Christine Copeland
AUTHOR/ILLUSTRATOR Christine Copeland studied painting in Paris and earned a BFA from Cornell University and a master’s degree in elementary education from Antioch, New England. After a long hiatus during a career in publications for academia, she returned to painting. Her study of elementary education inevitably led to an interest in children’s books, which, she says, “are probably my favorite genre. They are poetic, wise, and often distilled to the essence of things.”
Copeland was inspired to create Have You Seen the Ghost of John more than 30 years ago, when she was living in the Sonoran Desert where fall temperatures easily climb into the high 90s. She would sing the lovely song that the book is based on to “my new, fussy baby while dreaming of my beloved (and cool) Massachusetts.”
Copeland’s illustrated books for the youngest readers, Seasons in the Forest, reflect her delight in introducing young children to the natural world. “Children experience an innate and immediate connection to nature,” she says. “They recognize the loving care of a parent bird for nestlings and they appreciate the beauty of a flower.
“In this time of climate change and environmental threat, we need good stewards. As children grow to understand the natural world, and the relationship that animals have to each other and their environment, the more they can embrace it.”
Seasons in the Forest is in final production.
Copeland has recently exhibited her paintings in the Amherst, Massachusetts, town hall, and at the Discovery Center in Turners Falls, Massachusetts. Her websites are bcc-studios.com/childrens-books and christinecopelandbooks.com
Alan Lachman
BORN IN 1936 in New York City, Alan Lachman studied at Syracuse University, the School of Visual Arts and the Art Students League in New York City. Known as a master colorist for his luminous and painterly style, his influences can be drawn from Van Gogh, Rothko, Degas and Emil Nolde.
As a painter, teacher, author and juror for over six decades, Lachman has received numerous awards throughout his career. His awards include Best of Show at the 20th Annual National Exhibition of the Pastel Society of America, at the National Arts Club in New York City.
Lachman’s first book, the limited edition Drawings, Paintings, Thoughts, features artwork from throughout his career, from his powerful portraits of the homeless to his spare, gestural nudes to his signature Midwestern barns.
Contact the author directly through his website, allachman.com
Judith Podell
Judith Podell is a writer and abstract painter living in a small town in eastern Connecticut. Her writing and paintings can be found at JudithPodellArt.com.
She started writing a memoir in 2020 at the beginning of the COVID pandemic and hasn’t stopped yet. Her memoir, Monkeyface, takes the form of short personal essays, a format that lends itself to her restless, easily bored mind.
Many years ago on a job interview, she was asked that predictable bromide by a sales manager: what is your greatest strength? She thought briefly and said, “You always know where you stand with me.” A few minutes later, he came back with, “What is your greatest weakness?” Without hesitation, she responded, “You always know where you stand with me.”
And there you have it.
Russell Steven Powell
MULTIMEDIA artist Russell Steven Powell is the author of six books: America’s Apple, Apples of New England, My Interview with James Baldwin, Living Without Lawn, Molly’s 17 Rules for Living, and Feeling the Heat.
Powell’s video documentary, Shack Time, about the artist shacks in the dunes of the Cape Cod National Seashore, was chosen for the 2001 New England Film and Video Festival.
He was founding editor and publisher of New England Watershed: A Journal of Art, Culture, and ideas. The magazine was named Best New Publication of 2006 by Utne Reader.
His abstract realist paintings have been widely exhibited in western Massachusetts and Cape Cod.
Powell’s essays and artwork can be viewed at russellpowell.net
Phoebe Sheldon
PHOEBE SHELDON grew up and was educated in Cambridge and Boston. She has art degrees from Boston University and the Oakland College of Arts and Crafts. She is an artist who works mainly in ceramics and has written for Ceramics Monthly. She has two daughters and lives today in Hatfield, Massachusetts. A lifelong interest in history and writing led her to decide that her great-great grandfather’s letters should be a book.
Simon Walsh
POET AND PLAYWRIGHT Simon Walsh lives in Brattleboro, Vermont, and teaches English at Greenfield Community College in Massachusetts. He has worked for the last 20 years for the hunger relief agency Food For Free based in Cambridge, Massachusetts, a pioneer in redistributing surplus food from farms, markets, and produce vendors to food insecure populations in the Boston area.
His poems have appeared in the collections Birchsong: Poetry Centered in Vermont: Vols. I & II ( Blueline Press), Willow Springs, Spry Literary Journal, The Manchester Literary Journal and The Watermark. He was awarded a 2nd place prize in the Writers’ Digest 2017 National Poetry Contest for work from A Kentish Lad.
His plays have been performed professionally in Western Massachusetts, and his play, “People Different from Us,” was a finalist in The New England Playwriting Competition in 2010. His most recent production was “Another God Play Involving Plywood, ” performed by the Greenfield Community College Theater in 2018.
Jonathan A. Wright
JONATHAN A. WRIGHT has been an active regional leader in sustainable design and construction since 1974. The firm he co-owns, Wright Builders, Inc., recently completed two Living Building Challenge projects, achieving the world’s highest standard of renewable and resilient design and construction. His book Living Building Makers was published by Ecotone Press in 2019.
His journalism has spanned several decades, and in 2018 his poetry and photography collection Season of Dreams joined the 2014 poetry collection After the Rain, published by Gallery of Readers Press. Jonathan is a U.S. Rowing certified sculling coach, consults and presents on sustainability, and lives in Northampton, Massachusetts.
