Local Author FRIENDS

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Timothy Banks is a multi-talented author, artist, designer, and illustrator based in Charleston. He has collaborated with renowned companies such as Nike, Cartoon Network, Marvel, Nickelodeon, and TOWN and Paste magazines. Locally, he has contributed by creating official posters for events like Piccolo Spoleto, YALLFest, and Charleston Farmer’s Market and providing illustrations for the College of Charleston and stage backdrops for the Charleston Music Hall. In 2022, he illustrated the official cover image for the Charleston Convention and Visitor Bureau's Visitor Guide. Timothy has illustrated several children's books, including "A Valentine for Frankenstein," “Nian, The Chinese New Year Dragon," "The Hiking Viking," and "Monsters In Charleston," of which he is the author and illustrator. His illustration work has been recognized by the Society of Illustrators Los Angeles and 3x3. You can find his original paintings at Grand Bohemian and Corrigan Galleries.

Website:   timothybanks.com

‍Instagram:         @timbanks 

I have always found enjoyment in immersing myself in the stories and characters of books. As a scientist by training, writing offers a creative release and opportunity to relay thoughts and events without the constraints imposed by technical or academic work. For many years, I have aspired to share my experiences living through Hurricane Katrina. This book represents the fulfillment of that goal. I aimed to bring the reader along in the story to relive the sounds, emotions, and sights as I did. I have thoroughly enjoyed the process of writing in my own voice, developing original ideas, and giving a voice to female characters that are often overlooked. It has been a deeply rewarding creative journey.

Instagram:        @allisan_beck

Linda Annas Ferguson makes her home in Charleston, South Carolina. Before becoming a novelist, she authored and published five collections of poetry and was a past Poetry Fellow for the South Carolina Arts Commission. She was also a past recipient of the Poetry Fellowship of the South Carolina Academy of Authors, a Poet-in-Residence for the Gibbes Museum of Art, and a featured writer at the Library of Congress Poetry at Noon Series. Her work has appeared in numerous anthologies, including Beyond Forgetting: Prose and Poetry About Alzheimer’s Disease (Kent State University Press) and Seeking: Prose and Poetry Inspired by Art (University of South Carolia Press). Her work is archived in the Furman University Special Collections at the James B. Duke Library. ‍ ‍

Website:   LindaAnnasFerguson.com

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Award-winning author Melissa Henderson writes inspirational messages sometimes humming with humor. With stories online and in print publications, Melissa hopes to encourage readers. Melissa is the author of “Licky the Lizard” and “Grumpy the Gator”. Her passions are helping in the community and church. Melissa is an Elder, Deacon and Stephen Minister. Follow Melissa on Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, Instagram, Goodreads, Bookbub, YouTube, LinkedIn

Website: http://www.melissaghenderson.com 

Instagram: @melissahendersonauthor

Cozy Magical Contemporary Romance author who also leads yoga classes and gives tours of downtown Charleston, SC.

Website: https://www.robinhillyermiles.com/

Before Comfort Creatures, there was Chris—a boy who grew into a man without losing his childlike sense of awe and wonder. After studying literature and philosophy at the University of South Carolina, he washed onto Folly Beach and began his journey. It was behind the register at Bert’s Market that he found glimpses of his creative vision, later penning the first lines of his work at Chico Feo. Inspired by the island’s healing waters and vibrant culture, he set out to craft a love letter to the Lowcountry. A decade later, he presents the first part of what he gleaned from "swimming in the same waters as the mystics and the madmen."

Instagram:@comfortcreaturesnft

Book exhibitor, honored special guest and TV show interviewee, Kenneth believes that the more children read, the more they learn.

To me the most important thing in life is family. What I love most of all is visiting with my two beautiful granddaughters. All my books are stories about the special moments shared with them. Our times reading books and talking together on walks will forever be cherished. My hope is the stories written will bring joy to the children, parents, grandparents and great grandparents who take time to read them.Description goes here

Find him on Facebook and LInkedIn

Ever since penning an elementary school assignment about her baby sister who could cry for hours without shedding a tear, Robin Stearns Lee has loved expressing her heart through writing. Her inspirational stories appear in several anthologies, newspapers, on Inspiration Ministries at www.inspiration.org, and on Amazon’s self-publishing platform. Robin is a wife, mother, and grandmother, and when not touring the country by RV, she and her husband lead a Small Group at their church in the South Carolina Lowcountry.

Brian Livingston was born and raised in Marietta, GA. He earned his B.A. in History at Clemson University before setting off to thru-hike the Appalachian Trail in 2013 (trail name “Mister Frodo”). After his thru-hike, he started law school at Washington & Lee University School of Law, graduating in 2016. After 5 years as a trial attorney, he hung up the wingtips to focus on writing and spending more time outdoors. He now works in land conservation and resides in Charleston, SC with his wife and son. His debut novel, The Habits of Squirrels, is inspired by his experiences and encounters on the Appalachian Trail. His second novel, Folkston, is inspired by his time in the courtroom.

Instagram:@brianlivingstonbooks

Dorothy McFalls resides in the Lowcountry in South Carolina with her supportive sculptor husband and household of animal friends. An environmental urban planner by profession and wildlife biologist by education, she gave up her day job to devote her time to writing in 2001.

As Dorothy McFalls, she writes fantasy, romantic adventure fiction, and Regency Romances. As Dorothy St. James, she writes cozy mysteries.

Over 500,000 Books Sold Worldwide!

Amazon Top 50 Bestseller List for Paid Kindle Books

Amazon #1 Regency Romance Author

Amazon Top 100 Romantic Suspense Author

Amazon Top 100 Paranormal Romance Author

Author of 15 Amazon Bestsellers

WRITES MYSTERIES AS DOROTHY ST. JAMES

Website: dorothymcfalls.com

Instagram: @dorothybookworld

Yvette R. Murray is an award-winning poet and the author of Hush, Puppy (Finishing Line Press 2023). She has been published in Chestnut Review, Aunt Chloe, Emrys Journal, Litmosphere, A Gathering Together, and others. She is the 2022 Susan Laughter Meyers Weymouth Fellow, a 2021 Best New Poet selection, a Watering Hole Fellow, and a Pushcart Prize nominee.  Find her on Facebook and Instagram at Missyvettewrites or email at Missyvettewrites@gmail.com.

Roger Newman, MD is a Professor of Obstetrics and Gynecology and Maternal-Fetal Medicine specialist. Dr. Newman has practiced his entire career at the Medical University of South Carolina in Charleston, and he is the Maas Endowed Chair for Reproductive Sciences. Dr. Newman has had significant academic success including 200 scientific publications and service as the national president of the Society for Maternal-Fetal Medicine. Since 2014, he has published a series of medical suspense novels with Moonshine Cove Publishing entitled Occam's Razor, Two Drifters and What Becomes which was long listed for the 2018 Chanticleer Mystery and Mayhem Award. His next novel, a work of historical fiction, is titled Will O' the Wisp: Madness, War, and Recompense. It is about a Charleston based blockade runner named Captain Jack Holmes and the lost Confederate gold. Dr. Newman is also an award winning and highly successful author of When You’re Expecting Twins, Triplets or Quads, 4th Ed. published by HarperCollins. His most recent novel is entitled Boys and is a family saga of two brothers growing up in the Great Depression and who go off to fight in World War II. Their life experiences are dramatically affected by the fact that one brother is White and the other is Black. Dr. Newman is married with 3 grown children, and lives with his wife, Diane, along the Ashley River.

Marv served on active duty in the U.S. Coast Guard for 24 years until his military retirement in July 1999, and was a maritime safety, security, and marine environmental consultant until 2020. He’s been a resident of Mt. Pleasant since 1995. He has enjoyed art throughout his professional career, particularly cartooning and caricature in ink, on signs, posters, and in service-related magazines. A self-taught artist, he discovered early how drawing cartoons of various people, places, and things helped him cope with life situations...and made his friends laugh.

He recently completed his second written and illustrated children’s book, for young and old, THE LITTLE TAN MAN AND OTHER SILLY STORIES. It’s filled with silly words, alliteration, figures of speech, poems, and colorful images.

His first children’s book, I THINK MY TEACHER MAY BE A DIMETRODON is filled with colorful watercolor illustrations. This book, written from a young child's perspective, imagines people in different occupations as dinosaurs...each with positive traits and attributes. Like most kids, Marv’s a big fan of dinosaurs, so these dinosaurs are illustrated in beautiful, bright colors, and in a humorous cartoon style. The book ends on a positive note encouraging the reader to visualize who he or she will be when grown up.

Marv has also written and illustrated the humorous cartoon book, SURVIVOR CADET: A PERSPECTIVE ON ATTENDING THE U.S. COAST GUARD ACADEMY IN THE 1970’S and illustrated the children’s book by his longtime friend Doshia Daniels Burton entitled, BENDING TWIGS: SNAPSHOTS OF THE INNER WORKINGS OF CHILDREN’S MINDS.

Contact: Marv (843) 412-3593

Email: pontiffm@bellsouth.net

He’s on Facebook and selling books on www.etsy.com and www.ebay.com

Elaine (she/her) has something to say. All the time. Since it’s not reasonable or productive – two things she occasionally tries to be – to talk twenty-four hours a day, she writes books. Her focus is women's fiction and contemporary romance, though she also dabbles in short stories and essays.

When she isn’t writing, she can be found exploring Charleston, taking in live music, and searching for shark teeth on the beach with her family.

Website: elaine-writes.com

Most active on Instagram: @_elainewrites

Abagail Summers is a Southern Fiction author of short stories, poetry, and novels that explore the emotional undercurrents of Southern life. She writes with the rhythm of Charleston tides and the hush of salty air. Her stories honor the emotional crossroads of Southern living—where memories linger in the patterns of wallpaper, the pews of churches, and whispered reputations. Her published works include Life with a Bird Out the Window (2014), Forgiving the Past (2020), The Untold Legacy (2021), After the Storm (2025), and Unopened (2025).

Her writing appears on Spillwords.com, and two of her short stories, “Shining Light” and “Claire De Lune,” were selected for the anthology An Iron Fist in a Velvet Glove, earning honorable mention in the Globe Soup 7-Day Writing Contest. She also received second place in the Summerville Writing Contest, presented at the Summerville Reads Book Festival.

This summer, she was honored as a featured writer at the Pat Conroy Literary Center’s Open Mic Night, where she shared After the Storm, a novel deeply rooted in the heart and heritage of the South.

Order books at: Amazon.com: Abagail Summers: books, biography, latest update

Website: growingwthepast.blogspot.com

Poetry: Abagail Summers, Author at Spillwords

Follow her at:  Abagail Summers | Facebook

The Yagecic Family is a Charleston-based family who turned real everyday moments into something creative. As parents, they wanted a better way for their kids to spend screen-free time, whether at home, traveling, or just figuring out what to do next, so they started coming up with fun, simple challenges together. Those ideas eventually became their Dear Diary… book series.

Created as a true family project, Dear Diary, I’m BORED! and Dear Diary, I’m FLYING! are filled with interactive prompts designed to spark imagination and make screen-free time something kids actually enjoy. With over 800 copies sold, their books are now being used by families for everyday fun, travel or rainy days.

The Yagecic Family loves connecting with other families and creating experiences that are interactive and genuinely fun for kids. A third book in the series is currently in the works.

Social Media

https://www.facebook.com/yagecicfamilywrites/

https://www.instagram.com/yagecicfamilywrites/

Ronda Taylor is a captivating poet, storyteller, and children’s book author living in Charleston, South Carolina. She is the author of Radiant Girl: Daughter of the King and founder of Seen Heard Loved Publishing, LLC. She is also a contributing poet in the anthology This Is the Honey, edited by Kwame Alexander.

With a heart devoted to serving her community, she finds joy in celebrating childhood and nurturing the inner child within us all. Her goal for writing is to create stories that represent and reflect the colorful world we live in. Between the spaces of each word, Ronda wants readers to hear, “You are seen, heard, and loved.”

Thank you!

Seen Heard Loved Publishing, LLC

seenheardlovedpublishing.com

Books where you belong! 🦋💜