Nancy's Bookshelf

When retired professor Sherry Leonard was married to a mining engineer some years ago, they lived in northern Chile in the Atacama Desert. Her novel, Atacama, is a fictionalized version of her experiences those five years. Chico singer/songwriter Garrett Gray describes how he came to write the lyrics to the songs on his first album, “Five Winds”.

Jonathan Balcombe is a biologist and animal behavior expert. In his bestseller endorsed by the Dalai Lama, What a Fish Knows: The Inner Lives of Our Underwater Cousins, Jonathan Balcombe shows that fish have feelings and deserve consideration.

Nancy Leek is a librarian who writes biographies of California pioneers for children. Her book on Peter Lassen, like her biographies of John and Annie Bidwell, are illustrated by Steve Ferchaud. From GoldReads : My name is Nancy Leek. I live in Chico, California and am a retired librarian. I have worked in public, school and academic libraries, including reference librarian for the Butte County Library and children’s librarian at the Orland Free Library. I am the author of John Bidwell: The

Author Lorna McLeod thought she was bad with money until she got a financial coach and learned to overcome financial challenges. She is now a financial coach herself and has written a book to help people stop stressing about money. The title of a book is “Make Peace With Money: Redefine Your Relationship with Money, Master Your Personal Finances, and Discover True Wealth.” From Amazon: Lorna McLeod, PCC, is a coach and author who has personally faced and overcome numerous financial and money

Can He Say That? is an edgy essay collection on subjects from murder to meditation, politics to punctuation. Anthony Peyton Porter’s column “From the Edge” appeared on the back page of the Chico News & Review. Anthony Peyton Porter has ventured in other media including, Write On Radio!, Minnesota Public Radio, and Twin Cities Public Television. After his time in Minnesota, he came to Chico, California and joined KZFR.

Melina Sempill Watts' debut novel, “Tree,” is about a California Live Oak narrated by the tree itself. The novel uses magical realism as a key to access the emotions of the species that share one pristine valley in Topanga, California. Grass, birds, other trees and animals come to life in this book. The author’s work has appeared in Sierra Magazine, the New York Times, Earth Island Journal and Sunset Magazine. Watts began her career in Hollywood as a development executive, writing consultant and

Chico author Athena Demetrios had a 30-year career as a makeup artist in the film industry in Los Angeles. She was traumatized by memories of growing up in poverty in a dysfunctional alcoholic family and being terrorized by a boarder who lived in the cellar. Her book, “Walking Between Worlds: A Spiritual Odyssey”, recounts how she overcame these traumas and developed her psychic abilities. From Athena’s website : In 1979, a strange series of events became an Initiation which swiftly opened

Chico songwriter, storyteller, and essayist Dena Moes is a Yale-educated nurse-midwife with a BA in literature and an MS in nursing. Her memoir, “The Buddha Sat Right Here: A Family Odyssey Through India and Nepal,” is a meditation on modern family life and a spiritual quest, that recounts a journey with her husband and two daughters in 2014 that led them to the Dalai Lama and the tree where the Buddha sat.

“Executive Directive 51,” signed by President George W. Bush on May 4, 2007, establishes a policy on the continuity of government structures in the event of a “catastrophic emergency.” Professional photographer Michael Agliolo has written his second book of fiction, a thriller called “The 51st Directive.”

Award-winning author Rob Davidson teaches creative writing and American literature at California State University Chico. He has published five books including “Spectators: Flash Fictions”. His newest book, “What Some Would Call Lies”, consists of two novellas. Author and actress Debby Dodds is a presenter at Butte College’s 2019 creative writing conference, WordSpring. Debby did weekly improv comedy and has now written a young adult novel, “Amish Guys Don’t Call”.