California Authors Booth

JoAnn Conner – San Luis Obispo
Author’s Website

JoAnn Conner writes murder mysteries and historical fiction.

Sharon S Darrow – Sacramento
Author’s Website

Sharon Darrow is an entrepreneur, business owner, award winning author, publisher, public speaker, and an expert in caring for neonatal orphan kittens. Her personal motto is “Find harmony within, then all things are possible.”

Margaret Duarte – Sacramento
Author’s Website

Former middle school teacher, Margaret Duarte, lives on a California dairy farm. She earned her creative writing certificate through UC Davis Extension and published four novels in her spiritual/inspirational fiction series.

Martha Dunne – Sacramento

Fascinated by all aspects of human behavior, psychology nerd Martha Dunne discovered the phenomenon of Asperger’s Syndrome (now, High Functioning Autism) in her adult son and wrote “Wait, What Do You Mean?” to share the AAAs of autism advocacy – Awareness, Acceptance and Appreciation of those persons on the autism spectrum.

June Gillam – Solano County
Author’s Website 

June Gillam writes the Hillary Broome crime novel series, inspired by her obsession with what makes ordinary people mad enough to kill. A native of the Central Valley, June lives cradled between California’s Coastal Range and the Sierra Nevada mountains.

Gini Grossenbacher, M.Ed. – Sacramento
Author’s Website

In addition to teaching writing groups and editing the work of her fellow authors, Elk Grove’s Gini Grossenbacher loves traveling to the settings for her historical novels.

M.L. Hamilton – Sacramento
Author’s Website

ML Hamilton has been teaching high school English and journalism in Central California for the last 29 years. Between teaching and writing, she spends her free time walking her Golden Retrievers, Comet and Bailey, and reading. She is also the president of Northern California Publishers and Authors.

G.C. Harmon – Sacramento County

G.C. Harmon has been writing thrillers his entire life. He spent 15 years in the US Army, including a year in the Middle East in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom. He has trained as a Police Officer, graduating from California’s Peace Officer Standards and Training Police Academy, and has worked in the Security industry for twenty years. He lives in Sacramento, and he is always working on new Blazer adventures.

Eileen M. Hook – Sacramento

Eileen M. Hook has been actively researching and portraying California pioneer women since 1980.  Her study of Eliza Gregson’s life has taken her to England, Rhode Island, along the California trail, and the areas of California where Eliza lived and died. Eileen’s own portrayals of pioneer women take place at the California Trail Center in Elko Nevada and at Marshall Gold Discovery State Historic Park in Coloma, California.

Bob Irelan – Sacramento

Bob Irelan’s commitment to writing began in earnest as a college student majoring in journalism, and it grew steadily over the years. Following 10 years of newspaper and magazine reporting and editing, including stints at The Wall Street Journal and Nation’s Business magazine in Washington, DC, he spent 32 years in public relations for a Fortune 500 family of companies. Bob lives in Rancho Murieta, CA, with his cat, Bai.

Ronald Javor – Sacramento
Author’s Website

Ronald Javor has written seven books for young readers about children facing and overcoming hurdles involving homelessness and other disabilities with help from family and friends. Ron is a retired attorney whose professional and post-retirement volunteering involve promoting safe and affordable housing and shelters.

Elizabeth and Hannah Jorgensen – Sacramento
Author’s Website

We are a mother daughter team, co-authors and illustrators of I Love You More. Our little book was born out of the game we played to convey how infinitely vast our love for each other is. We hope our book brings you as much joy as creating it brought us. Everyone can use a little more love.

Frank Luna – Sacramento
Author’s Website 

Frank Luna is an Emmy award-winning television director with over 30 years working in broadcast news. He currently lives with his wife in Sacramento, California and enjoys kayaking and cycling along with other outdoor activities in beautiful Northern California.

Brenda Novak – Placer
Author’s Website 

Author Brenda Novak is a New York Times & USA Today bestselling author with more than nine million books in print, translated into twenty different languages. She also runs Brenda Novak for the Cure, a charity to raise money for diabetes research (her youngest son has this disease). To date, she’s raised $2.6 million.

Ron Pelzman – Sacramento

Ron’s writing began with grammar school themes. In high school it was newsletters. In college it was sports editor. Then 35 years as a fisheries biologist doing scientific writing provided the discipline to write six books in retirement.

Anne Polli – Sacramento
Author’s Website

Anne is the author of five novels; What Once Was Lost, the tale of an adopted woman’s search for her birth mother, and four novels in the Silver Shores Series, mysteries set against the backdrop of high-dollar horse shows on the west coast. 

Amy Rogers – Sacramento
Author’s Website

Dr. Amy Rogers is a Harvard-educated scientist, novelist, journalist, microbiology professor, and critic who specializes in all things science-y. Her thriller novels Petroplague, Reversion, and The Han Agent use real science and medicine to create plausible, frightening scenarios involving microorganisms. 

Karen Sanders – Sacramento
Author’s Website

Karen Sanders is the author of The Little Lemon that Leapt. She is a bookworm from way back, and proudly touts the fact that she became a published author at age 7, when Wee Wisdom Magazine printed one of her poems.

Norma Jean Heaton-Thornton AKA noniedoodles – Sacramento
Author’s Website

Her baby sister called her Nonie, her great-grandkids call her GumGum.  Norma Jean Thornton is a multiple County and State Fair award-winning baker, candy-maker, and art-doodler.

Christine L. Villa – Sacramento
Author’s Website

Christine L. Villa is a children’s book author, poet, publisher, speaker, photographer, mixed media artist, and crafter. She is the founder of Purple Cotton Candy Arts, a business that offers publishing services such as editing, proofreading, illustrating, formatting, and book trailers.

Naida West – Sacramento
Author’s Website

After an unusual childhood, Naida West graduated from Carmel High School in ’57. She got a BA from UC Berkeley in ‘63. She earned an MA at Sac State, and in ’79 got a PhD from UC Davis. In 1993 writing became her full-time career. Her historical trilogy received awards both locally and nationwide.

Danna Wilberg – El Dorado Hills
Author’s Website

Dänna Wilberg has written, produced, and directed multi-award- winning short films, produced and hosted two local TV shows, and lives life nothing short of a three-ring -circus. Aside from writing, her passion for her children, grandchildren, traveling the world, and karaoke take center stage.

Bernard Wozny – Sacramento
Author’s Website

Bernard Wozny is a new addition to the literary world bringing fresh ideas to challenge the mind in a clean, stimulating manner. American born, but British educated. His misspent youth, evolved into a bachelor’s degree in electronics and computer engineering.