Board of Directors
- Ken Pelham, President
- Nylda Dieppa, Vice President
- Nancy Quatrano, Secretary
- Nate Hoffelder
- Brenda Spalding
- Scott Powers
- Elizabeth Randall
Ken Pelham, President
Ken Pelham has won eleven Royal Palm Literary Awards for fiction and nonfiction. A member of International Thriller Writers, his suspense novels Brigands Key and Place of Fear won first-place RPLAs. His nonfiction book, Out of Sight, Out of Mind: A Writer’s Guide to Mastering Viewpoint, was named RPLA 2015 Published Book of the Year, and Gumshoes, Fangs, Rockets, & Spies: How Literary Genres Evolve and Change Our World, won the 2021 RPLA Gold for History. For a fun glimpse into the ideas in Gumshoes, visit Ken’s interactive timeline, The Evolution of Genres.
Nylda Dieppa, Vice President
Nylda Dieppa is a Puerto Rican poet and writer. Her work has been published in various collections and magazines. Her book Alborada: A Poetic Memoir Across Cultures won a Royal Palm Literary Award. A second, enhanced edition published under the name Alborada: A Cross-Cultural Memoir in Poetry received an award from the 2024 International Latino Book Awards. Nylda led the Maitland Writers Group, affiliated with FWA, for ten years and published its monthly newsletter.
Nylda nurtures a community of creatives changing the world through her website NyldaDieppa.com and newsletter “Word Sketches” (available at nyldadieppa.com/subscribe). She edits FWF’s “Sunshine State Literacy Spotlight” newsletter. Nylda coaches general population writers, and members of marginalized communities at Word Sketches Book Coaching, available through NyldaDieppa.com.
Nancy Quatrano
Nancy Quatrano writes as N.L. Quatrano, and is a former columnist, award-winning novelist of two series, and cut her teeth on short stories that she still loves to write. Published in a variety of short story collections, she's also authored several non-fiction books. Her company, On-Target Words, offers editing and custom publishing assistance services to writers. She's passionate about helping people of all ages to read well. Contact: Nancy@OnTargetWords.com.
Brenda Spalding
Brenda M. Spalding is a prolific award-winning author. She is a frequent speaker at writers conferences and area writers groups where her knowledge of publishing and marketing is always welcome.
She is a past president of the National League of American Pen Women- Sarasota Branch, a member of the Sarasota Authors Connection, Sarasota Fiction Writers, Florida Authors and Publishers, and a co-founding member and current president of ABC Books Inc.
Her company, Braden River Consulting LLC was formed to help other authors on their creative journey.
www.brendaspaldingauthor.com
Scott Powers
Scott Michael Powers is a retired newspaper journalist turned novelist and short story writer. He has published two mixed-genre novels and several short stories, usually dabbling with suspense, thriller, sci-fi, paranormal, and humor. He and his wife Connie live in a nondescript neighborhood with big trees in Orlando, Florida—easy drives from theme parks, beaches, natural springs, rockets, and excellent Margaritas. He is a rocker at heart but, sadly, completely devoid of rhythm. Find more about him and his work at www.scottmichaelpowers.com.
Nate Hoffelder
Nate has been helping people fix broken tech since 2010. He turns broken down WordPress sites into sites which convert visitors into superfans, also builds sites from scratch, and helps authors with their social media and newsletters.
Nate is on the board of the Florida Writers Foundation, and works with SF conventions as a webmaster. When he is not volunteering, he writes bad jokes on Facebook and creates memes and graphics. His current obsessions include collecting autographs, finding novel uses for a thermal postage printer, and selling model trains.
you can find Nate via his website: natehoffelder.com.
Elizabeth Randall
