On its six stages and various venues, the Kansas City Literary Festival is proud to present some of the finest writers in America today. They cover a wide breadth of genres and fascinating topics for everyone in the family.
Click on one of the Author names on the left to view their Bio and photo.
Cyndi Hughes
Cyndi Hughes is the executive director of the Writers' League of Texas. She is also president of Cynthia Hughes Literary Management in Austin, a firm that provides publicity, editorial, and consulting services to authors and publishers. Her most recent projects were producing the 2007 Kansas Book Festival and creating an author programming track for the 2008 Texas Library Association Conference. Hughes is the founding director of the Texas Book Festival, which was founded by First Lady Laura Bush in 1996. Under Hughes's leadership, the Festival acquired a reputation as one of the most prestigious literary events in the United States and raised nearly $1.5 million for more that 470 Texas public libraries. Before joining the Texas Book Festival, Hughes was the owner of In Other Words, an editing and writing service in Austin. Prior to that, she was an editor for more than seven years at Texas Monthly and a copy editor at the Austin American-Statesman. She was a board member of the Writers' League of Texas and is a member of the Texas Library Association's 2008 Conference Programming Committee. She has a bachelor's in journalism from the University of Kansas and grew up in Colby, Kan. She has lived in Austin since 1981.
David Arnold Hughes
His poems have appeared in regional poetry journals including Thorny Locust and Yellow Mustard. His chap book Fire Eaters and Stained glass Women was published in 2005. He can often be found reading his poetry in coffee shops or bars around Kansas City or in the Pacific Northwest. David has worked at many fields including time spent as a soldier and an oil well salesman. He retired from his career as a firefighter in 2002.
Dan Jaffe
Dan Jaffe has written more than a dozen books, including Playing the Word: Jazz Poems (BkMk Press, 2001) and All Cats Turn Gray When the Sun Goes Down (219 Press, 2004), a jazz opera (with Herb Six) that has been produced in Kansas City, St. Louis, and New York. He also appears on the CD In Their Own Voices: A Century of Recorded Poetry (Rhino Records, 1996). Jaffe has performed poetry with numerous jazz musicians, including George Salisbury, Milt Abel, Nicole Yarling, Frank Smith, Brian Murphy, and Tim Whitmer. He currently lives in Miami Beach, Fla.
Stephen T. Johnson
A 1996 Caldecott Honor Award for his amazing paintings in the Alphabet City, STEPHEN T. JOHNSON has illustrated many books for children, including two by Robert Burleigh: Goal and Hoops, an ALA Notable Children's Book and a School Library Journal Best Book of the Year. He has done several board books for young children and illustrated many picture books for all ages. His latest, A is for Alphabet; an Abstract Art will be out in September 2008. Johnson’s art is featured in museums around the country. He live sin Lawrence, Kansas.
Silvia Kofler
Silvia Kofler work has been published in numerous journals and publications, including The Book of Hopes and Dreams, an anthology to benefit Spirit Aid. Her first book of poetry, From the Suburbs with the Wedding Dress in its Coffin was published by The Edwin Mellen Press. Her play Markers won the Plays-in-Progress contest at Rockhurst University. She edits and publishes Thorny Locust, is a member of the American Literary Translators Association and lectures at Rockhurst University. Her newest book Radioactive Musings was released by UD Press just this month.
Charles Kovich
Charles Kovich (Ph.D., St. Louis University) is the co-author of two academic murder mysteries in the Fr. Shrader series, The Case of Ockham's Razor and The Case of the Muse of Madness. He has published on Erasmus in The Dictionary of Historical Theology (William B. Eerdmans Publishing) and in Fools and Jesters in Literature, Art and History (Greenwood Press), among others. A ranked faculty member at four institutions, he was Director of Writing Programs at three and English department chair for 13 years at another as well as directing the M.I.H.E. graduate program. He has given lectures and workshops on Erasmus, Shakespeare, Beowulf, and orality and literacy at the National European Studies Conference, the Conference on Christianity and Literature, the Hutton House lecture Series, and the National Conference on College Composition and Communication, among others. Currently, he teaches Shakespeare and Renaissance literature, Rhetorical History and Theory, World Literature, Playwriting, Screenwriting, and Linguistics at Rockhurst University, where he is Professor of English and directs the Plays-in-Progress Workshop in the Center for Arts and Letters.
Jane Kurtz
Jane Kurtz is the award-winning children's book author of 25 books and co-founder of a literacy nonprofit, Ethiopia Reads, featured in the October issue of Good Housekeeping. She recently moved to Lawrence, Kansas, but spends much of her time on the road speaking nationally and internationally. One of her picture books, Do Kangaroos Wear Seatbelts? (Dutton) was recently chosen as one of three Kansas Reads to Preschoolers books, and another--Water Hole Waiting (HarperCollins)--was selected as one of the best books of the year by School Library Journal, which called it "a gem for writing teachers." In addition to picture books, she has published easy readers, nonfiction, novels for young readers, and a few resource books for teachers.
Leathem, W.E.
W. E. Leathem is a poet and writer. He is a founder and co-owner of the Kansas City literary institution, Prospero’s Books (www.prosperosbookstore.com), which in 2007 earned international media attention for holding a book burning to protest the precipitous decline of reading in America. He serves as poetry editor for the popular online cultural arts portal www.PresentMagazine.com, and is the founder and publisher of the independent publishing house Spartan Press/Unholy Day Press (www.unholydaypress.com). A former director of the Writers Place, Leathem currently serves as a member of the board for the Kansas City Literary Festival and the Missouri Center for the Book. Leathem has released one book of poetry, Terra, and a chapbook of original verse. He served as editor for Leavened911 a collection of essays touching on life in America post 911, and of the poetry anthology WAR/raw Back-words. His next book, The Darker Side of Light will be released in 2008. His poetry, short fiction, essays and critical works have appeared widely in publications including The Kansas City Star, FrictionMag, The Same, Thorny Locust, the Mid America Poetry Review, Present Magazine and the Shakespearian Rag. In 2005, Leathem was featured in the documentary film, The Pit Poet Picture Show for his work hosting one of Kansas City’s most notorious open mic readings. He currently lives in midtown Kansas City with his wife, the visual artist, Kara Werner and their son Riley.
Gary Lechliter
Lechliter’s poetry has appeared in Atlanta Review, Chance of a Ghost: an Anthology of Contemporary Ghost Poems, Haight Ashbury Literary Journal, Iota, Mudfish, New Letters, Pearl, Rattle, and Valparaiso Poetry Review. His recent book of poetry, Under the Fool Moon, is published by Coal City Press.
Kathleen Leighton
An award-winning television news broadcaster, Kathleen Leighton brings more than 20 years of communication experience to the Literary Festival as a moderator for our panels on writing historial novels and getting published.
Leighton began her journalism career in radio news, and has also worked as a television photographer, producer, editor and anchor. She has written for The New York Times, Better Homes & Gardens, Newsweek, The Kansas City Star and various other publications. She has produced educational audio CD libraries for cancer patients, and is also a corporate media trainer. You've probably heard Leighton's radio spots or seen her on television commercials locally. She also records seminars on CD and appears in many industrial films.
Stanley Lombardo
Stanley Lombardo's publications are primarily literary translations of Greek and Latin poetry, including Homer's Iliad (Hackett, 1997; reviewed in The New York Times, 7/20/97; recipient of the Byron Caldwell Book Award; performed by Aquila Theatre Company at Lincoln Center, 1999); Homer¹s Odyssey (Hackett, 2000; reviewed in The New York Times, 7/09/00, and a New York Times Book of the Year); and translations of Plato, Hesiod, Callimachus, Sappho, (a finalist for the 2003 Pen Literary Award for translation); and most recently, Virgil's Aeneid (a finalist for the 2006 Pen Literary Award for translation). He maintains an interest in Asian philosophy and has co-authored a translation of Tao Te Ching. He is currently at work on an anthology of Zen texts and a translation of Dante's Inferno.
Ilene Lush
Ilene Lush is a writer and small businesswoman. Co-founder of blogtalk radio’s WTF online poetry show, she calls New York City home. She travels extensively facilitating poetry get-togethers across the country and recently hosted a successful poetry-a-thon in New York in honor of national poetry month.
Jim Miller
Linda Patterson Miller
Linda Patterson Miller (Ph.D., University of Delaware) is the author The Book of American Diaries (with Randall M. Miller, Avon, 1995) and Letters from the Lost Generation: Gerald and Sara Murphy and Friends (Rutgers University P, 1991 & 1993), and her Reading Hemingway: In Our Time is forthcoming from Kent State University Press. She served as a guest scholar for C-Span's two-hour show on Ernest Hemingway in 2002, as part of an ongoing series American Writers: A Journey Through History. She has been a Danforth Foundation Associate as well as a Lilly Foundation post-Doctoral Fellow. She has long served as board member of the Ernest Hemingway Foundation, and she chairs the editorial review board for the forthcoming multi-volume Ernest Hemingway Complete Letters, to be published by Cambridge University Press. She has taught American literature at Penn State Abington since 1984 and won the 2004 Atherton Award for excellence in teaching.
Dr. Patricia C. Miller
Dr. Patricia Cleary Miller is professor of English and chair of the humanities division at Rockhurst University. Miller has published three books and dozens of poems. Her poetry collection, Starting a Swan Dive (BkMk Press) won the Daniel S. Brenner Award for Scholarly Achievement. In 1986 she founded the Rockhurst Review: a Fine Arts Journal which she continues to serve as editor-in-chief. From Harvard University she received the Hiram Hunn Award and the Harvard Alumni Association Award for distinguished service, and a Bunting Fellowship in poetry for a post-doctoral sabbatical year. She has read her work in Paris, France, Anchorage; Alaska, at Harvard and at MIT and is starting her fourth term as poet laureate of the Harvard Alumni Association.
David Naster
Nobody does what David Naster does. He is a keynote speaker and philosopher. Naster is a rare blend of quality entertainment and true inspiration. David Naster – a seriously funny man with a powerful message. Naster's, "You Just Have To Laugh" philosophy, is endorsed by such people as Patch Adams, Dr Bernie Siegel and Herb Kelleher of Southwest Airlines.
Naster's first book, You Just Have To Laugh through Tough Times won 2007 Best Humor Book award on content and design from the AATH (The association of Applied Therapeutic Humor is an international organization of doctors, nurses and healthcare professionals.) This guidebook teaches people how to laugh through illness, injury, danger and grief.
Naster’s latest book- When Work Gets TOUGH – You Just Have To Laugh was the AATH’s 2008 Best Humor Book – furthering the message. This guidebook shows how to use humor to laugh with challenges of work. A tough jobs chapter features – teachers, healthcare workers, firefighters, law enforcement and paramedics.
Lola Nation
Lola Nation joins the Kansas City writer’s community all the way from Venice Beach, Calif. Her writing has been published in literary magazines such as the racy Cherrybleeds Zine and urban ThugWorks Magazine. Her current projects include finishing her fictional book All the Men I Slept with Volume I (accounting for a woman’s witty memoirs from teenage-hood to early 30s) and a musical (adapted from Shel Silverstein lyrics).
Ande Parks
Ande Parks has been working in comics for over a decade. In that time, he has inked such titles as Wonder Woman, Catwoman, Green Arrow, and The Irredeemable Ant-Man, often collaborating with penciller Phil Hester. Parks' bold style has earned him Harvey and Eagle Award nominations.
In recent years, Parks has turned his attention to writing, as well. His two original graphic novels, Union Station, and Capote In Kansas, have earned critical acclaim. Both were published by Oni Press. Capote In Kansas was named a Notable Book for the state of Kansas in 2006, the first graphic novel to receive such an honor.
Parks continues to pay the bills by inking, but his writing career continues to expand, as well. He has just finished his second Daredevil story for Marvel comics, and he's currently working on three different projects for Oni Press.
Parks lives in Baldwin City, Kan., with his lovely wife and two children. When not bent over a drawing board or staring at a computer, he can often be found staring at a golf ball or bent over a glass of Jack Daniels.
