'Spavinaw Author's Guild' formed

GRAVETTE — After participating in a Gravette Chamber of Commerce sponsored writing class taught by Radine Trees Nehring in 1996, class members wanted to keep meeting and formed a new group they named “Spavinaw Author's Guild.”

Initial members included Joanna Gregory (wife of then Gravette UnitedMethodist pastor Richard Gregory), Lou Honderich, Evelyn Valdez Jenkins, Amanda McCarthy, Marilynn Phillips, Doris Ann Raby, Charlotte Robinson and Deborah Taylor. Five of the initial members achieved publication in some form while still part of the group. Mike Walker of Gravette, who joined the group a little later, is also a published author.

Over the years, membership has changed aspeople have moved away, moved in or dropped out for a time. Current members include writers from Gravette, Bella Vista and Sulphur Springs. All active members are writing with publication as the goal, and Spavinaw Authors Guild has changed to a critique group, serving writers who meet to share their work in progress for editing help and suggestions for improvement from fellow authors.

Recently, Guild members brought short stories for critique by the group and then submitted their stories to upcoming “Mysteries of the Ozarks” anthologies to be published in St. Louis during 2011. All three Gravette area residents, Crow Johnson Evans, Leslie Olson and Radine Trees Nehring, just received word their stories have sold for publication in one of the anthologies.