The Florida Writer Podcast

Award-winning author Bria Burton lives in St. Petersburg with her husband, her son, and two pets. Her fiction has appeared in over twenty anthologies and magazines. She has independently published two inspirational novellas: Little Angel Helper , a 2016 Royal Palm Literary Award winner, and The Running Girls . In 2019, Her Midnight Ride won an RPLA in the published novelette category. While she wr...

Jeremy  A.  Harper spent much of his youth traveling up and down the east coast of the United States with his family before settling in Delaware. There he served in the Delaware Army National Guard and attended Wesley College, where he met his fiancée, Sky West. He later graduated and received a B.A. in Media Arts. His debut novel Mourning Sky: Evan's Story was self-published in the summer of 2019...

Racquel Henry is a Trinidadian writer and editor with an MFA from Fairleigh Dickinson University. She is also a part-time English Professor, a founding editor at Black Fox Literary Magazine, and owns the writing studio, Writer's Atelier, in Winter Park, Florida. The mission of Writer's Atelier is to encourage writers to have the confidence to believe in their writing while they also work to improv...

After receiving a BA in Writing, Literature, and Publishing from Emerson College, Kaitlyn refused to leave the concept of nightly homework behind. As well as being an associate agent for Corvisiero Literary Agency, she is also a freelance editor at her own company,  K. Johnson Editorial , and has worked as a copyeditor for academic publisher codeMantra, a YA editor for Accent Press, and a Conferen...

J.W. Garrett has been writing in one form or another since she was a teenager. She currently lives in Florida with her family but loves the mountains of Virginia where she was born. Her writings include YA fantasy as well as short stories. Since completing Remeon's Quest-Earth Year 1930, the prequel in her YA fantasy series, Realms of Chaos, she has been hard at work on the next in the series, sch...

Mark is a private banker, historian, and avid outdoorsman. A North Florida native he has always been drawn to the rivers, estuaries and secluded forests that define the natural beauty of Florida's First Coast. He currently resides with his wife and three children in St. Johns Florida. #FloridaWriters #AmWriting  MarkAlanGriffis.com

Award-winning author Melody Dean Dimick creates vivid wordscapes of the Adirondacks, Vermont, and Florida in her books. Dimick, the winner of three Royal Palm Literary Awards from the Florida Writers Association. Melody is the current president of the Florida Writers Foundation—a not-for-profit organization fighting to eliminate illiteracy. She is also a member of the Florida Writers Association,...

As an educator, Wendy Samford, Ph. D. has a background in business and education and wrote her first book "Out of the Dark: A Direction for Change in Education" which led to a second book, "Creating a Culture of Support for Teacher Leaders: A Vision for Change and Hope."   Recently, she felt called to write a book about her daughter-in-law and her life growing up in the "system" of foster care, gr...

E. J. Wenstrom believes in complicated heroes, horrifying monsters and purple hair dye. She is an award-winning speculative fiction author of the Chronicles of the Third Realm War series, starting with FWA's 2016 Book of the Year Mud (City Owl Press). She is also a platforming expert with 12+ years' experience at PR firms and has served as a regular contributor to leading blogs including The Write...

Janice Heck, coauthor of Triumph Over Terror and ADHD: You've Got My Attention with Bob Ossler, is a retired educator. In her free time, she writes for, edits, and publishes a community newsletter; sings in the Margate Community Church choir; and collects old grammar books just for the heck of it. She loves travel, photography, cats, writing, blogging, blogging challenges, and life-long learning....

Wanda Luthman is a multi-award-winning author who resides in sunny Florida. She has an extensive background in counseling from children to adults. She has published 8 books to date. She lives with her two adorable Yorkies. Her daughter, like Little Birdie--a character in one of her books, has left the nest and lives in another state. Wanda enjoys swimming, jogging, and swimming so she can afford h...

Jan Little is a retired English instructor/journalist who writes poetry, short stories, and a fantasy series. Adelaide Literary Journal  published a poem; New Millennium Writings and Beyond Borders, International, has awarded her an honorable mention in poetry contests. She is a member of the Florida Writers Association and lives in Orlando, Florida. Visit her at RJTripp.com

Life isn't always pretty, but at the end of the day, family, friends, laughter and a glass of wine are usually enough to improve the view. Janet   Franks   Little  brings this same realistic optimism to her contemporary women's fiction. Written with candor, humor, and depth, her stories confront real-life issues faced by women today: divorce, infidelity, family, body image, social expectations, an...

Rod Martinez is the author of middle-grade and young adult speculative, mystery, adventure and paranormal novels. Rod believes writing a story is like sitting in front of a stage and watching the performers. He has a basic idea of the story-line, but the characters take over and he becomes their tool. Yes, he is a serious pantser. Rod also is a fervent believer in sparking the writing bug in child...

Born in Kodiak, Alaska, John Satterlee is the author of Eternal Love and Life published by Christian Faith Publishing. John lives and works in Orlando with his wife Gloria and their sons 17 and 9 who are both on Autism Spectrum. For more information about John, visit him on Facebook at John Satterlee Author. 

Donna M. Gray- Banks  is the Founder and Director of the F.R.E.S.H. Book Festival which is one of the largest book festivals held in Volusia/Flagler Counties in Florida.  The Festival began in 2011 and the City of Daytona Beach began sponsorship of the Festival in 2012.    Gray- Banks  is also the host of a weekly radio show "A F.R.E.S.H. Conversation" on Joy 106.3 fm Daytona Beach, every Monday n...

Jessica  Williams  lives in Central Florida (University of Alabama Alumni). She is a reporter/writer for The Hernando Sun (Hernando County, FL), Contributor for Citrus County Life Magazine (Citrus County, FL), and Journalist/Contributor for Celebrations Magazine (Walt Disney World) and Memory Well (Washington, D.C.). She also supports authors as a Contributor for Southern Literary Review ( souther...

Obi Umeozor received his B.A. in English from the University of Port Harcourt, Nigeria and taught English Literature before moving to the States in 2015, where he obtained an MFA in Creative Writing from Florida State University. His work has appeared and is forthcoming in the New Orleans Review, adda, Shift and others. He has been shortlisted for the Commonwealth Short Story Prize and nominated f...

Tami Lowe writes fiction and non-fiction, primarily about and for women. Her memoir,  Making Space for Me, my Mormon adoption story , was self-published in August 2018. Tami is a member of the Florida Writers Association, a Board Member of the Florida Writers Foundation as Chairperson of their Silent Auction. She is a judge for the Women's Fiction Writers Association Rising Star Award as well as t...

Shepperd November is a recovering New Yorker. His book All in a Daze Work :  The Decline and Fall of the American Work Ethic discusses his experiences working in the American auto industry. Find Shep on Facebook at Shepperd November. 

Toya Rochelle is an author and philanthropist.  In addition to writing, she frequently leads workshops, moderates panels, and keynotes at conferences. She aims to foster a balanced discourse and transformative understanding through her work. Toya Rochelle serves as Tech2Empower advisor with WAKE (Women's Alliance for Knowledge Exchange), TechWomen mentor, and mentor with B Peace (Business Council...

Laura Krughoff is the author of the mini-book of short fiction Wake in the Night (Arc Pair Press, 2018) and the novel My Brother's Name (Scarletta Press, 2013), which was shortlisted for a Lambda Literary Award for Debut Fiction. Her nonfiction has appeared in national media outlets including The Huffington Post , the Chicago Sun-Times , Writer's Digest , SheWired , and Dot429 Magazine , and her s...

Rick Partlow is that rarest of species, a native Floridian. Born in Tampa, he attended Florida Southern College and graduated with a degree in History and a commission in the US Army as an Infantry officer.  His lifelong love of science fiction began with Have Space Suit---Will Travel and the other Heinlein juveniles and traveled through Clifford Simak, Asimov, Clarke and on to William Gibson, Wal...

Tyler was raised in Minnesota. He and his wife moved to warmer climes (Tampa area) in 2014. We now have 17-month-old boy/girl twins. Our boy already loves books more than anything. He's been writing professionally since 2005 and that includes books, stories, radio ads, blogs, greeting cards, and reviews. His current work in progress is a middle-grade novel. Visit him at:  tyleromoth.com

Chris O'Byrne is a full-time teacher, fly fishing instructor, director of Fly Fishing Schools, and the resident Andy Thornal Company author.    His new book,  The Beautiful Addiction Learning to Fly Fish Near Your Home, Begin the Adventure, Fly Fishing Central Florida's Freshwater  hopes to inspire everyone to find a pond near their home and begin casting.  Chris is also a columnist for the Coasta...