Carrie Jones

Authors Attending the 2009 Festival:

This page will be updated as the authors give us their information. For a full author list, please check the Bar Harbor Book Festival main page.

BETHANY HEGEDUS cares deeply about kids, having once been a high school teacher and youth advocate. She serves as a mentor in the PEN Prison Writing Program and holds an MFA from Vermont College of Fine Arts, and is the co-editor of the Children’s and YA Section of Hunger Mountain.

Bethany’s debut novel, Between Us Baxters (WestSide Books) has been well received by reviewers, educators and students alike. Her second novel, The One…The Only…Maebelle T. (for no Talent) Earl, a contemporary middle grade, is forthcoming with Delacorte Press in fall 2010.

CRISSA-JEAN CHAPPELL holds an MFA in screenwriting and an interdisciplinary PhD in film theory, philosophy, and literature. She teaches creative writing and cinema studies at Miami International University of Art and Design. For eight years, she wrote a weekly film column for the Miami Sun Post. Her reviews of art and culture have appeared in magazines such as Film Comment, Tate (London), New Times, Urb, Script, and others. Her short stories have appeared in numerous literary journals, including Confrontation and the Southwest Review. Her debut YA novel, Total Constant Order, was recently published by HarperCollins. It is a Florida Book Award medalist, a VOYA “Perfect Ten,” and a New York Public Library Book for the Teen Age.

MEGAN FRAZER is an author for young adults. Her first novel, Secrets of Truth & Beauty, was published by Disney-Hyperion in July of 2009. She lives with her husband and son in Maine where she is a high school librarian.

SUSAN VAUGHN is multi-published with Silhouette Books and The Wild Rose Press. Her books have been both a Romantic Times Magazine Reviewer’s Choice Nominee and a finalist in the Daphne du Maurier Award. She loves writing romantic suspense because it throws the hero and heroine together under extraordinary circumstances and pits them against a clever villain. A former teacher, she lives with her husband and dog in mid-coast Maine. She enjoys curling up with a good book, gardening, walking the dog, sailing (if the day is sunny and the wind light), and hiking (if the day is sunny and the trail moderate). Her new novel, Primal Obsession, is set in the Maine wilderness. Readers can visit her website at http://www.susanvaughan.com to read excerpts.

SHAWN K. STOUT never made it to the big-time in ballet, despite 10 years of lessons. And she never got to wear a tutu either, which still sort of bothers her. But writing about a wannabe ballerina almost makes up for it. Almost. Fiona Finkelstein, Big-Time Ballerina!, is her first book and is the first in a new chapter book series. Shawn lives in Frederick, Maryland in a very old house, with her husband and two dogs.

BETHANY REYNOLDShas been quilting and teaching since 1982. Prior to parenthood, she and her husband owned a fabric and quilt shop for ten years. The originator of Stack-n-Whack® has a knack for finding ways to get great results with less work, and loves sharing her tricks. Quilters across the United States and abroad have enjoyed her relaxed but very productive workshops. She has taught at major shows, including the American Quilter’s Society show and International Quilt Festival, and has been a guest on several television quilting programs.

Bethany has published numerous patterns for quilts and wearable art under her BSR Design, Inc. label, as well as a line of Stack-n-Whack® specialty rulers. She has written six books published by the American Quilter’s Society, including the perennial best-selling Magic Stack-n-Whack® Quilts and her most recent book, Stack-n-Whack-ipedia.

Bethany grew up on Mount Desert Island in Maine, where her family has lived for many generations. Today she lives nearby on the mainland with her husband Bill and son Sam. When not quilting, Bethany likes working on graphic design, cooking, enjoying nearby Acadia National Park or traveling with her family, and settling in with a good book. www.bethanyreynolds.com.

PEGGY MOSS prosecuted civil rights cases as an assistant attorney general in Maine, and also worked for the Center for the Prevention of Hate Violence at the University of Southern Maine. She now lives in Toronto, Ontario, but travels throughout the U.S. and Canada to speak and offer workshops for students and teachers. For more information, visit www.saysomethingnow.com

Author JAN WEST SCHROCK’S father, Dan West, was a midwestern farmer who served as a relief worker during the Spanish civil war. As he was handing out milk to needy children one day, he realized, “These children don’t need a cup. They need a cow.” When he returned home, he founded Heifers for Relief – now called Heifer International, the organization serves 8.5 million needy people in more than 125 countries. Jan lives in Westbrook, Maine, but teaches the world to speak about “passing on the gift.”

REBEKAH RAYE is an artist beloved for her paintings and sculptures of birds and animals, derived from her affinity with the natural world around her studio in East Blue Hill, Maine. She also teaches workshops for both children and adults. www.rebekahraye.com

JANE BREGOLI lives in Dartmouth, Massachusetts, where she and her children befriended Noelie Houle, the subject of The Goat Lady. Jane is an elementary school art teacher, and her paintings have been featured in many shows and publications, and have won numerous awards. www.janebregoli.com

As communications coordinator for Maine Sea Grant, CATHERINE SCHMITT conveys research findings and information about the coasts and oceans to Maine residents and visitors. Before joining Sea Grant in 2004, Schmitt visited remote lakes and streams throughout Maine and the Northeast while completing her Master’s degree in ecology and environmental science at the University of Maine. She has worked on science publications from the shores of Chesapeake Bay for the University of Marlyand, spent two years as a wetlands consultant in western Massachusetts, and studied salt marshes with the Marine Biological Laboratory in Woods Hole. Her writing on science, nature, and environmental issues appears in regional newspapers and magazines, and is archived at [ http://www.catherineschmitt.com ]

Never one to shy away from earthworms, wet and wiggly though they may be, CAROL BRENDLER welcomes them into her garden because they add nutrients to and aerate the soil. As Winnie herself knows, a successful crop all begins with worms. When Carol isn’t tending to her own backyard vermiculture set-up, she gardens, writes and knits in her new home in Ottawa, Ontario, where she lives with her husband and four cats—including one orange fellow who looks and acts very much like the cat that belongs to Winnie Finn. Visit Carol’s Web site at www.carolbrendler.com


CARRIE JONES lives in Down East Maine where she has cultivated a fine love for strudel. Since she began writing in 2006 she has published five books with two more under contract. Her latest book is NEED, a young adult novel. Her books have been awarded the Maine Literary Award, the Independent Book Publishers Award, made the TAYSHA and VOYA best list and the BBYA List. She like cowboy hats and kayaking, big, white dogs and fluffy cats. www.carriejonesbooks.com

DEVA FAGAN likes searching for patterns, which is how she explains both her degree in mathematics and the echoes of old fairy tales in her stories. She lives in Maine with her husband and her dog. She is the author of FORTUNE’S FOLLY, the story of a young girl who must make her fake prophecy come true in order to save her father’s life. You can visit her online at www.devafagan.com

GAIL PAGE was born in Sag Harbor, New York in 1950. She graduated in 1970 from the Fashion Institute of Technology in New York City with a degree in fashion design. After leaving the fashion world, she moved to Brooklin, Maine in 1974 where she began writing children’s stories and developing her art.
In 2006 the first of her BOBO series was published under the title of HOW TO BE A GOOD DOG. Two years later, BOBO AND THE NEW NEIGHBOR was published, and the third, BOBO GOES TO SCHOOL will be out in 2010.

Ammi-Joan Paquette is known as a bit of globe-trotter. She spent much of her early years in France, then traveled throughout Europe and to Japan before settling down with her family just outside of Boston. THE TIPTOE GUIDE TO TRACKING FAIRIES was inspired by a real-life fairy hunt she took with her two daughters one spring day. Although they didn’t meet any fairies face to face, they saw signs of them everywhere. This is her first picture book.