Sara Carson

Sara Carson of Ontario Canada began her career at fifteen years old successfully running her own dog training facility for five years in her hometown of North Bay. During that time Sara expanded her knowledge teaching obedience, puppy foundations, tricks, and agility to the students who attended classes at her facility. 

Sara is well known as one of the top international trick dog trainers in North America today. She has been nationally recognized for showcasing her achievements such as the CW Dog Honors 'top trick' award in 2020, The Great Mats 'Dog Trainer of the Year' in 2017. Her dogs have earned a multitude of working and sport titles such as agility, dock diving, barn hunt and tricks.  She has also placed across the board in disc dog competitions and taught the art form of canine freestyle dance.

Sara and her Super Collie Hero had their first televised appearance on The Late Show with David Letterman blowing bubbles and continue to captivate audiences all over the world on the silver screen. She acquired her celebrity dog trainer status after placing fifth on the season twelve finale of America's Got Talent in 2017. Since then Sara and Hero have filmed 'A Genie's Tale' where Hero played Joe the main protagonist. Sara has also made an appearance as a judge on 'Puppy Bowl- The Summer Games' as well as additional titles into the Discovery+ series. 

Sarah Hall

Sarah L. Hall is associate professor of agriculture and natural resources at Berea College. Her scholarly articles on the restoration of native forests and grasslands in Kentucky have been published in a wide range of journals, including Restoration Ecology and New Forests. Meg Wilson, a Berea College alum, is a graduate student in art and art history at the University of Wisconsin–Madison. Meg's photographs have appeared in many publications and collections, including Appalachian Reckoning, Appalachian Review, Time magazine, Oxford American, and Looking at Appalachia.

Chris McGinley

Chris McGinley‘s Coal Black is a collection of crime stories set in the hills of Appalachia. His fiction has appeared in Cutleaf, Reckon Review, Mystery Tribune, Mystery Weekly, Tough, Switchblade, Pulp Modern, and other forums. Non-fiction work–film and literature analysis–has appeared in CrimeReads, Mystery Tribune, Reckon Review, and elsewhere. “The Screech Owl,” a short story, was nominated for a Pushcart award, and “Hellbenders” made the “List of Distinguished Stories” in Best American Mystery Stories (2020).
His full-length novel, Once these Hills, is set in late-nineteenth century eastern Kentucky.
McGinley teaches middle school in Lexington, KY where he lives with his wife.

Nancy Allen

When growing up in Kentucky halfway between Troublesome Creek and Hell-for-Certain and near a town named Hazard, Nancy learned to take the non-risky route of looking before leaping. She looked into social work and tried it. Liked it. She checked out teaching. Tried it. Loved it. And after a peek at a school’s collection of books, she leaped into a profession she couldn’t resist—librarian. During the day she read to children and at night wrote for them. Working with children in a variety of jobs primed her for her present and future venture, writing. 
Her first book was published in 1999 and her latest is book number 52, Dear Vampire, which received a five-star review by the Books Children Read organization. She has won the Appalachian Book of the Year award in children’s literature, represented Kentucky at the National Book Fair in Washington, D.C., and in 2022, was the keynote speaker for the Kentucky statewide expansion rally for the Dolly Parton Imagination Library.
She and her husband Larry live in Kentucky in the log house in which she grew up. Her international headquarters are located at the bottom of the stairs. She lives and works with two canine assistants, Jaz and Roxi, that look and act like miniature schnauzers and are instrumental in dreaming up literary ideas for which she takes credit. 
 
Nancy has an associate degree from Alice Lloyd College, a BA degree from the University of the Cumberland (formerly Cumberland College), an MA degree in Education from Morehead State University, and an MA in Library and Information Science from the University of Kentucky.
Hot chocolate enhances her creativity. (That’s the excuse Nancy uses for her third cup.)

Katherine Stringfield

Born and raised in the mountains of Eastern Kentucky in Shotgun Holler, Katherine's love of books began while reading the "Little House" series by Laura Ingalls Wilder.   Her love of writing took off in college when she supported herself as a writing coach for fellow students. 
A professed jack of all trades, writing her first novel came later in life, at fifty.   Having a captive audience in the student body at the high school where she was a full-time substitute teacher made her dream of penning her first novel a reality.    Katherine lives in Berea with her husband and daughter.  

Nick Lewis

I live in Richmond, Kentucky with my wife, Bonnie.  After graduating from Marshall University in the fall of 1970, my chosen career path didn’t work out. Although I taught school and coached football for one year in Boyd County, Kentucky, that door closed, and another one opened, the newspaper business.


After forty years at five different newspapers in Kentucky, Ohio, and West Virginia, I retired in June 2013. For the last nine years of my newspaper career, I was the publisher of the Richmond Register in Richmond, Kentucky. It was there that my love for writing was born and cultivated. After penning hundreds of commentary for the newspaper, in January 2014, I started writing a series titled, The Detective Carla McBride Chronicles. After a long five years, the first three books were completed. In January 2019, I received a traditional publishing contract from Pen It! Publications, LLC. As of November 2020, the first three books in the series were published. The fourth Detective Carla McBride Novel was published in February 2022. A fifth is currently being written and is expected to be published in the spring of 2022. 

Todd Moberly

Todd Moberly is a retired Madison County school teacher.  His first published work, Notes on Cracker Barrel Napkins was a self-published fictional novel and was lauded by Loyal Jones and Wendell Berry, among other Appalachian writers.
Born and raised in Madison County, Moberly's family has been here for 200 years. He's an eighth generation Moberly, and now resides near Berea with his wife, who is also a retired teacher. His two grown daughters, who work in public schools live nearby with their families.

Stephanie Logsdon and
​Mary Ellen Stottmann

Stephanie Logsdon’s love of creative writing began at a young age when she placed second in a local young author’s competition. From then on, she was hooked on writing and sharing her ideas with others. She earned her Bachelor of Arts Degree from the University of Kentucky and a Master of Arts in Education from Western Kentucky University. Her career path led her to become a full-time reading intervention teacher and author.  Logsdon, also known as “Chief Marker” for Baxter’s Corner, was born and raised in Louisville, Kentucky. In 2020 she released her debut picture book, Gerome’s Rainbow, a story about acceptance. Soon after her second book was released, Who’s Who with Mr. McBoom, a story about the uniqueness and importance of families.

Mary Ellen Stottmann, also known as “Chief Crayon” at Baxter’s Corner, was born in New Mexico and raised in New Jersey and Louisville, Ky. Her art education began earlier than most. By the age of ten she was oil painting with a style that is still apparent today.  After studying art in Paris she moved to New York City to major in graphic design at the internationally recognized Parson School of Design.  She began her professional career working for an advertising studio. Then co-founded a “Printing While You Wait” company which eventually led to her owning a digital offset printing company. Her career in printing allowed her to continue designing material for her clients, some of which is still being used today.

Valerie Askren


After spending more than 20 years as a university researcher and professor, Valerie Askren traded the ivory towers of academia for the hardwood forests and sandstone arches of Kentucky. The proverbial outdoorswoman, she has swum in Africa’s Lake Malawi, climbed China’s Mount Tai, sailed the coast of southern France, biked Nova Scotia, and backpacked the West Coast Trail of Vancouver Island. Her honeymoon was spent kayaking the Grand Canyon with her husband, Ben. Valerie’s background in natural resource economics and her love of nature translated into a second career of writing outdoor guide books, including Hike the Bluegrass and Beyond, Backpacking Kentucky, Fly Fishing Kentucky, Five Star Trails: Louisville and Southern Indiana, and Backcountry Cuisine. The mother of four, Valerie lives in Lexington, Kentucky and hits the trail every chance she gets. 

Rachel Hester

Kyle had a childhood dream of having a small farm like his grandfather. Rachel had a craving for wholesome, traditional foods like the kind she experienced in Eastern Europe on the Mission Field. After a honeybee swarm flew into the backyard of the rental property we were living on at the time, we realized we wanted a homestead that was operated in such a way as to be Honeybee Friendly and health savvy.

Raw Milk and especially Sheep Milk are two things that are non-negotiably necessary for our home and health. Soy and even corn are two products that are usually fed to most dairy animals, resulting in compromised Rumen health and therefore an inferior product. Since most farmers are understandably not very open to their customers criticizing what they feed to their own animals, we quickly realized to have the food we desired and needed, we’d have to raise it ourselves.