Whew! It’s been a busy couple of weeks, but so, so wonderful!
The 2025 Chanticleer Authors Conference (CAC25) and International Book Awards’ (CIBA) banquet and ceremony was a great success, with authors from around the world joining us
to network, learn, and celebrate the best books of the year!
CAC25 brings together writers at all levels in their careers to Bellingham, WA each year for four days of Masterclasses, workshops, sessions, and panel discussions. Writers from as far away as Cape Town, South Africa, Sydney, Australia, Mumbai, India, NYC, London, and across North America along locals from our fair city and the PNW who joined us for a beautiful weekend at the Bellingham Yacht Club on Bellingham Bay. We couldn’t have asked for a better weekend—cool sea breezes and warm sunshine made the perfect backdrop to this amazing annual event that culminated with special Chanticleer author events at Village Books, Fairhaven on Sunday.
A Steller Lineup of Presenters at this Sold Out Event!
The event started with Book Doctor, Senior Editor, and Dialog Expert Christine Fairchild teaching her masterclass on craft, and international bestselling author J.D. Barker and Chanticleer’s own tech guru Andy Brown sharing their knowledge on the ever-changing book marketing landscape in their masterclass “Digital Marketing & Alphabet Soup.”
The next two days were filled with more learning opportunities where CAC authors had the opportunity to learn from experts and specialists such as Damian Fozard, Diane Garland, Tim Facciola, Glen Dahlgren, and Reenita Hora, who generously shared their knowledge and the stories that inspire all weekend. Twenty publishing professionals presented in forty different workshops, panels, and sessions, covering topics as diverse as writing craft, marketing, legal issues, and technology, with a special classes on AI and its effects on the publishing industry.
Award-winning author and screenwriter Kim Hornsby was our Friday keynote speaker, providing us with stories from her path to success on bookshelves and in Hollywood. It was a speech filled with twist, turns, and an abundance of inspiration!
J.D. Barker delivered the keynote address on Saturday to a packed house of aspiring authors. As the author of an ever-growing list of spine-tingling thrillers, including several co-authored books with James Patterson and praise from the master of horror Stephen King, he kept all of us on the edge of our seats as he explained the innovative, out-of-the-box thinking that has helped him become one of the most successful Indie authors publishing today!
This year we enjoyed a special treat when J.D. Barker sat down for an interview with John DeDakis, former Sr. Editor for the Emmy and Peabody award-winning CNN news program The Situation Room with Wolf Blitzer. Questions ranged from exploring his background writing for a pop culture magazine in the 90s where he received advice from none other than the artist Madonna, to his inventive approach to promote his latest release, Something I Keep Upstairs.
The Chanticleer International Book Awards
The annual CIBA banquet and awards ceremony was a highlight of the conference! Authors from around the world came together to celebrate this year’s best books, with many of the attendees taking home First Place and Grand Prize ribbons. This year’s overall Grand Prize winner was Reenita Malhotra Hora for her novel Vermilion Harvest.
This year was especially fun because we added two new categories to our list of, now, twenty-eight award divisions!
The Fiction and Non-fiction Cover Design awards were a real treat for our judges. The covers represented a broad range of the best cover art we’ve seen throughout the year. It was stiff competition, as so many represented their novels with intriguing images that proved a picture can paint a thousand words.
Looking forward to another year of great books!
Now we all have another year of writing to look forward to, now smarter and recharged by the inspiration and knowledge gained at the Chanticleer Authors Conference. We also have new friendships to grow. That is one of the best things that I take away from the conference. The encouragement, support, and friendship of fellow authors who so generously give their time to help others and value the shared experience of this crazy, sometimes difficult, always inspired world of writing and publishing!
Now it’s time to turn our attention to the 2026 CAC and CIBA Awards!
