|
| |
|
|
|
A | B | C | D | E | F | G | H | I | J | K | L | M |
N | O | P | Q | R | S | T | U | V | W | X | Y | Z
|
|
Amy Wallen was raised by a wild pack of Texans. But she's an oddity to the Texas cousins because she never lived in the state, and still likes barbecue, beer and pinto beans. Because her dad worked for an oil company, she grew up in Louisiana, Alabama, Mississippi, Nevada, Nigeria, Peru, Bolivia and Oklahoma. She's still crazy for
plane rides. Most of her writing inspiration comes from spending her summer vacation helping out her grandmother at her roadside convenience store on Highway 90 in Brackettville, Texas.
She graduated from the University of Oklahoma, Norman in 1986 with a BA in Journalism/Advertising. She majored in Advertising thinking she could be a creative writer and make a living-another one of her silly illogical ideas, like when she thought skydiving would be no big deal, or that aerobics would be enough of a workout to
insure she was in shape for her trek to the Everest Base Camp.
Upon college graduation, she decided she'd had enough of the Midwest and took off for San Diego, California with no job, a few hundred dollars, and the key to an apartment of a friend of a friend. She worked her way through a variety of jobs from advertising to legal administration. All the while, she plodded away at her short stories,
essays and novels.
Currently, Amy teaches creative writing at UC San Diego Extension, leads an advanced private read and critique group, along with other occasional workshops around San Diego. She hosts the monthly open mic prose reading sponsored by San Diego Writers Ink and she sits on their advisory board.
She started piano lessons at the age of 40 and can now play the Alfred Hitchcock Presents television show theme song, and John Lennon's Imagine. www.amywallen.com
|
|
|
|
Rebecca Wells, actress, playwright, and author of two New York Times bestsellers, Divine Secrets of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood and Little Altars Everywhere, was born in Louisiana.
After college, Ms. Wells later moved to New York City to pursue her acting career and began studying the Stanislavski method of acting, as well as a depth approach that integrates spirituality and performance with Maurine Holbert. "I live in an actor's body, in which the cultivation of sense memory, active listening, and the belief that the sublime can arise out of the most
common character, word, or gesture is somewhat of a religion
for me."
Rebecca's commitment was not only to the stage, but to peace and social justice as well. In 1982, she went to Seattle, Washington, where she performed at numerous professional theaters. She also founded a chapter of Performing Artists for Nuclear Disarmament. Charmed by the beauty and grace of The Great Northwest, she decided to make it her home.
Her writing, however, resides in the heart of Louisiana. While many fans assume her work is autobiographical, Wells maintains that her stories are just that -- stories. "I grew up in the fertile world of story-telling, filled with flamboyance, flirting, futility, and fear. My work, though, is a result of my imagination dancing a kind of psycho-spiritual tango with my own history,
and the final harvest is fiction, not memoir." Little Altars Everywhere, which won the Western States Book Award and was a New York Times bestseller, and Divine Secrets of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood, a #1 New York Times bestseller and winner of the 1999 Adult Trade ABBY Award, have given Wells a dominant place in American literature.
She lives on an island near Seattle with her husband and her King Charles Cavalier Spaniel who is named "Mercy." As Rebecca is fond of saying, "Dogs always remind me why the word 'God' is 'dog' spelled backwards." www.ya-ya.com
|
|
|
David Marion Wilkinson,
a
fifth-generation Arkansan, has lived in Texas since 1972. He graduated from the University of Texas in 1980 with a B.A. in English. The author has worked as a carpenter, mortgage loan officer, a legal investigator for a civil trial firm, and in the domestic and foreign oil fields. His second novel, The Empty Quarter, draws upon his experiences in the North Sea and Saudi Arabia.
His first, Not Between Brothers, won the 1997 Violet Crown Award for fiction, was a Spur Award "Best Novel of the West" finalist, and was selected "Editors Choice" by The Review of Texas Books.
His short story, "Opening Day," published by ReadWest Online Magazine, won the Western
Writers of America 2000 Spur Award for Best Western Short Fiction. Wilkinson is a member of Western Writers of America, and sits on the board of Ozark Creative Writers. His third novel,
OBLIVION'S ALTAR, the true life story of the Cherokee Chief Major Ridge, was released by NAL/Penguin Putnam in November, 2002. Major Ridge championed the "civilization" movement
within the Cherokee Nation and was the driving force behind the organization of a centralized, constituted government only to be blamed for the Trail of Tears. OBLIVION'S ALTAR won the 2003 Spur Award for "Best Original Paperback" and was selected as a finalist for the 2003 Oklahoma Book Awards.
Wilkinson co-wrote a memoir with retired Texas Ranger Joaquin Jackson. At the twilight of Jackson's 27-year career with the Rangers, TEXAS MONTHLY magazine featured his image on their bestselling edition ever (February, 1994). Jackson went on to act in feature films THE
GOOD OLD BOYS, DANCER,TEXAS, ROUGH RIDERS, and BLUE SKY. Now in its seventh printing, ONE RANGER: A MEMOIR has become the fastest-selling book in the history of the University of Texas Press.
Wilkinson is currently at work on a contemporary novel set in the Big Bend Country of West Texas entitled WHERE THE MOUNTAINS ARE THIEVES.
David splits his time between Alpine and Dallas, Texas. www.dmarionwilkinson.com
|
|
|
Franz Wisner is a writer/vagabond who, in a previous reincarnation, used to work as a lobbyist, public relations executive, and government press secretary. During his world journeys, he penned numerous travel articles and opinion pieces, which appeared in The San Francisco Chronicle, Los Angeles Times, ABC News on-line,
and Coast Magazine, among others. Franz and his brother, Kurt, are currently traveling the globe for their next book, also with St. Martin's Press. www.honeymoonwithmybrother.com
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
