Author Tom Nelson of Lehigh Acres is one of several authors who will appear Saturday, Jan. 23 at a Book Fair at Faith Lutheran Church in Lehigh. Here he is shown with three of his onging books about growing up in a small Wisconsin town. Photo Mel Toadvine

If the upcoming Book Fair and Sale planned between Jan 22 and 24 at the Faith Lutheran church at 705 E. Leeland Blvd. is a success, it could become an annual affair and authors from Southwest Florida would have a place to come and talk about the books they are written and sell them and if you want, even autograph them for you.

This upcoming Book Fair is being put on with the help of the Gulf Coast Writers Association in Fort Myers, whose members will participate in the Book Fair. Richard Georgian of Lehigh Acres is president of the Gulf Coast Writers Association and encourages all interested in reading and especially in local authors to turn out for the event. He says it is also an excellent opportunity for up and coming authors who want to write and become published to join their organization and meet others with the same goals.

“We try to provide our membership useful writer connections in Southwest Florida. Writers will have opportunities to join critique groups, reading groups, and instructional workshops.

Gregorian says local authors will discover that association members include respected published authors and poets from whom they can gan insight into the world of publication and marketing.Georgian says there is a website (www.gulfwriters.org) on the Internet that will keep them informed of the writing activities and events in the area.

Henry Hendel and Lorraine Schultz, members of Faith Lutheran Church, are co-chairman of the event which will also offer a book sale and mini flea market, akin to a small yard sale, says Lorraine Schultz.

Henry Hendel

“This Book Fair is good for Lehigh; it gives everyone an opportunity to meet some interesting authors and to talk to them about their books,” Hendel said.

Some 10 authors, all members of the Gulf Writers Association, have been invited to attend and so far, most have replied that they will be there with their books that can be bought by those may be interested.

The dates for the Book Fair are Friday, Jan. 22 from 4 to 7 p.m.; Saturday, Jan.. 23 from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. and on Sunday after church services from 11 a.m. to 1:30 p.m.

But the authors of the books will only be there on the Saturday, so if you want to meet them and to get their autographs, you may want to make plans for that day. Hendel said the books range in rice to around $11 to $20.

But in addition, the church is also offering used books, DVDS and CDs for sale. The proceeds from this sale will go the church’s many activities in town which include a bread and food giveaway plus numerous other community benefits such as a pre school, Alcohol Anonymous meeting groups and Boy and Girl Scouts group support.

Lorraine Schultz

The used books will run a dollar for hard cover and 50 cents for paperbacks.

Some of the authors who will be at the Book Fair on that Saturday include:

Tom Nelson who has written Still my Story, and I’m sticking to it! It’s Nelson third book of commentary reflecting on the character and character of his 1940s and 50s growing up in Fennimore, Wisc., his popular newspaper column in the Fennimore Times for the past seven years provides an abundance of short stories relating to the fabric of small town life in simpler times, he says.

Claiming all his stories are true, he has admitted to an embellishment on occasion. His reminiscences could be your stories as well.

He is retired in Lehigh after a career as a mining engineer and management with mining and construction machinery manufactures. His books can e reviewed on Amazon.com and he can be reached at normsson@yahoo.com.

Carol Kennedy is the author of several books including The Grief Monster which she says captures her recent journey as she experiences grief at the sudden death of her sister. In the beginning, Carol views death as an ugly scary monster. As time passes, and her relationship with God grows, the huge monster transforms into a gray mist. She says both children and adults will benefit from this heartfelt story as they search for ways to manage their own grief.

“The narrator is a fair-haired little girl, and that girl is me. I became like a child as I was faced with roller-coaster emotions and feelings I had never before felt. I hope my story will help others cope with and come to terms with grief and death,” Carol said.

She also has written The Encyclopedia of Parents from A to Z, So help me God. It has gone into its fifth printing. She has also written The Fifteen Minute Guide to Parenting, a Christian workbook.

Donald Vedeler, who has written three novels. They are Moles in the Eagle’s Nest, the Chaplain’s Adventure Series, Book 1. They continue with Book 2, Tainted Hero, and Book 3, A shipwreck Survivor’s Tale: letters to his Grandchildren. In his third book, Vedeler writes about a retired U.S. Army chaplain who left for a three-month sailing and hiking adventure cruise and becomes shipwrecked and stranded on a small rocky, uninhabited island in the northern Pacific Ocean.

This is his story in the form of 64 letters to his seven grandchildren, in which he describes his survival. He also seeks to impart what he believes is important in life to them, hoping that somehow, someday, his grandchildren will have the chance to read them.

Alma Brush who has written Dead in the Shed. It is a short novel about a group of volunteer gardeners at a county park in Fort Myers. When one of them is found dead in the potting shed, Edna, a former newspaper librarian, won’t rest without finding out more about the victim. Her curiosity lands her in a dangerous, almost fatal spot. As many of the books, this is also a self-published book.

Stephen Cafaro has written and published two books concerned with current economic, political and social conditions in the U.S. The two books – The Road to the Third world and his essay, Common Sense – Revisited in the New Millennium are timely and important in our present state of economic uncertainty. In The Road to the Third world, the characters act out many of the issues that affect each of us today, lost jobs, the housing crisis, the mortgage debacle, the financial meltdown, unfair trade, inadequate pay checks and illegal immigration. In Common Sense – Revisited in the New Millennium is an updated version of Thomas Paine’s ground-breaking work on rebellion. the book develops comparisons between the social, economic and political injustices of 21st Century America and the circumstances of 1776 which led to the American Revolution.

Dick Miller’s book The Boxcar Kid, is the story of the cold heart of the Great Depression. Driven by hardship and poverty, Bucky Ellis hops his first freight train at the age of 13. Luckily, he finds a new friend and mentor in that first boxcar he climbs into. It is the son of a black prizefighter who teaches him how to fight, and he teaches him the “rules” for staying alive. Together, the boys begin their search for a better life.

Timothy Jacobs has published the Heitman Book. It’s about a young man named Harvie Earnhardt Heitman who arrived in fort Myers in 1888 and left his imprint on the city with the construction of several buildings. Heitman was only 49 when he died in 1922. Yet, because of his entrepreneurship, his drive, his determination and his focus on the community, he left the town of fort Myers a landscape that has changed little over the past 88 years.

The chairmen of the Book Fair are asking for contributions from the public for the flea market. They could use CDs and DVDs, and books, both hardback and soft cover, magazines, etc. You can bring such items to the Faith Lutheran Church at 705 E. Leeland Heights Blvd.

There are more than 100 members of the Gulf Coast Writers Association. They come from Lehigh, Captiva, Cape Coral, Fort Myers and Estero.