Your 2022 Conference Committee
Traci Hunter Abramson
Chair
Traci Hunter Abramson was born in Arizona, where she lived until moving to Venezuela for a study-abroad program. After graduating from Brigham Young University, she worked for the Central Intelligence Agency for several years, eventually resigning in order to raise her family. She credits the CIA with giving her a wealth of ideas as well as the skills needed to survive her children's teenage years. She has gone on to write more than twenty bestselling novels that have consistently been nominated as Whitney Award finalists and seven-time Whitney Award winner. When she’s not writing, Traci enjoys spending time with her husband and five children, preferably on a nice quiet beach somewhere. She also enjoys sports, travel, writing, and coaching high school swimming.
Heather Justesen
Co-Chair
When she's not glued to her laptop, Heather loves to decorate cakes, work in the garden and play with her many pets. You can check out the first chapter for any of her books, see the book trailers, or learn more about Heather on her website at www.HeatherJustesen.com, or check out her blog at HeatherJustesen.blogspot.com
Emily Bleeker
Emcee
Emily Bleeker is the best-selling author of five novels with her sixth forthcoming in July 2021. Combined, her books have reached over 1.5 million readers. She is a three-time Whitney Award finalist, a Wall Street Journal bestseller, and was recently listed as one of the top 100 Kindle authors “of all time.” And her first novel, Wreckage, is optioned for a pilot on ABC.
Emily lives in the northern suburbs of Chicago with her four kids and a growing menagerie of animals. Between writing and being a mom, she attempts to learn guitar, sings along to the radio (loudly), performs on the House Team of a local improve troupe, and embraces her newfound addiction to running.
Gregg Luke
Giveaways
Gregg Luke grew up in Santa Barbara, CA. He served an LDS mission to Wisconsin, then pursued his education in Natural Sciences at SBCC, UCSB, and BYU. He completed his schooling at the University of Utah, College of Pharmacy. He currently practices clinical pharmacy in Logan, Utah.
Gregg has been a voracious reader and a prolific writer since childhood. He has been published in Skin Diver, Destiny, and New Era Magazines. His suspense novels include The Survivors, Do No Harm, Altered State, Blink of An Eye, Bloodborne, Deadly Undertakings, The Death House, The Healer, Infected, The Hunter’s Son, and Plague, six of which were Whitney Award finalists.
Find out more about Gregg’s novels at www.greggluke.com
Danyelle Ferguson
Social Media
Danyelle Ferguson is author of the award-winning Crystal Creek sweet romance novels. She loves writing stories that feature strong women conquering difficult challenges and finding love along the way. When she's away from her laptop, Danyelle enjoys dancing in the kitchen with her family, all things pink, and is obsessed with pretty pens. Follow her online for IRL goofiness, cat photobombs, and writing life updates.
John Waverly
Tech/Registration
John Waverly loves writing middle grade stories and hanging out with authors. He doesn't particularly like selling things, but realizes sometimes you have to sacrifice for the things you love. Which is why you'll find him running the bookstore. Please stop by to commiserate and pick up some great reads!
Lynn Parsons
Outreach
Dr. Lynn Parsons is the author of three nonfiction books about helping individuals with disabilities at church. She has been traditionally and self-published. Recently retired after 20 years in special education, she is learning to write fiction and contracting as an educational diagnostician. Lynn enjoys training her emotionally disturbed dog, reading, spending time with her grandchildren, and doing needlework.
Don Carey
Tech Wizard
Don Carey is an author and project manager currently living in Kansas. He writes both Contemporary Realism and Science Fiction Adventure. Don has long been fascinated by human nature, and loves trying to understand the thoughts and motivations of those around him. That interest has served him well as he writes stories about his “imaginary friends.” His day job involves writing computer programs, which is almost the same as writing fiction, but with a lot more semicolons.
Marla Buttars
Thursday Workshops
Marla Buttars wrote her first epic fantasy at thirteen. Since then, she's graduated magna cum laude with her Bachelor’s in English from the University of Utah and taken classes from David Farland and Brandon Sanderson. She created the Ink Stains writing group for YA Fantasy authors and is a member of ANWA. Her publications include articles for Eschler Editing and a couple short stories in the Mind Games and Love Undefined anthologies. When not writing magical worlds, she feeds her fascination with medieval history and attempts to teach her three boys the difference between TARDIS and Enterpise-D.
Hillary Sperry
Website
Best-selling author Hillary Sperry writes Sweet Romance, Cozy Mystery, and Children’s Books. She has been writing books for ten years and has embraced indie publishing for all its many graces. She started publishing with sweet romances and added the mystery genre by a twist of fate and has loved discovering her inner Nancy Drew!
Hillary loves creating in all forms. Whether it's with plants, food, art, music, or books if it lets her imagine and have fun, she's all in. Join Hillary's adventures on www.hillarysperry.com
Lisa Swinton
First Chapter Contest
Award-winning author Lisa Swinton loves romance, travel, Disney, Jane Austen, and tidying up, not necessarily in that order. When she's not writing and being a mom, you might find her singing onstage.