2023 Book Award Finalists

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

Sugandha Sinha, a bull-headed optimist, wool-gatherer, and a Bollywood zealot was born and raised in India, is a master’s in biotechnology, and prefers morbific viruses over a person any day. Now her life revolves around her wiseacre husband and two impish Irish twins. She prefers to write until

Born in Nigeria but educated in England, Robert studied Aerospace Engineering before migrating to Australia in the 1970s. He has worked in academia, research and IT in Australia and the USA but now teaches Maths and Physics at high school. He loves classical music (particularly opera) and attends

Gary graduated from the University of Surrey in the UK with a degree in Engineering, embarking on a career that has taken him all over the world from the Far East to the Americas. He is a graduate of the Faber Academy and Curtis Brown creative writing programmes. Now a father of three, he has

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

I am an author of three novels, all published by Matador, with a fourth to be published later this year. I spent over 25 years as a writer of short fiction for women's commercial magazines and was published extensively in the UK and internationally. Completing an M.A. in Creative Writing with

OWEN LEVY is the author of two well-received novels, the seminal A Brother’s Touch, set in the early days of the Stonewall liberation movement, and Goodbye Heiko Goodbye Berlin plays out in the early turbulent days after the Fall of the Berlin Wall and move toward German Reunification. A Fellow of

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

Cassandra Aston is a lover of all things fantasy. She reads more than she writes, but writing has been her passion for most of her life. As a child, she wrote short stories and novellas for friends and classmates, often giving them as gifts. She grew up on a ranch outside of Austin, TX and spent

About the Author Gayle De Blake lives with her family in Los Angeles. This is her first book. The storyline came into mind as she was turning 50 and planning a trip to Malta. It took over 5 years to complete the story about Alissa, her husband Todd, his sister Kate and her husband David. Drawing

Olga Tymofiyeva, PhD, was born in 1981 in Kyiv, Ukraine. After having lived in Ukraine and Germany, she now lives in the US and works as an Associate Professor of Neuroimaging at the University of California in San Francisco. The award-winning novella Just City is Olga’s first fiction book, which

Lisa Baker has been teaching music and theater for 15 years. She has always enjoyed writing, starting with her high school creative writing class, which mostly has been a pastime until recently. She graduated from Grand Canyon University, summa cum laude, with her B.S. in Elementary Education with

A self published author of a children's novel titled 'Old Hige' and a graduate of Met Film School with a Master's Degree in Screenplay Writing.

Richard Cobourne writes with a production background in the broadcast, corporate, music and global events, and communications industries. He has worked in the business-of-show all over the world for many years – and as a result has a deep understanding of the shenanigans of the industry that

Kamalia Blunt (or Mali Millie) is an award winning author and passionate professional devoted to empowering individuals and their interests. With a Bachelor of Arts in Spanish & a minor in Chinese from the University of Georgia and a Master in Science for Health Promotion Management from American

Andy is the founder of Muddy Little Boots Publishing and is author of two children's paperback books currently. A graphic designer by trade, he decided to create Muddy Little Boots publishing during the COVID-19 pandemic lockdown (2020) as a means of creating something positive from this distressing

I am a semi-retired elementary school teacher, originally from the U.S. but immigrated to Israel in 1981. I am the author of "The Big Buna Bash" a multicultural children's book about an Ethiopian girl and how the Ethiopian traditional coffee ceremony "brings people together". My book was published

Christer Lende is an Award Winning author who began writing in a library, which sounds fitting, only he was supposed to be there working on his engineering degree. He is a professional screenwriter, working with the Norwegian movie producer behind “One Love”, “Who Killed Birgitte” and “All about my

TARA C. ALLRED is an award-winning author, instructional designer, and educator. She has been recognized as a California Scholar of the Arts for Creative Writing and is a recipient of the Howey Awards for Best Adult Book and Best Adult Author. She lives in Utah with her husband. Her published works

TARA C. ALLRED is an award-winning author, instructional designer, and educator. She has been recognized as a California Scholar of the Arts for Creative Writing and is a recipient of the Howey Awards for Best Adult Book and Best Adult Author. She lives in Utah with her husband. Her published works

Selena Rezvani is an internationally known leadership speaker and 3X author, TEDx-er, and an award-winning journalist. She trains some of the brightest minds on leadership development at places like The World Bank, Microsoft, Under Armour, Pfizer, and Nestlé – helping emerging leaders enhance their

TARA C. ALLRED is an award-winning author, instructional designer, and educator. She has been recognized as a California Scholar of the Arts for Creative Writing and is a recipient of the Howey Awards for Best Adult Book and Best Adult Author. She lives in Utah with her husband. Her published works

Andy is the founder of Muddy Little Boots Publishing and is author of two children's paperback books currently. A graphic designer by trade, he decided to create Muddy Little Boots publishing during the COVID-19 pandemic lockdown (2020) as a means of creating something positive from this distressing

Ronit Plank is a writer, teacher, speaker, and host and producer of the award-winning podcast And Then Everything Changed. A native New Yorker and former actress, she studied with Uta Hagen, Alfred Molina, Ensemble Studio Theatre and performed on stage in NYC and Los Angeles. As member of The Actors

2022 Finalist in the Wishing Shelf Book Awards for her debut novel, Buried Secrets. Krissy was born and raised in Upstate New York in the charming town of Fairport where she has taught for over 25 years. Krissy remembers her love of reading as a young child and how she couldn't get enough of great

Zoe Disigny holds a master's degree in art history and taught college courses throughout her career. She also worked as an art gallery director, a lecturer for The Norton Simon Museum of Art, and recently as a Road Scholar lecturer. Zoe has led numerous art tours in Europe and, at one point

I was born in Vietnam but grew up in Southern California. Our family moved to the states when I was 7 years old. As an immigrant, I shared the same struggles as many other immigrants with adjusting to a new norm and dealing with bullying, discrimination, and constantly having to self-validate while

Mary Camarillo is the award winning author of The Lockhart Women, published in June of 2021 by She Writes Press. Her short fiction and poems have appeared in publications such as 166 Palms, The Ear and Lunch Ticket. She is currently working on a second novel about her neighborhood in Huntington

Kim Black is a not-quite-cozy genre mixologist and award-winning author. She loves learning new things and returned to school in her fifties to receive her certification in screenwriting. She is a member of the Texas High Plains Writers, one of the oldest writers' groups in America. She speaks to

Ben Burgess Jr is the author of the award-winning novels "Monster," "Wounded," "Love and Happiness," " A Father's Sacrifice: Daddy's Girl," and the new novel "Defining Moments: Black and White." He is an active performer of spoken word poetry. Ben Burgess Jr uses his love of writing to inspire and

Sherry Leclerc is a Fictionary certified StoryCoach editor, Fictionary content creator, certified copyeditor, educator, and independent author of fantasy and sci-fi books. She also writes sci-fi romance under a pen name and has planned a series of nonfiction books with helpful information on writing

Grace Blair is an award-winning author who describes herself as “a prime example of someone who pulled herself up by her bootstraps and took notes along the way.” When she turned to writing, she authors books where her characters are tested battling the darkness vs the light. Throughout her adult