Jay Amberg is the author of twelve books. He received a BA from Georgetown University and a PhD from Northwestern University. He has taught high school and college students since 1972.
His latest book, The Healer’s Daughters, is now available from Amika Press. Amberg has also published Bone Box, Cycle, America’s Fool, Whale Song, and compiled 52 Poems for Men.
D.L. Andersen has been spinning stories in her head since she can remember, but only recently took the plunge to write them down. After visiting a historic site in her neighborhood and enduring many sleepless nights, she finally heeded the “voices” of her characters and gave them their own place to come alive again.…
Michael Antman is the author of the novels Cherry Whip (ENC Press, 2004), Everything Solid has a Shadow (2017), and the forthcoming memoir Searching for the Seagull Motel, and is a two-time finalist for the National Book Critic Circle’s Balakian Award for Excellence in Book Reviewing. He also is the Global Head of Marketing for a Fortune 500 company.
Bob Boone started teaching in 1964. He has taught in Staten Island, Germany, Highland Park, and Chicago. In 1991, he founded Young Chicago Authors to provide opportunities for young writers from the city.
He has written several textbooks, a teaching memoir, and a sports biography. Along with coauthoring Write Through Chicago, he and Mark Henry Larson have written two other creative writing books, Moe’s Cafe and Joan’s Junk Shop. Forest High is his first work of fiction, and Back to Forest High is his second.
Pat Camalliere is the author of the popular, five-star-rated Cora Tozzi Historical Mystery Series. She lives with her husband in Lemont, Illinois, a suburb of Chicago.…
Ruth Hull Chatlien has been a writer and editor of educational materials for nearly thirty years, specializing in U.S. and world history. She is the author of Modern American Indian Leaders for middle-grade readers. Her award-winning first novel, The Ambitious Madame Bonaparte, portrays the tumultuous life of Elizabeth “Betsy” Patterson Bonaparte.…
John Cowlin’s second book is Baby Moses. His previous book was Monster City. He has been an educator for more than 25 years.
William B. Crawford is a former reporter, writer and legal affairs columnist for the Chicago Tribune. During a twenty-three-year career at the newspaper, he was the recipient of a Pulitzer Prize as well as many other major awards for his work.…
Patrick Creevy grew up on the South Side of Chicago, moving to the northern suburbs at age fourteen. He graduated from Holy Cross College in 1970, received his Ph.D. in English Literature from Harvard University in 1975, and has taught at Mississippi State University since 1976.…
Jim Davis is an MFA candidate at Northwestern University and a graduate of Knox College. His work has appeared in Wisconsin Review, Seneca Review, Adirondack Review, Midwest Quarterly, and Contemporary American Voices, among many others.…
Michele Fitzpatrick is a former staff writer and columnist for the Chicago Tribune. She also has served as executive editor in educational research and STEM product development. Her blog, Mrs. Fitz’s Story Emporium, is a lighthearted look at living in Chicago, IL, working as a writer, and growing up during the lively 1960s.
Christopher Guerin has two degrees in English Literature from Northern Illinois University. He worked in the symphony orchestra business for 26 years, 20 as the President of the Fort Wayne Philharmonic. His stories, poems, essays, and book reviews have appeared in numerous publications.
Patrick D. Guinan, MD, MPH, is a Clinical Associate Professor in the Department of Urology of the University of Illinois, College of Medicine in Chicago. He completed his internship at Cook County hospital in 1962 and finished the Urology Residency at CCH in 1969.…
Matt Hader’s circuitous route to becoming a professional writer followed an unlikely path through post-collegiate classes at The Second City, on-air shifts in Chicago-area radio station studios, and work as a 9-1-1 communications officer. Matt served for a time on the board of directors of the nonprofit American Screenwriters Association…
John Jacoby has lived in Wilmette for almost 50 years. While practicing law with a Chicago firm, he actively participated in the civic life of the village, serving as Park District Commissioner (1979–1981), Village Trustee (1981–1989, 2004–2005), and Village President (1989–1997). In 1999 he was named Wilmette’s Citizen of the Year.
Anju Kanwar was born and brought up in Delhi. She trained in English studies at the University of Delhi and Northern Illinois University, and has worked in higher education.
Charles H.C. Kim is President of The Peace School, a non-profit, educational organization founded in Chicago by his father in 1972. Kim began his lifelong practice of meditation when he was in elementary school. He teaches Peace Breathing Meditation, Peace Yoga and Traditional Tae Kwon Do. He believes these practices have the power to build world peace, one person at a time.
Mark Henry Larson grew up in Elmhurst, IL, and attended Northwestern University (BS in Education, ’79; MA in Literature, ’85). After 33 years as an English teacher and athletics coach at Maine Township HS North, Riverside-Brookfield HS, and Highland Park HS, he retired from teaching in June 2012. He now works as a freelance writer and editor with former HPHS English teacher, Bob Boone.…
Laurie Levy is a Chicago author and journalist, whose grant in literature from the Illinois Arts Council helped enable her to travel to France and Italy to research Stendhal’s life. Born in Omaha and raised in Iowa and Arizona, she has contributed to major Chicago and national publications.…
John K. Manos is a critically acclaimed writer and editor whose company, Outsourced Editorial, has been in operation since 2001. Previously he was the Editor-in-Chief of Consumers Digest magazine for 20 years, where he won such awards as the Peter Lisagor Award for Consumer Journalism, the National Media Award, and the American Society of Professional Journalists awards for investigative reporting.
C.M. Martello was born into a family of Irish-German heritage whose Chicago history on both sides goes back more than one hundred years. He was educated in Catholic schools and then went on to a career in finance and advertising. The author chose the pen name Martello as a tribute to his favorite author, James Joyce.…
Caleb Mason is a lawyer in Los Angeles. Stand Up For Bastards is his first novel.
Walter J. McCarthy III, MD, received all of his surgical training, including a vascular fellowship (1983–1985) at Northwestern University. He then served on the faculty at Northwestern for 13 years, in practice with his mentors John Bergan, James Yao, William Flinn and William Pearce. In 1998, Dr. McCarthy was recruited to be Chief of Vascular Surgery at Rush University Medical Center in Chicago by Dr. Hassan Najafi. At Rush he also became the director of the vascular fellowship and for three years served as the chairman of vascular surgery at Cook County Hospital.…
Barbara Monier has been writing since her earliest days when she composed in crayon on paper with extremely wide lines. She studied writing at Yale University and the University of Michigan. While at Michigan, she worked independently with poet Robert Hayden. Also at Michigan, she received the Avery and Jule Hopwood Prize.…
Peter Nolan arrived in Chicago near the end of the turbulent 1960s. He worked in television news as a writer, reporter and commentator and won three Emmys and several journalism awards.
Richard Reeder was born and raised in Chicago and continues to live in the Chicago area with his wife, Anne. Educated in the Chicago public schools, he has two degrees from Roosevelt University. His multifaceted career includes working as a caseworker, elementary school teacher, employment counselor, research assistant, and executive in government and non-profit agencies.…
Kenneth J. Printen, MD, completed his internship at Cook County Hospital from 1961 to 1962 and was drafted for military service in Asia region from 1962 to 1964. He then returned to CCH and finished the surgical residency in 1968.…
Jim Ruddle, longtime radio and television journalist, has a similarly long attachment to sailing. He enlisted in the U.S. Coast Guard in his teens and became a radio operator aboard ocean station vessels in the Atlantic and Pacific. Following his discharge, he pursued a life of broadcasting and academics, earning graduate degrees and teaching at two major universities. For a break, he crewed on a hurricane-battered schooner attempting a transatlantic crossing and learning the limitations of old wooden boats.…
Ronald L. Ruiz is the author of a memoir, A Lawyer (2012), and seven novels—Happy Birthday Jesús (1994), Giuseppe Rocco (1998), The Big Bear (2003), Jesusita (2015), Life Long (2017), 120 Days (2019), and Lost and Found (2021). Born and raised in Fresno, California, Ron was educated at St. Mary's College, California, University of California, Berkeley, and University of San Francisco.…
A Ribbon of Sand is Mike Shannon’s first novel. He spent several years of his youth in the South Carolina Low Country; the culture and natural wonders are woven into his soul. His fascination with folklore and the supernatural stretches back to those boyhood days—and he’s had paranormal experiences signposting his life’s journey.
James L. Stone, MD, was a senior medical student on the Trauma Unit in 1973 and stimulated to become a Surgical Intern at Cook County Hospital in 1974–1975, followed by Surgical Residency (1975–1976) and a Cook County-University of Illinois (UIC) Neurosurgery Residency from 1976 to 1980.…
Floyd Sullivan was born in Chicago and grew up in Oak Park, Illinois. He graduated from the University of Illinois at Chicago with a degree in history. He has written one non-fiction book, Waiting for the Cubs, and edited a collection of essays titled Old Comiskey Park.…
James S.T. Yao, MD, PhD, is world-renowned for his work with non-invasive vascular testing, which he advanced during his training at St. Mary’s Hospital in London with Professor W.T. Irvine.…
Ken Zurski is a longtime broadcaster, author and speaker based out of Peoria, Illinois. A native of the Chicagoland area and a veteran of radio news, Ken released his first book, The Wreck of the Columbia, in 2012. Peoria Stories is his second book, Unremembered is his third, and Unremembered Book 2 is his fourth. Ken resides in Morton, Illinois with his wife Connie, two children, Sam and Nora, and dog Molly.
Amika Press Classics is dedicated to publishing historic works in quality typographic reprints. With a focus on women and world culture, this series hopes to introduce contemporary readers to almost-forgotten classics. One hundred percent of royalties will be donated to The Nature Conservancy.