Come celebrate our annual Indie Author Day November 4, 2023 11 A.M. - 2:30 P.M. at the George W. Hawkes Downtown Library. We welcome indie authors, writers, and the local reading community to join us in celebrating Indie Author Day! We will have writing workshops, author panels, book readings, networking in the author alley, free giveaways, and more!
No Registration Required.
Rebrary A
11:00am – 12:00pm An Author’s Journey – In this panel, independent authors discuss their journey to authorship, what inspires their writing, the publishing space and more. Moderated by author Harry Hall. Featured Authors: Dr. Monica "mOe" Anderson, David Hopkins, Brandie Nikole, Phil Oakley, Paula Peckham, and Michelle Petties.
12:15pm – 1:15pm Author Readings – Get inspired for your next read by hearing passages from the authors’ previous and latest books. Featured Authors: Dr. Monica " mOe" Anderson, Candace Gray, David Hopkins, Shaundale Johnson, Jennifer Looft, Phil Oakley, Michelle Petties, Amy J. Schultz, Shawn M. Warner.
1:30pm – 2:30pm An Author’s Journey II – In this panel, independent authors discuss their journey to authorship, what inspires their writing, the publishing space and more. Featured Authors: Candace Gray, Harry Hall, Jennifer Looft, Amy J. Schultz, Jeaninne Stokes, and Shawn Warner.
Rebrary B
11:00am – 12:00pm How To Choose the Publishing Route for Your First Book – Author Jeaninne Stokes discusses with current and aspiring writers the opportunities and challenges of independent and traditional publishing routes and how to pick which will work best for you.
12:15pm – 1:15pm 25+ Ways to Promote Yourself: From Free to $$$ – Author Paula Peckham walks writers through various free and paid ways you can promote yourself and your book.
1:30pm – 2:30pm Through the Time Machine: Writing History – In this highly interactive session, author Harry Hall asks six questions that will shatter potential authors’ perceptions about history, leaving them with a better understanding of how to research for writing historical fiction or nonfiction. These strategies will help you enhance your writing and take your readers to another place and time.
Lobby
11am – 2:30pm Author Alley – Meet and Greet with the Authors! Throughout the day, stop by our authors' tables to connect, ask your burning questions, and learn about their available books.
There will be signed book Giveaways every hour. Check the board in the lobby to see if you’re a winner!
Fill out a survey at the event to be entered to win a reader gift basket!
Amy J. Schultz
Amy J. Schultz is an author and award-winning photographer who explores unique aspects of modern culture that hide in plain sight. Amy and her husband live in Texas with their gigantic golden retriever. When she isn’t talking about mums, Amy is writing, taking photos, working with the Arlington Museum of Art on creative projects, traveling, snort-laughing, or vacuuming up dog fur. While MUMENTOUS is Amy’s first published book, her first “books” were collections of stick figure masterpieces created by three-year-old Amy and stapled together by her mother.
Brandie Nikole
Brandie Nikole always loved the experience of living through written words. As a young girl, and still today she loves reading books, blogging, and writing poetry. Inspired by various forms of literature; Brandie decided to take her love and imagination to greater heights and begin writing. After getting bored with the same type of plots and endings, Brandie was encouraged and inspired by those around her to write her own book, prompting her to face her fears resulting in the completion of her first published novel, HIS FAVORITE GIRL.
Candace Gray
Candace Gray inspires people to be resilient in living out their purpose despite obstacles and delays. She believes that as we express our unique gifts and live with a sense of purpose, we glorify God and the world is a better place. As a leader with over 25 years of experience in the nonprofit sector, she is committed to helping individuals and organizations maximize their impact on the world.
David Hopkins
David Hopkins is a fantasy novelist with an interest in Shakespeare, medieval history, fairy tales, and myth. He is the author of The Dryad’s Crown, a story set in the vast world of Efre Ousel. David is married to artist and designer, April Hopkins. They have two daughters, Kennedy and Greta, and a dog named Moose. David is a full member of SFWA (Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers Association) and founder of Cake and Prose. David teaches classes through WritingWorkshops.com. He’s also an instructor for the ArmadilloCon writers workshop in Austin.
Harry Hall
Harry Hall is informative and equally entertaining on the stage and the page, earning accolades as an award-winning speaker, author, and radio talk show host. Harry has written three books; the first, Help! Everyone is Staring at Me, gives readers tips on overcoming the common but irrational fear of speaking in public; his second work, also self-published, The Pedestriennes, America’s Forgotten Superstars, is the first book ever written on the late 19th century professional women endurance walkers. It’s won three national writing awards and is up for a film project. His most recent book, This Used To Be Dallas, chronicles 90 structures in the city’s history, what they were, what they are and why they matter.
Jeaninne Stokes
Jeaninne Stokes is a Christian author, poet, Bible-teacher, educator, and the founder of JStokes Writing Ministries. As a Bible-teacher, she writes to equip and empower people as they seek to live a life of faith in every arena of their lives. As an educator, she provides services for first time writers called to the ministry of Christian writing and desiring to become Christian authors.
Jennifer Looft
Jennifer Looft believes in the power of love and words to make the world a kinder, more positive place. So, it makes sense that she finds herself writing stories filled with love and laughter. A native Texan, she calls the Dallas area home, where she lives with her college-sweetheart husband, two incredible teenagers, and two attention-seeking dogs. Prior to her long-time career as a teacher, she has worked several jobs. Her highlights reel would include costume designer, hot dog demo girl, Kool-Aid Man, radio DJ, theatre director, and Christmas store manager.
Michelle Petties
Michelle Petties is a writer, speaker, food addict in recovery, Food Story coach, author of the award-winning best-selling memoir, Leaving Large – The Stories of a Food Addict, and host of Get the Back Story Live, which airs monthly on the SORC® TV-Radio Network. Her memoir, a category winner in The 2022 Memoir Prize for Books, illustrates how events, experiences, and memories inform our beliefs, attitudes, and habits around food, eating, hunger, and everything else in life. Michelle now conducts healing-through-writing-and-storytelling workshops where she teaches others how to find their food and personal truths. She speaks to organizations, large and small, sharing her unique insight and her story of hope, healing, triumph, and transformation.
Monica “Dr. mOe” Anderson
Monica “Dr. mOe” Anderson is a multi-published author, Doctor of Dental Surgery, serial entrepreneur, rare-cancer survivor, and TEDx speaker. In addition to penning a weekly lifestyle column for a major daily newspaper, she has written and published eight books and hundreds of articles focusing on her core passions: personal development, communication, and wellness. She has been featured in numerous media outlets, including Parade Magazine, Fox 4 News, Authority Magazine, and ABC's Good Morning Texas. A longtime community advocate, this native Texan has launched several community initiatives, most recently Drop the Drugs, Inc. a 501c3 working with local law enforcement to combat prescription drug misuse. Dr. mOe divides her time between Grand Prairie and Austin, Texas.
Paula Peckham
A fifth-generation Texan, Paula Peckham spent two decades teaching math. She divides her time between her home in Texas and Rio Bravo, Mexico. She and her husband, John, have four children and nine grandchildren. Her debut novel, Protected, Book 1 in a series, was published in April 2022. It finaled in ACFW’s Genesis contest and won the gold medal in the 2022 Global Book Awards. Book 2, A Father’s Gift, finished third in the 2023 Selah contest. Book 3, Accepted, is out in October 2023.
Phil Oakley
Phil Oakley is an award-winning writer, educator, filmmaker, journalist and executive. He recently signed a new three book publishing contract with The Stoney Creek Publishing Group and Texas A&M University Press, parts of the Texas Book Consortium. The first installment of that three book series will be available in March 2024. Prior to signing this new contract Phil had published eight novels. Phil began working on his first novel in the spring of 1964, while a freshman at The University of Texas at Austin. That book finally reached publication fifty years later in 2014. In addition to writing, Phil currently works as a paraprofessional educator at Kennedale High School. Previously, he served as Director of the Louisiana Film Commission, was a regional executive of The Walt Disney Company, and was an editor/producer for The Dallas Morning News. Along with his wife Nancy and two sons, Phil moved to Arlington in 1987, and much of the research for his books has been done in Arlington Public Libraries.
Shaundale Johnson
Shaundale Johnson is an American multi-award-winning author of three published books and a contributing author for three additional publications, one of which includes The People's Lawyer, a 2023 Next Generation Indie Author Book Award (NGIBA) finalist. Other award-winning titles include Second Time Around and A Sacred Kind of Love, written under the pseudonym Stony Rhodes.
A professional developmental editor by day and a writer by night, Shaundale balances both worlds and celebrates her first trilogy being voted the 2016 Crystal Awards Best Newcomer on Wattpad.com. She has edited books released under Adam's Media (a subsidiary of Simon and Schuster) and Lake Union Press (a subsidiary of Amazon Publishing). Her projects have garnered both national and international acclaim as #1 Amazon bestsellers and independently published book award winners in various genres (IPPY and BIBA Awards).
Shawn Warner
Shawn is the author of young adult adventure stories, science fiction, fantasy, and good old-fashioned mysteries. He shot to fame when a TikTok video of him selling his debut Young Adult book (in a grocery store) went viral, and has since become a worldwide best-selling author with his debut book, Leigh Howard and the Ghosts of Simmons-Pierce Manor.