Presenters and Faculty
for the 2024 Chanticleer Authors Conference
April 18 – 21, 2024 in Bellingham, WA
We are thrilled to announce our line-up of experts in marketing, book publicity, publishing, and advanced writing craft for the 2024 Chanticleer Authors Conference!
We will be updating this page with speaker and session info when confirmed.
Please check back often! All information subject to change.
D.D. BLACK – Crime Fiction Author
D.D. Black is the author of the internationally-bestselling Thomas Austin Crime Thrillers. Before he began writing full time, he was an adjunct professor of journalism at NYU and an English teacher at Northwest Indian College. He also teaches classes on writing, marketing, and publishing all over the country, including for the Pacific Northwest Writers Association, the Write in the Harbor Conference, the Royal City Literary Arts Society, the Bainbridge Artisan Resource Network, the 20Books Conference, and many local libraries.
Previously, he wrote thrillers under the name A.C. Fuller, including The Alex Vane Media Thrillers, The Ameritocracy Series, and The Crime Beat. Altogether, he’s written and published over thirty books. To learn more, check out ddblackauthor.com.
D.D. Black will be presenting at CAC24
KIM HORNSBY – Author, Producer, and Screenwriter
Kim Hornsby is a produced and multi-awarded screenwriter of everything from Thrillers to RomComs. She’s known for crafting the toe curling romance. A USA Today bestselling author, Kim adapts novels to scripts and teaches her method nationally. She lives on an island off Seattle where she writes in a forest of old growth cedar trees and owls. A former actress, Kim was once best known as the BluBlocker infomercial host. She’s worked in entertainment in Toronto, Vancouver, Los Angeles, Maui, Whistler and now the Pacific Northwest where she speaks at writer conferences on story structure and the adaptation.
Her book The Dream Jumper’s Promise is scheduled to be filmed starting in late 2024.
MARK BERRIDGE – Author, Leader, and Motivational Speaker
By melding his professional background with the lived experience of his personal recovery journey, Mark brings his unique insights, perspective and practical tips and strategies to every custom-curated presentation he delivers.
Mark’s authenticity, openness, expertise and practicality profoundly impact the individuals, teams and organisations he presents to, helping them build the resilience they need to succeed in today’s challenging business environment.
Most recently, Mark presented at TedEx Brisbane. We’re excited to have him back for CAC24! Mark will be presenting two sessions for us that will focus on:
- Success comes in many shapes and sizes. Explore his 3 tips for amplifying it.
- Notice how / when your goals creep.
- Reward yourself for achieving your original goals and for re-calibrating new goals
- Embrace and celebrate all the other gains / outcomes from your action that seem ancillary to your goals.
- Plan well, adapt better. Why he is firm on purpose but flexible on pathway.
- Good preparation is a valuable foundation, but we can never see all the possibilities.
- Action (especially when embracing uncertainty) liberates possibilities.
- Things work, things fail. Own where you are at and make plans, take action to keep going.
SUSAN V. MEYERS – Creative Writing Program Director Non-Fiction Writer and Pushcart Prize Nominee
After growing up on a carnival route, Susan V. Meyers, PhD., is a professor and Director of the Creative Writing Program at Seattle University.
Having received grants from Fulbright, the National Endowment for the Humanities, and several arts residencies, she has been nominated for The Best American Series and several Pushcart Prizes. Her novel Failing the Trapeze won the Nilsen Award, and other work has appeared in Creative Nonfiction, Huffington Post, The Rumpus, Hippocampus, So to Speak, New Orleans Review, and The Minnesota Review. You can find her at susanvmeyers.com.
Susan will present sessions on:
- Dynamic Dialogue: The Art of Subtext
- Grabbing Your Reader and Not Letting Go
- Fantastic First Lines
Tony Jeton Selimi, a globally celebrated author, speaker, and coach, specializes in transforming human behavior and cognition.
He is committed to guiding individuals, entrepreneurs, leaders, business owners, and organizations from frustration to the pinnacles of breakthroughs, purpose, prosperity, and philanthropy. With a rich technology, business, wealth creation, and personal and professional growth and development background, Tony has honed distinctive methodologies that marry scientific rigor with spiritual intelligence, captivating audiences and clients worldwide.
From a humble beginning to a towering figure of influence, Tony’s narrative is a testament to perseverance and vision. His literary contributions, including the acclaimed titles “A Path to Wisdom,” “#Loneliness,” “The Unfakeable Code®,” and “A Path to Excellence,” have left an indelible mark on countless lives. His forthcoming work, “Climb Greater Heights,” is set to ignite the entrepreneurial spirit, urging business leaders to forge a legacy of impact and benevolence.
Tony’s acumen transcends the bounds of authorship. As a distinguished orator, he has illuminated platforms such as the UN, TEDx, and the London Business Exhibition with his profound insights into wealth generation, media mastery, and the art of strategic alliances. Celebrated with over a hundred literary accolades and featured in a myriad of media appearances, Tony stands as a beacon for authors worldwide.
In his presentation, “Soaring on the Wings of Words: Monetizing Authorship with Tony J. Selimi’s ‘Climb Greater Heights’ Method,” Tony charts a course for authors of all echelons. He offers the blueprint that propelled his ascent from anonymity to global renown, empowering authors to harness their craft for unparalleled success. Embark on this journey with Tony and witness the alchemy of words into wealth. For more information: https://tonyselimi.com
Tony will be presenting a two part session: Soaring on the Wings of Words: Monetizing Authorship with his “Climb Greater Heights’ Method
You’ll hear firsthand how leveraging technology, business acumen, and strategic partnerships can catapult your work from the shadows into the spotlight.
Join us and let Tony J. Selimi show you how to navigate the ever-evolving landscape of authorship with grace and confidence. This isn’t just a talk; it’s a call to action for all who believe in the magic of their stories and the potential of their dreams. Secure your spot and prepare to soar to greater heights on the wings of words.
NICOLE J. PERSUN – Award Winning and Bestselling Author and Creative Writing Instructor
Nicole J. Persun is an award-winning and internationally bestselling author with a master’s degree in Creative Writing & Instruction. Nicole has written and published in multiple genres, most recently book club fiction under the pen name Jennifer Gold. Her most recent novel, Halfway to You, was an Amazon First Reads selection in March 2023. Learn more at nicolejpersun.com. Discover her recent novels at jennifergoldauthor.com.
LUCAS SOUTHWORTH – Award Winning Short Story Author
Lucas Southworth’s book of short stories, Everyone Here Has a Gun, won the Association of Writers and Writing Program’s Grace Paley Prize. He has published stories in magazines such as the Pushcart Prize Anthology, Conjunctions, The Iowa Review, AGNI, Copper Nickel, and many others. He has also received Grants, fellowships, and residencies from The Maryland State Arts Council, The Truman Capote Trust, Virginia Center for the Creative Arts, the Jentel Artist Residency Program, Monson Arts, and Arteles Creative Center in Finland. Usually, he divides his time between Baltimore and Washington, where teaches fiction and screenwriting at Loyola University Maryland and at Seattle U.
Lucas will have sessions on:
- How to Design a Smashing Screenplay: The importance of planning and outlining a story before you write
- Key Elements of Writing the Short Story
JAYNE ENTWISTLE – Award-winning Audiobook Narrator and Actress
Jayne Entwistle is an award-winning audiobook narrator known most notably for her narration of the Flavia De Luce series by Alan Bradley. She has received the Odyssey Award, Odyssey Honour Award and Voice Arts Award for narration. In addition to several Earphones Awards, AudioFile Magazine has included her narration on their list of Best Audiobooks of the Year. When not immersed in books, Jayne can be found on-screen in television programs such as: The Good Place, Grey’s Anatomy, Winning Time, and You’re the Worst. Originally from the north of England, Jayne currently lives in the PNW.
Jayne will present: How a Narrator Brings Your Words to Life
Panel: All things AudioBooks and Narration with Janet Oakley and Robert Phillips
Behind the mic with award-winning audiobook narrator Jayne Entwistle. What goes into recording an audiobook? From receiving the manuscript to uploading finished audio files, Jayne will outline the process of creating an audiobook and how instrumental authors can be in that process. From hours of pain-staking research to decisions about accents and character’s vocal traits to the myriad ways a line can be read, get a glimpse into how a narrator brings your words to life. Q&A will be included.
She will also participate in panels.
CHRISTINE FAIRCHILD – Author & Book Doctor
(and Dialogue Expert!)
Christine Fairchild offers 35+ years experience as a writer, editor, and book doctor. She’s conducted celebrity interviews (XFiles, SciFiMall.com), edited for technical giants (Microsoft, Hitachi), and served as a marketing/readability specialist for consumer products (DHL, Cingular, AT&T). She now specializes in Suspense fiction and helps authors take their work, and their career, to the next level through her online workshops, classes at conferences and one-on-one book-doctoring of clients’ novels. She also writes suspense and historical fiction, so she understands the challenges authors face in their craft and the publishing industry.
Christine will be presenting sessions on:
- Sassy Subtext
- Character Building – the BookDoctor
- Developmental Edits that Book Doctors see that writers done.
- Power Moves to Make Your Story Unstoppable with Kim Hornsby
- Look Out! He’s Behind You! Effectively Using Suspense to Insure a Page Turner with Kim Hornsby
Find more of her tips & tricks at: EditorDevil.blogspot.com
MICHELLE COX – OVERALL GRAND PRIZE AUTHOR
Michelle Cox is the author of the multiple award-winning Henrietta and Inspector Howard series as well as “Novel Notes of Local Lore,” a weekly blog dedicated to Chicago’s forgotten residents. She suspects she may have once lived in the 1930s and, having yet to discover a handy time machine lying around, has resorted to writing about the era as a way of getting herself back there.
Her work has received multiple Mystery & Mayhem and Clue Awards from Chanticleer as well as the Overall Grand Prize Award for Best Book for her book A Spying Eye, in addition to several top-rated reviews, plus many other accolades, so she might be on to something. Unbeknownst to most, Michelle hoards board games she doesn’t have time to play and is, not surprisingly, addicted to period dramas and big band music. Also marmalade.
REENITA MALHOTRA HORA – Podcaster & Broadcast Journalist & Contributor
Reenita Malhotra Hora is the CEO of Chapter by Episode Productions. She has years of experience growing organizations from startups to medium-sized businesses through storytelling, creative marketing and business strategy. Hora has also written seven books.
She has contributed to Reuters, the South China Morning Post family section, the Wall Street Journal, New York Times, CNN, Asian Investor, Times of India, Business Line, Bloomberg on-air news reporter, writer, and producer, Rolling Stone, and the Economic Times.
DIANE GARLAND – Your WorldKeeper – Continuity Senior Editor
Diane Garland and her editorial company Your WorldKeeper, specializes in the world of continuity. Multiple USA Today best-selling and award-winning authors in various genres rely on her system of cataloging and organizing the minutiae and rules of their story worlds. Growing up as an AF Brat, Diane traveled extensively as a child, which has fueled her passion for travel and reading. She graduated from Florida State University and is a life-long learner. She, along with her husband and two cats, have recently relocated to Columbus, Ohio from the Seattle, Washington area.
Join Diane at her sessions about the necessity, creation, and organization of a story bible along with pointers on maintaining and using it to take your author career to the next level.
LISA SPICER – Producer, Editor, Writer
Lisa Spicer has worked in television, film, and video production for over 30 years as producer, writer, and editor. Starting in the documentary unit at KCTS/PBS Seattle, she worked there later on the Bill Nye the
Science Guy show, earning 3 Emmys. As an independent documentary producer, she has worked in Kenya, Mexico’s Lacandon rainforest, Northern Cheyenne and Lummi Indian reservations, Boulder, Seattle,
and Bellingham. Lisa has a BA in Broadcast Journalism and certificates in Filmmaking and Screenwriting (UW). Mid-career she earned an MA in Anthropology (WWU). Integrating anthropology into documentary, she
co-produced Homeless in Bellingham, an award-winning web series and documentary, and served as Consulting Anthropologist for the feature documentary, Cheech and Chong’s Last Movie. Recently
finishing an historical novel, Radio Smokva, she’s now writing about her back-to-the-land childhood and publishing a weekly series on Substack, Collective Effervescence: Research About the Counterculture.
Lisa will lead a workshop called How to Read a Film, with a focus to enhance your fluency in the language of film. Rooted in the practice of mise-en-scene, learn how meaning is conveyed through elements such as camera angle, set design, motif (shapes), lighting, actors, sound, all of which work together in support of the narrative.
- Writing for the screen or with the screen in mind, whether narrative or non-fiction (documentary) film.
- Ex: From any story, what is selected to be scripted and filmed? How is it framed (what do we see)?
- Ex: Screenplays are written in present tense
- As related to writing, film borrows from theater by using elements of mis en scene and motif.
- Ex: How do theater directors use props and costume to support the narrative?
- Writing for film or with film in mind can be informed by the craft and how films are actually made.
Ex: Basic camera terminology, used throughout entire process: writing, filming, editing.
JANET OAKLEY – Award-Winning Author and Historian, and Community Leader
J. L. Oakley writes historical fiction that spans the mid-19th century to WW II with characters standing up for something in their own time and place. She is an award-winning author and a recipient of the 2013 Bellingham Mayor’s Arts Award; the 2013 Chanticleer Grand Prize; the 2014 First Place Chaucer Award; an Everybody Reads and Bellingham. When not writing, she demonstrates 19th-century folkways in the schools and at San Juan Island National Park. She also has a cat who thinks she’s editing. Read pick and the 2015 WILLA Silver Award, Pulpwood Queen Book Club 2016 backlist pick for February 2016.
As a First in Category winner in the Goethe, Laramie, and Chatelaine Awards for Mist-chi-mas: A Novel of Captivity, the Chaucer Award for Timber Rose and The Jøssing Affair, the Hemingway Grand Prize Winner for The Quisling Factor and the OVERALL Grand Prize for her book, Tree Soldier.
STRIDER KLUSMAN – Award Winning Author and Host of the Author in the Headlights Podcast
An award winning, first place author of the Chanticleer International Book Awards, Strider began his writing career after twenty-five years as a fire fighter/EMT. The emotions and experiences of those calls carry themselves through every story, bringing true ‘been-there’ reality to the scenes.
With additional years as a business owner, general contractor, designer, wildland firefighter, big game guide, ski instructor, back packer and sword fighter, his wide range of knowledge is intricately woven throughout his stories.
To date, Strider has written YA (young adult), NA (New adult), and general fiction in the realm of: sci-fi western, light steampunk, dystopian (post apocalyptic), gaslight (early mechanism era) and just good fun reading.
KIANNE BURGESS – Social Media Manager for D.D. Black
DAVID BEAUMIER – Communications and Marketing Manager at Chanticleer Book Reviews & Media
David has worked as an editor since 2013, and spent two years as the assistant publishing director at Village Books. His BA and MA in English both come from Western Washington University. He is proud to have worked for Chanticleer since 2020.
David’s focuses at Chanticleer are herding cats for the CIBAs, and managing Editorial Services, and running author events on The Roost! His favorite thing is being able to support authors in finding the services they need most to help their work thrive!
A writer in his own right, David tends to write fiction and poetry, specifically urban fantasy and modernized myths. His work has appeared in EWU’s Inroads, WWU’s Suffix, Whatcom Writes, Psaltery & Lyre, and Hamlit. He works as the the project manager for the biennial anthology The Writers’ Corner, and he now volunteers as an editor for HamLit. He has written reviews for Chanticleer Book Reviews, Village Books, and The Bellingham Review.
KIFFER BROWN – CEO and President of Chanticleer Int’l Book Awards
Kiffer is the founder of Chanticleer Book Reviews and International Writing Competitions, LLC. She also specializes in curating books with the potential to become fully actualized intellectual properties.
Her addiction is finding sparkling gems that will become tomorrow’s bestsellers. She is known for her instinct in picking winners. She also acts as an independent acquisitions editor for publishers and entertainment companies. Kiffer is known for her marketing talent and networking skills. She truly loves what she does and her passion shows!
Check back soon for more presenter and session announcements!
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Speakers and schedules are subject to change.
Please check back for most current listing.
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No refunds are available after Jan 30, 2024. However, credit for Chanticleer Services may be arranged. Please email KBrown@ChantiReviews.com for more information.