📚 Authors at The Root: A Literary Marketplace
📅 Date: Saturday, April 26th, 2025
⏰ Time: 11 AM - 2 PM
📍 Location: The Root, Downtown New Albany, IN
Join us at Authors at The Root: A Literary Marketplace, a celebration of local authors, storytelling, and community connection! This event brings together writers, book lovers, and creatives for a day of discovery, conversation, and inspiration.
This is in conjunction with The Floyd County Library, Indiana University Southeast, and Amber Miller Events.
What to Expect:
✔ Meet & support local authors – Browse books, get your copies signed, and discover new favorites.
🎤 Live readings & Q&A sessions – Hear from authors as they share excerpts and insights.
📚 A diverse selection of books – From fiction and nonfiction to business books and children's literature.
🤝 Networking & creative connections – Connect with fellow book lovers, writers, and entrepreneurs.
☕ Coffee & refreshments – Grab a drink and enjoy the literary atmosphere.
Interested in Participating?
Authors: Booth spaces are available for a small fee ($50-$100).
Vendors & Sponsors: Opportunities are available for businesses looking to support the literary and creative community.
📩 For more details or to sign up, contact us at brigidm@therootworkspace.com.
📍 Save the date, spread the word, and come celebrate the power of storytelling with us at The Root!
ABOUT THE AUTHORS
Nikki Esarey has worked for the Harrison County Public Library since 2007. She is the Lead Circulation Associate at the Palmyra branch and provides youth and adult programs. Nikki loves using puppets in her programming and performs puppet shows for the library and schools. She is also a children's book author and artist. Her first book, Chicken and Moodles, was published in 2023.
Chris Redd and Ricky Mason will be showcasing their book "Beyond The Handshake". If you love intentional networking and professional help books, you’ll want to stop by their booth.
Chris and Ricky are the founders of Network + Chill. Network + Chill authentically connects founders, funders, and anyone in the entrepreneurial ecosystem through storytelling, education, and inclusivity. We know collaboration and knowledge sharing are vital in any journey, and we believe curating a dedicated network with authentic conversation in a fun environment will create density in the region.
Laurie L. Hellmann is originally from Marshall, MI and moved to Southern Indiana following graduation from Ball State University in 1997. Laurie earned her Bachelor of Science degree in Legal Administration from BSU, an MBA from Indiana University Southeast and has enjoyed a successful, 25-year professional career in the healthcare industry.
Throughout her entire life, Laurie has assumed the role of caregiver, but it was through her 21 years of experience parenting a child with profound needs that she discovered the true purpose for her life – to serve as an advocate and beacon of hope for those who feel lost or broken. Laurie authored her first book, “Welcome to My Life – A Personal Parenting Journey Through Autism” in 2020 and is excited to bring you her newest memoir, “Selling Vegetables to Drunks: Lessons I Learned as an Alcoholic’s Daughter,” the second book in her Purposeful Journey biographical series.
Through her writing, podcast, “Living the Sky Life – Our Autism Journey,” advocacy work and speaking events, Laurie is continually striving to make a lasting impact in the autism community and beyond. Hire Laurie as a speaker for live and virtual audiences of all sizes on topics including shifting perspective, resilience, self-advocacy, maintaining hope, marriage, parenting, mental health and belief in a higher purpose. She’s also a fitness enthusiast and a natural-born empowerment coach.
Meg Shaffer is the USA Today bestselling author of The Wishing Game, which was a Goodreads Choice Awards finalist, a Book-of-the-Month finalist for Book of the Year, a #1 Barnes & Noble bestseller, and a Reader’s Digest Best Book of the Year.
She holds an MFA in TV and Screenwriting from Stephens College. Her second novel, the instant national bestseller The Lost Story, is available now from Ballantine.
Shaffer lives in Kentucky with her husband and two cats. The cats are not writers.
Andrew Shaffer is the New York Times bestselling author of Hope Never Dies: An Obama Biden Mystery, Secret Santa: A Horror for the Holidays Novel, and over twenty other books in multiple genres for both adults and children, including mystery, humor, and poetry.
He is a five-time Goodreads Choice Award nominee and a two-time finalist in the Humor category. His books have been optioned for film and TV by CBS/Paramount, FOX, Freeform, and Secret Hideout.
As an artist, his illustrations have appeared in Heavy Metal magazine, The Rumpus, Comedy Central’s The Colbert Report, and on book covers worldwide. He has illustrated multiple children’s picture books, including Mothman’s Merry Cryptid Christmas.
Shaffer attended the Iowa Writers’ Workshop and studied comedy writing at The Second City, Chicago’s famed improv school. An Iowa native, he lives in Louisville, Kentucky, with his wife, novelist Meg Shaffer.
His latest novel is the cozy mystery Feel the Bern: A Bernie Sanders Mystery from Penguin Random House. His most recent book is a coloring book, the Literary Cats Coloring Book from Running Press.
Amethyst Drake is a passionate storyteller. She excels at crafting delightful characters and developing complex relationships among them. Her favorite genre has always been mystery, making it a natural choice for her writing. She aims to blend her personal experiences with mental health and the moral complexities of intricate interpersonal relationships into engaging novels.
Her first novel, The Scheme has been awarded the prestigious indie B.R.A.G. Medallion, recognizing its outstanding quality and impact on readers worldwide. This honor places it among a select group of reader-recommended, independently published books at the Book Readers Appreciation Group (BRAG).
Amethyst loves reading all kinds of mysteries, suspense, and thrillers and enjoys watching classic detective and espionage dramas like "Murder, She Wrote," "Perry Mason," and "Mission: Impossible." She also loves hearing from readers! Connect by signing up for her newsletter or email amethyst@agswordsmiths.com.
Website: amethystdrake.com
Facebook: www.facebook.com/amethystdrake.author
For more than a decade, Candice C. Hardin, Ed.S., has dedicated her
time and talent to challenge, engage and grow students, faculty and staff
of the Jefferson County Public Schools District. She currently serves as a
Coach for Residents in the Louisville Teacher Residency program. Ms.
Hardin earned her Bachelor of Arts degree in Early Childhood Education
from Spelman College, her Master of Arts degree in Curriculum and
Teaching from Michigan State University and her Educational Specialist
degree in Instructional Leadership and School Administration from
Bellarmine University.
Ms. Hardin has been recognized by the Class Act Federal Credit Union
as a “Hero In Education” and by Hilliard Lyons as a “Teacher of
Excellence”. Outside of the Jefferson County Public Schools District, Ms.
Hardin serves as a consultant for her business, Level Up Consulting. She
advises and administers plans and practices to students, faculty and staff
alike in advocacy of innovative and inclusive learning environments and
curricula. Ms. Hardin recently published her first children’s book,
Christina’s CommUNITY Cues with her daughter Jasmine. She is the
proud mother of Jasmine Hardin, a member of Delta Sigma Theta
Sorority Incorporated and a champion for public education.
Cristie Robbins is a poet and mental wellness coach whose work delves into resilience, grief, and transformation. Her debut poetry collection, scars like constellations, explores the raw edges of loss, survival, and self-reclamation. With a background in HR and a passion for holistic healing, Cristie helps others navigate stress, burnout, and personal reinvention. When she’s not writing, she’s balancing life as a mom of five, embracing the chaos with humor and heart. Connect with her at @cristie_xox.
Nat Bickel is an energetic writer who moves people to action with her words with bylines in the Los Angeles Times, Glamour, Darling Magazine, and more. Through her journalism experience, Nat has interviewed celebrities, worked with musical artists, and reported on current trends and events—thus, creating a base for the main character in her debut novel, The Catalyst. She crafted this story in hopes that others would experience every raw, unsuspecting, sensational, and terrifying emotion surrounding falling in love. She’s also the author of the children's books The Christmas Clue, and The Volcano No One Could See. When she's not writing, you can find her taking film photos, pressing flowers, or blazing new trails with her husband. @natmosfear
As a young child Amanda Nelson enjoyed listening to others talk about what they were experiencing in their life, offering her opinion on how to help. As an adult she wanted to be a support to others in a way she did not have in her early life, which led to the career path of social work and therapy.
Amanda and Kim Tipton met as coworkers while in college where Kim expressed an interest in learning more about mental health care. The topic of mental health became even more important when Kim became a parent to two children. Amanda obtained a Master’s Degree in Social Work from the University of Louisville, as well as holds a Licensed Clinical Social Worker certificate. Kim obtained a Bachelor’s Degree in Marketing from the University of Louisville.
Through Amanda’s work in community mental health care and Kim’s experience as a parent, they realized a need for additional resources to support social and emotional development of the children in our communities. This led to the development of Little Loving Lessons.
“We created Little Loving Lessons to fill our need for additional resources that support young children’s social and emotional development. One of us being a behavioral health therapist, and the other a new parent, we came together to create stories that we wished we had to help the young kids in our lives!”
— Kim Tipton
Jillian Cypress is an elder millennial living in Louisville, Kentucky, with her husband, their two children, and their mischievous black cat. She is a self-published author, avid reader, book blogger, and the office manager at a manufacturing company. Cypress holds a Bachelor of Science in Theater Arts from the University of Louisville (yes, a BS in theater—take that however you like). As an author, she has written The Divining Series, a vampire-themed saga; Glitter Macabre, a poetry collection; and Adventures in Heartwood Forest, a children's book. When she's not working or spending time with her family, Jillian can usually be found reading, writing, or creating art while drinking way too much coffee.
Dr. Rudolph has a B.S. in Accountancy, University of Illinois, 1969 and attended graduate school at the U of I until 1972. Subsequently, he earned an MBA and Doctor of Business Administration with a concentration on risk management and insurance. Along the way, he accumulated 34 credit hours of English courses instead of the required six credit hours.
From 1982 through 1989, he earned the Chartered Property and Casualty Underwriter designation, Associate in Risk Management,
Associate in Research and Planning, Association in Premium Auditing, Associate in Insurance Accounting and Finance, and Associate in Automation Management.
He was actively employed in the insurance and risk management profession from 1972 until retiring in 2010. He continues his involvement through writing risk management course material and teaching and leading risk management courses for the National Alliance for Insurance Education and Research. The National Alliance has published two books he has written, Net Income Risk Management and A Tedious Brief History of Insurance. In addition, he edited Risk Management Essentials, first, second, and third editions. These books are available at riskinsurance.org in their Resource Center.
During his active risk management career, Dr. Rudolph authored over 50 articles on insurance and risk management, ethics, and general management published in professional journals and trade publications. He has conducted over 400 seminars, workshops, and courses on insurance and risk management topics. Dr. Rudolph is also a research fellow at Texas A&M University Real Estate Center, writing general insurance topics for real estate professionals.
After retirement, he changed his focus from tedious, seldom brief, and usually boring writing to semi-fictional and largely semi-biographical short stories about young boys in a Scout troop during the 1950s and 60s. He has written and self-published twenty-one such books in two series of these, one set in central Illlinois, and one set in southern Indiana. In addition, he has published three books of humor and one of horror stories, and is completing a book on the life of a kindergarten teacher.
Brigid Morrissey is a writer, entrepreneur, and community builder based in Southern Indiana. As the co-founder of The Root, a coworking space in Downtown New Albany, she is passionate about fostering creativity, collaboration, and storytelling. Brigid has been instrumental in organizing literary and entrepreneurial events, including author fairs, reading programs, and business development initiatives.
A dedicated advocate for local authors, she is also a published writer herself, using her work to inspire and connect with readers. Through Authors at The Root: A Literary Marketplace, Brigid continues to support and elevate the literary community, providing a space for writers and book lovers to come together.
There are more participating authors, organizations, and surprises in store!