Midwest Writers Room

BIO : Rod is the author of over forty books including adult mysteries and thrillers as well as young adult titles. He was the 2000 Wisconsin Teacher of the Year, taught English and writing for 42 years, and enjoys Halloween. He lives in Wisconsin where cheese is a religion and you're never far from something that goes moo.  LINKS : https://www.rodvick.com/

BIO : Ray Welling is an Australian-based author who grew up in Toledo, Ohio, where Byline for the Dead is set. He earned a journalism degree from Northwestern University and worked in Chicago before meeting an Australian woman and following her to Sydney, where he's lived ever since. He has worked in publishing, digital content and academia, and along the way he earned a PhD in marketing and...

BIO : Kristin is the founder and publisher of Little Creek Press. After nearly two decades in graphic design, she founded LCP and spent the next 14 years running both her publishing company and Kristin Mitchell Design before turning her full focus to publishing. Today, she brings more than three decades of creative experience to helping authors turn manuscripts into professionally published books....

BIO : Originally from Alabama, Kristen Alger’s connection to the Midwest is through marriage, dating back to the first settlers of Door County. After a decade enjoying the Midwest's landscapes and snow, she now calls the Emerald Coast of Florida home. With a background in mechanical engineering, Spanish, a master's in Public Health, and a decade teaching, Kristen brings an unconventional...

BIO : Catherine is a writer and translator based in Madison, Wisconsin. She has published ten books and four chapbooks across genres—poetry, criticism, fiction and poetry in translation, and most recently a memoir. Her poetry has aired on National Public Radio’s The Writer’s Almanac and To the Best of Our Knowledge , while her essays have won a Pushcart Prize and a Notable listing in Best American...

BIO : Although he's lived most of his life in Wisconsin, Pat Scheckel recently moved to Minneapolis. His debut novel, Time Stitchers , was published by WWA Press in the fall of 2026.  His short story collection, Frozen Chuck , is forthcoming from Cornerstone Press in 2027. His work has appeared in The MacGuffin, The Hemlock Journal, and Macabre Magazine.   LINKS : scheckel.com Instagram: @pat...

BIO :  B. A. Williamson is the overly caffeinated writer of the award-winning series The Chronicles of Gwendolyn Gray. When not doing battle with the demons in the typewriter, he can be found taming middle schoolers, doing something dramatic in a theatre, reading books, or spending way too much time decorating his house for Halloween. SYNOPSIS : The Chronicles of Gwendolyn Gray is a genre-hopping...

BIO : Elise Posledni is a bookkeeper by day and a writer by early mornings. A lifelong Wisconsin resident, she draws on her love of the state’s small towns and breathtaking natural landscapes to create fiction that feels rooted and real, even when the magic starts to surface. Her short stories have been featured in Creative Wisconsin Magazine and the anthology A Wisconsin Harvest of Horror . A New...

BIO : Gary Goodman is a former rare book dealer from Stillwater MN, whose first book, The Last Bookseller, chronicled his life in the secondhand book trade. His new book, Longships and Sod Houses, focuses on his Icelandic ancestors, one of whom was a notorious Viking warrior and stone-cold killer sometimes called Egil the Bastard. SYNOPSIS : Gary Goodman first heard that his 24x great-grandfather...

BIO : In the last several years, Shoshauna Shy’s stories have been included in Brilliant Flash Fiction’s anniversary contest anthology, were long and shortlisted in two Bath Flash Fiction Award anthologies, and received finalist standing in Ireland’s Wild Atlantic Writing Awards. One of her poems took second place in the Wisconsin Writers Association Jade Ring contest, and two of her poetry collec...

BIO : Keith is the author of the story collections Ask Me About the Money and We Could’ve Been Happy Here . A graduate of the Bennington Writing Seminars, his work has received support from the Anderson Center, Iowa Arts Council, and Springboard for the Arts. His fiction has appeared in American Short Fiction, december magazine, Gettysburg Review, New Stories from the Midwest, North American Revie...

BIO : Kevin Del Principe is a writer and film director. I Animal , published by Tumbleweed Books, is his debut novel. He directed and co-wrote the feature film Up on the Glass . He has also written for television and is the owner of the production and publishing company Dog Heart Land.  The son of a snowplow truck driver and a school nurse, Kevin grew up outside of Buffalo, New York. Later, he wor...

BIO : Ryan T. Pozzi is a Council Bluffs, Iowa-based nonfiction author whose debut, The Mess That Made Them: How History’s Greatest Artists Failed, Floundered, and Made Something Brilliant Anyway, is published by Bloomsbury. After two decades as a working artist and nonprofit executive, Pozzi left nonprofit leadership and eventually turned to writing. His work explores creativity, failure, persiste...

BIO : Martha’s most recent book, SCATTERED LIGHT, just won an IPPY Silver Medal for Great Lakes Fiction.  The book is the sequel to WINTER LIGHT, an IPPY Gold Medal Winner for YA. She’s currently at work on the last book in the trilogy. Her other fiction includes THE FALCON, THE WOLF AND THE HUMMINGBIRD, a historical novel, and THE WIND THIEF. Her nonfiction includes BLISS ROAD, a memoir about her...

BIO :  Patrick O'Donnell proves there's life after retirement. Raised in Chicago by Irish immigrant parents, he later earned a sociology degree from UW-Whitewater, then spent 25 years with the Milwaukee Police Department as a street cop and sergeant during one of the city's most violent eras, handling thousands of crime scenes and major investigations. Since retiring in 2020, he&apo...

BIO : Hannah Larrew is the founder of Spellbound PR, a boutique public relations agency built for authors, artists, and creative people with stories worth telling. She specializes in thoughtful publicity campaigns, media relations, and strategic storytelling that connect meaningful work with the right audiences.  Hannah believes great PR starts with curiosity: finding the unexpected angle, the hum...

BIO : Evelyn is an ordained minister, author, and publisher whose scholarship and ministry bridge Protestant, Celtic/Coptic Catholic, and Jewish traditions. As CEO of ShelteringTree. Earth, LLC, she leads a traditional publishing house and its hybrid publishing imprint August Isley Books. She is the author of numerous works—including eight ChristLit Book Award winners—and a pioneer of dyslexia-fri...

BIO : Jamie is a Wisconsin author, speaker, and community advocate. Her work is mostly non-fiction, focusing on emotional strength and healing. In 2024, she published her memoir Putting Myself Back Together: From Broken to Healed After Abuse, chronicling her journey through domestic violence and turning her life around after. One of her works has been recognized with an Honorable Mention in the Hu...

BIO : After navigating the challenges of independently publishing his own speculative fiction, including The Change Paradox, Alexandria’s Genesis and Digital Landscape , Steven founded Sisyphus Triumphant Publishing to guide fellow writers through the production process. The company offers tailored, honest partnership for those seeking to transform their manuscripts into professionally finished bo...

BIO :  When Julie A. Jacob was a child, she decided she wanted to be a writer, and she’s been writing ever since. Her professional career has focused on health care communications, but through the years she has kept on writing creatively in her spare time. Her creative non-fiction essays have been published in Midwest Prairie Review , On Wisconsin , Open, Under the Sun , and several editions of th...

BIO : Rebecca writes science fiction and fantasy for overthinkers and romantics. She is a Hal Prize winner, member of the Wisconsin Writers Association, and full member of the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers Association.  Rebecca is the CEO of Conquer Books, a book coaching firm for science fiction and fantasy writers. She lives with her family on over an acre of river-adjacent land in her fav...

BIO : Alicia Boemi calls herself a ‘literary dabbler’, she is the author of the children's books, THE MAILBOAT DOG and THE SAFETY PATROL DOG. Alicia has a poetry chapbook called THE LAKE REMAINS coming out summer of 2026. She is also the owner of two businesses, a bookstore in Lake Geneva called Lakeside Books, and a social media storytelling agency called Izzy Works Media. LINKS : @alicia.bo...

BIO : Scott is an Army veteran, former middle school and high teacher, journal editor, and healthcare administrator. He and his wife, Colleen, have four children and two grandchildren. He holds master’s degrees in English and moral theology and an MBA. Scott is a member of the Wisconsin Fellowship of Poets and the Wisconsin Writers Association and is on the board of directors of the Sheboygan Symp...

BIO : Debra Hall is a Racine poet whose work explores the intersection of love, loss, and the sacred ordinary. She just published her debut chapbook, What the Current Cannot Swallow.  She serves as the current president of the Kenosha/Racine Poet Laureate program and she was Racine Poet Laureate from 2020-2022. Her poems have appeared in Bramble Literary Magazine, Wisconsin Poets Calendar(s), A Wr...

BIO: SYNOPSIS: Waves of Shrapnel: A Soldier’s Journey” is a dark, raunchy, and unfiltered memoir from Jason’s time in the Iraq War. It captures the reality of deployment—the absurdity, the fear, and the dark humor that keeps soldiers going. While it doesn’t hold back, at its core the book is about brotherhood, loss, and honoring the men we lost. It’s not a polished war story—it’s the one that actu...