Kathy Murphy

The Pulpwood Queen Travels to NYC for Cinderella to CEO Awards as a Nominee!

August 11, 2019 By Kathy Murphy Leave a Comment

NEW YORK, NEW YORK – AUGUST 08: Kathy L. Murphy attends the 2019 Cinderella to CEO Awards at JW Marriott Essex House on August 08, 2019 in New York City. (Photo by Mike Coppola/Getty Images for Cinderella to CEO Awards)

Dear Readers!

It would take me some time to tell you the full story of my nomination for Cinderella to CEO Awards held this past week in NYC but here are the highlights!

NEW YORK, NEW YORK – AUGUST 08: Author and Founder Cary Broussard speaks onstage during the 2019 Cinderella to CEO Awards at JW Marriott Essex House on August 08, 2019 in New York City. (Photo by Mike Coppola/Getty Images for Cindrella to CEO Awards)

NEW YORK, NEW YORK – AUGUST 08: Copies of ‘From Cinderella to CEO’ on display during the 2019 Cinderella to CEO Awards at JW Marriott Essex House on August 08, 2019 in New York City. (Photo by Mike Coppola/Getty Images for Cinderella to CEO Awards)

NEW YORK, NEW YORK – AUGUST 08: Author and Founder Cary Broussard (Center Right) poses with the finalists during the 2019 Cinderella to CEO Awards at JW Marriott Essex House on August 08, 2019 in New York City. (Photo by Mike Coppola/Getty Images for Cinderella to CEO Awards)

NEW YORK, NEW YORK – AUGUST 08: Latonia Smith attends the 2019 Cinderella to CEO Awards at JW Marriott Essex House on August 08, 2019 in New York City. (Photo by Mike Coppola/Getty Images for Cinderella to CEO Awards)

And for all the Getty Image photos of the event go to https://assignments.gettyimages.com/v2/share/f4eeaa9a-a666-424d-9241-6f504fbd3517

Last my list of thank yous to those who made this trip possible and for making this one of the highlights of my life!

To Pulpwood Queen Author, Claire Fullerton for nominating me for this incredible honor and award. You hold my heart forever!

To Cary J. Broussard, Founder of the Cinderella to CEO Awards, for recognizing unsung women she-roes whose life work is now being brought into light!

All my fellow 36 nominees of the over 200 that were nominated, we all were winners that day!

To the Official Sponsors of the Cinderella to CEO Awards, thank you big time!

To Sharon Cohen and Breathless Wines for sending in a case of Breathless Wines to give to Cary J. Broussard for celebration at this event.

To Pulpwood Queen Book Club Author, Echo Garrett for giving me shelter from the storm of delayed and canceled flights in Atlanta, Georgia.

To Pulpwood Queen Book Club Members and authors, Barbara Linn Probst and Eileen Sanchez who purchased the $250 ticket to the Cinderella to CEO Award Luncheon I will be eternally grateful for your tremendous support!

Last to The Pulpwood Queen Book Club Reading Nation and my Authors, all my social media friends for supporting me on the roller coaster ride of nearly 20 Years of Book Club Reading. You were all there right with me in spirit. I would never have had this incredible opportunity if not for you day to day lifting me up higher and higher.

This photo says it all to me, God Bless You One and All! Onward and Upward towards reading my dear, dear friends!

Truly, Tiara Wearing and Book Sharing,

Kathy L. Murphy

Artist/Author/Founder of the Pulpwood Queens and Timber Guys Book Clubs and Author of “The Pulpwood Queens’ Tiara Wearing, Book Sharing Guide to Life” and “The Pulpwood Queens Celebrate 20 Years” edited by Susan Cushman

P.O. Box 1220

Hawkins, Texas 75765 – 1220

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The Pulpwood Queens Celebrate 20 Years, Read All About It!

August 1, 2019 By Kathy Murphy Leave a Comment

Dear Readers from Jonathan Haupt today on Facebook:

Jonathan Haupt

12 hrs

I’m honored to have been given the opportunity to contribute an afterword to the anthology The Pulpwood Queens Celebrate 20 Years, forthcoming this December–edited by Susan Cushman with an introduction by Pulpwood Queens founder Kathy L. Murphy and a foreword by Robert Hicks. This collection celebrates the remarkable community of readers and writers at the heart of 20 incredible years of the world’s largest meeting-and-discussing book club, with over 750 clubs internationally. Beyond that, it’s a love letter to the transformative, redemptive power of story to change, challenge, heal, and unite lives. What a joy and a privilege it has been to have an advance look at the heartfelt stories and remembrances in this keepsake volume. I can’t wait for y’all to read them too. Congratulations to all involved in this treasure trove of literary love!

The pantheon of featured writers: Christa Allan, Johnnie Bernhard, Tamra Bolton, Lea Anne Brandon, Missy Buchanan, Julie Perkins Cantrell, Tracy Carnes, Kathryn Casey, Stephanie Chance, Judy Christie, Tim Conroy, Christopher Cook, Michelle Cox, Patricia V. Davis, Sarah Dahman, Jessica Brooks Dougherty, Sharon Lamkin Feldt, Jamie Ford, Joe Formichella, Claire Fullerton, Connor Garrett, Echo Garrett, Peter Golden, Mark Green, Jim Grimsley, Jennie Helderman, Mary Ann Henry, Kathy and Becky Hepinstall, Betty Herndon, Laurel Davis Huber, Suzanne Hudson, Alexandra Jenkins, River Jordan, Cassandra King, Bobbi Kornblit, Betty Hunt Koval, Kacey Kowars, Caroline Leavitt, Marjorie Lewis, Judithe Little, Brenda McClain, Fletcher Hale, Laura Lane McNeal, Susan Marquez, Michael Morris, Jennifer Mueller, Tiajuana Anderson Neel, Janet Oakley, P. Adrianne Pamplin, Susan Peterson, Gregory Phillips, Sandra Phillips, Rickey E. Pittman, Terry Pursell, Alyson Richmond, Paul Roberson, Rebecca Rosenberg, Clare Sera, Brownie Shott and Jonni R. Webb, Shari Stauch, Kathryn Taylor, Heidi Surber Teichgraeber, Helen Thompson, Jo Anne Tidwell, Carolyn Turgeon, Barbara Claypole White, and Reavis Wortham.

— with Susan Peterson and 53 others.

The words of Jonathan Haupt, the Executive Director of The Pat Conroy Literary Center, have truly made me realize just exactly what happened when an East Texas hairdresser, formerly born and raised in Kansas, found refuge from all her struggles in life through books. My life has been a roller coaster of ups and downs from being featured by Oprah Winfrey on her Oxygen Network to The Oprah Winfrey Show to appearances on Good Morning America to help kick off Diane Sawyer and Charlie Gipson “READ THIS” Book Club to finally reaching that pinnacle to suddenly dropping down as far as you can go when I went through the divorce of almost 25 year marriage. I survived the ride but all because of my family, my Pulpwood Queen and Timber Guy Book Club members, my wonderful authors, and reading. It’s very simple and the above will always make the above my top priority in life, well, God first. I must have my priorities straight.

It has been a ride for sure but this book headed me right back up to the top of that coaster and the previous book of which I was a part, “Our Prince of Scribes”, Writers Writing of Pat Conroy made me realize that in life you have to tell people how you feel about them, be kind, because you never know when you or they may be gone from this world. I loved the “Scribes” book edited by Nicole Seitz and Jonathan Haupt so much because when I read each of the stories I realized just how much Pat Conroy meant to the world besides just to me. It was a revelation.

So Pulpwood Queen Author Claire Fullerton wrote a story of what it meant to her to come first time to my 19th Anniversary Girlfriend Weekend. A story that was published in Southern Writers online magazine. I thought to myself, I do not want to have a book written about me after I die, I want to know what my authors, my Pulpwood Queens really took away from our up-and-coming 20 Years of Reading! I found out with this book, “The Pulpwood Queens’ Celebrate 20 Years” but this book is so much more than everybody saying kind words about me. I so appreciate that but what we all want to know is did our lives have purpose and meaning?

When you read the book you will know that gathering with your friends to discuss books is much more than just a book club. You are sharing each other lives through the reading of stories and sharing your own stories. We need that community so welcome to our tribe!

I hope you will read “The Pulpwood Queens Celebrate 20 Years” and “Our Prince of Scribes” as both books involve the wonderful life long dedication of those devoted to the power of the written word, Susan Cushman, Robert Hicks, Jonathan Haupt, Nicole Seitz and all the many contributing authors that understand fully Big Book Love.

Thank you, Jonathan Haupt, thank you. You are an American treasure. Read. It is just that important as it changes people’s lives for the better, always.

Truly, Tiara Wearing and Book Sharing,

Kathy L. Murphy

thepulpwoodqueen@gmail.com

www.thepulpwoodqueens.com

www.shopvida/collections/thepulpwoodqueen

P.S. “The Pulpwood Queens Celebrate 20 Years” edited by Susan Cushman, foreword by Kathy L. Murphy can be pre-ordered as of today on online booksellers. The book launches December 1st just in time for holiday gift-giving. Our Official Book Launch Party will be the Friday night of our 20th Anniverary Girlfriend Weekend for our “Pulpwood Queens Celebrate 20 Years” Author Dinner.

For Membership, always first, go to www.thepulpwoodqueens.com then go to Pulpwood Queen Girlfriend Weekend on the site to purchase your package and tickets to our biggest book event ever! The full working program can be found on this blog page, scroll down.

The Pulpwood Queen Announces “The Pulpwood Queens Celebrate 20 year’s Pre-order Date”!

July 25, 2019 By Kathy Murphy Leave a Comment

Greetings from The Pulpwood Queen! So happy to announce that August 1st will be the laydown date to pre-order our book, “The Pulpwood Queens Celebrate 20 Years” edited by Susan Cushman, Dedicated To Tiajuana Anderson Neel with Foreward by Kathy L. Murphy, Introduction by Robert Hicks, Afterword by Jonathan Haupt, cover by Nicole Seitz and published by Brother Mockingbird Publishing.

All these came together as first Claire Fullerton wrote a feature for Southern Writer’s magazine blog on her take of coming for the first time to our annual Pulpwood Queen Girlfriend Weekend Book Club Convention. Which got me thinking what if for our 20th Anniversary we put a book together to share all the stories through the years from our authors, Pulpwood Queens, friends, and yes, family of our book and convention. This anthology will include nearly 70 stories, essays, and poems by one of our own author, Susan Cushman who said “Yes!” to editing this book along with the help of Jonathan Haupt, Executive Director of The Pat Conroy Literary Center. Pulpwood Queen Book Club member, Susan Marquez came aboard for second eyes too on proofreading the finished book. A lot of Pulpwood Queen and Timber Guy teamwork went into this book. Our Pulpwood Queen Book Club author/artist agreed to create the marvelous cover that we all just love. Robert Hicks who Tiajuana Anderson Neel adore as loved to stay with when in Nashville agreed to the Introduction and then everybody just truly outdid themselves.

Last Melissa Melissa Coleman Carrigee, publisher of Brother Mockingbird encouraged by Johnnie Bernhard, one of our featured authors, encourage Melissa Coleman Carrigee to purchase a booth at the Girlfriend Weekend last year. I was very impressed by this brand spanking new publisher and her desire to help those authors and their books deemed wonderful to get published. So when she heard I was doing a book, she just reached out and told me she would love to publish it.

All the stars in heaven aligned all because of everyone at our 19th Anniversary Girlfriend Weekend to create this now finished book in record time to have available to you for holiday gift-giving as will launch on Amazon.com December 1st!

This is our Pulpwood Queen Book Club community gift to the world on the power of the story. This will my gift to everyone this holiday season and hopefully yours too. You will be able to pre-order very soon and hope you all do.

But do note our Official Launch Party will be Friday Evening, January 17, 2018 during our 20th Anniversary Pulpwood Queen Girlfriend Weekend for our “The Pulpwood Queens’ Celebrate 20 Years” Author Dinner. The Authors will all wait the tables dressed as Lumberjacks. So many of the authors will be in attendance that we are going to recognize all of them but the ones tagged below will be on our evenings’ panel of entertainment. Afterward, the authors in the book will sign all your books purchased at the event for you as we will have an assembly line of authors. Also for those purchasing at the event, I will for each book purchased have a coupon to receive a complimentary copy my e-book, “The Pulpwood Queens’ Tiara Wearing, Book Sharing Guide to Life” plus some special swag too. This book is the first book you are to read when you join our book club.

“The Pulpwood Queens Celebrate 20 Years” will be our Official 2020 January Book of the Month and I promise you once you read this book, you will run not walk to join a book club and hopefully ours.

Thank you truly from the bottom of my heart to everyone who brought this book into fruition including our Pulpwood Queens authors who offered blurbs, Paula McLain, Lisa Wingate, Jamie Ford, and Patti Callahan Henry. We have been very blessed to all to come together as the Pulpwood Queen tribe as we all completely understand the power of a great story.

For Membership go to www.thepulpwoodqueen.com and for Packages to the weekend Click Pulpwood Queen Girlfriend Weekend.

Our Newly Revamped website will be going up soon thanks to my now Pulpwood Queen Team Webmasters, Pulpwood Queen Kim Johnson Griffin and Timber Guy Paul Roberson, stay tuned!

Image may contain: 1 person, smiling, text

Kathy L. Murphy

Founder of the Pulpwood Queens and Timber Guys Book Clubs and Author of “The Pulpwood Queens’ Tiara Wearing, Book Sharing Guide to Life”

Beauty and the Book

P.O. Box 1220

Hawkins, Texas 75765 – 1220

www.thepulpwoodqueens.com

https://www.facebook.com/Pulpwoodqueen

www.twitter.com/Pulpwoodqueen

www.instagram.com/thepulpwoodqueen

www.shopvida.com/collections/thepulpwoodqueen

Update on Summer into Fall Pulpwood Queen Calendar of Events!

July 23, 2019 By Kathy Murphy Leave a Comment

Here is the updated now Pulpwood Queen Calendar of Events going into Fall 2019!

Finalists Named in Cinderella to CEO Awards

August 8, 2019 Awards Luncheon Honors Women Who Transform, Inspire & Empower

July 1, 2019 – New York, NY – The Cinderella to CEO Awards, to be held Thursday, August 8 in New York City, will highlight 36 award finalists and 200+ nominees who have inspiring, modern, tales of transformation, changing the world for the better.

Nine category winners, to be chosen by a distinguished Cinderella to CEO panel of judges, will be announced and featured at the August 8 event. The awards luncheon and networking event will be held at the JW Marriott Essex House in Manhattan.

Women and men across the U.S. were encouraged to nominate women for the awards on the website, cinderellaceoawards.com, where tickets to the August 8 event are on sale. The event is open to the public. Sponsorships, tables, and individual tickets are available.

Inspired by the book From Cinderella to CEO and the morals found in classic fairy tales, the inaugural Cinderella to CEO Awards recognize women leaders for their support of other women, their transformational ability to overcome obstacles and barriers, and their ability to motivate others to accomplish their dreams. One of the nine winners will be named Cinderella to CEO of the Year at the event, voted upon during a closed ballot vote by the luncheon audience.

Travel Leaders Group, 2020 Women on Boards, KPMG PGA golf clinics, Carnival Cruise Line, Broussard Global and the Cinderella to CEO “WAND” ambassadors are providing prizes for the finalists and Cinderella to CEO of the Year. “We’ve discovered hundreds of real-life Cinderella to CEOs, who are improving communities, businesses and industries for the better. We want to accelerate their successes by connecting them to opportunities and each other,” said Cary Broussard, founder of the Cinderella to CEO Awards.

The Award Category Finalists for the Cinderella to CEO Awards Beauty and the Beast Award Finalists – Demonstrated outstanding, inspirational leadership in a seemingly hopeless situation by creating opportunities, supporting and mentoring, and providing solutions for gender equity.

Dori Berinstein, Lead Producer, The Prom on Broadway

Sheila Brooks, Ph.D., Founder, President and CEO,

SRB Communications

Brittny Drye, Founder, Editor, Love, Inc.

Terri A. Haack, President, Terranea Resort

Climbing the Beanstalk Award Finalists – Cultivated an innovative improvement to the workplace to create inroads for women to achieve career goals and enhanced work-life balance opportunities for all genders.

Ashley Materise, WIIT Board Member, Toyota Motor North America

Georgia Green, CEO (Chief Empowerment Officer), BE-U Revolution

Frida Polli, CEO and Founder, Pymetrics

Ellen Voie, President, CEO, Women In Trucking

Hansel & Gretel Award Finalists – Used extraordinary foresight and vision to blaze a new path to navigate tenuous circumstances. Working as a team, they are creating remarkable change that no one thought possible. The leaders’ solution required group think and collaboration.

Deborah Bial, Founder, The Posse Foundation

Georgene Huang and Romy Newman, Founders, FairyGodBoss

Deborah Jackson and Andrea Turner Moffitt, Founders, Plum Alley

The Red Roof Marketing, Operations, Human Resources, and Hotel Team

Snow White Award Finalists – Introduced a unique concept, innovative idea, or policy. She approached a problem by innovatively uniting hearts and minds, building rapport & camaraderie with others.

Cate Luzio, Founder and CEO, Luminary

Allison Orr, Founder and Artistic Director, Forklift Danceworks

Vicky Rey, Vice President, Guest Care & Communications, Carnival Cruise Line

Shawna Suckow, CMP, Senior Planners Industry Network (SPIN) Founder

Sleeping Beauty Award Finalists – Improved access to services that improved social and economic opportunities in an innovative way for a vulnerable population or group(s). She is inclusive, manages differences, and builds unity.

Vivian Greentree, PHD, SVP, Corporate Social Responsibility & Head of Corporate Citizenship, First Data Corporation

Michelle Guelbart, Director of Private Sector Engagement, ECPAT-USA

Dr. Terry Neese, CEO, Founder, Institute for Economic Empowerment of Women

Layla Sabourian–Tarwé, Founder & CEO, Chef Koochooloo

Swim with the Swans Award Finalists- Developed a product or system that fundamentally improved the environment, positively disrupting the status quo. She identified a problem, focused on her research, and achieved a beautiful and excellent solution for the environment.

Georgienne Bradley, Founder/Director, Sea Save

Elaine “Ella” Delio, Director, Environmental and Regional Initiatives, New Orleans Foundation

Christine Siller, Executive Director, Friends of Rye Nature Center

Thyme Sullivan, Founder and CEO, TOP, The Organic Project

Thumbelina Award Finalists – Performed an outstanding, ethical act that brought positive results to another individual, community or organization, acting with purpose and initiative.

Peg Dougherty Marcus, Co-Founder, Healthcare Businesswomen’s Association

Kelly Krenzel, Founder, Hope Blooms

Michele Sarkisian, CEO, President P3 Advisors

Nadine Vogel, CEO, Springboard Consulting, LLC

Red Riding Hood Award Finalists – Displayed exceptional bravery in overcoming an extraordinary hurdle to reach a challenging goal.

Anne Kirkpatrick, Chief of Police, Oakland Police Department

Katherine Klimitas, Graphic Artist, KAK Art NOLA

Alison Malmon, Founder and CEO, Active Minds

LaTonia Smith, Brotherhood, HIV Counselor

Rapunzel Award Finalists – Utilized her voice to spark an innovative, positive result, advocating for others and building alliances
Marylou Martinez-Mazzia, Founder, Community Cares for You

Kathy L. Murphy, Founder, Organizer, Director The Pulpwood Queen Book Club

Bo Talley-Williams, Founder, Balling for Lupus Luvs Foundation

Nancy Witter, Comedian, Author & Life Coach, Hot Flash Laughs

Cinderella CEO Grand Prize Award – The grand prize winner “never gives up,” and has instituted a remarkable transformation of her own life, a business, community or industry, and will be voted on by the audience and the judges at the event.

GOCENTRAL WEBSITE BUILDER

Art Stroll & Wine Swirl in Gladewater, Texas

Saturday, August 10th

11:00 a.m. Beginner’s Alcohol Ink Workshop conducted by Kathy L. Murphy at Decorate Ornate in Gladewater, Texas. $50 for the workshop and all materials provided. All art will be able to be taken home with the attendee but do bring a paint smock to protect clothing. Contact Stephanie Chance at Decorate Ornate to pay for class or Kathy L. Murphy at thepulpwoodqueen@gmail.com. Seating is limited and first come, first serve.

Saturday, August 31st, Kathy L. Murphy’s 45th Class of 74 Class Reunion at The Greenwood Hotel in Eureka, Kansas.

Saturday, September 28th, Third Annual LOWCOUNTRY BOOK CLUB CONVENTION in Beaufort, South Carolina.

Saturday, September 28, 2019 | 10:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m.
Technical College of the Lowcountry, MacLean Hall
104 Reynolds Street, Bldg 12, Beaufort, SC
Please register in advance at www.brownpapertickets.com/producer/2564858The Pat Conroy Literary Center’s third annual Lowcountry Book Club Convention is a day of educational conversations and fellowship programs for book club members and those considering joining a book club. This free public event is presented in partnership with the Technical College of the Lowcountry and NeverMore Books, and is funded in part by a generous gift from the Pulpwood Queens Book Club.Keynoting our Lowcountry Book Club Convention this year will be Kim Michele Richardson, author of The Book Woman of Troublesome Creek, in conversation with fellow novelist Bren McClain, author of One Good Mama Bone.

Praise for The Book Woman of Troublesome Creek: “The novel espouses a welcome faith that books, when freely and equally available to all, have a remarkable capacity to heal and redeem our spirits as well as enrich and embolden our imaginations…. The Book Woman of Troublesome Creek is a timely and necessary novel, certain to find an enthusiastically loyal following among book clubs, for whom it offers myriad opportunities for engagement, and with librarians and library patrons, for whom it is a heartrending hero’s tale.”–Charleston Post & Courier

About our keynote presenter: Kim Michele Richardson is a bestselling author living in Kentucky. She’s an advocate for the prevention of child and domestic abuse and the author of the bestselling memoir The Unbreakable Child, a book critic for the New York Journal of Books, and the founder of Shy Rabbit, a writers residency scholarship. Her novels include Liar’s Bench, GodPretty in the Tobacco Field, and The Sisters of Glass Ferry. Kim Michele’s latest novel, The Book Woman of Troublesome Creek, is about the historical blue people of Kentucky and the fierce and brave Kentucky Packhorse librarians.

SCHEDULE OF EVENTS

10:00-11:00 a.m. Pat Conroy Literary Center Book Club: Beach Music, with discussion leader Margaret Evans, Lowcountry Weekly publisher and columnist

11:15 a.m.-12:30 p.m. Keynote: Kim Michele Richardson (The Book Woman of Troublesome Creek) in Conversation with Bren McClain (One Good Mama Bone)

12:30-1:45 p.m. Lunch catered by Debbi Covington ($20, advance registration required) | Book club idea exchange | Book signing in partnership with NeverMore Books

2:00-2:30 p.m. Meet the Pulpwood Queen, Kathy L. Murphy (The Pulpwood Queens Tiara-Wearing Book-Sharing Guide to Life) interviewed by Kacey Kowars (A Celebration of Words and Another Celebration of Words)

2:30-3:30 p.m. Pulpwood Queens author panel: Kathy L. Murphy, Kacey Kowars, Bren McClain, Mary Ann Henry (Ladies in Low Places), Kathryn Taylor (Two Minus One) and Jonathan Haupt (Our Prince of Scribes: Writers Remember Pat Conroy)

3:30-4:00 p.m. Book signing with our panelists in partnership with NeverMore Books

Our Prince of Scribes Panel Discussion at the First Presbyterian Church – Hilton Head Island, SC

September 29 @ 5:00 pm – 6:30 pm

|Free

First Presbyterian Church – Hilton Head Island, SC

New York Times best-selling writer Pat Conroy (1945–2016) inspired a worldwide legion of devoted fans numbering in the millions, but none are more loyal to him and more committed to sustaining his literary legacy than the many writers he nurtured over the course of his 50-year writing life. In sharing their stories of Conroy, his fellow writers honor his memory and advance our shared understanding of his lasting impact on 20th- and 21st-century literary life in and well beyond the American South.

Featured presenters for this panel discussion are co-editor Jonathan Haupt and contributing writers Stephanie Austin Edwards, David Lauderdale, Bren McClain, and Kathy L. Murphy. Each author in this collection shares a slightly different view of Conroy. Through their voices, a vibrant, multifaceted portrait of him comes to life and sheds new light on the writer and the man.

Free and open to the public, this special event is presented by the Pat Conroy Literary Center in partnership with First Presbyterian Church of Hilton Head Island. Books will be available for sale and signing following the presentation. Sales of Our Prince of Scribes help support the educational mission of the nonprofit Pat Conroy Literary Center.

Website: Facebook Event Page

Praise for “OUR PRINCE OF SCRIBES”

“His wound may have been geography, but his legacy was generosity. That’s the takeaway from this new collection of essays honoring the late Pat Conroy. Novelist Nicole Seitz and Jonathan Haupt, the executive director of the Pat Conroy Literary Center, pull together a who’s-who of writers from the Lowcountry and beyond for an ode to the real Prince of Tides… A fitting tribute to a unique, significant writer and man.”—Kirkus Reviews

“A moving tribute to the legacy of one of the South’s brightest lights.”–Garden & Gun’s Talk of the South

“Pat Conroy’s death in 2016 left a colossal void in the literary landscape, but his spirit survives not only in the legacy of his work but in new books like this collection of funny, bittersweet recollections by those who knew him.”–Atlanta Journal-Constitution

About our Presenters:

Before Stephanie Austin Edwards returned to the Lowcountry of South Carolina, and to her love of writing, she had a twenty-two-year career in New York Theater. She now writes fiction and non-fiction, facilitates writers groups, teaches writing workshops, and consults with authors. She is the author of the award-winning novel What We Set in Motion and a contributing writer to Our Prince of Scribes, an anthology about her high school friend, Pat Conroy, and Short Story America VI. Edwards is honored to be part of forwarding the mission of the Pat Conroy Literary Center, where she volunteers and leads writing workshops.

Jonathan Haupt is the executive director of the Pat Conroy Literary Center, the founding director of the annual Pat Conroy Literary Festival, and the former director of the University of South Carolina Press, where he created the Story River Books fiction imprint with Pat Conroy. With novelist and artist Nicole Seitz, he is co-editor of the anthology Our Prince of Scribes: Writers Remember Pat Conroy, awarded a Silver Medal for Best Regional Nonfiction by the Independent Publisher Book Awards. Haupt’s articles, book reviews, and author interviews have appeared in the Charleston Post & Courier, Beaufort Lowcountry Weekly, Beaufort Lifestyle magazine, Pink magazine, Shrimp, Collards & Grits magazine, Fall Lines literary journal, and the Conroy Center’s Porch Talk blog. He serves as an associate producer and consultant to the SCETV author interview program By the River, on the board of directors of the South Carolina Academy of Authors and the Friends of South Carolina Libraries, on the American Writers Museum affiliates steering committee, and on the South Carolina Humanities advisory committee.

David Lauderdale is an award-winning columnist and senior editor for The Island Packet and The Beaufort Gazette. He is also a contributing writer to the anthologies State of the Heart: South Carolina Writers on the Places They Love and Our Prince of Scribes.

Bren McClain’s debut novel One Good Mama Bone was published by Pat Conroy’s Story River Books and honored with the 2018 Willie Morris Award for Southern Fiction. The novel was also long-listed for the 2018 Crook’s Corner Book Prize, received a starred review in Booklist, was named a 2017 winter Okra pick by the Southern Independent Booksellers Alliance (SIBA), and selected as the 2018 Pulpwood Queens Book of the Year. A contributing writer to Our Prince of Scribes, McClain is a two-time winner of the South Carolina Fiction Project and the recipient of the 2005 Fiction Fellowship from the South Carolina Arts Commission. She is at work on her next novel, which received the gold medal for the 2016 William Faulkner–William Wisdom Novel-in-Progress.

Kathy L. Murphy is the author of The Pulpwood Queen’s Tiara-Wearing, Book-Sharing Guide to Life, a licensed cosmetologist, an accomplished visual artist, and the founder of the Pulpwood Queens Book Club, the largest book club in the U.S., celebrating its 20th anniversary in 2019. Kathy and her Pulpwood Queens have been featured on ABC TV’s Good Morning America, and in Newsweek, Wall Street Journal, and LA Times. She is at work on her second book, The Pulpwood Queen Goes Back to School.

More to come!

Thanks for reading and hope to see you at these events!

Truly, Tiara Wearing and Book Sharing,

Founder of the Pulpwood Queens and Timber Guys Book Clubs and Author of “The Pulpwood Queens’ Tiara Wearing, Book Sharing Guide to Life”

Beauty and the Book

P.O. Box 1220

Hawkins, Texas 75765 – 1220

www.thepulpwoodqueens.com

https://www.facebook.com/Pulpwoodqueen

www.twitter.com/Pulpwoodqueen

www.instagram.com/thepulpwoodqueen

www.shopvida.com/collections/thepulpwoodqueen

The Pulpwood Queen Announces New Book COVER REVEAL!

July 12, 2019 By Kathy Murphy Leave a Comment

Press Release for Immediate Release:

July 12, 2020

Today we are announcing the cover reveal of our latest book, The Pulpwood Queens Celebrate 20 Years! edited by Susan Cushman, Introduction by Kathy L. Murphy, Foreward by Robert Hicks, Afterword by Jonathan Haupt, Executive Director of The Pat Conroy Literary Center, Cover by Artist/Author, Nicole Seitz, and published by Brother Mockingbird.

In 2020, the Pulpwood Queens—and their male counterparts, the Timber Guys—are celebrating twenty years as the world’s largest meeting-and-discussing bookclub, with over 750 local clubs internationally. The fact that many of these women also wear tiaras, leopard prints, and bright pink to their meetings gives us a peek into their exuberant love for life, which is reflected in their love for books and each other. This collection of essays by authors, book club members, and supporters of the Queens, is a love letter to the founder and director, Kathy L. Murphy, and an ode to the written word and the place that literature and reading play in all of our lives.

Dedication to Tiajuana Andersson Neel – Kathy L. Murphy

Introduction – Kathy L. Murphy

Foreward: Robert Hicks

Contributing Writers and Authors are:

Christa Allen

Johnnie Bernhard

Tamra Bolton

Lea Anne Brandon

Missy Buchanan

Julie Cantrell

Tracy Lea Carnes

Kathryrn Casey

Stephanie Chance

Judy Christie

Tim Conroy

Christopher Cook

Michelle Cox

Susan Cushman

Patricia V. Davis

Sarah Dahman

Jessica Brooks Dougherty

Sharon Feldt

Jamie Ford

Joe Formichella

Claire Fullerton

Connor Garrett

Echo Montgomery Garrett

Peter Golden

Mark Green

Jim Grimsley

Jennie Helderman

Mary Ann Henry

Kathy Hepinstall and Becky Hepinstall

Betty Herndon

Laurel Davis Huber

Suzanne Hudson

Alexandra Jenkins

River Jordan

Cassandra King

Bobbi Kornblit

Betty Koval

Kasey Kowars

Caroline Leavitt

Marjorie Herrera Lewis

Judithe Little

Bren McLain

Fletcher Hale

Laura Lane McNeal

Susan Marquez

Michael Morris

Jennifer Mueller

Tiajuana Anderson Neel

Janet Oakley

P. Adrianne Pamplin

Susan Peterson

Gregory Erich Phillips

Sandra Phillips

Rickey E. Pittman

Terry Pursell

Alyson Richmond

Paul Roberson

Rebecca Rosenberg

Clare Sera

Brownie Shott and Jonni Webb

Shari Stauch

Kathryn Taylor

Heidi Surber Teichgraeber

Helen Thompson

Jo Anne Tidwell

Carolyn Turgeon

Barbara Claypole White

Reavis Wortham

Afterword: Jonathan Haupt

“The Pulpwood Queens Celebrate 20 Years” will be The Pulpwood Queens Official January 2020 Pulpwood Queen Book Club Selection. You can read all about The Pulpwood Queens, how to join their book club and attend their Girlfriend Weekend at www.thepulpwoodqueens.com.

“Kathy Murphy and her Pulpwood Queens are a source of much-need inspiration and big-heartedness in the world of books and book clubs. The here are as wise as they are entertaining, a testament to living large and joyfully in a sisterhood of storytelling.” —Paula McLain, New York Times bestselling author of The Paris Wife and Love and Rain.

“Part book club meeting, part costume party, part come-as-you-are, the Pulpwood Queens annual Girlfriend Weekend is an extravaganza none who’ve ever attended will forget. This 20th anniversary commemorative book is like Girlfriend Weekend itself—a warm, wise, tender celebration of friends, reading, and all the ways books bring us together.” —Lisa Wingate, New York Times bestselling Author of Before We Were Yours

“The Pulpwood Queens is one of those cultural phenomena that you have to participate in to completely understand. But this book does the next best thing. Put on some pink and enjoy.”—Jamie Ford, New York Times Bestselling author of Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet

“In this collection you can be a part of the Pulpwood Queens’ energy and friendship, their unabashed love for the written word, and the full glory of a party to celebrate it all. Come along, join me and meet some of my friends in this collection of essays about the indomitable Pulpwood Queens.”—Patti Callahan Henry, New York Times and USA Today best-selling author of fourteen novels, including Becoming Mrs. Lewis – The Improbable Love Story of Joy Davidman and C.S. Lewis, and a contemporary novel, The Favorite Daughter

For more information on this book and to pre-order your copies contact Melissa Carrigee of Brother Mockingbird at melissabrothermockingbird.org, website www.brothermockingbird.org

20th Anniversary Pulpwood Queen Girlfriend Weekend Book Club Convention Working Program!

July 1, 2019 By Kathy Murphy 2 Comments

PRESS RELEASE FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:

Contact: Kathy L. Murphy, Founder of The Pulpwood Queens Book Club Girlfriend Weekend

Email: thepulpwoodqueen@gmail.com

Website: www.thepulpwoodqueens.com

TAKE IT TO THE LIMIT!
January 16 – 18, 2020
The Jefferson Visitor & Tourism Center
305 East Austin Street, Jefferson, TX 75657

THURSDAY
1:00 p.m. Registration opens for Girlfriend Weekend at The Jefferson Tourism & Convention Center located just over the railroad tracks toward the train ride to pick up your Pulpwood Queen pre-paid packets and just to let you know we may not have individual tickets for events as packages are selling fast. Don’t delay, buy your Package TODAY!

1:00 p.m. Beginner’s Alcohol Ink Painting Workshop conducted by Kathy L. Murphy. No experience necessary and all art supplies provided. Bring a smock or apron to paint and you will be able to take your art home with you. $50 for the workshop and must prepay at www.thepulpwoodqueens.com, click on Girlfriend Weekend on the top menu bar to purchase your Workshop ticket.

Go to https://www.thepulpwoodqueens.com/2020-girlfriend-weekend-t-shirts/ to pre-order 20th Anniversary T-shirt to help celebrate and commemorate our event! You will be given your t-shirt at registration with your packet.

THURSDAY NIGHT
6:30 p.m. Author check-in for their name tags, pick up packets, and to go over itinerary for the weekend.

“The Shady Ladies” of Jefferson, Texas”

7:00 p.m. doors officially open for all attendees. Entertainment by Author/Musical Artist, Rickey Pittman of “Cajun ABC” and “The Shady Ladies” who will perform for you. Cauldrons will be placed out to make contributions to the Jefferson Lion’s Club fundraising programs

Former Executive Director of The Pulpwood Queen Book Club Reading Nation, Tiajuana Anderson Neel

“TRIBUTE TO TIAJUANA” Celebration of Life in honor of our former Executive Director of The Pulpwood Queen Book Club Reading Nation.

Author, Robert Hicks

Keynote Speakers, Author, Robert Hicks of “The Widow of the South” and Author/ Songwriter Layng Martine, Jr. of “Permission to Fly”.

Author, Songwriter, Layng Martine Jr.

Introduction of Pulpwood Queen “Tiajuana Anderson Neel” Scholarship Winners and reading of essays by the winners. These scholarships were the request of her family and they have been invited to be in attendance as her family will be present and introduced.

January 17– 18, 2020
FRIDAY AND SATURDAY Day Panels
All-day Author Panels featuring each hour, authors who are interviewed by moderators followed by the autograph time. All authors featured after their panel will immediately go to AUTHOR AUTOGRAPH TABLE at the VENDOR/BOOKSTORE table. To ensure you get your books signed, go immediately to the AUTHOR AUTOGRAPH TABLES after they speak, pre-purchased books only and be ready to have your book/books signed.
MURDER BY THE BOOK of Houston, Texas will provide the BOOKSTORE for all the author books for the event. Authors also will be available to sign books throughout the weekend but do note some will only be able to sign after they have been featured, which will be announced.
Also, we will have VENDORS, (open 8:00 a.m. – 5:30 p.m.), Friday and Saturday that will feature the BEST of the BEST SHOWCASED for our book-loving attendees.
AN AUTHOR SILENT AUCTION will be held with showcased items signed and donated by all our authors. All proceeds from the SILENT AUCTION will go to THE PAT CONROY LITERARY CENTER, (The Pulpwood Queens Book Club endorses this literacy project as our charity of choice). All authors featured donate a signed object that ties in with their book for this literary promoting fundraiser. Be PRESENT and PREPARED to pay for the item you bid on for the Silent Auction by cash or check payable to The Pat Conroy Literary Center Saturday afternoon.

FRIDAY MORNING
8:00 a.m. REGISTRATION at Convention Center

Author, Reavis Wortham
8:55 a.m.
KATHY L. MURPHY, founder of The Pulpwood Queens and Timber Guys Book Clubs, Author of “The Pulpwood Queens’ Tiara Wearing, Book Sharing Guide to Life” her co-host, New York Times Bestselling Author, REAVIS WORTHAM, of “Hawke’s Target”.

Welcome to our TAKE IT TO THE LIMIT themed Girlfriend Weekend Author Extravaganza!

9 a.m. – 9:15 a.m. KEYNOTE SPEAKER, New York Times Bestselling author, REAVIS WORTHAM of “Hawke’s Target”.

Author, Cassandra King Conroy

9:15 a.m. to 9:30 a.m. KEYNOTE SPEAKER New York Times Bestselling Author, Cassandra King Conroy of “Tell Me A Story”.

BREAK FOR AUTOGRAPHING AND VENDORS/BOOKSTORE

10:00 a.m. – 10:15 a.m.

Lauren Marino of “What Would Dolly Do? How to be a Diamond in a Rhinestone World!’” and Dolly Parton Look a Like Contest! After Lauren speaks, we will have all contestants line up for the voting by the audience. All attendees including Authors are encouraged to bring on your BEST DOLLY OUTFIT! I hope you WIN for a complimentary package to Girlfriend Weekend 2021!

BREAK FOR AUTOGRAPHING AND VENDORS/BOOKSTORE

Susan Peterson of Sue’s Reading Neighborhood

10:45 a.m. to 11:30 a.m.

Moderator: Peterson of Sue’s Reading Neighborhood and her featured authors:

Barbara Davis of “When Never Comes”

Eldonna Edwards of “Clover Blue” and “This I Know”

Deborah Mantella of “My Sweet Vidalia”

Marilyn Simon Rothstein of “Husbands and Other Sharp Objects” and “Lift and Separate”

Barbara Claypole White of “The Promise Between Us” and “The Unfinished Garden”

BREAK FOR AUTOGRAPHING AND VENDORS/BOOKSTORE

12:00 p.m. Lunch on your own at the many fine eateries of downtown Jefferson, Texas or within a short driving distance.

FRIDAY AFTERNOON

1:00 p.m. – 1:15 p.m. SURPRISE GUEST SPEAKER, Cary J. Broussard, Founder of the Cinderella to CEO Awards with Pulpwood Queen Author, Claire Fullerton and Cinderella to CEO Nominee, Latonia D. Black of Brotherhood, HIV Foundation! Cary’s book is “From Cinderella to CEO: How to Master the 10 Lessons of Fairy Tales to Transform Your Work Life”

BREAK FOR AUTOGRAPHING AND VENDORS/BOOKSTORE

1:30 p.m. – 2:15 a.m.
KEYNOTE SPEAKERS Celebrity Stylist to the Stars, Jim Markham, and Echo Garrett of “Made to Win: Serial Entrepreneur Jim Markham’s Secret Formula for Success”

BREAK FOR AUTOGRAPHING AND VENDOR/BOOKSTORE

Shari Stauch, owner of Main Street Reads

2:30 p.m. – 3:15 p.m.

Moderator: Shari Stauch of Main Street Reads and her featured authors:

Henry G. Brinton of “City of Peace: A Novel

Julie Rooney of “Till Health Us Do Part”

Scott Boyers of “Bobby Ether and The Jade Academy”

Ruthie Landis of “Beyond the Book Club”

Katherine Varn of “Gardenia Duty”

BREAK FOR AUTOGRAPHING AND VENDOR/BOOKSTORE

3:30 p.m. – 4:15 p.m.

Moderators: Kathy L. Murphy and Reavis Wortham

Kathi Appelt of “Max Attacks” and “Angel Thieves”

Johnnie Bernhard of “Sisters of the Undertow”

Kathryn Casey of “The Buried: A Mystery”

R. J. Lee a.k.a. Robert Kuhnele of “Grand Slam Murders”

Marjorie Herrera Lewis of “When the Men Were Gone”

Sarah Dahmen of “Tinsmith 1865”

BREAK FOR AUTOGRAPHING AND VENDOR/BOOKSTORE
4:30 p.m. Closing remarks by KATHY L. MURPHY and REAVIS WORTHAM
Last chance to purchase books and visit our vendors for the day at our VENDOR/BOOKSTORE ROOM.

FRIDAY EVENING
7:00 p.m. AUTHORS ONLY DINNER for they will be the Authors who will be waiting tables all dressed as LUMBERJACKS!

8:00p.m. AUTHOR DINNER catering by Award Winning Joseph’s Riverport BBQ, the Official caterer of The Pulpwood Queens and Timber Guys Book Clubs.

Pulpwood Queen Art Fashion Show featuring our Authors and Queens as our models! You can order any of The Pulpwood Queen art inspired fashions at www.ShopVida.com/collections/thepulpwoodqueen now as they do take some time to arrive. Each one is of a kind is created especially for you as you order. Email me your order at thepulpwoodqueen@gmail.com and wear your Pulpwood Queen Fashion to our event and you will be entered into a drawing for a FREE COMPLIMENTARY PACKAGE to our 21st Anniversary Girlfriend Weekend. Hope you WIN!

8:00 p.m. All authors will be introduced!
“The Pulpwood Queens’ Celebrate 20 Years”:
Moderator: Editor, Susan Cushman, Introduction by Pulpwood Queen founder Kathy L. Murphy, publisher, Melissa Coleman Carrigee, Foreward author, Robert Hicks, Afterward author, Jonathan Haupt, and contributing authors, Claire Fullerton, Connor Judson Garrett, former Lt. Colonel Terry Pursell, and River Jordan. All authors present that contributed to the book will go to autograph tables to sign your book or books after the event!

SATURDAY MORNING
The Jefferson Visitor’s and Convention Center
8:00 a.m. REGISTRATION
9:00 a.m. KATHY L. MURPHY and REAVIS WORTHAM, are back as your hosts!

9:15 a.m. – 9:30 a.m. – KEYNOTE SPEAKER Author Pat Montandon of “Peeing on Hot Coals” for a Stand-up (actually Sit-down) Comedy Show who has been nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize Twice

Author, Crystal Wilkinson

9:30 a.m. to 9:45 a.m. KEYNOTE SPEAKER Crystal Wilkinson of “The Birds of Opulence”

BREAK FOR AUTOGRAPHING AND VENDOR/BOOKSTORE

Author, Kacey Kowars

10:30 a.m. – 11:15 a.m.

Moderator: Kacey Kowars of “Another Celebration of Words: Michael Connelly, James Lee Burke, Andre DuBus and Son, and Jeannette Walls”, Introduction by Kathy L. Murphy
Vol. II”

Rebecca Dwight Bruff of “Trouble With Water: A Novel”

Michelle Cox of “A Veil Removed: A Henrietta and Inspector Howell Novel”

Susan Cushman of “Friends of the Library”

Patricia V. Davis of “Secret Spice Café Book 3”

Julie Kibler of “Home of Erring and Outcast Girls”

BREAK FOR AUTOGRAPHING AND VENDOR/BOOKSTORE

Author and Shreveport Times Columnist, Judy Christie

11:30 a.m. – 1:30 p.m. Jesse Allen Wise Garden Club Fundraiser Luncheon (separate ticket, call Kay Brookshire at 903-452-3836). Open to the public so get all your tickets TODAY!

Leader of The Pulpwood Queens of Eureka, Kansas, Heidi Surber Teichgraeber

Entertainment will be a Book and Vintage Fashion Show featuring Keynote Author, Judy Christie of “Before and After” written with Lisa Wingate, and Pulpwood Queen Heidi Surber Teichgraeber of our Eureka, Kansas chapter with our authors and Pulpwood Queens as her models.

1:45 pm to 2:30 p.m.

Moderator: Julie Perkins Cantrell of “Crescendo”

Tamra Bolton of “A Blessing Life: One World War II Seabee’s Story

Camille di Maio of “The Way of Beauty”

Juliette Kobani Haaglund of her latest cookbook to be announced

Tina Sloan of “Chasing Cleopatra”

Jess Montgomery of “The Widows: A Novel”

Barbara Linn Probst of “Queen of the Owls”

BREAK FOR AUTOGRAPHING AND VENDOR/BOOKSTORE

Authors, Suzanne Hudson and Joe Formichella

2:45 p.m. – 3:30 p.m.

Moderators: Suzanne Hudson and Joe Formichella

Connor Judson Garrett of “Falling Up In the City of Angels”

Pulitzer Prize-Winning Author, Edward Humes of “The True Story of the Murder and Crime That Wasn’t.

Bev Marshall of “Back Home”

Jennifer Mueller of “Stockade Bay” and “Killer of Cimarron Social Club”

Janet Oakley of Hilo Bay Mystery Collection: “Coconut Island”, “Volcano House” and “Hilina Pali”

BREAK FOR AUTOGRAPHING AND VENDOR/BOOKSTORE

Kathy L. Murphy, Founder of The Pulpwood Queen Book Club Reading Nation

3:45 P.M. – 4:30 P.M. Closing Speaker Panel:

Moderator, Kathy L. Murphy and Reavis Wortham

Stephanie Chance of “Mamma Mia” and her newest sequel “Mamma Mia! Here We Go Again”

Claire Fullerton of “Mourning Dove & “Little Tea”

Kim Harwanto of “Novel Women” by Between Friends Book Club

Pamela Fagan Hutchins of “Live Wire”, the first in a trilogy and also the Host of Wine, Women, and Writing

Judithe Little of “The Chanel Sisters”

Shellie Rushing Tomlinson of “Finding Deep and Wide”

BREAK FOR AUTOGRAPHING AND VENDOR/BOOKSTORE AND LAST BOOK SIGNING OF THE DAY!

4:45 p.m.
Awards Presentation for the following:
Pulpwood Queen Bonus Book of the Year
Pulpwood Queen Book of the Year
KATHY L. MURPHY to present The KAT AWARDS!
Special Presentation: THE DOUG MARLETTE AWARD presented to an individual for the Lifetime Achievement of Promoting Literacy.

Silent Auction winners announced. Each author will be present to present each winner of the highest bid his or her signed personal item. Be prepared to pick up and pay at this time with cash or check, payable to The Pat Conroy Literary Center as you pick up your winning bid item!
Final remarks from KATHY L. MURPHY & REAVIS WORTHAM as we announce the theme for our next 2021 year’s event and conclude our weekend’s presentation of AUTHORS!
VENDOR/BOOKSTORE Room Closes at 6:00 p.m.
Shop the streets of Jefferson, dine in their fantabulous eateries, and prepare for an evening of magic! We are all going to the “GREAT BIG BALL OF HAIR” BALL!

Adam and Mark Green as seen with the author, Robert Hicks
Musical artist and actress, Hannah Howard.

SATURDAY EVENING: The Jefferson Tourism & Visitors Convention Center
8:00 P.M. Master of Ceremonies Adam and Mark Green with Hannah Howard and Latonia D. Davis performing!

GREAT BIG BALL OF HAIR” TAKE IT TO THE LIMIT “ themed BALL!

Come dressed as your favorite TAKE IT TO THE LIMIT BIG HAIR character, your favorite author or book character and compete for MS “HAIR” BALL QUEEN, the higher the hair the more you may WIN and TIMBER KING! It’s a Black Tie Affair!

D.J for the best dance music EVER!

20^th Anniversary Cake and Champagne Punch Bar will be served for a 20th Anniversary Toast but also B.Y.O.B with setups provided.

Have your cameras ready!
All information in the program could be subject to change due to circumstances beyond our control.
All memberships, tickets, and packages are NON- REFUNDABLE and FINAL.
Our Official hashtag is #PQGirlfriendWeekend for social media posts.
For our Official website: www.thepulpwoodqueens.com!