July 18-20, 2025 | Grand Rapids, MI
2025 Conference Faculty
Our Keynote Speakers
Sarah Arthur
Keynote Speaker and Elective Instructor
Sarah Arthur is a fun-loving speaker, Christy Award finalist, and author of numerous books for teens and adults, including the acclaimed Carrick Hall Novels YA fantasy series “Once a Queen, “Once a Castle,” and the forthcoming “Once a Crown.” Among other nerdy adventures, she has served as fiction judge for Christianity Today’s Book Awards, is a founding board member of the annual Northern Michigan C. S. Lewis Festival, and co-directs the Madeleine L’Engle Writing Retreats. She lives in Lansing, MI with her husband and tween/teen sons, whose feedback on her fiction both harrows and delights her soul.
S.D. Smith
Keynote Speaker
S. D. Smith is the author of The Green Ember Series, a million+ selling adventure saga featuring heroic #RabbitsWithSwords. The Green Ember spent time as the number one bestselling audiobook in the world on Audible. He is also the author of the madcap Mooses with Bazookas: And Other Stories Children Should Never Read as well as the touching throwback adventure, The Found Boys. Finally, he has co-authored two fantasy adventure novels with his son (J. C. Smith), Jack Zulu and the Waylander’s Key and Jack Zulu and the Girl with Golden Wings. Smith’s stories are captivating readers across the globe who are hungry for “new stories with an old soul.”
Though packed with old school virtue and moral imagination, Smith doesn’t merely create “safe” stories, but bold, daring, truthful tales of light that help shape children who become dangerous—dangerous to the darkness.
Smith is a founder and owner of Story Warren, a publishing, events, and IP development house based in rural West Virginia. Story Warren exists to serve families as “allies in imagination.”
S. D. Smith lives in Grandview, West Virginia with his wife and four kids.
N.D. Wilson
N.D. Wilson is a father of five, the husband of one, a bestselling author of twelve fantasy novels, a screenwriter, producer, and permanent daydreamer. When he’s not working on nature documentaries for Angel Studios or producing ninja cartoons for Netflix or diving into his next real estate boondoggle, you’ll find him coaching teenagers on the track or the basketball court. His podcast, Stories Are Soul Food, is where he engages with culture, storytelling, and film as a Christian father and creator.
Kathy Tyers-Gillin
Continuing session
Kathy Tyers is known for her award-winning “Firebird” series and two licensed Star Wars Legends novels, including New York Times bestseller THE TRUCE AT BAKURA. Her messiah-in-space novel, DAYSTAR, which concluded the original “Firebird” series, won a 2013 Carol award. In 2019, SHIVERING WORLD received the Christy Award in the Visionary category. At home in southwest Montana with her husband William T. Gillin, Kathy focuses on writing, music, and short-season vegetable gardening.
Ronie Kendig
Continuing session
Ronie Kendig is a bestselling, award-winning author of over forty books. She grew up an Army brat, and now she and her Army-veteran husband have returned to their beloved Texas after a nearly ten-year stint on the East Coast. They survive on Sonic runs, barbecue, and peach cobbler that they share–sometimes–with Benning the Stealth Golden and AAndromeda the MWD Washout. Ronie’s degree in psychology has helped her pen novels of intense, raw characters.
Jeff Wheeler
Continuing session
Jeff Wheeler is a Wall Street Journal bestselling author of epic fantasy and thrillers and has sold over 6 million books. More importantly, he is a husband, father of five, and devout member of his church. He lives in the Rocky Mountains.
Steven James
Continuing session
Steven James is a critically acclaimed author of twenty novels and numerous nonfiction books that have sold more than 1 million copies.
He also hosts the weekly podcast The Story Blender, on which he has interviewed more than 150 of the world’s leading writers and storytellers. In 2020, he was inducted into the Christy Award Hall of Fame for excellence in fiction writing. Publishers Weekly has called him “[a] master storyteller at the peak of his game.”
When he’s not writing or speaking, you may find him playing basketball or disc golf, or hiking near his home in the Appalachian Highlands of East Tennessee. He may or may not watch too many science fiction movies while eating bottomless bowls of chips and salsa.
Lindsay A. Franklin
Lindsay A. Franklin is the Carol Award–winning author of The Story Peddler and ECPA best-selling author of Adored: 365 Devotions for Young Women. By day, she wrangles chaos as Managing Editor of Enclave Publishing; by night, she spins whimsical tales fueled by hot drinks, rainy days, and the thunderous purrs of her spoiled cats. Lindsay lives among the misty evergreens of the Pacific Northwest with her family and is currently on a quest to discover the sparkliest nail polish on the planet.
Wayne Thomas Batson
Teen Track
Wayne Thomas Batson is the bestselling author of The Door Within Trilogy, The Myridian Constellation, Outcast, and a host of other enchanting tales. Recently retired from teaching middle school English & Reading for 33 years, Batson now writes full time. He and his lovely wife Mary Lu live in a woodland home called Timbervale in the secluded hills of New Market, Maryland.
Donald Maass
Electives
Donald Maass founded the Donald Maass Literary Agency in New York in 1980. He is the author of The Career Novelist (1996),Writing the Breakout Novel (2001), Writing the Breakout Novel Workbook (2004), The Fire in Fiction (2009), The Breakout Novelist (2011), Writing 21st Century Fiction (2012) and The Emotional Craft of Fiction (2019). He is a past president of the Association of Authors’ Representatives, Inc.
Steve Laube
Electives
Steve Laube, a literary agent and president of The Steve Laube Agency, has been in the book industry over four decades, first as a bookstore manager where he was awarded the National Store of the Year by CBA. He then spent many years with Bethany House Publishers where he was named Editor of the Year by AWSA. Over twenty ago he became an agent where he and his agency have represented over 2,500 new books and Steve been twice named Agent of the Year by ACFW. He was also inducted into the Grand Canyon University Hall-of-Fame by their College of Theology. In addition, he is the Publisher of Enclave Publishing and serves as president emeritus of The Christian Writers Institute. He is the author of the annual Christian Writers Market Guide, Write Your First Novel (with Gilbert Morris), and The Chosen Presents: A Blended Harmony of the Gospels (with Dallas and Amanda Jenkins). His office is in Phoenix, Arizona.
Carla Hoch
Electives
Carla Hoch is an award-winning writer, trained fighter and professional educator who regularly teaches on the craft of writing fight scenes, action and violence as well as the mechanics of fighting for writers. She is the author of the Writer’s Digest book Fight Write: How to Write Believable Fight Scenes and Fight Write, Round Two: Crafting Chaos, Combat and Crime. Carla is a writer for Writer’s Digest Magazine and the WD Blog as well as an instructor for both Writer’s Digest University and Writing Mastery Academy. Her award-winning blog, FightWrite.net, has been named in Writer’s Digest 100 Best Site for Writers five years in a row.
Carla is a world champion jiujitsu player and has experience in almost a dozen fighting styles. She lives and trains outside Houston, Texas.
Sarah Rubio
Electives
Sarah Rubio edits children’s and young adult books by day and writes them by night. She spearheads the children’s publishing program for the Penguin Random House Christian Publishing Group. In addition she acquires and edits children’s picture books as well as selected middle grade titles and YA fiction and nonfiction. She is the award-winning author of three books for children, including two ECPA Book Award finalists and a Christianity Today Best Book of the Year.
Matt Yocum
Electives
Matt Yocum is the President of Hangar 19 Studios. He’s a retired U.S. Air Force colonel who served around the U.S. and the world. He’s written for Marvel Comics as well as other independent comic book publishers.
Lisa Mangum
Electives
Lisa Mangum has been the Managing Editor for Shadow Mountain since 2014 and has worked with several New York Times best-selling authors. She is also the author of four national best-selling YA novels, several short stories and novellas, and the nonfiction book Write Fearless. Edit Smart. Get Published.: A Master Class for Fiction Writers. She regularly teaches at writing conferences, including hosting a writing weekend in Capitol Reef National Park through UVU. She lives in Taylorsville, Utah.
Pre-conference Session
Erin Winters
Author of The Blood and Flame Saga and The Melderblood Chronicles, E.A. Winters writes high-stakes, fast-paced adventure fantasy with clean romance. Between fantasy and children’s books, she has sold over 80,000 copies since the start of 2021, and writes with a chai tea close at hand, deftly fielding Tigger-pounces by her two little boys at home. When she’s not writing, she enjoys family time with her boys and husband in Virginia.
Aside from being an author, Erin is a Licensed Professional Counselor, and passionate about creating realistic characters as they respond to abnormal circumstances with the humanness we all share. Erin’s varied clinical experience, as well as volunteer work as a group leader with the organization TAPS, has provided many rewarding opportunities for group facilitation, mindset development, and digging deeper to identify and overcome obstacles, and strive forward to realistic goals.
Seth Ring
Author of the Titan and Battle Mage Farmer series, Seth loves writing science fiction and fantasy.
Growing up traveling between the USA and Ghana, West Africa, books were Seth’s constant companions. As he grew, so did his imagination, spawning fantastical tales of heroes and villains, of magic, technology, and skill.
Eventually, Seth thought it would be a good idea to write some of his stories down since he was running out of room in his head. Seth Ring currently lives with his wife, kids, and dog in the United States of America.