's Poet of the Year and his book Trudi Smiles Back was published by the Utah State Poetry Society. His poetry has won numerous awards and his works have appeared in Midwest Poetry Review, Modern Haiku, Sunstone, Rough Draft, Encore, frogpond, Poet's Market, and ByLine.

Patti Sherlock

Patti Sherlock will ask us to Shut Up and Let Them Talk (the story's characters). A member of the Western Writers fo America, Patti has published Alone on the Mountain, Doubleday; Four of a Kind, Holiday House; and Some Fine Dog, Holiday House. The latter book garnered a First Place award for juvenile novel, Pacific Northwest Writers Association. She has written extensively for magazines.

Patricia Kempthorne

Patricia Kempthorne, Idaho's First Lady, will speak at our Saturday lunch. As the Idaho State Library Summer Reading Ambassador,she travels the State and reads to children. She is prepared to share with us a unique insight into the kinds of stories that are the favorites of today's small children. Bring your questions.

Trudy Harris

Trudy Harris will lead the session on Writing for Children and Getting Your Work Published. An internationally published author of children's books, Trudy is the author of 100 Days of School, an American Bookseller's Pick of the List. She wrote the board book, Up Bear, Down Bear and the picture books, Pattern Fish and Pattern Bugs. She also has experience in the free-lance children's publishing market.

Scott Gipson

Scott Gipson, President of The Caxton Press, will speak to us on The Changing Face of Publishing. Scott will discuss electronic publishing, consolidation of the industry, and other pressing issues in the industry. He intends to reserve sufficient time to respond to questions that you bring to the Conference.

Margaret Hawkes Lindsley

Margaret Hawkes Lindsley is a member of the Idaho Falls IWL Chapter; she is also a member of Idaho Press Women, the National Federation of Press Women, and other writing organizations. In her working career she held a number of professional positions with political, engineering, financial, and farm organizations, while for 30 years in her spare time, she converted a family experience into a fact-based novel. The novel is Andrew Henry, Mine and Mountain.

In the vicinity where Margaret was born and grew up, her father, Hazen Hawkes, discovered the rock on which Major Andrew Henry and his trappers carved their names in 1810. Major Henry led the way across most of the west and was the first to seriously trap beaver in Idaho. For time context, Kit Carson was one year old and Jim Bridger was six years old when Major Henry carved his rock in 1810.

The rock has remained wtih the Hawkes family and is now on loan to the Bonneville Museum. We hope Conference attendees can find time to view Margaret's rock.

Peter and Jeanne Anderson

Peter and Jeanne Anderson are co-owners of the Dark Horse Books in Driggs, Idaho. Peter and Jeanne are freelance writers, book lovers, and booksellers; they talk literature for a living. Their store in a ski resort/ranching town offers a poetry publishing service, and with its customers is developing a communal novel. The Andersons would like to tell us about Surviving as a small, independent bookstore.

Robert Kirby

Robert Kirby is our banquet speaker. He is a feature writer at the Salt Lake Tribune. His humor articles, well salted with wisdom, have a large following in the Intermountain West. A one-time police officer, Robert has been an editor, correspondent, and columnist for a variety of newspapers. He has authored five humor books and a novel, Dark Angel. He is writing a book about police officers killed in the line of duty.

Updated: January 12, 2003