Not only do we love our local authors, but we know you'll love them, too. Let us introduce you! On Thursday, May 19, twenty local authors will be in the loft of our new forever-home on 117 S. Pineapple Avenue for one hour each, signing books and spending a little time with you.
Here's how it works: Read their bios, check out their blurbs, and place an order online for whatever strikes your fancy. You can pick up your order in-store on the day of the book fair (or sooner), or you can have them delivered right to your home. Find out when your favorite local authors will be here, then drop by to say "hi"!
Remember: These author's books are available for pre-order only; there will be no books available to purchase in-store and take home same-day unless you've placed a pre-order. You can, however, place a special order in-store to be picked up at a later date.
If you have any questions about this event, feel free to email bryn@sarasotabooks.com.
Schedule
11 - Noon
Ritu Anand (Children's)
Courtney Jo Barr (Non-fiction)
Tom Gribbin (Fiction)
Judy Winslow (Non-fiction)
Noon - 1 PM
J.B. Arthur (Fiction)
R.C. Chizhov (Children's)
Tom Galvin (Fiction)
Nancy Nau Sullivan (Fiction)
1 - 2 PM
Wilma Davidson, Ed.D. & Diana de Avila, M.S.Ed. (Memoir)
Glenn Erick Miller (Children's)
Sandra M. Minck, RDMS (Non-fiction)
Lucy Tobias (Non-fiction)
2 - 3 PM
Cooper Levey-Baker (Fiction)
Joy S. Pedersen (Non-fiction)
Beth Rice (Non-fiction)
M.E. Schuman (Memoir)
3 - 4 PM
Lee Hall Delfausse (Fiction)
Julie C. Henry (Non-fiction)
Marilyn Howard (Memoir)
Thomas P. Vartanian (Non-fiction)
Ritu Anand
11 - Noon
Ritu Anand started writing when she could hold a pencil, but life kept getting in the way. For the past four years, she has chosen Writing as her career. She draws her inspiration from nature around her and her scripture – Sri Guru Granth Sahibjee.
When she sat down to write Kara’s Dreams, her pen flowed its ink onto paper, as a river floods its banks. All the elements – Wind, Water, Earth, Night and Day work in concert to enable creatures to play and enjoy this playground called Earth.
Ritu Anand lives in Sarasota, Florida with her loving husband. Her interests include reading, writing, singing Indian classical music, dancing to Bollywood music, traveling and playing golf.
This wonderful children's story represents the debut book by Ritu Anand. The tale is augmented by Veen Redwood's rich, beautiful illustrations.
Kara's Dreams is a tale of faith, growth, and resilience. Any child will love the story and pictures.
J. B. Arthur
Noon - 1 PM
Although this is my first novel, I am no stranger to writing. My career as a graphic designer/copy writer with companies like Proctor & Gamble, Mead Fine Papers, Standard Textile and Sun Communities have included printed collateral/advertising sales copy, pamphlets and brochures, manuals, and electronic & social media creation.
Most find it unbelievable that I met the love of my life in kindergarten, and we have been together ever since. Together we have four adult children and several grandchildren who all love to visit our new home in Sarasota, Florida. And yes, the character of Mac, the Scottish Terrier, is based on our fourth and most beloved Scottie Dog Maggie Rose.
A sixty-year-old, corporate woman runs away from her recent past to a familiar, but uncertain, life in Sarasota, Florida where she must confront the ancient past in order to assure her family's impending future.
Courtney Jo Barr
11 - Noon
In 2020, Courtney found the time to immerse herself in inherited family memorabilia. This included her eighty-one-year-old Grandparents string tied Ohio based love letters that covered 1939-1946, Angel Flying on the Ground: Letters of A Gentleman’s Pursuit. A wonderful treasure that no one alive had read. First edition was a run of 34 and now the second edition is for public consumption with the hopes of it becoming a blockbuster movie! Our world needs a true fun old time love story, when family goals were local, simple and uncomplicated!
In 2021, Courtney published her Grandfathers short stories, “Tales of a Buckeye Legal Eagle,” along with three family cook books. Delectable Desserts, Divine Cuisine & Tasty Delights and The Dorothy M. Barr Cookbook.
Nostalgic Ohioans favorite haunts, return in these classic non-fiction short stories. Be drawn into a time when the days seemed less hectic, people had a sense of humor and perhaps, a bit more simplicity.
R. C. Chizhov
Noon - 1 PM
Children’s book author R.C. Chizhov grew up in India, moved to New York in 2005, and spent sixteen years in investment banking, before pursuing her childhood dream of becoming an author. Her debut picture book, The Lion in Your Heart, has won several awards and accolades.
R.C. now lives in Sarasota with her husband and her curious and ever-energetic son. When she isn’t writing, you can find her curled up with a book, solving jigsaw puzzles, dancing to Bollywood tunes, hiking or playing boards games with friends and family. Her website is www.rcchizhov.com and you can follow her on Instagram: @rcchizhov.
When a boy is scared to sleep alone, he learns he has a special secret to conquer his fear. Heartfelt storytelling paired with vibrant illustrations convey a valuable lesson for all children in this positive and fun book.
Wilma Davidson Ed.D & Diana de Avila M.S. Ed.
1 - 2 PM
Digital artist Diana de Avila, M.S.Ed., discovered her artistic gifts following an exacerbation of a traumatic brain injury (TBI) and the worsening of Multiple Sclerosis. De Avila has led a life filled with mystery and dramatic changes from her time in the Army, to a Convent, to her work in web design before becoming an artist. De Avila is one of very few people worldwide to have what is known as Acquired Savant Syndrome. She recently co-authored her multi-platform, art journey memoir Soldier, Sister, Savant.
Wilma Davidson, Ed.D., is a former faculty member at the University of South Florida and the president of a communications consulting firm. In her consulting work, Davidson advises clients how to put their “best foot forward—in writing and in person.” Davidson is the author or co-author of five published books on writing and co-author of the new book on de Avila and her art, Soldier, Sister, Savant. The two women met through their professional organization, the National League of American Pen Women (NLAPW).
Soldier, Sister, Savant is the inspirational and unique story of Diana de Avila and her journey to artistic genius as an acquired art savant.
Tom Galvin
Noon - 1 PM
Tom Galvin spent over a decade working as a Washington political reporter, breaking stories about Capitol Hill and the White House. He then moved to Silicon Valley as a technology executive, gaining a front-row seat to the internet era. His experience in the political and technological arenas has given him a unique perspective on the intrigues and dangers when power, technology, and greed are mixed together. Though his careers have changed, Galvin’s love of writing has remained. He and his wife, Jennifer, split their time between the Gulf Coast of Florida and the Jersey Shore. The Auction, his debut novel, has been optioned by Sony Pictures Television to explore turning it into a limited television series.
In the year 2050, America is booming-but there's a dark side when prosperity is based on the buying and selling of the next generation's future, as Sasha Cross is about to find out. Perfect for fans of The Hunger Games and America Inc., this riveting story explores the dark side of capitalism and what happens when a person's future becomes a commodity.
Tom Gribbin
11 - Noon
Tom Gribbin graduated from Florida State University, and from the University of Florida Law School. He draws on his experiences as a writer, lawyer, recording artist and touring musician, concert promoter, co-founder of an international chain of comedy clubs, and as an executive of a major entertainment company. He is married and lives in St. Pete Beach.
Before cartels, before terrorists, before gangs, guns and violence - even before cell phones - there were just Florida boys smuggling pot up and down the coast, living the free-spirited life of boozy pirates and beach-town heroes. But the times changed, and some never saw the party ending. This is the story of alliances forged, friendships tested and lessons learned - about reefer, the law, love, stand-up comedy, and a little golf. In The Last Florida Boy, John Bellamy's quixotic journey takes him from dizzying highs to desperate lows as he contends with an era fast disappearing over the horizon like the fading colors of a Gulf of Mexico sunset.
Lee Hall Delfausse
3 - 4 PM
After 25 years of teaching and telling stories to my high school students about my adventures on the US World Cup Ski Team, my students asked me to write a novel about my experiences.
My passion has been to encourage young people, especially girls, to discover self-confidence, resilience, and self-reliance through sports as well as adventures in the mountains. I learned my lessons while growing up in the mountains of Vermont and later traveling the world as a member of the US Ski Team and now as a member of the US Senior World Cup tennis team.
After studying American Literature at UC Berkeley (Phi Beta Kappa) and in graduate school, I taught writing and literature in college and high school. With this background, it became a natural for me to create coming-of-age characters who wanted to learn about themselves through sport, nature, and literature. Hence my novel Snow Sanctuary and the soon-to-be sequel No Sanctuary Here.
Avalanches, injury, paralysis, death, loneliness-all part of international ski racing-are predictable dangers compared with the corruption of coaches. Lia Erickson learns how to grapple with these challenges in her ski journey through the Sierra Nevadas and the European Alps, eventually gaining courage from her teammates and herself.
Julie C. Henry
3 - 4 PM
Julie C. Henry is president of Finish Line Leadership and author of Wisdom from the Wild: The Nine Unbreakable Laws of Leadership from the Animal Kingdom. A former zoo and aquarium senior leader, Julie has worked with over fifty-five organizations across corporate, nonprofit, government, association, and community sectors. She was selected as a Fellow of the Toyota Together Green Program of the National Audubon Society, chosen for the Disney’s Animal Kingdom / World Wildlife Fund Biodiversity Leadership Institute, and a Rotary Ambassadorial Scholar to New Zealand. She holds Bachelor of Science degrees in both zoology and education (Miami University of Ohio), a Master of Arts in communication (University of South Florida), and an Executive Program Certificate in Sustainable Business Leadership (Green Mountain College) Julie is dedicated to helping people drive change, lead teams, and build resilience…with a little help from cheetahs, sea turtles, and naked mole rats.
Take a walk on the wild side with fascinating and compelling leadership lessons from the animal kingdom.
Marilyn Howard
3 - 4 PM
Marilyn Howard’s determination to not wind up a housewife led to breaking through a glass ceiling of seventy men at Grey Advertising and launching an innovative startup. Her company, the first to central agency to connect business with freelance artists and writers, thrived for over twenty-five years in the center of Manhattan. In1983, she was profiled by ADWEEK Magazine of New York in a feature called the Dynamic Dozen¬–and placed first on their list of the top twelve women in advertising, under age forty, identified as most likely to succeed. Her pioneering company became first on the internet in 1997.
The Writing on the Wall is a true adventure tale and an insightful page-turner about life, love, and women triumphing over obstacles.
Cooper Levey-Baker
2 - 3 PM
Cooper Levey-Baker is a writer and journalist. His fiction has appeared in the Sierra Nevada Review and Burrow Press's Fantastic Floridas series, and his journalism has won multiple awards from the Florida Magazine Association and the Florida Society of Professional Journalists. Dead Fish Wind, his first novel, tells the story of a young woman trying to escape a life of drudgery in a Florida city stricken with a catastrophic outbreak of red tide.
In this grim, comic debut novel, author Cooper Levey-Baker tells a bizarre coming-of-age story in prose that is lyrical, gross, tragic, goofy, and maybe even a bit tender.
Glenn Erick Miller
1 - 2 PM
Glenn Erick Miller grew up near the Adirondack Mountains of northern New York state. He earned his MA in Creative Writing from Binghamton University and has worked as a youth counselor, community program director, and a college professor. He is the author of two award-winning books: Camper Girl, a young-adult novel, and Red’s First Snow, a picture book. Glenn lives in Naples with his wife and two children. Visit him online at www.glennerickmiller.com.
During her scavenger hunt of self-discovery, Shannon experiences the healing power of nature, uncovers a stunning family secret, and comes to realize that a person's path through life is never clearly marked.
Sandra M. Minck, RDMS
1 - 2 PM
Sandra M. Minck, RDMS is a Registered Diagnostic Medical Sonographer of 29 years. She dedicated most of her career to a private OB/GYN practice specializing in women’s healthcare where she performed obstetric studies in all weeks of pregnancy as well as gynecologic sonography. Ultrasound Unwrapped: A Week-by-Week Pregnancy Image Guide is her first book.
She is the creator and author of UltrasoundUnwrapped.com and @ultrasound_unwrapped on Instagram, both credible sources of information for expectant parents. She enjoys translating clinical knowledge into easy-to-understand material, key to quality patient communication and awareness.
Ultrasound Unwrapped dispels the myths and walks you through an ultrasound image journey of a twin pregnancy and a never-before published exploration into gender development.
Joy S. Pedersen
2 - 3 PM
Joy S. Pedersen, a Doctor of Divinity, Intuitive Licensed Spiritual Healer, Certified Spiritual Health Coach, Certified Law of Attraction Practitioner, ordained minister, International Best-Selling Author, Founder of Express Success LLC serving an international clientele. Her practice identifies and releases the hidden causes of people’s challenges, including negative emotions, energy, memories, and limiting beliefs, and has specialties in clearing darkness and past lives of persecution. She works directly for Source as a global healer and helps her clients receive direct guidance from God.
Are you interested in how angels hear and answer your prayers? Then listen to the words of Archangel Michael as he communicates his messages to you through Dr. Joy S. Pedersen, a licensed spiritual healer
Beth Rice
2 - 3 PM
Beth Rice did not become a journalist like she’d planned, but her dad wouldn’t let her give up on writing. She has been published three times in Chicken Soup for the Soul Books, including, “My Amazing Mom,” “Life Lessons from the Cat,” and most recently, “Kindness Matters.” She works as a content writer for DutchCrafters.com and is the author of a children’s book, “I’m Adopted, I’m Special,” as well as, “The Tale End: Stories from the Vet.” She enjoys reading, theater, movies and running.
Life lessons from our cats come in many forms, from the hilarious to the heroic. You'll enjoy a wide variety in these 101 entertaining stories.
M. E. Schuman
2 - 3 PM
Michelle Schuman is an environmental scientist with over four decades of experience in Alaska. She has worked in the private sector developing environmental impact statements and conducting field surveys from the northern tundra to the rainforest of southeast Alaska. As an Oil Spill Ecologist for the State of Alaska, her most notable and arduous accomplishment was acting as a first responder on the Exxon Oil Spill, analyzing one of the most devastating and long-term man-caused disasters in North American history. She recently retired as the Ecologist for the USDA after twenty years where she is well known for her expertise in wetland science and environmental policy.
In October 2020, she began writing her memoir, The Understory: A Female Environmentalist in the Land of the Midnight Sun. A year later, she signed an option agreement with HTWIP Productions for a screenplay.
Passion and peril are intertwined in this true tale of a bright young woman, driven to make the natural world a better place, while hindered not by physical challenges, but by human adversaries and predators. In Alaska she learns that her life and her work hang precariously in the balance of others.
Nancy Nau Sullivan
Noon - 1 PM
Nancy Nau Sullivan is the author of memoir, mystery, and fiction. A former newspaper journalist and English teacher, she taught at a boys’ prison in Florida, in Argentina, and in the Peace Corps in Mexico. Her Blanche Murninghan mystery series kicked off with a nomination for best mystery of 2020 at Foreword Reviews. The third installment, MISSION IMPROBABLE:VIETNAM, launches in June. Nancy lives in Northwest Indiana and, often, anywhere near water. Find her at http://www.nancynausullivan.com/, and on Facebook, Instagram, Linkedin, BookBub, and @NauSullivan on Twitter.
See more of Nancy's books here.
When Blanche "Bang" Murninghan visits an exhibit of ancient Mayan ruins in Mexico City, she sees that all is not ancient. One of the mummies has a pink hair clip embedded in its hay-like do, and the texture of the skin is not quite right. Blanche, a part-time journalist, starts to dig for some answers and gets tangled in the mystery of the mummy at the Palacio Nacional.
The boys are determined to break out of prison, but they don't consider the frightening consequences of an attempt to make a run for it.
Lucy Tobias
1 - 2 PM
Sarasota resident Lucy Tobias is a well-loved writer, photographer and blogger who looks at life and finds humor, beauty, and reasons for hope. As the pandemic produced panic, Tobias picked up a shovel and began digging a pond to stay sane. Did it work?
Tobias is an award-winning former newspaper reporter for the New York Times Regional Group. She is a member of Florida Outdoor Writers Association and North American Travel Journalists Association. Lucy shares space with one dog, two cats and numerous fish. Her blog Wednesday Notes looks at the view from her window. Website: http://www.lucytobias.com/
From the deepest swamps to the most civilized sidewalks, 50 Great Walks in Florida features the best short, but significant, outdoor jaunts in the Sunshine State. Experienced tour guide Lucy Tobias fills each page with fascinating local history and vivid descriptions of the sights and sites encountered along the way.
These manageable walks will appeal to tourists in search of the real Florida, as well as to residents who want to become better acquainted with their state but still be done in time for lunch. Though shoes may be required, backpacks are not.
A weekly blog that started as a pandemic panacea and became a phenomenon - combination journal, travel log and memoir that looks at the profoundness of everyday life and finds humor, tragedy and reasons for hope. A good read for the jaded of heart who might have forgotten that miracles happen every day.
Thomas P. Vartanian
3 - 4 PM
Thomas P. Vartanian is the Executive Director of the Financial Technology & Cybersecurity Center. He previously served at several federal banking agencies, including as General Counsel of the Federal Home Loan Bank Board and the FSLIC in the S&L crisis. Between 1983 and 2018, chaired the Financial Institution’s practices at two international law firms, Dechert LLP and Fried Frank LLP. He has represented parties in a majority of the 50 largest financial institution failures in American history, and advised several presidential administrations.
He is a frequent lecturer and media commentator on the financial services industry, having appeared on Bloomberg TV, CNN, Fox News, Newsmax, PBS and various local and national radio shows. His latest book, 200 Years of American Financial Panics: Crashes, Recessions, Depressions, and the Technology That Will Change It All chronicles the country’s tumultuous financial history and the impact that technology will have on its future. His next book, Unhackable: How Fixing A Broken Internet Will Prevent a Financial Armageddon will be available February 2023.
From 1819 to COVID-19, 200 Years of American Financial Panics offers a comprehensive historical account of financial panics in America. Through a meticulous dissection of historical events and the benefit of his experience handling many of the country's largest bank failures, Thomas P. Vartanian reveals why so many more devastating financial crises have occurred in America than nearly every other country in the world.
Judy Winslow
11 - Noon
Winslow has created a global following for high achieving CEO’s and entrepreneurs who are progressive, driven, and creative, yet stuck… often on the verge of burnout, or who simply are ready to move forward in an accelerated manner.
Grounded in her diverse and successful marketing career spanning more than 25 years, her experience encompasses work with various Fortune 500 Biggies such as cosmetics giants Cover Girl and Clairol, fashion designer Yves Saint Laurent and Alexander Julian, Elizabeth Taylor…. She co-founded a marketing firm in NYC, is a TEDx Organizer & speakers’ coach, and has worked with many small businesses and CEO’s you may not know of but who were greatly impacted by this work.
Have you ever dreamed of starting a business and making it on your own as an entrepreneur? The authors featured in this powerfully inspiring book have done exactly that. This book tells their personal stories, diving deep into the motivation and determination they required as they faced challenges, dealt with failures, and stayed steadfast in their belief that they would make it as an entrepreneur.
Local Author
General Information
We love our local authors.
If you would like to be notified of future local author events,
please fill out the form below.
Unfortunately, we do not have the staff or time needed to read books sent in by authors.