Mississippi River Readers Retreat

Meet the authors – Susan May Warren

Susan May Warren is the USA Today best-selling, Christy and RITA award-winning novelist of over 65 novels. An eight-time Christy award finalist, a three-time RITA finalist, she’s also a multi-winner of the Inspirational Readers Choice award, and the ACFW Carol Award.
A seasoned women’s events speaker, she’s a popular writing teacher at conferences around the nation and the author of the beginning writer’s workbook: The Story Equation. She is also the founder of http://www.MyBookTherapy.com, and Novel.Academy, a school for aspiring novelists. You can find her online at http://www.susanmaywarren.com.

Meet the authors – Amy Lynn Green

Amy Lynn Green is a lifelong lover of books, history, and library cards. She worked in publishing for six years before writing her first historical fiction novel, based on the WWII homefront of Minnesota, the state where she lives, works, and survives long winters. She has taught classes on marketing at writer’s conferences and regularly encourages established and aspiring authors in their publication journeys.

If she had lived in the 1940s, you would have found her writing long letters to friends and family, listening to jazz music, daydreaming about creating an original radio drama, and drinking copious amounts of non-rationed tea. (Actually, these things are fairly accurate for her modern life as well.)

Be sure to interact with her on Facebook and Instagram, and look for her novel, Things We Didn’t Say, releasing in November 2020.

Meet the authors – Kimberley Woodhouse

Kimberley Woodhouse is a CBA and ECPA best-selling and award-winning author of more than twenty fiction and non-fiction books which have earned her many accolades including Christian Retailing’s Top Pick and Publisher’s Weekly starred reviews. A popular speaker and teacher, she’s shared her theme of “Joy through Trials” with more than a million people across the country at more than 2,000 events. Hundreds of national radio and television appearances have featured Kimberley, her books, and their family’s story. Kim and her incredible husband of twenty-five-plus years have two adult children. She’s passionate about music, cooking, and loves the gift of story. You can connect with Kimberley at:

Website: https://kimberleywoodhouse.com

Facebook: http://facebook.com/KimberleyWoodhouseAuthor

Twitter: twitter.com/kimwoodhouse

Instagram: www.instagram.com/kimberleywoodhouse

Meet the authors – Julie Klassen

About Julie Klassen:

I love all things Jane—Jane Eyre and Jane Austen. A graduate of the University of Illinois, I worked in publishing for sixteen years and now write full time. Three of my books, The Silent Governess, The Girl in the Gatehouse, and The Maid of Fairbourne Hall, won the Christy Award for Historical Romance. The Secret of Pembrooke Park won the Minnesota Book Award, and The Silent Governess was a finalist in Romance Writers of America’s RITA awards. I have also been honored with the Midwest Book Award and Christian Retailing’s BEST Award. I enjoy travel, research, BBC period dramas, long hikes, short naps, and coffee with friends. My husband and I have two sons and live near St. Paul, Minnesota.

Website: https://julieklassen.com/

Current News – 3/16/2020

Spring is coming! But that has been overshadowed by the Coronavirus (COVID-19). Our world has narrowed to this news and it can be overwhelming. It’s hard to focus on the positive. But we are trying to be grateful and trust God in all of this. We are thankful for authors, for good books that take us to a different place, and for things to look forward to. If you need something to look forward to, we are still taking reservations for the Mississippi River Readers’ Retreat in August. We are praying life will have returned to a positive rhythm by then and we can move forward with it. We hope to meet you then and we will share how books helped us survive (and thrive) in the midst of a pandemic. We are praying for God to be glorified in this and for your health and safety. God bless.

If you wish to register, click here: http://mississippirrr.eventbrite.com

Meet the authors – Lauraine Snelling

Award-winning and bestselling author Lauraine Snelling began living her dream to be a writer with her first published book for young adult readers, Tragedy on the Toutle, in 1982. She has since continued writing more horse books for young girls, adding historical and contemporary fiction and nonfiction for adults and young readers to her repertoire. All total, she has over eighty books published with more than 4.5 million copies in print.

Shown in her contemporary women’s fiction, a hallmark of Laraine’s style is writing about real issues of forgiveness, loss, domestic violence, and cancer within a compelling story. Her work has been translated into Norwegian, Danish, and German. She has won the Romantic Times Career Achievement Award for Inspirational Fiction, the Silver Angel Award for An Untamed Land and a Romance Writers of America Golden Heart for Song of Laughter. In 2012 due to her Norwegian Heritage and the many novels she has written about Norwegians immigrating to America, Lauraine was inducted into the Scandinavian-American Hall of Fame.

As a sought-after speaker, Lauraine encourages others to find their gifts and live their lives with humor and joy. Her readers often clamor for more books, and Lauraine would like to comply … if only her paintbrushes and fragrant flowers didn’t call quite so loudly.

Lauraine and her husband, Wayne, have two grown sons and a daughter in Heaven. They live in the Tehachapi Mountains with Lapcat, and “The Girls” (three golden hens).

Meet the authors – Karen Witemeyer

For those who love to smile as they read, bestselling author Karen Witemeyer offers warmhearted historical romance with a flair for humor, feisty heroines, and swoon-worthy Texas heroes. Recently voted #1 Readers’ Favorite Christian Romance Author by Family Fiction Magazine, Karen is a two-time winner of the ACFW Carol Award and three-time RITA® finalist. Karen is a firm believer in the power of happy endings. . . and ice cream. She is an avid cross-stitcher, and makes her home in Abilene, TX with her husband and three children. Learn more at www.karenwitemeyer.com or join her private Facebook group-The Posse.

Meet the authors – Melissa Tagg

Melissa Tagg is the award-winning author of the Walker Family series, the Where Love Begins series and the Enchanted Christmas Collection. Her latest release, Now and Then and Always, kicks off a new series set in her beloved-by-readers fictional town of Maple Valley. Melissa is a former reporter, current nonprofit grant writer and total Iowa girl.

Melissa’s books include a 2018 ACFW Carol Award Winner (One Enchanted Noel), an RT Book Reviews TOP PICK (All This Time) and a Publishers Weekly Spring Top Ten Pick (Like Never Before).

Melissa has taught at multiple national writing conferences, as well as workshops and women’s retreats. When she’s not writing, she can be found hanging out with the coolest family ever (not that she’s biased), bookworming, watching old movies, and spoiling her nieces and nephews. Melissa loves connecting with readers at www.melissatagg.com and on Facebook and Instagram.

Meet the authors – Shannon McNear

After more than two decades in the South, Shannon McNear now makes her home on the windy northern plains with her husband, four of their eight children, two German Shepherds, a bunny, three cats, several chickens, and a noisy flock of guinea fowl. She serves in worship and youth ministry, and has been writing novel-length fiction since age 15. Her first novella, Defending Truth, from A Pioneer Christmas Collection, was a 2014 RITA® nominee.

When not sewing, researching, or leaking story from her fingertips, she enjoys being outdoors, basking in the beauty of the Dakota prairies.

http://www.shannonmcnear.com/