We are blessed to have these wonderful volunteers! The festival began with an idea co-founders Yolonda and Cindy had while attending a mainstream book festival in 2016.
Co-founder
Yolonda Tonette Sanders, Ph.D., is the CEO of Yo Productions, LLC, a publishing consulting, editing, and writing services company. She is also the co-founder of the Faith & Fellowship Book Festival. Her writing portfolio includes academic papers, novels, short stories, poems, and other creative works. She earned a doctorate in organizational leadership from Indiana Wesleyan University. Certified in emotional intelligence, Dr. Sanders appreciates interacting with others on various levels. In addition to writing, she enjoys teaching and, most importantly, spending time with her family and other loved ones. Learn more about her or her works at www.yoproductions.net.
Co-founder
Known for the inspirational Celtic theme employed in most of her books, Cindy Thomson is the author of a dozen books, including her newest, Finding Juniper. She is co-founder of the Faith & Fellowship Book Festival and vice president of the Mordecai Brown Legacy Foundation, a nonprofit that seeks to promote the legacy of this early twentieth century Hall of Fame baseball pitcher. She owns the team blog Novel PASTimes, a venue for readers of historical fiction mostly posting interviews with novel characters. A genealogy enthusiast, she writes from her home in Ohio and is often found complaining that she’s not in Ireland ;-). Visit her online at CindysWriting.com
Committee Member
Sandra Merville Hart is an award-winning and Amazon bestselling author, blogger, teacher, speaker, and workshop leader. She serves on the Faith & Fellowship Book Festival Planning Committee. She is past Executive Editor for DevoKids.com. Sandra is one of the founding ERASERS, a Facebook group that encourages writers. She loves to discover little-known yet fascinating facts from American history to include in her inspirational historical romances. Her desire is to transport her readers back in time. Visit her at: https://sandramervillehart.com
Committee Member
Based in the Twin Cities, Jason William Karpf is a Christian author and speaker.
He holds a master’s degree in communication from the University of Denver and a certificate in nonprofit management from Purchase College, State University of New York. In addition to writing and speaking, he teaches marketing, communications, fundraising, and public speaking at Christian universities. Visit Jason online: https://jasonkarpf.com
Committee Member
Stories help us triumph in life. Julie Dearyan writes stories that show no matter how dark and difficult circumstances can be, it always helps to latch onto faith. Julie sends out our newsletter. Find Julie here: https://www.juliedearyan.com
Advisor
Scott Brown is founder of the Mordecai Brown Legacy Foundation. Scott is the co-author of Three Finger: The Mordecai Brown Story, the author of Baseball in Pensacola, and screenwriter for the award-winning PBS documentary, Baseball in Pensacola. Learn more at www.mordecaibrown.com