2024 Presenters
Anjanette Barr is a Literary Agent at Dunham Literary, Inc. She has been working in various branches of the writing and publishing world for over a decade, and being an agent is the perfect way to synthesize her interests and talents. Anjanette lives in beautiful Juneau Alaska with her family of six. She represents authors across all age categories and most genres, and her wishlist can be found at dunhamlit.com and manuscriptwishlist.com.
Amy Brooks is the author of Be Yourself: a Journal for Catholic Girls and Be Yourself: a Journal for Catholic Boys. She is also the owner of Catholics Online, LLC, and the Founder of Prayer Wine Chocolate. Amy taught a variety of subjects at the secondary level for 14 years before she became a professional writer, speaker, and business owner. She currently resides in a suburb of Philadelphia with her husband Matt and three children.
Michelle Buckman’s writing adventure began over thirty years ago. She is a freelance editor and an award-winning author of seven novels. She loves discussions on writing on faith, especially at conferences.
Kate Camden is the acquisitions editor for OSV Kids books and an editor for the OSV Kids magazine. She is a graduate of the Columbia Publishing Course at Oxford and has worked in Catholic publishing and media since 2011. She lives in an idyllic small town outside Philadelphia, PA.
Katelin Cummins is an Author Accelerator certified book coach who helps writers achieve their goals through supportive, encouraging editorial feedback and project management. She is a mentor at Legend Fiction and a member of the Catholic Writer’s Guild. She lives in Wisconsin with her husband and pet rabbit. Besides stories, she enjoys fishing, sailing, kayaking, and playing tabletop games. Learn more at www.katelincummins.com.
Erin McCole Cupp is a wife, mother, and lay Dominican who lives with her family of vertebrates somewhere out in the middle of Nowhere, Pennsylvania. Her short writing has appeared in multiple Catholic and parenting magazines. She is a contributor to CatholicMom.com and has been a guest blogger for The National Catholic Register, Tekton Ministries, and the Catholic Writers Guild. When Erin is not writing, cooking or parenting, she can be found reading, dancing historical, singing a bit too loudly, sewing for people she loves, gardening in spite of herself, or dragging loved ones to visitor centers at tourist spots around the country.
Sister Maria Grace Dateno is a Daughter of Saint Paul and a children’s book editor at Pauline Books and Media, the publishing house of her religious community. She acquires and edits fiction and nonfiction for young people, toddlers through teens, and is the author of the Gospel Time Trekkers series.
Claire Dwyer has been devouring books and pouring the words back out again for longer than she can remember. Her roles as writer, editor, spiritual director, and lifelong student of the interior life all came together in her first book, “This Present Paradise.": She has a passion for Catholic writers to be encouraged and formed in their writing journey. She is a writing coach and co-founder of Write These Words and the PraiseWriters Catholic Writing Membership Community.
Karina Fabian uses her God-given gifts to put her characters in ridiculous situations then laughs maniacally as they work themselves out of it. Fortunately for her (and the state of her soul), they do, much to the amusement of readers. A part-time comedienne and freelance business writer, she's managed to write over 30 books. She lives in Florida with her rocket scientist husband. Find her books at http://karinafabian.com.
Kate Frantz Kate Frantz is the founder of Thy Olive Tree, where she self-publishes Catholic books, runs a market featuring books from nearly 25 independently published authors, and launched the Fiat Self-Publishing Academy to teach authors how to publish good, true, and beautiful books through the lens of the Catholic faith. Connect with Kate at: www.thyolivetree.com, https://academy.thyolivetree.com, and www.Instagram.com/thyolivetree ⭐Sign up to receive free Catholic self-publishing tips: https://mailchi.mp/638161417ede/xe0f1ncunq
Maria V. Gallagher is the author of two works published by Marian Press: Mercy's Power and Joyful Encounters with Mary. Maria began her writing career as a radio reporter whose freelance work aired on CBS Radio, AP Radio, and NPR. She is currently a regular contributor to CatholicMom.com and the Marian Helpers magazine. Maria received her undergraduate degree in Journalism from the Ohio State University and her Master's Degree from Northwestern University. She is the mother of a beautiful ballerina and makes her home in south-central Pennsylvania. Find her at www.MariaVGallagher.com.
Allison Gingras (www.ReconciledToYou.com) is a blogger, author, podcaster, and social media evangelizer. Her writing includes Encountering Signs of Faith (AMP), the Stay Connected Journals for Women (OSV), and various contributions to books and websites. Allison is a Digital Media Specialist for Family Rosary and the Fall River Diocese.
Gracie Jagla is blessed to be a wife, a mother of three little children, and a Catholic children's author. Published through Our Sunday Visitor, she currently has four children's books, including The Night the Saints Saved Christmas and Jesus and the Miracle of the Mass, among others.
Antony Barone Kolenc (“Tony”) is the author of the teen historical fiction series, "The Harwood Mysteries," which has won ten book awards. He is an author of fiction and non-fiction books and articles, a columnist for Practical Homeschooling Magazine, and the host of "The Shepherd's Pie" radio show and podcast. He retired as a Lieutenant Colonel from the U.S. Air Force Judge Advocate General’s Corps after 21 years of military service. He currently teaches law at Ave Maria School of Law, and he speaks at writing, legal, and homeschool events. Tony and his family live in Florida.
Jane Lebak writes books and knits socks. Both are warm. Find her books at http://janelebak.com/
Ann Margaret Lewis began her writing career writing tie-in children’s books and short stories for DC Comics. She then published two editions of Star Wars: The New Essential Guide to Alien Species for DelRey/Random House. Moving from licensed publishing, Ann began writing science fiction/fantasy, historical fiction, and Sherlock Holmes mysteries. Her first book, Murder in the Vatican: The Church Mysteries of Sherlock Holmes was the Independent Book Publisher’s Award Winner for 2010 and a finalist for the Catholic Arts and Letters Award. She followed that with another Sherlock Holmes novel entitled The Watson Chronicles: A Sherlock Holmes Novel in Stories.
Her latest book Nephilim: Corruption is her first novel for Silver Empire and her work has appeared in several anthologies.
Rebecca W. Martin, Acquisitions Editor at OSV and freelance Assistant Editor at Chrism Press, lives in Michigan with her husband and too many cats. A perpetually professed Lay Dominican, Rebecca also serves as editor for Veritas, a quarterly Lay Dominican publication. Her children’s book Meet Sister Mary Margaret was released in fall 2023 from OSV Kids.
Carmela A. Martino is an author, speaker, and writing teacher with over twenty years of experience teaching at the College of DuPage in Glen Ellyn, Illinois. Her articles, poetry, and short stories have appeared in newspapers, magazines, and anthologies. She has two published novels: PLAYING BY HEART, winner of the 2018 Catholic Arts and Letters Award (CALA) for Children’s/Young Adult Fiction, and ROSA, SOLA, a Catholic Press Association Book Award recipient. For more, see www.carmelamartino.com.
Christine McParland started writing in her mid-20s in response to an event that launched her journey both as a writer and as a future convert. Today, she serves the Church with her writing and editing skills as a marketing content creator at a Catholic creative agency. Christine shares her work on a personal blog and is currently working on her first book, a memoir about her conversion from evangelical Protestantism to Catholicism.
AnneMarie Miller spends her days learning about the liturgy, reading stacks of books to her kids, finalizing her book manuscript, and blogging at Sacrifice of Love (www.marianninja.com).
Jason Miller is a strategist, lawyer, and communicator. He serves as general counsel to a company with over $5 billion in net sales [+] and as senior litigation counsel to a Fortune 100 company. Additionally, he utilizes his crisis communications experience and draws from his prior roles as a political operative, where he also taught on media topics for the Leadership Institute. In his leisure time, Jason enjoys writing and chasing his six kids.
Krista Nelson is a freelance copyeditor and proofreader. She is a Professional Member of the UK’s Chartered Institute of Editing and Proofreading and specializes in Catholic and digital marketing content. She loves being involved in her church: she is a catechist, co-leads Children’s Liturgy, and keeps the coffee and tea flowing after Mass. You can find her at kristanelson.co.uk.
Colleen Pressprich is the author of Marian Consecration for Families with Young Children, The Women Doctors of the Church, and A Jesse Tree for Families. She is a homeschooling mom of five who lives in Michigan. You can find more information about upcoming projects on her website elevatortoheaven.com.
Maria Riley is a passionate Catholic writer and editor who loves volunteering or playing board games when she’s not writing or mom-ing. She’s the author of the Catholic children’s chapter book series: Adventures with the Saints. She’s also a fiction editor for Elk Lake Publishing. Visit her at MariaRileyAuthor.com or on social media @mariarileyauthor. She and her family live in Kansas.
Lindsay Schlegel is a freelance writer and editor, author of Don’t Forget to Say Thank You: And Other Parenting Lessons That Brought Me Closer to God, co-author of The Road to Hope: Responding to the Crisis of Addiction, and a student at The University of St. Thomas, Houston, where she is pursuing a master of fine arts degree in creative writing. Lindsay lives in New Jersey with her family.
Matthew Schmidt
Matthew Schmidt is the Heartbeat administrator of the Catholic Writers Guild. He's also published multiple science fiction/fantasy/litRPG books. When not working on one of his many projects, Matthew P. Schmidt dreams of worlds that are not, in addition to much reading of books and playing of games. He enjoys the Great Blue Heron and octopuses of all kinds, no matter their plural. Find him at https://matthewpschmidt.com/
Marisa Stokley is associate publisher at WhiteFire Publishing Group. Within that role, she is the editorial director of WhiteFire Publishing and WhiteCrown Publishing as well as a managing editor at Chrism Press, the house's Catholic and Orthodox imprint. She has worked in editorial and marketing roles in the Christian publishing industry since 2015.
Karen Ullo is an award-winning novelist and editorial director of Chrism Press. She holds an MFA in screenwriting from the University of Southern California. You can find her on the web at www.karenullo.com.
Christina Weigand
Christina Weigand is a writer, wife, and mother of four grown children. She is also Nana to five grandchildren. She lives with her husband and youngest daughter in Pennsylvania after a short sabbatical in the lovely state of Washington. She has three YA Christian Fantasy novels and a woman’s Bible study Women of the Bible: A Study published. When she’s not writing she’s active in her local Church as a lector, Bible Study, and helping children develop a love for reading and writing by running writing groups through OutSchool and the local library. Through her writing and teaching she strives to share the Word of God and help people young and old to realize the love and mercy He has for everyone.