Local Signing Authors
All the Local Signing Authors will be on Friday, April 20th Big Sandy Arena.
Here are some of the confirmed authors.
James E. Casto
James retired in 2004 from The Herald-Dispatch, where he was a reporter and editor for more than 40 years. He is now senior public information specialist at the Robert C. Byrd Institute from Advanced Flexible Manufacturing. A Native of Huntington, he attended Bethany College at Bethany, WV, and is a graduate of Marshall University, where he earned a bachelor’s degree in journalism and a master’s degree in English. James has taught both journalism and English as a part-time instructor at Marshall and has worked (on loan from the Herald-Dispatch) as a member o the editorial page staff at USA Today. He’s a member of the Society of Professional Journalists and the National Society of Newspaper columnists. In addition to his newspaper work, he’s written more than 150 freelance articles for magazines and newspapers and is the author of a number of books.
Jack and Kay Dickinson
Husband and wife authors Jack and Kay Dickinson have spent the last 40+ years researching the history and genealogy of the people and places of southern West Virginia. For a decade of that period, they did research as certified genealogists. Jack has also authored a dozen books on the Civil War in West Virginia, in which Kay acted as his research assistant and editor. Jack grew up in Mingo County and Kay grew up in Wayne County and both have had an avid interest in the history of that area. In the last decade they have authored and published a four-volume series on the history of southern West Virginia, centering around the coming of the Norfolk & Western Railway and the towns that sprang up along it, the people that rode on it, and died upon it. They are now nearing completion on the fifth and final book in that series. They also recently authored and published the biography of Gen. Albert Gallatin Jenkins, CSA which includes the history of his Greenbottom plantation.
Syd Edwards
Bio and picture to come
Dr Philip Hatfield
Dr Philip Hatfield attended Marshall University and has a bachelor's degree in psychology. He completed a doctorate at Fielding University in Santa Barbara, California. Dr. Hatfield is also a veteran of operation Iraqi Freedom and served during rescue operations following Hurricane Katrina in 2005. He has published three books and numerous articles related to the Civil War in West Virginia and North Carolina.
Wanda Letendre
Bio and picture to come
Bill Merical
Fallen Rock and his brother Running Water are going on a journey from coast to coast across the country with six tasks to complete. The first one back will become the next chief of their village. Fallen Rock had no idea all he would see and learn, along with all the people he would meet on his journey. My name is Bill Merical and I first told the story of Fallen Rock when I was a senior in high school in 1974. Our family was driving in the mountains of West Virginia and my father told me to tell my little brother a story to keep him quiet. We came around a curve and I saw the sign “Watch out for Fallen Rock” and off I went. After more than 36 years I decided to write down the story that I had in my head since 1974. Then after many writes and rewrites The Journey of Fallen Rock was re-born and I got Glenn Payne a local artist in Tupelo Mississippi to illustrate it. Now I don’t have to worry about my grandkids not knowing the story and hopefully kids everywhere now will think and remember Fallen Rock, Deer Crossing, Rest Area, Rail-Road Crossing and all the others as they travel.
Marie Rocini and Gina Thomas
Mary Rocini has worked in early childhood and kindergarten classrooms for almost 30 years. Mary and her husband live in West Virginia and their son now lives and works in Pennsylvania. She has always used children’s literature in her classroom including some of her own stories. Getting Ready is a story she wrote for teaching science. Mary collaborated with the art teacher at her school, Gina Thomas to bring the story to life. The illustrations are perfect for the story and the message. Gina Thomas was raised in Indiana on a farm and now resides in West Virginia. She is an elementary art teacher, artist and avid trail runner. Her experiences growing up on a farm and daily on the trail are where she is inspired with many of the ideas for her artwork.
Cat Shaffer
Cat Shaffer is a native Buckeye who saw the light and moved to Kentucky over 20 years ago. Able to say "Louisville" like a native, she adores living in the land of beautiful horses and fast women ... no, wait, it goes the other way around! A member of RWA for over a decade and a Golden Heart finalist, Cat loves adventure, danger and those to-die-for heroes, or writing about them, anyway. Under the pseudonym of Cammie Eicher, she pens paranormal suspense, including the Shadow Ancients series. Away from the keyboard, she's a mother and grandmother who volunteers with the Red Cross, leads her church choir and has never met a house plant she couldn't kill. She also lives with a big Sheltie and a gray tabby who keep her humble by reminding her of her place as their servant.
Aaron Starmer
Aaron Starmer was born in California and raised in New York. After graduating from Drew University and receiving a master's in cinema studies from NYU, he worked for ten years as an expert in travel literature and a specialist in African safaris. Currently, he can be found writing and editing books from his apartment in Hoboken, New Jersey, where he lives with his wife. He has written extensively for the travel industry, has contributed to a McSweeney's anthology, and is the author of two novels for young readers. His first novel, DWEEB (Random House, 2009), is a comic adventure involving five eighth graders who must harness their nerdish powers to expose a conspiracy involving fast food, standardized testing, and a school full of overachieving zombies. His latest, THE ONLY ONES (Random House, 2011), is an apocalyptic fable about the last innocent boy in the world and his journey to a village of oddball children who see either salvation or doom in the giant machine he asks them to build out of the scraps of an amusement park. Aaron is a frequent visitor to Huntington, where his sister, brother-in-law and nephews live, and he is excited to have a chance to share his writing with their friends and neighbors.
Robert Thompson
Bio and picture to come
Colonel Charles Dahnmon Whitt
Colonel Charles Dahnmon Whitt was born in Virginia, moving to Kentucky 40 years ago, and has made his home in Greenup County ever since. His passions are writing, history, and genealogy, a combination of interests which led, naturally, to being a writer of historical and genealogical works. The Civil War and the American south have been recurring themes for Colonel Whitt, whose works include studies on his great grandfather and great, great grandfather, and his most recent work, Confederate American. A long time Civil War enthusiast, Colonel Whitt also has experience as a participant in Civil War reconstructions.
Sharon Cogan Whitt
Sharon Cogan Whitt is a native of Flatwoods, KY, and attended Russell High School. Sharon worked as Church historian for the Mean memorial United Methodist Church, in which capacity she authored this book. She is a Kentucky Colonel, served as president of one of Kentucky’s largest schools and has always been interested in the activities and history of the state of her birth. Her work, An Old Fashioned Church for a New Fangled World, the History of Mead Memorial United Methodist Church, traces the history of the Mead Memorial Church in Russell, KY, founded in 1907, and all proceeds from the sale of the book go to the church.
