At C.C. Mellor, we love connecting local authors with their community and vice versa. Our local author collection features established authors as well as new and emerging writers, and now we’re giving you a chance to meet some of them at our Local Author Book Fair!
Discover great new books and take a tour of the area’s literary scene on Saturday, April 15 between 2 and 4 p.m. Meet writers of all genres and get to know them while you browse their books. You can also stop by and hear authors give short readings of some of their favorite works. This is a drop-in event, so come any time and stay as long as you like.
Visit the Local Author Collection page on our website for more information about the collection as a whole, along with details on how authors can submit their work.
About The Authors
Take a peek in advance to see who will be at the book fair!
Jen Ashburn
Jen Ashburn is the author of The Light on the Wall (Main Street Rag, 2016) and has work published in numerous venues, including The Fiddlehead, The Writer’s Almanac and Pedestal Magazine. She has been nominated for three Pushcart Prizes, and holds an MFA from Chatham University.
You can find more about The Light on the Wall and a link to Jen Ashburn’s Goodreads blog at www.jashburn.com
Clare Beams
Clare Beams’s novel The Illness Lesson (Doubleday, 2020) was longlisted for the Center for Fiction First Novel Prize, was a New York Times Editors’ Choice, and was named a best book of 2020 by Esquire and Bustle. Her story collection We Show What We Have Learned (Lookout Books, 2016) won the Bard Fiction Prize and was a Kirkus Best Debut of 2016, as well as a finalist for the PEN/Bingham Prize, the New York Public Library’s Young Lions Fiction Award, and the Shirley Jackson Award. A new novel, The Garden, will be published by Doubleday in 2024. She is currently shortlisted for the Joyce Carol Oates Prize and has received fellowships from the National Endowment for the Arts and MacDowell. She lives in Edgewood with her husband and two daughters and teaches in the Randolph MFA program.
Find her short fiction and more at www.clarebeams.com
Joshua David Bellin
Joshua David Bellin has been writing novels since he was eight years old (though the first few were admittedly very short). He is the author of numerous works of science fiction and fantasy, including the Survival Colony novels, the Ecosystem Cycle, and the deep-space adventure Freefall. A Pittsburgh native, Josh likes to read, watch monster movies, and take long hikes in Frick Park with his wife and kids. His novel Myriad, a time-travel thriller set in Pittsburgh, releases in May 2023.
Check out his blog and pre-order Myriad at www.joshuadavidbellin.blogspot.com
Charlie Brice
Charlie Brice won the 2020 Field Guide Poetry Magazine Poetry Contest and placed third in the 2021 Allen Ginsberg Poetry Prize. He has authored seven full-length poetry collections: Flashcuts Out of Chaos, Mnemosyne’s Hand, An Accident of Blood, The Broad Grin of Eternity, The Ventriloquist, Pinnacles of Hope, and Miracles that Keep Me Going (forthcoming from WordTech Editions). His chapbook, All the Songs Sung, was published in 2021 by Angel Flight Books and his hybrid collection with photographer Jim Hutt, Old Woodshop, was published in 2022 by Impspired Books. His poetry has been nominated three times each for the Pushcart Prize and the Best of the Net anthology. He lives with his wife, the poet Judith Brice, in Pittsburgh, PA.
His books are available via www.impspired.com and www.wordtechweb.com
Judith Alexander Brice
Judith Alexander Brice has had over 100 poems published in journals and anthologies, including The Golden Streetcar, Voxpopulisphere.com, The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, The Magnolia Review, The Paterson Literary Review, and elsewhere. Judy has authored four poetry books: Renditions in a Palette (2013), Overhead from Longing (2017), Imbibe the Air (2021), and the chapbook Shards of Shadows: a Covid Diary. Hear her poem “Mourning Calls,” on musical accompanist Tony Manfredonia’s website: www.manfredoniamusic.com/mourning-calls
Anita Kulina
Anita Kulina has been writing since she was nine years old. Her first publication was a letter to the editor in Adventure Comics #341. She grew up in Pittsburgh, where her father was a millwright at U.S. Steel Homestead Works and her mother chased around their six kids. All Anita’s books are set in Pittsburgh. Millhunks and Renegades chronicles the history of Western Pennsylvania through the eyes of the people of Greenfield. A Question of Devotion and Reason for Concern are the first two books in her ongoing cozy mystery series, featuring lovable amateur detective Mrs. B.
Find her books at www.brandtstreetpress.com
Jamie Lackey
Jamie Lackey lives in Pittsburgh with her husband and their cats. She has had over 160 short stories published in places like Beneath Ceaseless Skies, Apex Magazine, and Escape Pod. Her debut novel, Left-Hand Gods, was published by Hadley Rille Books, and she’s created four successful crowdfunding campaigns to self-publish two novellas, a novelette, and two flash fiction collections. She also has a novella and two short story collections available from Air and Nothingness Press. In addition to writing, she spends her time reading, playing tabletop RPGs, baking, and hiking.
You can find her online at www.jamielackey.com
Stewart O’Nan
Stewart O’Nan was born at West Penn Hospital, attended Linden School and then Allderdice High School, and now lives in Regent Square. Winner of the Drue Heinz Prize, he’s the author of 20 books, including Snow Angels, A Prayer for the Dying, Last Night at the Lobster, and Emily, Alone. His latest novel, Ocean State, is out in paperback this month from Grove/Atlantic.
Visit www.stewart-onan.com for a full list of his works and more.
Holly Puett
Holly Puett is a piano teacher, singer/songwriter, and author who lived in Swissvale for many years. A devout Christian, her faith is reflected in her songs and writings. She was even a pastor in the Presbyterian Church for a couple of years!
She is in the process of producing a blog; you will be able to find her at faithsingerblog.com