The Blackbirds
Tracey S. Phillips
Founder
Tracey S. Phillips considers herself a serial artist who is an avid gardener, proficient pianist who loves to draw, and she writes in multiple genres. Her debut, Best Kept Secrets won a Hugh Holton Award. She is a two-time finalist for the Claymore Award for best unpublished fiction and a National Indie Excellence Award finalist (Forewarned). She lives near Madison, Wisconsin with two kitties. Tracey founded Blackbird Writers during the 2020 quarantine. She wished to create a community of like minded authors willing to help promote each other and share their love of stories with readers. Blackbird Writers is that dream come true.
Anne Louise Bannon
Original Founding Member since 2020
Anne Louise Bannon is an author and journalist who wrote her first novel at age 15. Her journalistic work, including 15 years as a TV critic, has appeared in newspapers across the country. She is the co-author of Howdunit: Book of Poisons, with Serita Stevens, as well as author of the Freddie and Kathy mystery series, set in the 1920s, the Operation Quickline Series and the Old Los Angeles series, set in the 1870s. Her most recent title is Death of the Chinese Field Hands. She and her husband live in Southern California with an assortment of critters.
Valerie Biel
Original Founding Member since 2020
Valerie Biel is the author of the award-winning Circle of Nine series (stories inspired by Celtic mythology and the stone circles of Ireland). Her love for travel and insatiable curiosity fuel her storytelling. When she’s not writing, she’s helping other authors with their publishing adventures and wrangling her overgrown garden.
Laurie Buchanan
Original Founding Member since 2020
Laurie Buchanan is the author of the Sean McPherson crime thriller novels. Her gritty Pacific Northwest series delivers a rollercoaster experience of pulse-pounding suspense and heart-stopping twists, earning multiple accolades, including the Foreword INDIES Book of the Year Gold Award. Laurie’s a kindness enthusiast, red licorice connoisseur, and forensic detail fanatic. She lives with her two favorite guys: her husband, Len, and Henry—a not-so-standard Standard Poodle. When she’s not writing, you’ll find her reading, walking along the river, or behind a camera lens.
Tim Chapman
Original Founding Member since 2020
Tim Chapman is a former forensic scientist for the Chicago police department who currently teaches writing and tai chi chuan. He holds a Master’s degree in Creative Writing from Northwestern University. His first novel, Bright and Yellow, Hard and Cold, (re-released as A Trace of Gold) was a finalist in Shelf Unbound’s 2013 Best Indie Book competition. In his spare time he paints pretty pictures and makes an annoying noise with his saxophone that he claims is music.
Nicholas Chiarkas
Nick Chiarkas is the historical thriller award-winning author of WEEPERS and NUNZIO’S WAY. He grew up in the projects on Manhattan’s Lower East Side. In fourth grade, the principal of PS#1 told his mother, “Nick would not complete high school, so steer him toward a simple vocation.” Instead, Nick became a writer, with a few stops along the way: U.S. Army Paratrooper, NYPD Police Officer, Chief Counsel for the President’s Commission on Organized Crime, and the Wisconsin State Public Defender. He earned a doctorate from Columbia, a law degree from Temple, and was a Pickett Fellow at Harvard. How many mothers are told their children are hopeless? How many kids with potential surrender to despair? Nick wrote WEEPERS and NUNZIO’S WAY for them.
John DeDakis
John DeDakis is a former editor on CNN’s “The Situation Room with Wolf Blitzer.” DeDakis is the author of six traditionally published novels in the award-winning Lark Chadwick mystery-suspense-thriller series. DeDakis is a motivational speaker, podcaster, one-on-one writing coach, manuscript editor, and regularly teaches novel and memoir writing at literary centers, bookstores, and writers’ conferences nationwide and abroad. He is also a Grief Educator, certified by world-renowned grief expert David Kessler of Grief.com. John’s next book, Plot Twists: A Memoir on Writing and Living, will be published by Speaking Volumes Publishing in late summer 2026.
Christine DeSmet
Original Founding Member since 2020
Christine DeSmet is the author of the Fudge Shop Mystery Series set in Door County, and the Mischief in Moonstone Series set in northwest Wisconsin. She is a writing coach and Master Class instructor at UW-Madison Continuing Studies where she directs the Write-by-the-Lake Writer’s Workshop & Retreat. She is also a screenwriter. She belongs to Mystery Writers of America, Sisters in Crime, Wisconsin Screenwriters Forum, and Wisconsin Writers Association.
Kathleen Donnelly
Award-winning author Kathleen Donnelly is a retired K-9 handler. She loves crafting realism into her fictional stories from her dog-handling experience. Her debut novel, Chasing
Justice, won a Best Book Award from the American Book Fest, a PenCraft Award and was a 2023 Silver Falchion finalist in the Suspense category and Readers’ Choice Award. She lives
near the Colorado foothills with her husband and four-legged retirees. You can sign up for Kathleen’s newsletter to receive her free short story eBook collection, Working Tails.
G. P. Gottlieb
G.P. Gottlieb writes the Whipped and Sipped culinary mystery series (Battered, 2019, Smothered, 2021, and Charred: A Whipped and Sipped Mystery scheduled to be published by D.X. Varos later in 2022). She spends time inventing or reworking recipes so that they’re vegan (as is the pastry chef at the Whipped and Sipped Café), and gluten-free. She has interviewed over 100 authors as host for New Books in Literature, a podcast channel on the New Books Network, and when she isn’t reading or writing, loves to play the piano, do puzzles, sing and jam with other musicians, take long walks, listen to live music, travel with her husband, and visit their children. Gottlieb is a member of the Author’s Guild, Mystery Writers of America, and is in charge of PR and marketing for the Sisters in Crime Chicagoland board.
Sherrill Joseph
Sherrill Joseph was a shy kid whose BFF was Nancy Drew. From her, the author learned to seek adventures, be kind and fair, help others everywhere, and become a
mystery author someday. In 2013, her dream came true. After retiring from thirty-five years of teaching, she morphed into a Middle Grade (ages 9-12) author of The Botanic Hill Detectives Mysteries series. Via her mysteries with a twist of obscure history, she presents some of her own interests to kids, hoping they will learn the value of pioneers whose work then makes life better now.
Sheila Lowe
Original Founding Member since 2020
Sheila Lowe is a real-life forensic handwriting expert whose Amazon number one best-selling series dives deep into the psyche of her characters. The Forensic Handwriting psychological suspense books feature Claudia Rose, whose career as a document examiner and handwriting analyst mirrors Sheila’s own. The new Beyond the Veil Series is paranormal suspense about a young woman who reluctantly communicates with dead people who want her to do stuff for them. Besides testifying in cases involving handwriting, Sheila has appeared in forensic TV and radio shows, newspaper and magazine articles and blogs ad infinitum. She also writes nonfiction books on handwriting psychology.
Sharon Lynn
Original Founding Member since 2020
Sharon Lynn, whose debut DEATH TAKES A BATH is now available. was raised in Arizona. But it was living in England as a teenager and every return trip since that inspired the setting of her first novel. As a professor of theater, film, and writing, she coaches and mentors aspiring artists. Her short stories can be found in anthologies from Malice Domestic and Desert Sleuths. She is a member of the Mystery Writers of America, Sisters in Crime, and the Author’s Guild. Please sign up for her news updates at www.sharonlwrites.com.
Amanda Marbais
Amanda Marbais’s fiction has appeared in Hobart, SmokeLong Quarterly, Joyland and elsewhere. She’s written reviews and cultural essays for Your Impossible Voice and Paste Magazine. She was featured in Electric Literature’s Recommended Reading series and was shortlisted in The New York Times Book Review for her debut short story collection Claiming a Body (Moon City Press 2019). She teaches literature at Loyola University and lives in Chicago.
Sharon Michalove
Sharon Michalove writes romantic suspense and traditional mystery as well as being a published historian. After growing up in suburban Chicago, she spent most of her life in a medium-sized university town, working as an academic professional as well as teaching history. She was married to a composer and frequently uses her knowledge of music, history, and food to enrich her novels. A hockey fan, Sharon moved back to Chicago in 2017 so she could go to Blackhawks games and spend quality time at Eataly.
Margaret Mizushima
Original Founding Member since 2020
Margaret Mizushima writes the internationally published Timber Creek K-9 Mysteries. She is a past president of the Rocky Mountain Chapter of MWA and was elected Writer of the Year by Rocky Mountain Fiction Writers. She is the recipient of a Colorado Authors League Award, a Benjamin Franklin Book Award, a CIBA CLUE Award, an IBPA Gold Award, and two Willa Literary Awards by Women Writing the West. Her books have been finalists for a SPUR Award by Western Writers of America, a Killer Nashville Silver Falchion Award, and the Colorado Book Award. She and her husband recently moved from Colorado to a home in the Pacific Northwest.
Jeff Nania
Original Founding Member since 2020
Drawing upon careers in law enforcement, conservation, and a passion for our natural resources, Jeff Nania has gone from writing police reports, scientific papers, outdoor humor, and feature stories to weaving together mysteries that keep readers wondering who is on the right side of the law in the small town of Musky Falls. Figure Eight (2019), the first book in his Northern Lakes Mystery series, was a 2020 Midwest Book Award Winner. Spider Lake (2020) is the second book in the series and book three is in the works.
Victoria Nania
Original Founding Member since 2020
Victoria Rydberg-Nania is co-owner of Feet Wet Writing, the publisher behind Jeff Nania’s Northern Lakes Mystery series. She has been instrumental in the behind-the-scenes work we do here at Blackbird Writers. An active member since 2020, she has truly helped this group of authors soar. Learn more about her and her husband, Jeff Nania, at feetwetwriting.com.
Joy Ann Ribar
Original Founding Member since 2020
Joy Ann Ribar is an RV author, writing on the road wherever her husband and their Winnebago View wanders. Joy’s cocktail of careers includes news reporter, paralegal, English educator, and aquaponics greenhouse technician, all of which prove useful in penning mysteries. She loves to bake, read, research wines, and explore nature. Joy’s writing is inspired by Wisconsin’s four distinct seasons, natural beauty, and kind-hearted, but sometimes quirky, people. Joy holds a BA in Journalism from UW-Madison and an MS in Education from UW-Oshkosh. Two of her Deep Lakes mysteries were recognized by Chanticleer Cozy and Not-So-Cozy mystery awards. The Medusa Murders received 2nd Place in the Book Fest awards for Women’s Fiction/Mystery.
Saralyn Richard
Original Founding Member since 2020
Saralyn Richard is a multiple award-winning author of mystery novels, a children’s book, and numerous short stories, poems, and essays published in anthologies and magazines. Her works include the Detective Parrott Mystery Series, the Quinn McFarland Mystery Series, A Murder of Principal, and Naughty Nana. Saralyn is an active member of Mystery Writers of America and International Thriller Writers, and she has taught literature and creative writing to high school students and adults through the Osher Lifelong Learning Institute. A former educator, Saralyn’s favorite thing about writing is connecting with readers like you.
Jeannée Sacken
Described by MKE Lifestyle magazine as “Indiana Jones with a camera,” award winning author, Jeannée Sacken is a photojournalist who travels to the ends of the earth, documenting the lives of women and children. She also photographs wildlife and is deeply committed to the conservation of endangered species. Behind the Lens won the 2021 American Writing Awards Novel of the Year and the Hawthorne Prize. The Rule of Thirds won the 2024 Silver Falchion Award for Best Suspense and the 2023 Literary Global Award for Novel of the year. Her first book in the Julia Wilde Series won the 2025 Hawthorne Prize, making Jeannee the first author in the history of the prize to win the award twice. The Women Who Stand Between was also a finalist for the 2025 American Writing Awards Novel of the Year and was the First Place winner of the CIBA CLUE Award.
T. K. Sheffield
TK Sheffield writes the award-winning Backyard Model comic cozy mysteries; they’re The Devil Wears Prada meets a Wisconsin supper club, whodunnits served with a brandy old-fashioned and a side of cheese curds. She believes in the adage, “Write what you know.” Thus, the tales are mostly set in Wisconsin. She grew up in a city—Madison during the Sixties!—but, as a horse-obsessed girl, she bolted to the country quick as a racer from the gate. She has degrees from UW-Madison and Mount Mary University. Also, one from Author U., a self-directed program of Read, Write, Revise, Repeat. She and her semi-retired pilot husband reside in rural Wisconsin.
Laurie Stevens
Laurie Stevens is the author of the Gabriel McRay psychological suspense series and The Return, a sci-fi/fantasy. The books have won fourteen awards, among them Kirkus Reviews “Best of” and a Random House Editors’ Book of the Month. In regards to writing thrillers, Suspense Magazine says Laurie is “the leader of the pack,” while International Thriller Writers claims she’s “cracked the code” of writing suspense. An active member of Mystery Writers of America, International Thriller Writers, Sisters in Crime, and Science Fiction Writers of America, Laurie lives in the hills outside of Los Angeles with her husband, two snakes, and a cat.
Carl Vonderau
Carl Vonderau grew up in Cleveland in a religious family that believed God could heal all illness. Maybe that’s why he went to college in California. After majoring in economics and dabbling in classical guitar, he ended up with a career in banking. Carl has lived and worked internationally and has managed to put his foot in his mouth in several languages. He brought his banking expertise to his debut thriller, Murderabilia, which won a Lefty, as well as to his forthcoming novel, Saving Myles.
Carl is president of the San Diego chapter of Sisters in
Crime.
Colleen Winter
With one foot in the world of technology and the other in the world of words, Colleen Winter’s fiction explores our relationship with technology and ultimately the choices it requires us to make. She is an electrical engineer and former journalist, and was short-listed for the 2020 Rakuten Kobo Emerging Writer Prize in Speculative Fiction. She is a member of International Thriller Writers, Science Fiction Writers of America, The Writers’ Union of Canada. Colleen lives in Ontario with her husband in their empty nest with their loveable, psychotic, reactive dog Kira.