Meet the StoryMaker

The Writers’ Colony at Dairy Hollow (WCDH) will host “Meet the StoryMaker” on Saturday, December 4, in the Highlander Room at the Eureka Springs Community Center, 44 Kings Highway, Eureka Springs. The free event will run from 10:00 am – 2:00 pm and will be an opportunity for the public to purchase adult, YA, and children’s books in a range of genres directly from the authors. Local and visiting authors will be on hand to sign their books and readings from will be held throughout the event. Writers participating include Woody Barlow, Catherine Buercklin, Lea Ann Crisp, Clover Danos, Harrie Farrow, Sean Fitzgibbon, Mariellen Griffith, Nancy Hartney, Laura Matson Hahn, Tony Kendrew, Ruth Mitchell, Peggy Perry-Hill, Keith Scales, Zeek Taylor, Wendy Taylor Carlisle, Charles Templeton, John Two-Hawks, Ashley Wellman, and Cheri White. The Carroll County branch of Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library will be present. And copies of the “Dairy Hollow Echo,” the anthology of WCDH’s literary ezine, “eMerge,” will be available.

Meet the StoryMaker is a chance to do your holiday shopping for all the literature lovers on your list. Signed books and dinner at the Writers’ Colony at Dairy Hollow with WCDH writers will be raffled to benefit the WCDH scholarship fund. The drawing will occur at 2:00 pm on December 4. The winner does not need to be present. Gift wrapping will be available free of charge (donations appreciated) throughout the event. COVID precautions will be in place, including social distancing and the use of masks.

WCDH Executive Director, Michelle Hannon, said, “We’re thrilled to offer this opportunity for the public to meet writers of a broad range of genres and hear them read their work. Giving a book signed by the author with a personalized message is such a thoughtful gift. Buying a book directly from the writer that created it, saw it through from a glimmer of an idea to a published work, is a purchase one can feel good about.”

The writers and organizations represented will offer literary options for every literary taste.  Readings will be in fifteen-minute blocks starting at 10:00 am sharp in the following order: 10:00 - Charles Templeton (adult historical fiction), 10:15 - Harrie Farrow (adult fiction), 10:30 - Nancy Hartney (regional short stories), 10:45 - Ruth Mitchell (adult, supernatural fiction), 11:00 – Laura Matson Hahn (adult inspirational fiction), 11:15 – Wendy Taylor Carlisle (poetry), 11:30 Peggy Perry-Hill and John Two-Hawks (memoir, mysticism), 11:45 – Mariellen Griffith (cozy mystery), 12:00 – Zeek Taylor (memoir), 12:15 – Tony Kendrew (poetry and short stories), 12:30 – Cheri White (children’s literature), 12:45 – Lea Ann Crisp - (children’s literature), 1:00 Ashley Wellman (children’s literature), 1:15 – Catherine Buercklin (pandemic poetry/prose), 1:30 – Keith Scales (regional, historical, supernatural), 1:45 – Sean Fitzgibbon (historic graphic novel).

Woody Barlow was a Vietnam Combat Veteran, and Level III Operations Manager for the FAA before retiring to Eureka Springs, becoming a firefighter and assistant chief of the Grassy Knob Fire Department, and a WCDH board member. His books include a memoir, a non-fiction novel, a book of poetry, and his recently released young adult novel, “The Guardians of Eureka Springs,” which deals with divorce and Mucklots, reptilian creatures that inhabit the dark places around Eureka Springs.

Catherine Buercklin is a writer and contemporary poet from Conway, Arkansas, who loves collaborating with other artists. Her new book is “A (Social) Distance: Poetry and Prose in the Time of a Pandemic.”

Lea Ann Crisp is a native of Northwest Arkansas from Bella Vista with a background in fine art and graphic design. Her children’s books include, We Need the Dark, a bedtime book to help ease a child’s fear of the dark, and Ryan’s Pirates, about a boy who is afraid to sleep because he thinks there are pirates in his room.

Clover Danos started writing stories at a young age, inspired by the natural beauty of the Ozarks, the creative atmosphere of Eureka Springs, and time spent reading at our local library. She particularly enjoys writing about magic and monsters, but also likes to dabble in many different genres including short stories, novel-length works, and poetry. Her novel, Mystery of a Witch, is a young adult fantasy novel with curses, crumbling castles, magical battles, a dragon fight, and time travel.

Harrie Farrow, author of the novels, Love, Sex, and Understanding the Universe, and Finding Bonita, grew up in the Caribbean, spent her twenties in San Francisco, and her thirties and forties running a fine dining restaurant in Eureka Springs and raising a son. She's a bisexual/LGBTQ advocate, political activist, and elected official serving her second term as Justice of the Peace. When not writing, she enjoys cooking, swimming, kayaking, dancing, and traveling.

Sean Fitzgibbon is an artist who explores unusual, real places and events through his work. He’s been teaching college art for nearly twenty years, has an MFA in art, and a passion for making art and visual storytelling. He will offer promotional books for his upcoming non-fiction historical graphic novel What follows is True: Crescent Hotel.

Mariellen Griffith is an Arkansas Master Naturalist and Gardener, and member of the Eureka Springs Historical Society. She is Professor Emeritus, Butler University in Indianapolis, Indiana, where she taught for twenty-four years. She has published ten books including Murder in Eureka Springs: Three Novellas, Murder at Brews, Mystery of the Bones in the Underground, Mystery of the Ancient Burial Site, and The Mystery of the Disappearing Village.  Her latest book is Conspiracy on Mars.

Nancy Hartney writes books rooted in a Southern landscape. Her books include, If You Walk Long Enough, a novel published in 2021 set against the backdrop of Vietnam; Two short stories collections, If the Creek Don’t Rise: Tales from the South, published in 2016; and Washed in the Water: Tales from the South, published in 2013. A photographer, Nancy Hartney will also offer pictures of her rambles around the country.

Laura Matson Hahn earned a Master’s in Communications and spent 30 years working in strategic communications. She then crafted her novel; The Heart Code, an homage to the philosophy of living according to one’s heart voice and wisdom. She lives on Beaver Lake and serves on the WCDH Board of Directors.

Tony Kendrew is delighted to have landed in Arkansas after the many travels that are echoed in his books. Much of his writing reflects his love affair with nature but, born a Welshman, he also writes about the push and pull between our roots and origins and the adventure of new places and faces. His work includes Beasts and Beloveds (poetry, CD), Feathers Scattered in the Wind (poetry), Turning (poetry, paperback and CD), and Transatlanticdotes: A Little Book of Quite Short Stories.

Ruth Mitchell has worked as a travel writer, freelancer, editor, and educational textbook writer. Her novels include White Oak and Beyond: A Tale of Discovery on the Other Side of Life. She will have her novel Beyond for sale and her self-help book, Living Happy, Joyous, and Free.

Peggy Perry-Hill is an author, retreat facilitator and lifelong activist who has written several books, including an artistic book of profound poetry entitled, The Wind of My Soul. Her recently published book, Give Peas a Chance: Recipes, Nostalgia & Songs of the '60s, is part memoir, part cookbook and all feel-good.

Keith Scales is an actor, director, playwright, and managed the ghost tours at the Crescent Hotel for ten years. As Artistic Director of the Classic Greek Theatre of Oregon he wrote and directed English versions of sixteen of the ancient plays. He has written many novels and short stories including House of a Hundred Rooms: Tales the Ghost Tour Guides Do Not Tell, Seven Story Hotel: Tales Told by the Ghosts of the Basin Park Hotel, John Dee’s Back Leg: A Metaphysical Farce, and Brane Fever: Five Stories in One.

Zeek Taylor is an artist, author, and storyteller. He has read his short stories on the NPR radio show Tales from the South and is a co-host of the live storytelling show Homegrown Tales. A native Arkansan, he is a recipient of the AR Governor’s Art Award for Lifetime Achievement. He has written two books of short stories based on his life in Arkansas, Out of the Delta and Out of the Delta II, and an art book Chimps Having Fun.

Wendy Taylor Carlisle is the author of four books and five chapbooks including On the Way to the Promised Land Zoo. She is the 2020 winner of the 2020 Phillip H. McMath Post-Publication Award for The Mercy of Traffic.

Charles Templeton is a member of the WCDH Board of Directors and serves as the Acquisitions Editor for its literary magazine, eMerge. He was the driving force behind the new anthology of selections from eMerge, the “Dairy Hollow Echo,” which celebrates the twentieth anniversary of the WCDH. He is the author of Boot: A Sorta Novel of Vietnam.

John Two-Hawks is a Grammy® and Emmy® nominated recording artist, speaker, activist and author who has traveled the world sharing the healing power of love, compassion and humility, and offering global, Indigenous, earth-based approaches to physical, emotional and spiritual health and wellness. His work includes the new book Of Mist and Stone – A Journey into the Mysterious Oneness of Two Ancient Worlds and the autobiographical book about his traumatic childhood, Hidden Medicine - Surviving, Healing and Rising from the Ashes of Abuse.

Ashley Wellman, PhD, serves on the WCDH Board of Directors, is an Adjunct Professor of Criminal Justice and Legal Studies at the University of Mississippi, and is the owner of aMUSEd Fine Art and Extraordinary Books on Spring Street in Eureka Springs. She will be selling The Girl Who Dances with Skeletons: My Friend Fresno, My Friend Fresno Coloring Book, The Princess and the Pea: A Fixed-Up Fairy Tale, Fresno plush and puzzle collection, and her first young adult fantasy novel Ghosts of the Abbey.

Cheri White, freelance writer/reporter, is the author of Seven Lucky Bunnies and the Magic Muffin Dance. The book also contains a music CD and is illustrated by Christina Smith, well-known for her nature and bird illustrations. All proceeds from the book will go directly to the building fund for a new library in Berryville, part of the Carroll-Madison County library system.

Jodie English Brown will represent Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library for Carroll County. The organization sends one age-appropriate book per month to Carroll County children completely free to foster a passion for reading, spark their imagination, and create a life-long love of learning in preschool children by ensuring that every child born has books, regardless of their family’s income.

The Dairy Hollow Echo, released in August 2021, is an anthology of selected works from “eMerge, the online literary magazine of WCDH. It features 107 stories, poems, essays, and other creative work by 87 authors, and celebrates 20 years of WCDH.

The Writers’ Colony at Dairy Hollow is a 501(c)3 nonprofit whose mission is to nurture writers of all genres, backgrounds, and levels of experience in a supportive environment that builds community, energizes creative expression, stimulates new thinking, and optimizes productivity. Since opening its doors to writers in 2000, WCDH has made a lasting impact on the arts and literary communities hosting over 1,700 writers from 48 states and 13 countries. For more information, please visit www.writerscolony.org or call Michelle Hannon or Jeanne Glass at (479)253-7444.