If you are ready to meet your next favorite indie author Red Fern Booksellers has an event for you. This Friday from 5:30 till 7:30 all are invited to an evening of local authors.

According to Red Fern, several genres will be featured during the event, including children’s picture books, middle grade (ages 8–12), general fiction, fantasy, and more! Come meet some amazing authors, support their work, and discover your next favorite book.

Authors that will be featured in this Authors’ Fair are Elizabeth Bird, John Hamilton, Kathleen Kastner, Andrea Rome, Sophia Wachtel, and co-authors Tia Edwards and Samantha Gill.

Elizabeth Bird 

Elizabeth Bird is a Kansas City based fantasy author. Her love of fantasy began in middle school, when she started writing short stories to amuse her internet friends. Elizabeth honed her story-telling skills through teaching and motherhood until she became the head writer for a radio variety hour for three wonderful years. She is proud to say that after nearly twenty years in the making, ‘The Azure Crown’ & ‘The Crimson Kingdom’ are the first two books in ‘The Dreamers Saga.’

John Hamilton 

John Page Hamilton was born and raised in Marceline, Missouri (the boyhood home of Walt Disney) surrounded by characters and storytellers. He developed a lifelong appreciation for cinema, inspired by his father’s love of classic horror films. He currently lives in Kansas, with his wife, Lindsay, their three daughters–Mia, Reese, and Evelyn–and their dog, Milo.

Kathleen Kastner 

Kathleen Kastner is the creator of the Karma Cats franchise and children’s book series, which inspires kids to be kind to animals and each other. Kathleen was born and raised in Kansas and has a Master’s Degree in Education and a Bachelor’s Degree in Journalism from the University of Kansas. She was a yoga teacher and yoga studio owner for sixteen years in Kansas City, MO, where she founded Maya Yoga in 2002.

Kathleen is a passionate animal advocate and has been vegan since 2002. She hosts a vegan cooking show on YouTube, called Vegan Vitality, where she shares her favorite recipes. She loves helping rescue cats find their forever homes and is a volunteer at Rancho Coastal Humane Society in Encinitas, CA.

 Andrea H Rome 

Andrea H Rome lives in the Kansas City Metro Area with her husband, Jay, and their two feline overlords, Marty and Jacob. She is an active member of the KC author community. The first book in her cozy fantasy series, “The Standard Book of Anything,” was a finalist in the 2024 Kindle Book Awards, and is currently competing in the Self-Published Fantasy Blog-Off, Cycle XI, and has been named a semi-finalist (so far.) When not writing, Andrea enjoys reading, escape rooms, geocaching, and puzzles of all kinds. On the weekdays, she is a credentialed actuary.

Sophia Wachtel 

Sophia Wachtel is a fantasy author who blends thrilling adventures with emotional depth in her books for tweens and teens. She writes characters and stories that showcase resilience, heart, and hope in the midst of darkness. When she’s not getting lost in fantasy worlds, she lives in Kansas with her husband, dog, and cat.

Co-authors Tia Edwards and Samantha Gill

Tia Edwards

Tia S. Edwards is a history professor and director of the Kansas Studies Institute at Johnson County Community College in Overland Park, Kansas. She has worked on numerous community engaged projects, including recording veterans’ oral histories, Quindaro preservation in Kansas City, Kansas, and is a lead scholar on the Kansas Treaties project (kansastreaties.com). She is also the author of Osage Women and Empire: Gender and Power (UPK, 2018), and the forthcoming  Shokhí: A Kanza Relative, a Monument, and Rematriation (UPK, September 2026) that documents the return of a grandfather rock to Kaw Nation.

Samantha Gill

Samantha Gill is a co-editor of “Lyda Conley and the Fight to Preserve Huron Indian Cemetery.” She is the Adult Services Manager at Hays Public Library in Hays, Kansas. She earned her master’s degree in history from Fort Hays State University in 2016, where she began her research on Lyda Conley’s life and work. When not working and writing, Sam enjoys spending time with her husband and son, and their cat, Honey.