2022 Book Award Finalists

Award-winning author and Mobile Literary Festival founder Jodie Cain Smith spent her childhood exploring the shores of Mobile Bay. She is a graduate of the University of South Alabama and Northern Michigan University because earning a degree on both the southern and northern border happened by

Almost vertical - this is how Isabelle describes her learning curve in the past decade. It started with personal experiences, which, as a young business leader at the helm of an international company, were diverse. They involved leading through the heights but also through change and crisis. Aside

Writing has been my passion and escape since I was a young child. This mystery/suspense novel Desert Nights and was self-published in 2014. It was well-reviewed by Kirkus Indie, won honorable mention in the Hollywood Book Festival and was a finalist in the Independent Author Network’s Book of the

Senior Fellow of Social Innovation, Babson College; CEO, The Regenerative Paradigm Institute, Educator and Social Change designer for people in change agents roles, organizational leaders who aspire to making a difference, business and organizational teams pursuing meaningful work and business

Christine Hassing is a leadership life coach, a published author, a life story writer, and a teacher of arts – the art of how we frame and reframe our life stories and the art of hearing. Within. To each other. Through space virtually when people are not able to be together physically and when a

LeeAnn Werner is an author, speaker, and blogger on dysfunctional families and how you move forward based on her own experiences. She’s passionate about healing the dysfunctional family cycle. She's written and self-published two young adult psychological thrillers based on her own childhood, The

LeeAnn Werner is an author, speaker, and blogger on dysfunctional families and how you move forward based on her own experiences. She’s passionate about healing the dysfunctional family cycle. She's written and self-published two young adult psychological thrillers based on her own childhood, The

Michelle Cook writes thrillers and dystopian fiction. She lives in the UK with her husband, their two young children, and a cat called Lyra Belacqua. Her first joyful steps into creative writing were at the age of ten, when the teacher read out her short story in class. A slapstick tale of two

Walt Larimore is a best-selling author who resides in the Rocky Mountains of Colorado. He has written or co-written 41 books and over 1200 articles in dozens of publications. As an author, his books have garnered a number of American awards and his international writing awards include Page Turner

Claire Merchant is an Australian author and storyteller. She is best known for her collection of fantasy, contemporary, and romance novels set in fictional South Coast. In 2019, Claire won ‘Top Female Author’ in the Fantasy and Romance categories as voted by The Authors Show.

Helen Matthews writes page-turning psychological suspense novels and is fascinated by the darker side of human nature and how a life can change in an instant. Her novel The Girl in the Van, published by Darkstroke Books, won the suspense and thriller genre in the 2022 Pageturner Awards. Other novels

All my life I have been in love with stories, and as I grew up, I became a storyteller that now put her words in writing. Although I enjoy many genres, fantasy and sci-fi come easiest to me. Long ago, words came to me in Spanish, and then when I moved farther north in this hemisphere, my characters

Walt Larimore is a best-selling author who resides in the Rocky Mountains of Colorado. He has written or co-written 41 books and over 1200 articles in dozens of publications. As an author, his books have garnered a number of American awards and his international writing awards include Page Turner

Nikki Auberkett is a cultural anthropologist, developmental editor, and overall passionate storyteller. With nearly 15 years of research and exploration into global folklore and mythology, biblical archaeology, and all things weird and unusual, she weaves her research and social science expertise

Claire Merchant is an Australian author and storyteller. She is best known for her collection of fantasy, contemporary, and romance novels set in fictional South Coast. In 2019, Claire won ‘Top Female Author’ in the Fantasy and Romance categories as voted by The Authors Show.

Breana Greene is an African American self-published author, illustrator, and independent animator from Baltimore Maryland. She graduated from George Washington Carver Center for Arts and Technology in 2014, and School of Visual Arts with a BFA in Animation in 2018. Since graduating SVA, Breana has

Gerald Everett Jones lives in Santa Monica. The romantic comedy Mick & Moira & Brad is his thirteenth novel. He is a board member of the Independent Writers of Southern California (IWOSC), a Film Independent (FILM) Fellow, and a winner of the Writers Guild of America (WGA) Diversity Award. He holds

Claire Merchant is an Australian author and storyteller. She is best known for her collection of fantasy, contemporary, and romance novels set in fictional South Coast. In 2019, Claire won ‘Top Female Author’ in the Fantasy and Romance categories as voted by The Authors Show.

Claire Merchant is an Australian author and storyteller. She is best known for her collection of fantasy, contemporary, and romance novels set in fictional South Coast. In 2019, Claire won ‘Top Female Author’ in the Fantasy and Romance categories as voted by The Authors Show.

Elena Carter was born in Almaty, Kazakhstan. In 2013, she relocated to Bulgaria to live by the sea in the beautiful city of Varna. She has explored many different career paths, from working as a political and human rights assistant at the Netherlands Embassy to making gemstone jewelry. In 2020

Scribando is a membership site for book authors that helps publishers and authors to achieve bestselling- and award-winning status with their books.

Susan Marie Chapman is an award winning children's book author. She grew up on a small farm in rural Pennsylvania and is the eldest of eight children. Her love of animals and nature comes through in the stories that she tells. Susan has had a love for writing since the sixth grade when she won an

Scribando is a membership site for book authors that helps publishers and authors to achieve bestselling- and award-winning status with their books.

Meredith Wargo is an award-winning author and advocate for animals. The recipient of four Maxwell Medallions from the Dog Writers of Association of America, she has a bachelor's degree in journalism from Baylor University in Waco, Texas. Although a native Texan, Meredith currently lives in southern

Meredith Wargo is an award-winning author and advocate for animals. The recipient of four Maxwell Medallions from the Dog Writers of Association of America, she has a bachelor's degree in journalism from Baylor University in Waco, Texas. Although a native Texan, Meredith currently lives in southern

Louise writes novels, short stories and flash fiction, which have won prizes, placed on shortlists, and have been read out on BBC radio. Her short fiction has appeared in more than twenty print anthologies and magazines. Some of these are also online, links to which can be found on her website. She

Leslee Breene, international award-winning author of novel and short fiction, takes pride in being a Denver, Colorado native. Her five published historical and contemporary women's fiction novels and one Christmas short story anthology may be found on Amazon.com and Barnes and Noble.com. During

Advanced Grief Recovery Specialist, Dr Victoria Wilson-Crane supports adults grieving life losses. Educational innovator and leader, Vic used her academic writing skills and love of words as therapy as she faced significant bereavements in 2020. Her award-winning memoir and self-help book Sixteen

Scribando is a membership site for book authors that helps publishers and authors to achieve bestselling- and award-winning status with their books.

Marlene M. Bell is Ewephoric about writing mysteries and children's books where she's able to use her personal experiences with sheep and farm everyday life into suspenseful crime fiction. She's an artist, as well as a wildlife photographer especially when it comes to sheep. Her landscapes grace the

Keema Waterfield is the author of Inside Passage, a nomadic childhood memoir set along the wild coast of Southeast Alaska. Waterfield has written for The New York Times, WIRED, Brevity, Scary Mommy, INSIDER, and others. She lives in Missoula, Montana, where she moonlights as a stand-up comic when

2019 Pacific Book Awards Best Mystery Finalist…Crime Delayed 2020 Pacific Book Awards Best Mystery Winner…Crime Denied Chuck Morgan attended Seton Hall University and Regis College and spent thirty-five years as a construction project manager. He is an avid outdoorsman, an Eagle Scout and a licensed

Nominated for Georgia Author of the Year for Redemption, Stephanie is dedicated to giving her reader's fast-paced, high stakes, page-turning stories that keep you on the edge of your seat and are full of surprising twists! Her desire to write was fostered early as a child with weekly trips to the

Nominated for Georgia Author of the Year for Redemption, Stephanie is dedicated to giving her reader's fast-paced, high stakes, page-turning stories that keep you on the edge of your seat and are full of surprising twists! Her desire to write was fostered early as a child with weekly trips to the

'The Pangolin Killers' is a current affairs action story for 9–13-year-olds about trafficking of endangered animals in Africa. It will be published in Denmark as 'Skældyrsjægerne' by Wadskjaer Publishing on 16 June 2023. It was Longlisted for the Pager Turner Award in 2022. Liva’s life as she knows

Phill Featherstone has been a teacher, education adviser and publisher. He now alternates between writing, drinking coffee, and playing the saxaphone (badly) - not always in that order. He lives in Sheffield, South Yorkshire, England with Sally, his wife and partner of more years than either of them

Paul Hollis is an American author of fictional terrorism and espionage. His bestselling and multi-award winning novels in The Hollow Man Series follow a U.S. Government analyst in a trilogy of suspense across Europe. The first two books in the trilogy are Amazon #1 bestsellers - The Hollow Man (also

Stephanie Hrehirchuk is the author of 30 books across multiple genres, including the multi award-winning memoir An Accidental Awakening: It’s not about yoga; It’s about family, and the Anna series of children’s books. A spinal injury pushed the Canadian mom of two out of her career in personal

Diane Davies, award-winning author of Life in the Neck New Friends, Life in the Neck Squirrel Trouble, Life in the Neck Advent of Christmas, and Jeannie Ann’s Grandma Has Breast Cancer, lives in the Neck right next to the animals making their home there. You’ll find her in one of the Neck’s two

Diane Davies, award-winning author of Life in the Neck New Friends, Life in the Neck Squirrel Trouble, Life in the Neck Advent of Christmas, and Jeannie Ann’s Grandma Has Breast Cancer, lives in the Neck right next to the animals making their home there. You’ll find her in one of the Neck’s two

Kitiera Morey is a lively perfectionist with the mouth of a drunken sailor. When she's not singing off-key for the entire world to hear or chasing after a chaos demon, Kitiera is indulging her Stardew Valley addiction. She lives in New York with her beautiful daughter, four cats and two dogs.

Kitiera Morey is a lively perfectionist with the mouth of a drunken sailor. When she's not singing off-key for the entire world to hear or chasing after a chaos demon, Kitiera is indulging her Stardew Valley addiction. She lives in New York with her beautiful daughter, four cats and two dogs.

Author of "The Private Misadventures of Nell Nobody," and "On Wounds of Woe," Jennifer Newbold came to fiction writing from a historical perspective, with a belief that history can be immediate and relevant, and that fiction can be a means to making history accessible. But fiction can do so much

E.T. Gunnarsson translates imagination into words for a living. E.T. Gunnarsson's debut book, Forgive Us, received the accolades for Best Sci-Fi Book at the 2021 San Francisco Book Festival and Best Post-Apocalyptic Book at the 2021 Fiction Awards. Born and raised in the Rocky Mountains (9,000 feet

Simone Heng is a human connection specialist and former international broadcaster for Virgin Radio Dubai, HBO Asia, and CNBC, among others. She is an accredited certified speaking professional. With over 20 years of experience around the world as a communicator on-air, on stage, and one-on-one

After years of often challenging public service work, I found creative writing to be cathartic. And I discovered I love writing fiction—mainly suspense and thriller novels—as much as reading it. I’m a California native, and my story takes place in the scenic central coast where little beach towns

Alisa Hope Wagner is an international award-winning author, editor and publisher of over thirty books. She married her high school sweetheart, and together they raise their three children in a Christ-centered home. Though an introvert by nature, Alisa easily expresses herself through social media

As a child, Susea was always engrossed in a book. It really wasn’t surprising when she chose lower primary for her career. A retired classroom teacher who majored in English and Children's Literature, Susea spent 23 years making literacy learning fun for her young students. Her favourite time of day

Born in England, breaking into serious novel writing wasn’t something I began in earnest until taking early retirement after selling my business. Two decades of writing non-fiction, graphic design, magazine publication and organic skincare manufacturing, finally led me to my dream job. Writing

Maryann Miller is an award-winning author of numerous books, screenplays, and stage plays. She started her professional career as a journalist, writing columns, feature stories, and short fiction for regional and national publications. Now she writes primarily mysteries, including the critically