PAT LEONARD is a poet who lives in Warrensburg. She returned to the Adirondacks in 2008, after 29 years in the Carolinas. After publication of her first poem in the "Glens Falls Chronicle" in 1981(its first year of publication), she went on to publish Seashells and "Laughing Gulls, Songs of a Sea Island" with Winston-Derek in 1983. Her work was included in an anthology, "Carolina Voices", and in "The Charleston Post and Courier", "The Lesser Squawk" and another anthology, "75, The Poetry Society of South Carolina 1921-1996". She is also a photographer and enjoys combining poetry, particularly haiku, with photography. She will sign her second book of poetry, "Transfiguration".

 

MARY SANDERS SHARTLE is a member of "The Three Poets" with colleagues Marilyn McCabe and Elaine Handley. Their chapbook, "Notes from the Firetower--Three Poets on the Adirondacks," was awarded by the Adirondack Center for Writing the first ever prize for Best Book of Poetry. They were named winners again for "Glacial Erratica-Three Poets on the Adirondacks, Part 2" and for "Winterberry, Pine". "Lake Tear of the Cloud" is their most recent. She will sign those works at Willows on Dec. 3. She is former director of the Saratoga Poetry Zone and teaches memoir writing workshops for adults and senior citizens in many area towns, which resulted in the creation of the book "Where We've Been: A Century of Memoirs," which she co-edited with Elaine Handley."She also worked with the Galway Public Library in Galway, New York, on THE GALWAY STORY QUILT: STORIES OF A PLACE BY THE PEOPLE WHO LIVE HERE, which won the New York State Shubert Award for excellence in library programming. Mary is the recipient of a 2008 NYSCA individual artists' grant for her work on a novel about a woman who lives alone in the Adirondacks," The Hermit".

Noon - 1 p.m.

Amanda Shaffer

Noon - 1 p.m.

Meghan Lemery

 

AMANDA SHAFFER is a teacher from Upstate New York. She lives in the country with her husband, two dogs, two cats, and a rabbit. In her free time she volunteers with her therapy dog, Arya and at the local animal shelter. She also enjoys spending time outside, running and hiking. She signs her children's book Dog Gone Confused. Ask Amanda about the family pet that inspired this delightful story.

 

 

 

MEGHAN LEMERY is a graduate of the University of Virginia and Columbia University School of Social Work. She is a psychotherapist practicing in Upstate N.Y. as well as a columnist for Saratoga Today Newspaper. In addition to empowering others to live with self acceptance and love, her passion is writing. She is a contributor for various magazines, blogs and websites throughout the Northeast region. Through her you will meet Sabrina Davis, a thirty something singleton entangled in the dating world with no sign of love on the horizon. Follow her through a journey of love, loss, faith and self acceptance as you fall in love with her quirky, humorous and captivating ways. Whether she’s writing letters to God or fashion designers to complain about their sizing, Please Pass the Barbie Shoes will leave you feeling inspired, empowered and adored!

JOSEPH C. PARKER - Born in Long Island City in 1923, Joseph C. Parker was in the U.S.Navy during the second world war. He studied art on the G.I.Bill at the Art Student's League in N.Y.C and spent three years in France studying with Fernand Leger and Paul Colin. He opened a Commercial Art Studio with a friend that lasted eighteen years. He was an Art Director for Seagram's for several years and finally moved upstate with his family so he could continue with his art. However, it became necessary to open a restaurant in order to survive. The restaurant, Chez Sophie, became internationally known and Joseph continued to do his welding of sculpture during the winter months when the restaurant was closed. He will sign "Breakfast - Chez Sophie: How it all began", the first in his memoir series. See more at http://josephsgallery.net

 

Diane Chase is the author of the new Adirondack Family Tri-Lakes and High Peaks: Your Four-Season Guide to Over 300 Activities guidebook, and a writer and columnist. Her husband, Tyler Chase, is a licensed guide for wilderness adventure for youth and families through backcountry excursions. Join them for a book signing and a simple knot tying exercise to learn some essential knots to build a shelter. Stop by for free activity sheets based on her latest book. Visit her website: www.adkfamilytime.com

MASON SMITH grew up in Northern New York, attended the Manlius School, Amherst College, and the College of Agriculture at Cornell before serving 4 years in the Navy. He completed his BA at SUNY Potsdam, seeing two full length stage plays produced in the College theatre, then won a Danforth Fellowship for graduate study at Stanford University, from which he received a Master's degree in Creative Writing and a Ph.D. in English and American Literature. His first novel, Everybody Knows and Nobody Cares (Knopf, 1971), was published while he was at Stanford and led to a fellowship from the National Endowment for the Arts. Later he had two residencies at The MacDowell Colony. He has written extensively for "Sports Illustrated", "Gray's Sporting Journal", "WoodenBoat Magazine", and "Adirondack Life". He has taught at the University of California at Santa Cruz, Clarkson, and SUNY Potsdam. The real biography has always been daily work, working wives, homes, cars, boats, wood-piles and above all children. He has three sons from his first marriage, is now equally a writer and a boatbuilder, living in Long Lake with wife Hallie Bond and daughter Maggie,16. Alex, 20, is at St. Lawrence. His second novel, Florida (XLibris), also published as Towards Polaris (Syracuse University Press) won the People's Choice for Best Book award of the Adirondack Center for Writing. He has drafted a new novel in the month of November five out of the last six years. One of them, a sequel to Florida/Towards Polaris called FarAlaska, will be published soon by GrayBooks. Others to follow.