The 2021 Chanticleer Authors Conference

and

the 2020 Chanticleer International

Book Awards Ceremony

will take place

VIRTUALLY and LIVE via ZOOM

from the Hotel Bellwether, Bellingham, Wash.

Wednesday – Saturday, April 21 – 24, 2021

Sessions start at 9:10 a.m. PST

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Update on CIBA Ceremonies and the CIBA 2020 Grand Prize Ceremony

The 2020 Chanticleer International Book Awards Announcements

The 2020 CIBAs FINALISTS

We will announce the titles and authors whose works advanced from the 2020 CIBA Semi-Finalists position to the Premier Finalists Level starting at 6 p.m. on April 22, 23, & 24 according to the following schedule:

Thursday, April 22, 2021 at 6 p.m. PST

• CYGNUS – Science Fiction
• Paranormal – Supernatural Fiction
• OZMA – Fantasy Fiction
• Mystery & Mayhem – Cozy and Not-So-Cozy Mysteries
• CLUE – Suspense & Thriller
• Global Thrillers – High Stakes and Lab Lit
• Dante Rossetti – Young Adult Fiction

Click here to Register to Attend this 2020 CIBA Finalists Announcement Event. A confirmation will be sent you from ZOOM for this Chanticleer CIBA Event held on Thursday, April 22, 2021 at 6 p.m. Attendance is Free, but Advance Registration is Required.

Friday, April 23, 2021 at 6 p.m. PST

• Laramie – Americana & Western Fiction
• Goethe – Post 1750s Historical Fiction
• Chaucer – Pre 1750s Historical Fiction
• Chatelaine – Romantic Fiction
• Mark Twain – Satire, Allegory, and Humor Fiction
• Somerset – Literary and Contemporary Fiction
• Gertrude Warner – Middle-Grade Readers

Click here to Register to Attend this 2020 CIBA Finalists Announcement Event held on Friday, April 23, 2021 at 6 p.m. A confirmation will be sent you from ZOOM for this Chanticleer CIBA Event. Attendance is Free, but Advance Registration is Required.

Saturday, April 24, 2021 at 6 p.m. PST – Non-Fiction Divisions

• Hearten Book Awards – Uplifting, Humorous, Inspirational
• Harvey Chute – Business, Enterprise, and Finance
• Mind and Spirit Book Awards
• Nellie Bly – Investigative and Long Form Journalism
• Instruction & Insight Book Awards – How – To and Guides, Cookbooks
• Journey Book Awards – Memoir, Survival and Trauma accounts
• Little Peeps – Early Readers and Picture Books

Click here to Register to Attend this 2020 CIBA Finalists Announcement Event held on Saturday, April 24, 2021 at 6 p.m.

A confirmation will be sent you from ZOOM for this Chanticleer CIBA Event. Attendance is FREE, but Advance Registration is Required.

The 2020 CIBA Finalists announcements will be on FACEBOOK LIVE and on ZOOM webinars. Attendance is Free but Registration is Required for Each Day that you want to attend.

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2020 CIBA 1st Place and Grand Prize Winners

and the

2020 Winners of the SHORTS and FICTION SERIES

We have something to crow about!

Join us IN PERSON or at the LIVE hybrid CIBA Ceremonies event, June 5, 2021!

Join us for the CIBAs Ceremonies on June 5, 2021 streaming LIVE and IN PERSON at the Hotel Bellwether on the beautiful Bellingham Bay, in Washington state.

If you are interested, please email Kiffer at KBrown@ChantiReviews.com – Seating is limited and is dependent upon the Safe to Reopen Phase.

With all the excitement of planning the Virtual Chanticleer Authors Conference, we can’t begin to say how much we miss all of you. During our Roost Happy Hours, you have expressed the desire to be together again. We feel the same. By June 5, all of us at Chanticleer Headquarters will be fully vaccinated, thanks to the efficient vaccine roll-out happening in Washington State. This is happening much faster than we had anticipated!

It will be our first gathering since the initial Shelter-In-Place orders of early March 2020. And we are EXCITED. If you have been fully vaccinated and live within driving distance or want to fly in, we invite you to join us for an evening of camaraderie and celebration. If you would like more information about attending and participating, please email KBrown@ChantiReviews.com

We believe it’s worth the short delay to be together and celebrate you, our wonderful authors and your outstanding works, safely. Thank you to everyone who has been a part of this conversation and offered your support as we made this decision.

The 2020 CIBA Ceremonies will be broadcasted via Zoom Webinar and FaceBook Events.

Attending the June 5, 2021 Ceremonies for the 2020 CIBAs is Free. However, registration is required. We will have the link posted here after VCAC 21 and the Finalists are announced.

We are eager to see you at the Virtual Chanticleer Authors Conference 4/21-4/24, which will also be LIVE broadcast from the Hotel Bellwether.

We cannot wait to see you

IN PERSON or VIRTUALLY in

April at VCAC and /or in June for the CIBA Ceremonies!

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Back to all the wonders you can expect at VCAC21 4/21-4/24

CIBA FINALISTS will be announced 4/22-4/24 starting at 6 p.m. PST

MASTER WRITING CLASSES and WORKSHOPS on Wednesday 4/21

Learn from the Best!

VCAC21 HEADLINERS

Featuring Cathy Ace

Crime and Mystery Writer

Cathy Ace is an entertaining speaker; over the years she’s chatted engagingly, made complex Powerpoint presentations, and read her work or hosted and been Master of Ceremony for various events and conferences. She’s done this at venues as diverse as a plant nursery in Canada, a dazzling Livery Hall in the City of London, and a grade 12 schoolroom. Having run her own post-graduate marketing communications training company in the UK for a decade, and having traveled the world as a management trainer, she’s now able to take all that experience and be an “edu-taining” speaker who is funny, insightful, knows her stuff and can speak about topics ranging from the broad base of The History of Mystery, to more intimate and personal topics such as how she plans, plots and writes her bestselling mysteries.

BIG NEWS FOR CATHY…Her Cait Morgan Mysteries have been optioned for TV by the UK production company Free@Last TV, which is responsible for the hit TV series based on MC Beaton’s Agatha Raisin books (Hamish MacBeth series). The same company has optioned The Wrong Boy, with plans for it to be broadcast as a three-part miniseries, in Welsh and English.

Conference Sessions:

• 4/22, 12:45 p.m. Meet Cathy Ace — International Crime and Mystery Author — Key Note with Pamela Beason
• 4/23, 12:45 p.m. SOUP to NUTS! What I do to plot, plan, write, edit, design, and launch a book — with Q & A
• 4/23, 3:15 p.m. Book to Film Panel
• 4/24, 12:45 p.m. Plotting and Planning!

J.D. Barker successfully published his debut as an indie and sold enough copies to land on the radar of the traditional publishers in a BIG way including seven-figure advances, two feature films, and a television program. He’ll open his toolbox and explain exactly what he did to make it happen. This is a not-to-be-missed session for any aspiring author or the seasoned veteran trying to find their place in today’s publishing world.

Bradley Metrock is routinely engaged by conferences and events, large and small, to speak on how voice tech (more properly, voice-first technology) and AI are impacting our world. Some of these talks are global and high-concept in nature, while others have focused on specific industry verticals or sectors, as the emergence of voice is impacting each and every business and organization in existence.

Jessica Page Morrell understands both sides of the editorial desk–as a highly-sought after developmental editor and author. Her work also appears in multiple anthologies and The Writer and Writer’s Digest magazines. She is known for explaining the hows and whys of what makes for excellent writing and for sharing very clear examples that examines the technical aspects of writing that emphases layering and subtext. Her books on writing craft are considered “a must have” for any serious writer’s toolkit. Read some of Jessica’s writing here.

Dr. Janice Ellis has written columns for newspapers, magazines, radio commentary, presented internationally across the U.S., and now online. For the past 30 years she analyzes educational, political, social and economic issues across race, ethnicity, age and socio-economic status. She continues her important work in these challenging times. Dr. Ellis is the author of two award-winning books, From Liberty to Magnolia: In Search of the American Dream (2018); Shaping Public Opinion: How Real Advocacy Journalism™ Should Be Practiced (2021).

Tana Hope is a certified Perfect Posture Instructor and a certified 3MAP practitioner (Acupuncture Meridian, Muscle, Massage, Anatomy & Physiology). Tana helps people understand the basic fundamental principles of how body functions and to learn how to operate the body in harmony and operate wisely based on the body design principals to produce maximum performance and longevity.

Jessica H. Stone (Jes) is the author of The Last Outrageous Woman, a First Place Winner of the Somerset Women’s Literary Fiction Awards— Chanticleer International Reviews. Her mystery, Blood on a Blue Moon, won first place in Murder and Mayhem—Chanticleer International Reviews and Best Mystery in the Black Magnolia Publishing Awards. She is currently working on a thriller. jessicahstone.com

Alexa Bigwarfe is a mother to 3 wildlings who keep her on her toes. An advocate, activist, speaker, author & author coach, publisher, and podcaster. Her writing career began after her infant daughter passed away at 2 days old, and she turned to writing for healing. Since then, she has used her writing platform for advocacy and activism to support mothers, children, and marginalized voices. She will be speaking about authors and Instagram.

Avis Adams lives in the Puget Sound area of Washington State on a small farm, where she loves to garden and write. She teaches English courses at a local community college, and her poems have won awards and been published online and in various literary journals. She also writes for children and has a YA novel, The Incident, coming soon from The Wild Rose Press.

Chelsea Bennet is The Brand Engagement Manager for Lulu.com and is constantly researching and developing new resources for self-published authors. Her areas of expertise include self-publishing, Print-on-Demand technology, building an author brand, direct sales and marketing for self-published authors and entrepreneurs. When not thinking about self-publishing, Chelsea can be found playing disc golf with her husband or having in-depth conversations about the universe with her cat, Batman.

Christopher Leibig is a criminal defense attorney and an award-winning novelist. His last novel, Almost Mortal, a legal thriller about a serial killer with a biblical/metaphysical twist, was a best seller in the legal thriller category on Amazon in the Spring of 2017. Almost Mortal won many national awards, including the Grand Prize in Paranormal Fiction at the 2017 Chanticleer International Book Awards (And First Place Category Winner for Mystery and Fantasy), Best Religious Fiction of 2016 at the Next Generation Independent Books Awards, and the Pencraft Award for Best Legal Thriller of 2017. Chris is a full-time criminal defense attorney and former public defender in Alexandria, Virginia, and regularly handles serious criminal cases throughout Virginia.

Catherine Brown writes flash fiction, short stories, young adult fantasy and women’s fiction that features magical adventure, whimsical humor, and unconventional possibilities. She is working on the first novel in a fantasy series for young adults. She is a member of the Pacific Northwest Writer’s Association and The Flamingos Writing Group.

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 the Mystery & Mayhem Award from Chanticleer and several positive 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.

Donna LeClair is a writer for Expanded Family Magazine. For 20 years, she lectured to numerous organizations, colleges, and churches on the contents of her book “Waking Reality’, leaving an audience full of tears and faith. Her book ‘One Little Black Book’ was a finalist in the 2012 Balboa Press book contest. In 2013, the International book ‘Stories of Courageous Vulnerability’ featured Ms. LeClair as a contributing author.

In 2015, she was awarded 1st place for True Action in Chanticleer Book Review’s Journey contest and was awarded Five Stars from Readers’ Favorite for her book ‘Waking Reality’. Her 4th book ‘Immunity – Entitlement of Wealthy Political Notables’ was awarded Five Stars from Readers’ Favorite and received 1st place Journey Award from Chanticleer Book Review. In March of 2019 her 5th book ‘Inch by Inch – Flaws. Hauntings. Triumphs.’ was awarded Five Stars from Readers’ Favorite and was a semi-finalist in Chanticleer Book Review’s Journey contest. Her manuscript, The Proprietor of the theatre of Life won the 2019 Somerset Grand Prize Award.

Award-winning author Gregory Erich Phillips writes stories with strong characters whose lives, with their many challenges and joys, resonate with a wide audience. Raised in a literary family, Gregory began writing at the age of fourteen.

His debut novel, Love of Finished Years, won the the grand prize in the Chanticleer Reviews International Writing Competition and was an Amazon bestseller in historical fiction. It was praised by Publishers Weekly, which called it “beguiling.” His second novel, The Exile, won first place in mainstream fiction in the PNWA literary contest.

Also an accomplished tango dancer and musician, Gregory has impressed audiences from the West Coast to New York City with his drama and grace on the dance floor (visit Moonlight Tango to see him in action).

As an actor Chris (C.C.) Humphreys has performed on stages from London’s West End to Hollywood. A playwright, fight choreographer and novelist, he has written ten adult novels including ‘The French Executioner’, runner up for the CWA Steel Dagger for Thrillers; The Jack Absolute Trilogy; ‘Vlad – The Last Confession’; ‘A Place Called Armageddon’ and ‘Shakespeare’s Rebel’ – which he adapted for the stage and which premiered at Bard on the Beach, Vancouver, in 2015.

Talking to Crows is a community-focused team of filmmakers, photographers, and multimedia artists driven to capture the human experience through their creative lens. A women-led group tackling the entire spectrum of visual media with an “art-first” approach. From commercials, to feature films, to wedding videography, They capture it all.

CEO and founder, but most importantly a geek at heart, Simon-Pierre launched Scenarex in 2015 with the goal of building new solutions with a lasting impact on the digital publishing industry. He has over 20 years of experience in supervising IT application development, budgeting, and project management, with a specialization in technology management.

Amy Stapleton is Co-Founder of Chatables, a publisher of voice-first conversational stories and tools to support authors. Prior to Chatables, Stapleton founded Tellables and served as a voice app designer, writer, and editor of content for the Tellables Amazon Alexa story experiences “Tricky Genie” and “My Box of Chocolates. Stapleton retired from a career at NASA to pursue her vision of transforming talking devices into a platform for engaging new story experiences.

Jonathan Hurley has worked in the audio industry for nearly two decades. As digital production specialist, Jonathan oversees all training and audio related matters for the studio. In this role, he trains narrators to record and produce complete audio books using Hindenburg Audio Book Creator.

Susan Faw is the founder of Dragon’s Lair Artist Emporium. Dragon’s Lair was born to give the independently published author what they have long been denied space on a physical store shelf. Not only is this space for them, but their business model is built around showcasing the amazing, unrepresented talent that exists in the indie publishing sphere. Susan is a three time First-In-Category winner of the Dante Rossetti and also the Grand Prize winner, for Seer of Souls, book one of The Spirit Shield Saga. She is also a first place winner in the Ozma category, for her dragon fantasy novel entitled Heart of Shadra.

Paul Hanson is one of three co-owners of Village Books in Fairhaven and Lynden. As a writer, a publisher, and former President of the Pacific Northwest Booksellers Association, he’s been an advocate for independent bookstores and independent publishers and authors. He programs the Chuckanut Writers Workshops and Classes and has been one of the Chuckanut Writers Conference planners since 2012. Village Books’ Publishing Division has helped hundreds of local writers to publish their works.

Here is what some attendees are saying the 2020 Virtual Chanticleer Authors Conference – just a few of the many kudos shared with us.

“Thank you for the marvelous event Chanticleer put on. I’ve been touting Chanticleer and the awards given to me on all the sights on which Abigail’s Window is being promoted.” – Susan Lynn Solomon, author of Abigail’s Window and 1^st place category winner Mystery & Mayhem Awards and GRAND PRIZE winner of the Paranormal Awards

“I am so proud to be awarded First in Place in Little Peeps for A Tall Tale About Dachshunds in Costumes! Thanks to ALL involved to make the Chanticleer Conference and Awards top notch!” – Kizzie Jones, author of A Tall Tale About Dachshunds in Costumes and 1^st place category winner Little Peeps Awards

“I’m so excited to have this award. The conference was very informative, well-executed and worth every penny.” – Carolyn Watkins, author of The Knock and 1^st place category winner Little Peeps and Gertrude Warner Awards

“Now THAT was an incredible conference. Can’t wait to take part in another one (in person) at the Hotel Bellwether in the future. Thanks so much for all the hard work that must have gone into it.” – Nancy Thorne, author of Victorian Town and 1^st place category winner Dante Rossetti Awards

“Thank you! Fantastic! It was great meeting everyone virtually in the Zoom conference. I really enjoyed it and appreciate all your incredibly hard work and dedication. It’s invaluable to indie authors that organization like yours support us.” – Palmer Pickering, author of Moon Deeds and 1^st place category Paranormal Awards

“Thanks again for the positive experience during the virtual conference; you and your team put on a wiz-bang, professional show and I learned a lot.” – JI Rogers, author of The Korpes Agenda and 1^st place category Cygnus Awards

“Thank you again and again for a wonderful two weeks! Tremendous range of content and presentation. I enjoyed everything and learned much that I can apply now.” – Judy Santamaria, author of Jetty Cat Palace Cafe

“Your workshops have been incredibly instructive, and I’m greatly looking forward to the next one with Donald Maass.” – John Middleton Simpson

“Thank you again for all your hard work on this year’s conference. Truly you three are on the cutting edge and allowing us to all see into the future of publishing. And thank you for including such an excellent array of presentations – broad-based and informative on so many levels.” – Gail Noble-Sanderson, author of The Lavender Meuse Trilogy

“I’m writing to say how much I enjoyed the conference this year.” – John W. Feist, author of Blind Trust

“Amazing job you did on presenting a VCAC!” – JP Kenna, author of Joel Emmanuel

“Hi Kiffer, Well, you guys did it! In my opinion, you pulled off a really good awards ceremony and I enjoyed attending by Zoom. I look forward to next year, in-person, fingers crossed.” – Tim Cole, science fiction author

“Hi Kiffer, I’m really enjoying my first (V)CAC! Thanx for a great conference! Very much appreciate all the work you and Sharon have done getting this conference and classes set up for everyone!” – Susannah Dawn, author of Search for the Armor of God

“How wonderful that the virtual conference was such a roaring success! You should be so very proud – and you are probably relieved as well! Thank you so much for all your hard work and making it wonderful for all the attendees!” – Alex Paul, author of the Middle-Grade series — Arkeen Freeth

“We had a blast at the Chanticleer Authors Conference—held in our living room…Since in-person conferences are on an indefinite hold, Chanticleer moved everything to Zoom and did a wonderful job at that…a good time was had by all. We missed the scenery and human connection, but were grateful Chanticleer was able to pull off such a great virtual conference. Hopefully, we can toast in person next year.” – V & D Povall, authors of Jackal in the Mirror