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April 23-25, 2027
John Deming is a poet, musician and professor. He is the author of the poetry book Headline News (Indolent Books) and has published work in Boston Review, Fence, The Massachusetts Review, The New York Quarterly, New Orleans Review and elsewhere. As a musician, he has performed with Danny Bedrosian, George Clinton, Secret Army, Sweet Motha Child and a variety […]
Judith Pearson is a best-selling and award-winning author, an accomplished presenter, and a graduate of Michigan State University. But her favorite title is “story teller.” Always a fan of history, Judy’s first biographies told of ordinary people who became extraordinary heroes during World War II. A diagnosis of Triple Negative Breast Cancer briefly interrupted Judy’s […]
Mary Jane Ryals received a Ph.D. from Florida State University in English and Creative Writing. She’s been the Poet Laureate of the Big Bend of Florida, and has won the Florida Chapbook Award, a Florida Arts Council Award, and a Florida Book Award in Fiction. Her published books include the novel Cookie & Me, the […]
David began his professional career after earning his commission in the United States Air Force through Florida State University’s Reserve Officers’ Training Corps (ROTC). He went on to serve in a wide range of executive and operational intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance roles around the world from 1987 to 2007. During his distinguished military career, David […]
Mary Davis Paramore is a 6th generation Floridian “on both sides” who followed her husband’s Army career and raised three sons — each born in a different state — through his deployments. After starting and leaving jobs in each of those states, she now documents the couple’s travels as an over-the-road truck driver on social […]
Victor Goines is an internationally acclaimed saxophonist, clarinetist, composer, and educator with a career that spans over four decades at the highest levels of jazz performance and education. A native of New Orleans, Goines began his musical journey at a young age and has become one of the most respected figures in jazz. During his […]
Ace Robertson is the author of Battling Mr. Bossy – a book focused on helping kids knock out anxiety. He is an athletic, kind, and courageous kid who has been fighting Mr. Bossy since he was little. He likes playing sports, drawing, and having fun with his brother and sister in their backyard. Ace lives […]
Mary Ann Lindley was a newspaper columnist for nearly 40 years, primarily for the Tallahassee Democrat. Her commentaries on Florida politics, community issues, and most frequently, trends and curiosities throughout American culture received state and national awards. Ms. Lindley started working in a small weekly newsroom in her native Northwest Missouri at the age of […]
Annie Woodford is the author of Peasant, Where You Come from Is Gone, recipient of the 2022 Weatherford Award for Appalachian Poetry, Bootleg and her micro-chapbook, When God Was a Child. Most recently, she was part of the poetry anthology Had I a Dove: Appalachian Poets on the Helene Flood, proceeds from which go to […]
Dori Freeman is a singer and songwriter from southwestern Virginia. She lives in the small mountain town of Galax where she grew up learning to play guitar from her father and singing in the school choir. At twenty-four she released her debut self-titled album produced by musician Teddy Thompson. In the decade since, she has […]