Author event added to Penney Festival schedule

Six published authors with ties to Hamilton will be reading from their works and signing books in a special event during the J. C. Penney Days on Saturday, Sept. 26.

The author event will begin at 10:30 a.m. in the J. C. Penney Boyhood home in Hamilton with readings. The authors will then spread out for individual book signings.

Anne Tezon, author of a 2013 memoir based on humor columns that appeared over a 25 year career as publisher of The Caldwell County News, has organized the event as part of her new activities as a book publicist. She will be reading from "Letters from Home: Adventures with Mad Mother, Lemonade Man and the Kid."

Other authors that have confirmed participation include Steve and Mica Westover, Julia Assel Thomas, Kim Carl Luke and Phyllis Parker..

The Westovers live in Kidder and Steve's day job is banking. He has written five traditionally-published novels, including two crime thrillers: Defensive Tactics and Gold Clash (the latter set in Caldwell County); two young adult fiction books, Crater Lake: Battle for Wizard Island and Crater Lake: Return of the Mystic Gray, plus a dystopian novel called A Nothing Named Silas. Lately, Westover's writing has focused on short stories appearing in BLOCK Magazine, a publication of Missouri Star Quilt Co. Now he has teamed up with his wife, Mica, who works as Hamilton's Parents as Teachers coordinator, to write a children's book called Grandma's in the Garbage: A Memory Quilt Book, to be published just in time for this weekend's festival. Mica has done the illustrations for the book.

Julia Assel Thomas, a native of Hamilton, is the author of Loving the Missing Link, a coming-of-age novel set in a small town in the 1970s. While her small town background features prominently in the book, Julia stresses that her feelings about Hamilton and Caldwell County were much more positive than her main character's attitudes. She and husband Will now live in Kansas City and enjoy their two children and six grandchildren. She is working as an internet copywriter, ghostwriting website content and blogs for clients around the world. She is also working on a second novel.

Phyllis Parker lives on the family farm in southern Caldwell County and uses her love of rural life and a strong spirituality to draw inspiration for her prolific poetry. She has now published two volumes, Memory in Poetry and Medley of Poetry. Phyllis is the perfect example of the adage that it is never too late to find your creative voice. She published her first poetry book at the age of 73.

Kim Carl Luke has ties to Hamilton through her daughter, who married Zach Ramsey, a former Hamilton school student and son of Dave Ramsey, who was the administrator at Hill Crest Manor for several years. Kim's primary career has been in marketing and she and husband Bob own a Christmas tree farm near Independence. She began her writing career just a few years ago and has two mystery/fantasy novels to her credit with a third nearing completion. All three books form a series that follows the same characters through some harrowing and mysterious experiences, providing readers with plenty of excited page turning. The two books she has completed are Circle of Sun and Black Inferno.

The public is encouraged to attend the readings and to visit with the authors individually after the readings. For more information, contact Tezon at 816-701-6129 or by email at annelorenetezon@gmail.com.