BARBARA BASH Author/Illustrator   www.barbarabash.com (845) 687-2111 barbarabash@earthlink.net Barbara Bash has written and illustrated many highly acclaimed books about the natural world for children and adults. She is a calligrapher, illustrator, and teacher who will come to your school for Author Days and lead classes in field sketching as well as the popular Big Brush workshops where participants learn to trust their own creative instinct while working with enormous horsehair brushes and great buckets of ink. Her illustrated journals have long been a source of inspiration to colleagues and students.   Published Sierra Club Books for Children include;  Ancient Ones, Shadows of the Night, Urban Roosts, Tree of Life, Desert Giant, and Phantom of the Prairie.

	DURGA BERNHARD Author/Illustrator   www.durgabernhard.com   (845) 688-7148 durga@durgabernhard.com   Author/illustrator Durga Bernhard builds bridges for children between classroom studies, the world of publishing, and the many subjects of her books. Her conceptual and multicultural titles inspire students in the areas of writing and social studies. Her natural science titles connect easily to curricula in science. Programs may be tailored to fit a particular age group or area of study. For older students and/or longer sessions, hands-on activities in book production and illustration are offered. Durga loves meeting her readers, and is available for single sessions, half and full day visits, and longer residencies. Durga is the illustrator of over twenty books for children, and the author of five. She has taught in numerous schools in New York state, including a unique 3-year arts-in-ed program that was piloted through Bard College with a grant from the New York Foundation for the Arts. She has participated in the Red Hook Central School District's annual Author's Day for over seven years. Her educational programs have been sponsored by libraries, private schools, BOCES, and more.

	DA CHEN   www.dachen.org   da@dachen.org   Da Chen is sought after nation-wide as a key note speaker and Author's Day participant, where he offers advice and encouragement to creative writing students.  He is known for being profoundly inspirational to faculty and students alike.  He also gives workshops in calligraphy, of which he is a master.   Da grew up in the deep south of China, where he was a victim of communist political persecution and poverty during the Cultural Revolution.   A Baptist professor taught him English and opened the possibility of another world.  He excelled in college at Beijing Languages and Culture University, and stayed on as a professor of English after graduating top in his class.  Da arrived in America at the age of 23 with $30 in his pocket and a bamboo flute.  He attended Columbia University School of Law on a full scholarship, and upon graduating, worked for the Wall Street investment banking firm of Rothschilds, Inc. before becoming a writer.   Colors of the Mountain, his first memoir, was a New York Times bestseller and China’s Son, its children’s adaptation, is a PBS Teacher Source recommended book.  Other publications include Sounds of the River, the sequel to his first memoir, and Da’s first fiction for young readers, Wandering Warrior, described by USA Today as “China’s answer to [Harry] Potter.”  Da has been featured in a number of major magazines and on TV, and his books are being used as textbooks at universities, high schools and middle schools throughout the country.

	BOBBI KATZ Author   www.bobbikatz.com bobbikatz@aol.com Ms. Katz's Author Visits are designed to make kids fall in love with language using rhythm, word play and movement, clarify the difference between poetry and prose, help students use words to express feelings and make fresh observations of the world and show the stages of how an author's words become a book. She also conducts workshops for educators on becoming comfortable with poetry and integrating poetry into curriculum. Ms. Katz's published fiction for kids includes Pocket Poems, A Rumpus of Rhymes: A Book of Noisy Poems, We the People, and Could We Be Friends? Poems for Pals, Period Pieces: stories for girls.  Ms. Katz has also published educational texts 25 Great Grammar Poems with Activities, American History Poems & Activities, and Poems Just For Us! With Cross-Curriculum Activities.    In additon to a poet and children's book author and editor, Ms. Katz has been an art historian, a fashion editor, a social worker, the host of "Art in Action", which was a radio talk show, the program director of a community arts council, a contributing author to the Cousteau Society's Environmental Almanac, and editor of educational books. She has taught fiction at college and cleaned apartments in Manhattan. Her most important job was being a Mom.

	JANINE POMMY-VEGA Author, Lecturer, Teacher, Performer jpvega@ulster.net (845) 688-7068 Poetry Writing in the Classroom residencies have been ongoing at Onteora Elementary Schools and others.  Janine has published approximately 20 books, including The Green Piano (Golda Award), The Walker, Island of the Sun, Here at the Door, and Poems to Fernando.  She has lectured at numerous universities, including Bard College, Univ. of Massachusetts, Harper College, Naropa Institute, SUNY, and University of California.   She has also taught Arts in Education programs with Alternative Literary Programs in the Schools, Teachers & Writers in NYC, The New York City Ballet, and Young Audiences of Rochester to name a few, and has conducted Creative Writing workshops in prisons and youth facilites since 1976.

	JAMES RANSOME Illustrator/Children's Book Author   www.jamesransome.com   (845) 876-2148 (phone/fax) jransomeillustr@aol.com Mr. Ransome has presented workshops in schools across the country along with his wife, author Lisa Cline-Ransome (Mayor Taylor Champion Cyclist, Quilt Counting, Satchel Paige).  These include a slide show introduction to the field of children's books, the variety of books they have illustrated and written, artistic influences, and how they create books, and workshops in both drawing and creative writing.    The Children's Book Council named James E. Ransome as one of seventy-five authors and illustrators everyone should know. Ransome has received numerous awards for his work, including; the Coretta Scott King Award for Illustration and the IBBY Honor Award for his book, The Creation, the Coretta Scott King Honor Award for Illustration for Uncle Jed's Barbershop, The Simon Wiesenthal Museum of Tolerance award for The Wagon, the 1999 NAACP Image Award for Let My People Go, and others. PBS's Storytime featured his book, The Old Dog. Ransome has exhibited works in group and solo shows throughout the country.  He has completed several commissioned murals for the Children's Museum in Indianapolis, The National Underground Railroad Freedom Center in Cincinnati, Ohio, and the Hemphill Branch Library in Greensboro, NC. He created a historical painting commissioned by a jury for the Paterson, NJ Library and a poster for the 50th Anniversary Celebration of Brown vs the Board of Education.  His traveling Exhibit, Visual Stories has been touring the United States since 2003.  His work is part of both private and public children's book art collections.

	NINA SHENGOLD Author, Playwright, Screenwriter   www.ninashengold.com (845) 687-4375 nshengold@worldnet.att.net   Ms. Shengold has been an Arts Educator since 1980.  At Rondout Valley H.S. she has created a playwrights' unit for the Drama Club where projects have included War At Home (a play about the events of 9/11, written and performed by students, published by Playscripts, Inc. and Three Hats (one acts, student written, directed, and performed).  At Ulster BOCES she has conducted the Young Playwrighters workshop for Ulster County eighth graders, along with actor Mark Chmiel, since 1998.  She has taught playwrighting at the School of Visual Arts, Museum of TV & Radio, River Arts Film School (screenwriting), Columbia University, Skidmore College, and others.  Ms. Shengold is an award-winning author, screenwriter, playwright, editor and journalist. She won the Writers Guild Award and a GLAAD Award nomination for her teleplay Labor of Love, starring Marcia Gay Harden. Other TV credits include Blind Spot, with Joanne Woodward and Laura Linney, and SHINE Award winner Unwed Father. She adapted Jane Smiley’s novella Good Will for American Playhouse.  Shengold’s play Homesteaders won the ABC Playwright Award and the L.A. Weekly Award for its Long Wharf and Matrix Theatre productions. Her plays have been published by Samuel French, Broadway Play Publishing and Playscripts Inc. Ms. Shengold is also an editor for the Chronogram and has edited a number of play collections.

	BETSY SINSAPAUGH Story Teller & Story Teacher (845) 247-8104 talespinner@netstep.net Betsy is an energetic and dynamic storyteller.  her love of stories and their inherent wisdom provides for a memorable experience.  She continues to travel and share traditional and original tales with children of all ages.  These stories of adventure, hardship, hope, and community continue to be crafted into lessons for life, as they were meant to be.   Here are some examples of Betsy's programs. Rhythm Nations is a multi-cultural experience combining storytelling and drumming.  Tales from the Southwest interweaves Native American stories, art, environmental education and an exercise in math skills and collaborative problem solving. Stories to Live By are general assembly programs created to specifically address the issues that children are facing today.

	CHARLES R. SMITH JR. Author and Photographer   www.charlesrsmithjr.com   Charles is an inspiritational speaker, presenting both hands-on workshops and assemblies.  His pubished books of poetry and photography include, Tall Tales, Rimshots, Hoop Queens & Hoop Kings Short Takes, I Am America, Perfect Harmony, and Brown Sugar Babies.   His presentation focuses on how an artist takes things from their life and puts it into their work. Charles presents his photos, performs poems and discusses his artistic choices. He discusses how he came up with his poetry style and shows poets who’ve influenced him as well as books by photographers whom he admires. He also talks about his interests as a person and how that determines his projects in areas of Geography, Visual Arts, Literature, Math, Physics, Foreign Language, Creative Writing & Poetry, and Sports.

	WRITE ELEMENTS -ANGELA BATCHELOR www.writeelements.com (845) 896-1139 ab@angelabatchelor.com   As a dedicated writer, Ms. Batchelor understands the challenges and vulnerabilities as well as the courage and rewards that come with writing.  What she knows about writing, she passes along to her students with understanding and humor.  Her workshops for students Grades 4-6 include: Spilling Open, on the art of journal writing; Once Upon a Time, on fiction writing techniques; Fractured Fairy Tales; Benjamin's Almanac, bringing history to life; and WriteNews, on journalism.  Workshops have been held at Dutchess Community College Outreach Program, Learning Education at Home, Brinckerhoff and Gayhead Elementary School, and at numerous libraries in Dutchess and Ulster Counties.   Ms. Batchelor is the author of The Other Side of Motherhood, Mercy on the Journey and also writes weekly for the Gannett Poughkeepsie Journal's Family Weekend Planner.