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Confirmed Authors for 2010:

Sonya Swafford, Cleveland resident, active community member, and local teacher, begins her published writing career with Sorry, Charlie: A Southern Fish Tale of Fins and Friends. This touching debut story is sure to warm hearts. Terri Routman describes this tale as "...a perfect medium for teaching about tolerance and acceptance.  This book is a must for anyone, at any age, to read."  

Popular fiction writer, obstetrician-gynecologist, and a native of Cleveland, MS, Darden North, MD, is the award winning author of three nationally-recognized novels: House Call (2005), Points of Origin (2006), and Fresh Frozen (2008). North is a member of Mystery Writers of America, the Mississippi Writers Guild, the Southern Independent Book Association (SIBA), Sisters in Crime, the Mississippi Institute of Arts and Letters and the Independent Book Publishers Association. Dr. North was recently a featured author on "The Writer's Block" premiere event at the 2009 SIBA show in Greenville, SC. Practicing medicine full time in Jackson, MS, as a board-certified physician, Darden North lives there with his wife Sally, their two children and three dogs.

Daisy Karam-Read is the author of the book From Manhattan to Mississippi: a New Yorker Falls in Love With the South. She graduated from Queens College in New York with a bachelor’s degree in communication arts, and worked as an actress for several years in New York, Los Angeles, and Munich. In January 2002 she graduated from Tulane University with a master’s degree in cultural management, with an emphasis on art history.   Daisy resides in Gulfport with her husband Jerry. When she isn't writing, Daisy enjoys reading, traveling, and listening to classical music.  

Gary Walters, a Mississippi native and renowned landscape artist, has spent a lifetime painting the Mississippi Delta.  His book Delta Dreamin' includes 85 of these paintings as well as additional drawings and sketches. Quail Ridge Press published the book in September 2008. Over the past 35 years, Gary Walters has had numerous one-man shows and has taught art on every level.  In 1993 he was honored as the Art Alumnus of the Year for Mississippi College. 

Robert Dalby was born into a large, extended Southern family, consisting of nearly two-dozen first cousins, two uncles, four aunts, two sets of grandparents and any number of ‘further-removed’ among the cousinly.  Dalby grew up in Natchez, Mississippi. and obtained a B.A. at the University of the South (Sewanee).  His previous novels, WALTZING AT THE PIGGLY WIGGLY and KISSING BABIES AT THE PIGGLY WIGGLY grew out of his own fascination with the eccentricities of the small-town South he grew up with and loved.  As a native and resident of a small Southern town during his formative years, Dalby learned to expect eccentricity and quirky behavior as par for the course – he often only had to look as far as his own family and friends for inspiration. Dalby now lives in Oxford, Mississippi. A PIGGLY WIGGLY WEDDING is his third novel.

 Carolyn E. Grant is a freelance writer who lives in Brandon, MS, near the Barnett Reservoir. This is the setting of the Maggie’s Neighborhood series of children’s picture books in which Maggie experiences the same seasons, events and holiday as children ages 3 years to 6 years old. Carolyn grew up in the Jackson, MS area, is the mother of 5 children, 7 grandchildren, and 1 great granddaughter. She now works as an RN on the neurology unit of a local hospital while pursuing her interest in freelance writing and overseeing the care of her mother.

Stokes McMillan is fourth generation born and raised in Kosciusko, Mississippi, the county seat of Attala County, where the events of One Night of Madness occurred. While writing is his passion, his day job is at the Johnson Space Center in Houston, Texas, where he works for NASA as a Space Shuttle engineer. McMillan lives with his wife in Houston. One Night of Madness is his first book.

 Donna B. Taylor, licensed marriage and family therapist, and Cleveland resident recently published her first book: Coming Home On Highway 84: Weaving In And Out Through The Tapestry Of Our Lives. Her 58-page picture book is a blend of geography, history, scripture, and a personal journey of faith. As an author/writer, she is writing a trilogy of books using Highway 84 as an allegory that we are on God's highway to Heaven. Donna purposefully writes in a style that the reader can enjoy visual imagery as they reflect upon their personal life journey.

Quentin Whitwell, author of If By Whiskey, holds two degrees from the University of Mississippi, a Bachelor of Arts and a Juris Doctorate.  While at Ole Miss, he served as the Associated Student Body President and was inducted into the Hall of Fame. Growing up in Oxford, Mississippi, he walked the path of William Faulkner learning that the legend of Yoknapatawpha still lives today with eccentric characters and folksy ways. An attorney and lobbyist in Jackson, Mississippi, Quentin draws from his life experiences to write this comedic fictional novel. Quentin is married to the former Ginger Gordon. They have two children, Davis and Gordon, and an English springer spaniel, Churchill.