H.A. Byrd

Harriet Arden Byrd grew up roaming the woods, playing Mowgli, or imagining herself as some sort of fantasy creature. 

Born in San Francisco, she was raised in various places much farther north along the West Coast. By the time she was well into adulthood she’d lived all across Canada and the US, with long stays in Northern Europe and southern Mexico.

From a young age Harriet adored fantasy novels, and she knew Tolkien’s hobbits and elves well, Lewis’s Pevensies, and Arthurian tales in many forms. Certainly these stories helped to shape her adventurous character, but there is one thing which bothered her more and more as the years went by.

When Harriet was ready to write her own book, she did not include military glory. She situated her protagonist in a world where war has never been a concept at all. It is important to document our history, of course, and, so far, we are a warlike species. But if we continually focus on fighting and killing as the entertainment factor in our sci-fi and fantasy stories, how will we ever learn peace?

Aru's Realm is a fantasy novel in a literary style. A fun look at perspectives on the nature of reality, it also speaks to class discrimination and other abuses of power. This is a beautifully visual story. Each chapter enfolds the reader in the emotions and sensations of a different color. Read more description of Aru's Realm using the link below:

Harriet's fantasy novel Aru's Realm is available on Amazon

Read her blog here at habyrd.com

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H.A. Byrd is the pen name of Catherine Wesley

Jane Piirto

Jane Piirto is a retired professor of education. She is Trustees’ Distinguished Professor Emerita from Ashland University in Ohio, USA.

Besides being a teacher/professor, Jane is a writer. Her writing is both scholarly and literary. She published her first poem in a literary journal in 1973 and her first short story the same year. She published her first scholarly article in a scholarly journal in 1979.

Jane has traveled to six continents (except for Antarctica) to speak, consult, and visit as a tourist. She is a constant reader. A movie buff, for years she taught a capstone graduate seminar called Teachers in Film. She is a news junkie. She also enjoys watching television and subscribes to several cable and streaming services.

Jane is the recipient of the Mensa Education and Research Foundation Lifetime Achievement Award, and the National Association for Gifted Children Distinguished Scholar Award. She has published many articles, studies and chapters in peer-reviewed books and journals. She is on the editorial boards of several scholarly journals.

Jane received an honorary Doctor of Humane Letters from Northern Michigan University, her undergraduate alma mater. She has been a member of the Board of Directors of the National Association for Gifted Children, was the recipient of a Distinguished Achievement Award from the Ohio Association for Gifted Children and was named an Ohio Magazine Distinguished Educator. She has received the Torrance Creativity Award and the Creativity Award from the World Council for Gifted and Talented Children. She has taught and worked with students at every grade from pre-K to doctoral levels. She is a former principal of the Hunter College Elementary School.

Jane has received Individual Artist Fellowships in poetry and in prose from the Ohio Arts Council, and her poems have been nominated for a Pushcart Prize. She is a past chair of the Ohio Arts Council Literature Panel. She is listed in the Directory of American Poets and Writers as both a poet and a writer. She has received over $1 million in grants from educational entities, most notably the Ohio Department of Education.

Jane is the author of 14 books, 6 chapbooks, and one edited book. Her single-authored books are Creativity for 21st Century Skills, Understanding Creativity; “My Teeming Brain”: Understanding Creative Writers; Understanding Those Who Create(two editions); Talented Children and Adults: Their Development and Education (3 editions). She co-authored Luovuus (Creativity). Literary books available on Kindle and Nook are The Three-Week Trance Diet (novel); A Location in the Upper Peninsula (collected poems, stories, essays); The Arrest (novel); Labyrinth (novella). Also available on Kindle and Nook are Guidance and Counseling the Gifted and Talented; and The Piirto Pyramid. Her poetry books are Saunas and several poetry chapbooks.

Jane lives in Columbus, Ohio, and Ishpeming, Michigan. She has two children and one granddaughter.



Website: https://janepiirto.com