Drienie writes inspiring and entertaining stories and columns for The Ogden Valley News, and Juluka Magazine, a publication for South Africans living all over the world. She also writes heart-warming stories about interesting people who live in the Ogden Valley, for the OVBA’s Valley Views Magazine.
A native of South Africa and longtime Midwesterner, she brings a deep love and perspective in her writings of the unique characteristics of life in her beloved Ogden Valley. Drienie is also working on a non-fiction book, “I Stand in a Far Land.” Drienie is President of Eden Writers Circle and Eden Writers, Inc., and a member of the Utah League of Writers. She is also the founder of The Knitwits, a knitting group who knits for underprivileged children.
Drienie and husband Johan and children, Eugene, Brenda and Yolandi immigrated to the US in 1986. Now empty nesters – Drienie, Johan and their dog Corrie live in Eden, between the Wasatch Mountains in Utah. When Drienie is not working on deadlines for newspapers and magazines she loves to knit and travel with Johan and visit their children in California and Washington State and their family in South Africa. www.ovba.org/hattingh.html
Wendy Toliver
Wendy Toliver’s debut novel, The Secret Life of a Teenage Siren, hit bookstores December of 2007. Her second YA, Miss Match, is scheduled to come out fall of 2008. She’s also written and co-written several nonfiction books, including, The Little Giant Encyclopedia of Wedding Etiquette and The Little Giant Encyclopedia of Inspirational Quotes. She is a copy writer for Hachette Book Group USA (Warner Books) as well as a freelance editor and article writer.
Wendy belongs to several writing organizations, including: Romance Writers of America, the Eden Writers Circle, and Chick Lit Writers of the World. She is the Vice President of Eden Writers, Inc.
She earned her BA in Speech Communication/Broadcast from Colorado State University and has explored a variety of jobs, from impersonating Marilyn Monroe for singing telegrams to impersonating a computer geek at an ad agency. Now she calls Eden, Utah home and lives with her husband, three little boys, two dogs, cat, crab, and an occasional mole. When she’s not working on her next novel, Wendy enjoys reading, skiing, acting, traveling, volunteering, and shooting hoops.
Web Site,
Teen Fiction Cafe Blog, Simon Pulse Romantic Comedies Blog
Barbara Passaris
Barbara Passaris is a seasoned educator. She is the author of various materials for curriculum and development. Barbara also is the author of several short stories and poems. She is an amateur historian as an avid reader of history and historical fiction.
Most notably, Barbara is the author of the epic novel, Through Tempest Forged (Community Press, 2007), an epic family drama/historical fiction of the American Revolution.
Barbara is a proud native Virginia Beach, in the Commonwealth of Virginia. She is a graduate of Old Dominion University in Norfolk, Virginia and did her graduate work at the University of Virginia in Charlottesville, Virginia. She currently resides in Pleasant View, Utah with her husband, three daughters, two dogs, and four cats.
In addition to reading and writing, Barb enjoys singing, helping her husband at church, where he is a Greek Orthodox priest, growing an organic garden, and traveling. She has traveled to the United Kingdom for research and leisure. Several other trips are in the making for work and pleasure.
She is a member of the Historical Novel Society, Fiction Writers of America, Romance Writers of America, the League of Utah Writers, Blue Quill Society, and the Eden Writers’ Circle.
Web Site, Publishing the Creative Voice
