Warren Bull spent his childhood in Rock Island, Illinois, which is along the Mississippi river. Many years earlier Abraham Lincoln tried a case in the city and argued for the rights of railroads to build bridges across the river.

Warren attended Knox College, where one of the Lincoln – Douglas debates took place, and the University of Illinois. His graduate training was at the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill and what is now Alliant University in Fresno, California.

He was first licensed as a psychologist in 1983. He has worked for agencies and in private practice. He has worked with people of all ages as a therapist and as an administrator. Warren is currently licensed in three states and has two national credentials.

Warren has been writing for as long as he can remember. He claims to come from a functional family and he is a fierce competitor at trivia games.

Warren Bull is the author of the novel, Abraham Lincoln for the Defense (PublishAmerica, 2003); the short story, "Beecher’s Bibles," in the anthology, Manhattan Mysteries (KS Publishing, 2005); and the non-fiction article, "Kansas City Trivia," in Kansas City Voices (November, 2005).

Warren participated in a Special "Reading" held recently by Historic Northeast Cultural Arts Commission of Kansas City, Missouri.

Dr. John F. Burgess, along with his brother Col. George Burgess (Ret.) recently published a humorous memoir that is...mostly true. Titled Fresh Feathered Eggs, it passes on some hilarious country experiences like saving the car, Aunt Maggie's blue jays, cow tail skiing, bathroom episodes, kittens in the oven, the first day at milking school, toeless shoes, being a hop too slow, ghostly pictures, the power of poison ivy, divorce pigs, church camp under-cover undressing and more.

It is set during the '40s and '50s in the Kansas flint hills farm country, and at Dist. 82 one room school, in small towns like Westmoreland, Louisville, and Flush, and in church at St. Luke's in Wamego.

Dr. Burgess earned a Journalism degree from KSU and has an MBA and a Doctor of Business Administration. He retired as professor of business and marketing from Concordia University in Portland, Oregon and taught at the University of London in England. He co-authored three editions of the text, Small Business Management Fundamentals for McGraw-Hill.

During his career he was Director of the Business & Communication Program at Concordia, did business consulting and business seminars for international audiences, served in church leadership positions, was President of the Bishop of Oregon Foundation, served Trustee of Good Samaritan hospital, as National Vice President of both the Brotherhood of St. Andrew and Faith Alive, and as an officer in Rotary and later in Sertoma.

During the winter, he and his wife Susan live in Surprise, AZ. There he leads the musical group 'Strings N' Things' and teaches writing. During the summer the Burgess' live near the mountains of Central Oregon.

Like my main character, Kirby Nickel, I grew up in a small town in Kansas and am a rabid Jayhawk basketball fan. I’ve never played basketball in my underwear, but I used to have a recurring nightmare about walking into the school cafeteria wearing nothing but pajamas. I’m sure the dream meant I was afraid to show people who I really was. In telling Kirby’s story, I hope I show readers they shouldn’t be afraid to let people see who they are. Who they are is okay.

To write Airball: My Life in Briefs, I drew on two sources of athletic experience. The first was my own. I think I was actually born with a bit of natural athletic ability, but you sure couldn’t tell by watching me play. I was so worried about the people in the stands, the people looking at me, that I couldn’t focus on anything else. All I could think about was trying not to look stupid in front of all those people. And of course the more I tried not to look stupid, the more likely I was to run into a pole.

The second sports experience is my son’s. He’s very athletic, and like me, he’s very shy. But unlike me, when he steps onto a playing field, he’s able to put the people in the stands out of his mind and just play. For him, the love of the game trumps the fear of looking stupid. Over the y ears, as I’ve watched my son and his teammates compete, I’ve realized how important that kind of mental focus is. The kids who excel, the kids who can really play, are the kids who believe they can.

This applies to everything in life, of course, not just sports. I hope that when kids—and adults—read Airball, they’ll see they can reach their goals, too, if they believe they can.

I grew up on a farm in Lone Elm, Kansas and spent my childhood listening to the world-class story-tellers and natural born liars who populated this tiny community. My father was responsible for my life-long interest in Kansas history, and my mother's matchless insight in people's motivations set the stage for my bent toward writing mystery stories.

I attended Kansas State University for two years before marrying Don Hinger and later obtained my BA and MA degree from Fort Hays State University. We have three daughters. My master's thesis was "African American Activists: The Pioneer Politicians of Nicodemus, Kansas, 1877-1880." I have completed a novel on Nicodemus, Kansas and am working on a book for Oklahoma University Press.

After publishing several short stories in national magazines, and editing a two volume county history project, I completed my first novel, Come Spring. It was published in hardcover by Simon and Schuster, Warner Books in paperback, condensed by Reader's Digest and published in UK and Norway. Come Spring won the Medicine Pipe Bearer's Award in the Spur Award Competition sponsored by Western Writer's of America (WWA). I subsequently published a number of mystery short stories and articles. My short story, "The Family Rose," first published in the Ellery Queen Mystery Magazine was later included in two anthologies, Murder to Music and Death on the Verandah.

For a number of years, we lived in Hoxie, Kansas, where Don owned and operated a livestock truck line. This town was peculiarly well-suited to the writing life. It had fabulous internet service and few distractions. I now live in Loveland, Colorado.

For more than twenty years, Radine Trees Nehring's magazine features, essays, newspaper articles, and radio broadcasts have been sharing colorful stories about the people, places, events, and natural world near her Arkansas home. She's also the author of a book of essays set in the Ozarks. DEAR EARTH: A Love Letter from Spring Hollow was published in 1995.

"Until I began to write about Carrie McCrite, I'd dealt only in facts," she says. "What fun it is to take those facts and the settings I love, add people entangled in problems and seeking answers to important life questions, and come up with mystery fiction that shares my world with readers everywhere."

Nehring's research takes her to the places her character go. She's visited Arkansas tourist destinations, hiked hills and hollows, crawled through caves, spent time in jail (while training for the jail ministry), and--as a news reporter--interviewed officials in every branch of law enforcement. She and her husband John live in the Arkansas Ozarks.

Nehring's major at Principia College in Illinois was Fine Arts. She's done post-graduate work in English and creative writing at the University of Tulsa, and in the University of Iowa Summer Writing Program.

Kansas mystery author Nancy Pickard has created a twisted and tangled world of deception through sixteen modern day novels and the detailed developemnt of several enticing characters, her latest work being The Virgin of Small Plains. Mrs. Pickard resides in Prairie Village, Kansas, and spends a great deal of time traveling between Florida and her home. A multitde of her short stories have recieved recognition including th Agatha, Anthony, Macavity, and Shamus awards for her short stories and the Agatha, Anthony, and Macavity awards for her novels. The Los Angeles Times says, "Pickard pushes at the presumed limits of (crime fiction)." The San Diego Union says, "Nancy Pickard is acclaimed as one of today's best mystery writers."

Kathrine Walker Schlageck is the senior educator at the Marianna Kistler Beach Museum of Art. A long time lover of American folk art she curated "Kansas Quilts: Past and Present" at the Marianna Kistler Beach Museum of Art in 1999 and wrote "Sunflower State Quilts: A Guide to Publicly Held Quilt Collections in the State of Kansas." Quilt books, resources, and project ideas from the day area available for loan from the Teachers' Resource Center at the Beach Museum of Art.

Join the Marianna Kistler Beach Museum of Art education staff for quilt projects and children's quilt story books from around the world. Participants will have an opportunity to create multiple quilt blocks during the day based on the children's books. Projects include crazy quilts, American Indian Star quilts, quilts and the Underground Railroad, Hmong and Haiwiian quilts, and geometric patchwork quilts. Blocks can be taken home or put on display from 2:45-3:45, Saturday, October 31.