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Tallgrass Faculty Booksigning

7 Comments on Tallgrass Faculty Booksigning

Saturday evening, the Town Crier Bookstore in downtown Emporia hosted its second booksigning event of the day. After 56 authors showed up at the morning event, the store seemed pretty spacious for this second one, with only seven authors.

The evening booksigning was for authors who were on the faculty of the 25th Annual Tallgrass Writing Workshop which was held this weekend at ESU. The late Don Coldsmith began the workshop and this one was dedicated to his memory. He died June 25, 2009.

Emporian Kevin Rabas has two books of poetry out: Bird’s Horn and Lisa’s Flying Electric Piano. He also has two manuscripts ready to shop around to publishers; a book of short stories and another book of poems. Kevin co-directs the Creative Writing Program at Emporia State University. And at various jazz venues in the Emporia, Topeka, Lawrence, KC area, you might be able to catch him playing drums.

Phillip Finch, of Emporia, signs my copy of Devil’s Keep, an international thriller. Phillip has written quite a few books. I talked with him in April.

“No,” Poet Steven Hind says, “I don’t have any more books. They’ve sold out!”  His books sold out as did many of Max McCoy’s books.

Steven Hind lives in Hutch, but grew up in Greenwood County, and he writes incredible poetry, quite a bit of it set in the Flint Hills. He has published “In a Place With No Map” and “The Loose Change of Wonder.”

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Max McCoy was roaming around and I didn’t get him included in a photo, but he’s a bit of a boy wonder when it comes to writing. He’s good and he’s prolific. I think he has 12 books out. Max is a professor of  journalism at ESU.

Annie Wilson and the Tallgrass Express String Band have just released a new CD called “Clean Curve of Hill Against Sky.” To her right are Phillip Finch and Mark Bouton.

Mark Bouton is a retired FBI agent and has written four mystery and suspense novels and hopes to publish a non-fiction book soon: “How to Spot Lies Like the FBI.”

And this is Cliff Wright of Paola. He has written two books “Kansas Folklore in Rural Life,” and “World War II for One.” Now, Cliff is dedicated – he has been to nearly every one (if not all) of the Tallgrass Writing Workshops (25 years.) I’d give him a link, but he doesn’t have an online presence.

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Faculty members Greg Tobin and Jim Hoy weren’t present, so no pics of them either.

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If you missed the signing, these books are available at the Town Crier Bookstore. While I have included a link or two to Amazon, just to show the books, it’s always best to support your local independent bookseller.

7 Comments

  1. I gave a program/power point to the Tallgrass Writer’s Workshop attendees this afternoon on Doniphan, Kansas entitled A Ghostown and Its Sprits. This program is filler while those attending have one-on-one appointments with TWW faculty to hear critiques of their writing. I guess my implicit message was that most places can have a rich history and background in which to set a story, fictitious or not.

    Last year I did a program for the Workshop on William Allen White, telling stories with a writing/writers connection. The assembled were fun and it was fun to share with this group.

    I am trying to think of what I might work up as a possible program for next year’s TWW. I’m thinking of a power point called “Wild Ride on Highway 50 East of Emporia.” This would focus on the road houses, the Finney Bond Scandal, the Collins Bottling Company, moonshine, dance halls, KKK parade grounds, early motels and the lore of Pendergast visits east of Emporia before and after 1931.

  4. But you have hunted down and gathered up hundreds of stories. Those should be recorded (on paper or video or something)and preserved for future generations. Save history! Only you can prevent history deprivation!

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