Local Authors

I thoroughly enjoyed my afternoon at the Barnyard Shopping Center on Saturday for Local Authors Live!

By all accounts, the event was a rousing success and the organizers now expect it to be an annual deal. Local writers were able to show off their talents, books were sold and the afternoon raised much-needed funds for local libraries.

Many thanks to Erin Clark of KSBW, for filling in for Dan Green to handle the emcee chores on short notice. The event included music and poetry, but it was also a unique opportunity for folks to spend time with local writers, a passionate and talented lot with a great diversity of interests.

I was fortunate to share a table and much of the afternoon with the inestimable Richard Burns, who wrote "Live or Die — A Stroke of Good Luck," his handbook for recovering from a serious illness.

The organizers of the event were kind enough to credit me with the idea for Local Authors Live! The genesis was an off-handed comment made during a conversation with Flo Snyder during last year's Authors and Ideas Festival in Carmel, and she ran with it. All credit goes to Flo, as well as the rest of the organizing committee, including Mr. Burns, Phil Bowhay, Patricia Hamilton, Michael Hemp and May Waldroup.