Phyllis Reynolds Naylor (born January 4, 1933) is an American writer best known for children's and young adult fiction. Naylor is best known for her children's-novel quartet Shiloh (a 1992 Newbery Medal winner) and for her "Alice" book series, one of the most frequently challenged books of the last decade.
Alvera Mickelsen (1919 – July 12, 2016) was an American academic, author, and women's equality activist. Mickelsen, an evangelical Christian, spent her professional life advocating "that being a feminist is a Christian responsibility," despite resistance from some sectors. She published numerous books and scholarly articles on the topic of women's equality within Christianity. Alvera Mickelsen joined her colleagues to co-found Christians for Biblical Equality (CBE) in the late 1980s, a non-profit organization of churches and individuals which advocates for the equality of women within the church, as well as in their homes and society. Additionally, Mickelsen was a longtime professor of journalism at Bethel University in Minnesota from 1968 to 1986.Mickelsen, who was born in 1919 as one of 5 children of Swedish immigrant parents, was raised in a small farmhouse just outside La Porte, Indiana. The family moved to nearby Michigan City, Indiana, when she was nine years old. However, the Great Depression soon left her parents destitute just one year after they relocated to Michigan City. Mickelsen still graduated from high school in 1936 and became the first member of her family to enroll in college. She transferred between several colleges and universities due to scholarships, before graduating from Wheaton College in Illinois in 1942.Following her graduation from Wheaton College, she received her master's degree in journalism from Medill School of Journalism at Northwestern University. She then became an editor for several Christian magazines and publications based in Chicago, before returning to Wheaton College as a professor. She met her husband, A. Berkeley Mickelsen, while teaching at Wheaton. The couple married in 1952 and had two daughters. Alvera Mickelsen continued to teach at Wheaton while simultaneously completing her second master's degree, this time in education, also from Wheaton.In 1965, the family moved to Arden Hills, Minnesota, where Berkeley Mickelsen had been hired as a professor of Greek, Hebrew and theology at Bethel Seminary. Alvera Mickelsen also became a professor of journalism at Bethel College (now called Bethel University) in 1968, where she taught until 1986.During the 1970s, Mickelsen and her husband, who were progressive evangelicals, became concerned by the perception of a backlash against women's rights and equality within the evangelical community. Together, Alvera and A. Berkeley Mickelsen published two books which cited Biblical passages that supported the equality of the sexes. They began touring Minnesota to debate leading pastors and theologians on the topic of gender equality within Christianity. The Mickelsens later helped to establish the non-profit group, Christians for Biblical Equality (CBE), during the 1980s. Alvera Mickelsen also served as the first chair of CBE's board of directors.After the unexpected death of A. Berkeley Mickelsen, aged 69, in 1990, Alvera Mickelsen continued to tour worldwide to promote gender equality and feminism within evangelicalism. According to Mimi Haddad, the current President of Christians for Biblical Equality, Mickelsen was once asked by a Christian radio show host how she could be both a traditional evangelical Christian and a feminist simultaneously. Mickelsen replied that the host should look up feminism in a dictionary, where the word was defined as "a belief that women should have social, political, and economic equality with men." The host replied that " 'Well, I believe in all those things', to which Mickelsen responded, 'Well, then, you are a feminist!' "Alvera Mickelsen died from natural causes on July 12, 2016, at the age of 97. She was survived by her two daughters, Ruth and Lynnell Mickelsen; her brother, Mel Johnson; and four grandchildren.
Jeri Taylor (born June 30, 1938) is a television scriptwriter and producer, who wrote many episodes of the Star Trek: The Next Generation and Star Trek: Voyager series.
Dolores Agnes Fuller (née Eble, later Chamberlin; March 10, 1923 – May 9, 2011) was an American actress and songwriter known as the one-time girlfriend of the low-budget film director Ed Wood. She played the protagonist's girlfriend in Glen or Glenda, co-starred in Wood's Jail Bait, and had a minor role in his Bride of the Monster. After she broke up with Wood in 1955, she relocated to New York and had a very successful career there as a songwriter. Elvis Presley recorded a number of her songs written for his films.
Alexandra Louise Kuczynski (born December 6, 1970) is a Peruvian reporter, who has written for the New York Times and the New York Times Magazine, and is the author of the award-winning 2006 book Beauty Junkies about the cosmetic surgery industry. The book was translated into ten languages.
Ramona Lofton (born August 4, 1950), better known by her pen name Sapphire, is an American author and performance poet.
Sue Alexander (August 20, 1933 – July 3, 2008) was an American writer of children's literature. She authored 26 books for children as well as "scores of stories" for newspapers and magazines. She was also a children's book reviewer for the Los Angeles Times. She was a charter member and advisory board member of the Society of Children's Book Writers and Illustrators, which established two awards in her name in recognition of her efforts to educate and mentor aspiring writers.
Carole Gene "Candy" Spelling (née Marer; born September 20, 1945) is an American author, theater producer, and philanthropist. She was married to Aaron Spelling from 1968 until his death in 2006.
Aimee Friedman (born 1979) is the author of several young adult novels published by Scholastic Inc., Point and S&S. Her novels South Beach (2004) (a New York Times bestseller), French Kiss (2005), Hollywood Hills (2007) and The Year My Sister Got Lucky (2008) focus on the scandalous adventures of on-again, off-again best friends Holly Jacobson and Alexa St. Laurent. Friedman released Sea Change on June 1, 2009. A Novel Idea (2005) is a romantic comedy about a teenager who starts a book club in Park Slope, Brooklyn. Friedman wrote one of the four stories in the holiday collection Mistletoe (2006), which also features stories by Nina Malkin, Hailey Abbott, and Melissa de la Cruz. Friedman wrote a short story, "Three Fates" for the book 21 Proms. In 2007, Friedman published, along with artist Christine Norrie, a graphic novel entitled Breaking Up which details the complicated dynamics of junior year in an arts school in New York. In 2016, she published Two Summers.Friedman grew up in Queens, New York, attended Bronx High School of Science, and graduated Phi Beta Kappa in 2001 with a BA in English from Vassar College. She resides in Manhattan. She went to a dance school with her older sister.
Francesca McKnight Donatella Romana Gregorini di Savignano di Romagna (born August 7, 1968), known professionally as Francesca Gregorini, is an Italian-American screenwriter and film director.