Dates for the 2026 Chanticleer Authors Conference
& the 2025 Chanticleer International Book Awards Ceremony and Banquet
April 16 – 19, 2026
We are thrilled to announce our line-up of experts in marketing, book publicity, publishing, and advanced writing craft for the 2026 Chanticleer Authors Conference!
We will be updating this page with speaker and session info when confirmed.
Please check back often! All information subject to change.
Mark Berridge – Journey Grand Prize Winner, Motivational Speaker and Coach
Mark Berridge is a former Journey Grand Prize Winner at Chanticleer for his book A Fraction Stronger, and we’re thrilled to welcome him back all the way from Brisbane, Australia.
Mark is a motivational speaker, award-winning author, resilience coach and optimist at heart. A life-altering cycling accident left him with a spinal injury and a future he didn’t choose. He rebuilt from the ground up — quite literally finding his feet again, one determined step at a time.
Now he helps others do the same.
Whether speaking to corporate teams or writing for people navigating life’s toughest moments, Mark’s mission is to help others step into strength, rise through uncertainty, and reclaim what is possible — even when everything has changed. Mark helps individuals and teams turn setbacks into stepping stones.
Gail Noble-Sanderson – Author
Gail enjoyed a productive and rewarding thirty-year career as a Speech-Language Pathologist providing therapy and instruction to children with special needs, later serving as the Director of Rehabilitation in a regional hospital and finally ending her career teaching at Western Washington University.
Throughout her career Gail wrote and published instructional programs for children with special needs. Ten years ago, she turned her love of writing to fiction completing the three awarding-winning historical fiction novels in her Lavender Meuse Trilogy series. She is currently writing a cozy mystery series that takes place in Wales. Gail self-publishes through her publishing house, Noble Press.
Gail and husband Terry love to travel the world including two trips to France during the research and writing of her first three books, The Lavender House in Meuse, The Passage Home to Meuse, and The Lavender Bees of Meuse. A trip to Wales is certainly on their agenda as she completes her first novel in the new cozy mystery series, “The Book of Rules”. The book’s protagonist, a young woman named Drew Davies, lives in the village of Mumbles, Wales, and works in the railway depot in Swansea, Wales. She, along with her Granda, her Nonna and a colorful cast of friends, become involved in Drew’s sleuthing as she attempts to solve the mysteries in this new series of novels.
STRIDER KLUSMAN – Award Winning Author and Host of the Author in the Headlights Podcast
An award winning, first place author of the Chanticleer International Book Awards, Strider began his writing career after twenty-five years as a fire fighter/EMT. The emotions and experiences of those calls carry themselves through every story, bringing true ‘been-there’ reality to the scenes.
With additional years as a business owner, general contractor, designer, wildland firefighter, big game guide, ski instructor, back packer and sword fighter, his wide range of knowledge is intricately woven throughout his stories.
To date, Strider has written YA (young adult), NA (New adult), and general fiction in the realm of: sci-fi western, light steampunk, dystopian (post apocalyptic), gaslight (early mechanism era) and just good fun reading.
JANET OAKLEY – Award-Winning Author and Historian, and Community Leader
J. L. Oakley writes historical fiction that spans the mid-19th century to WW II with characters standing up for something in their own time and place. She is an award-winning author and a recipient of the 2013 Bellingham Mayor’s Arts Award; the 2013 Chanticleer Grand Prize; the 2014 First Place Chaucer Award; an Everybody Reads and Bellingham. When not writing, she demonstrates 19th-century folkways in the schools and at San Juan Island National Park. She also has a cat who thinks she’s editing. Read pick and the 2015 WILLA Silver Award, Pulpwood Queen Book Club 2016 backlist pick for February 2016.
As a First in Category winner in the Goethe, Laramie, and Chatelaine Awards for Mist-chi-mas: A Novel of Captivity, the Chaucer Award for Timber Rose and The Jøssing Affair, the Hemingway Grand Prize Winner for The Quisling Factor and the OVERALL Grand Prize for her book, Tree Soldier.
Dr. Charlie Robinson is an engineering Professor Emeritus at Clarkson University, a Senior Rehabilitation Research Career Scientist retired (30+ years) from the US Department of Veterans Affairs, the Founding Editor of the IEEE Transactions on Rehabilitation Engineering, a successful writer of over $20 million in scientific grant funding, author of 200+ scientific articles, a former Member of Technical Staff at Bell Labs, a reviewer of major Federal research grants, an IEEE Life Fellow, and a U.N.E.S.C.O. Academician. Yet he still values his start as a West Virginia coal miner!
Diane Garland – Your WorldKeeper – Continuity Senior Editor
Diane Garland and her editorial company Your WorldKeeper, specializes in the world of continuity. Multiple USA Today best-selling and award-winning authors in various genres rely on her system of cataloging and organizing the minutiae and rules of their story worlds. Growing up as an AF Brat, Diane traveled extensively as a child, which has fueled her passion for travel and reading. She graduated from Florida State University and is a life-long learner. She, along with her husband and two cats, have recently relocated to Columbus, Ohio from the Seattle, Washington area.
Paul Hanson is one of three co-owners of Village Books in Fairhaven and Lynden. As a writer, a publisher, and former President of the Pacific Northwest Booksellers Association, he’s been an advocate for independent bookstores and independent publishers and authors. He programs the Chuckanut Writers Workshops and Classes and has been one of the Chuckanut Writers Conference planners since 2012. Village Books’ Publishing Division has helped hundreds of local writers to publish their works.
DAVID BEAUMIER – Communications and Marketing Manager at Chanticleer Book Reviews & Media and Literary Citizen
David has worked as an editor since 2013, and spent two years as the assistant publishing director at Village Books. His BA and MA in English both come from Western Washington University. He is proud to have worked for Chanticleer since 2020.
David’s focuses at Chanticleer are herding cats for the CIBAs, and managing Editorial Services, and running author events on The Roost! His favorite thing is being able to support authors in finding the services they need most to help their work thrive!
A writer in his own right, David tends to write fiction and poetry, specifically urban fantasy and modernized myths. His work has appeared in EWU’s Inroads, WWU’s Suffix, Whatcom Writes, Psaltery & Lyre, and Hamlit. He works as the the project manager for the biennial anthology The Writers’ Corner, and he now volunteers as an editor for HamLit. He has written reviews for Chanticleer Book Reviews, Village Books, and The Bellingham Review.
SCOTT TAYLOR – Editor and Copywriter
Scott joined the Chanticleer team as an editor in 2020 after graduating with his BA in English and Writing from The Evergreen State College. Since coming on board, he has become one of our most requested editors for his trademark Manuscript Overviews that put stories into perspective for authors, allowing them to do the work needed to get manuscripts to market.
His session on Absurd Suspension of Disbelief will focus on the technique of refusing to explain absurd or speculative details to your audience, and the sheer power of an author’s perceived confidence to uphold willing suspension of disbelief. These ideas span from genres like magical realism and surrealism to spec fiction (sci-fi and fantasy alike). The group will explore how different authors use this storytelling technique and how you can apply its lessons to your own work
KIFFER BROWN – CEO and President of Chanticleer Int’l Book Awards
Kiffer is the founder of Chanticleer Book Reviews and International Writing Competitions, LLC. She also specializes in curating books with the potential to become fully actualized intellectual properties.
Her addiction is finding sparkling gems that will become tomorrow’s bestsellers. She is known for her instinct in picking winners. She also acts as an independent acquisitions editor for publishers and entertainment companies. Kiffer is known for her marketing talent and networking skills. She truly loves what she does and her passion shows!
Check back soon for more presenter and session announcements!
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Speakers and schedules are subject to change.
Please check back for most current listing.
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No refunds are available after Jan 30, 2026. However, credit for Chanticleer Services may be arranged. Please email KBrown@ChantiReviews.com for more information.