Author Interviews

Diane is an award-winning essayist, memoirist, and poet. She served as Westport, CT’s inaugural Poet Laureate from 2019-2022. Her essays have appeared in many publications, including O, The Oprah Magazine, Brain, Child and Brevity Blog, and she writes a regular column, Everything’s an Essay. Her first memoir, Nothing But Blue, was published in 2018, and her latest, The Undiscovered Country: Seeing Myself Through Shakespeare’s Eyes, was published in September 2023.

Shanita Liu, MPA, CPC, is a mom of three warriors, veteran spouse, salsa dancer, TEDx speaker, and Fulbright Scholar. She created Coach Shanita, Inc. so that she could use her skills as a transformational coach, reiki master, mystic, and speaker to help folks live victorious lives.

Mark Steven Porro, a New Jersey native (Exit 163), earned an Industrial Design degree from the Ohio State University. After years of agency work, his love of acting led him to Hollywood, where he appeared in dozens of television, film, and stage productions. Mark also spent his twenty-eight years in Tinseltown, entrepreneuring. He started five non-profit companies. But hold the applause, none were intended to be. He now lives in the South of France. But hold your pity. He of sound mind and body chose to suffer in the heart of wine country where the locals insist his French isn’t so bad—at least that’s what he thinks they’re saying.

Anttimatti lives in Finland and Spain. He is a writer who keeps his readers hooked with humor, cliffhangers, and thrills without unnecessary bloodshed, leaving an enjoyable experience for all. While drinking an excessive amount of coffee, he is writing stories from his experience, imagination and with thorough research. The Black Table series is his first science fiction trilogy, with a second series already on its way.

A USAF Veteran, Mikki’s career includes speaking, real estate, and marketing. She is the author of IN A HEARTBEAT – The Miracle of a Family That Was Meant To Be, a true story spanning several generations of families born out of love. She now hosts Adoption as a Choice radio show & podcast.

Chicago native Michelle Elder and her family now call North Carolina home, enjoying life between the mountains and the sea. Her days are filled with the company of her favorite people: two curious and very strong-willed daughters, a coffee-snob husband, and one very hairy dog. An avid reader with a passion for fantasy, she also loves to travel to new places, wander through bookstores, and firmly believes dessert is a non-negotiable daily treat.

Three-time award winning author, Anne Lacourrege, was raised in New Orleans. There has always been the desire to do creative writing and The Greatest Treasure was Anne’s first attempt. The story was written and forgotten until Hurricane Katrina ravaged New Orleans. For all that New Orleans means to the author, this story was written.

Though Deborah L. King has been a writer and storyteller her whole life, publishing her first short story at seven years old, she took 32 years to complete her first novel. Deborah loves storms, champagne, Old Time Radio, and 70s Blues and Soul. As a fiction writer, she loves the work of Octavia Butler, classic Stephen King, Peter David, and the illustrations of Dan DeCarlo. Thanks to an interesting childhood, she’s afraid of escalators, bill collectors, and sometimes fresh produce.

Dr. Peter J. Ramos, Jr. lives in Southern California. He is an author, artist, and Doctor of World Religious Studies. He is the Creative Director and Founder of Hous of Ibiko. He has written books such as Hello Enzo: What Does Enzo Like To Do? and Happy In A Thousand Dark Places. His soon-to-be-published book, And Then I Woke Up, Screaming, is his first collection of short stories.

Diane Lefer is the award-winning author of five published novels, three story collections, and more than 100 stories. Learn more about her fiction, plays, essays and journalism at her website, www.dianelefer.weebly.com.

A graduate of the University of Michigan (Go Blue!) with a BA in French and PhD in physiology, Christina taught college-level anatomy and physiology for close to twenty years before concentrating her passion on writing and editing. She’s the author of Rewrite the Stars and The Weight We Carry, and she’s co-author of Historic Photos of University of Michigan. She lives in Ohio with her husband, four children, and a rotating cast of pets.

Gemma Lees is a Romany Gypsy, disabled and neurodiverse fine art installationist, performance poet, actor, facilitator, journalist and theatre-maker from Bury, Lancashire. Her practise focuses on protest, advocacy and telling the stories that no one else is.

I have always loved to write! I have also always loved to spin a tale verbally, whether it be truthful, or a slightly elaborated version of the truth. My best friend and I used to team write full-length stories when we were younger, one of which my Sophomore English teacher actually thought was good enough to be published.

Valeriya Salt is a multi-genre author from the United Kingdom. She studied history and earned her master’s degree in Art Expertise at St. Petersburg University of Culture and Arts.

Deborah L. Staunton’s work has appeared in the New York Times, Pretty Owl Poetry, Six Hens, and the MacGuffin, among others. Her poetry was featured at HBO’s Inspiration Room exhibit in New York City. She is a Best of the Net and two-time Pushcart Prize nominee and a finalist in the David Wade Hogue Rocket Man Poetry Award. Her poetry and short prose collection, Untethered, is the recipient of a PenCraft Best Book Award. Her children’s picture book, Owls Can’t Sing, is forthcoming from Two Sisters Press. She holds a B.S. in Education and a B.A. in Theatre Arts and lives with her husband and two children on Long Island, NY.

Gary Green grew up on a small dairy farm in central Minnesota. He has worked in many different occupations, finally settling on mental health. He is the author of three published books, two of which are award-winners. He lives on a small farm with his wife, Tammy, dog Basil, and a small flock of chickens.

Rekha Valliappan is an award-winning multi-genre writer of short stories, poetry and creative nonfiction. She has been widely published online and in print in hundreds of literary and genre magazines and anthologies including New World Writing, Ann Arbor Review, The Museum of Americana: A Literary Review, Adelaide Literary Magazine, Lothlorien Poetry Journal, The Cabinet of Need, Queen Mob’s Teahouse, Bending Genres, Lackington Magazine, Aphelion Magazine of Science Fiction & Fantasy, Saturday Evening Post, and other places. She was nominated for the Pushcart Prize and Best of the Net. Besides being published in winners’ anthologies her work was also named Poem of the Week and Best of Fiction by Red Fez and Across the Margin respectively.

T.R. Slauf was born and raised in Michigan, originally studying and working in the field of Biochemistry. After having open-heart surgery for congenital heart disease, Slauf changed career paths to pursue the passion of storytelling and published their debut novel, Hidden Realm, two years later. Slauf now lives in Cincinnati, Ohio, with their spouse and two cats.

Azra Rahman was born in India. She has been tapping into the profession of writing and published for the past nine years. The Mother of my Children is her debut novel. She currently lives in the beautiful valley of Salt Lake City, Utah, with her family of five.

Kim Fleet has an MA and a PhD in Anthropology, and worked with indigenous people in Australia for five years. This experience informed her murder mystery novels, Sacred Site and Featherfoot. Turning to crime closer to home, she is the author of the Eden Grey mysteries, a series of time-slip crime novels featuring determined PI Eden Grey. Kim has spoken about her writing at the Cheltenham Literary Festival and at Bristol Crime Fest. She lives in the UK with two bossy cats who assist the creative process by standing on the delete key.