DDeb Fennell joined the League in 2005 to explore her life-long passion for writing. Some of Deb’s other passions have included teaching and coaching skiing, swimming and soccer and directing children’s camps. These passions bestowed upon Deb a wonderful sense of belonging to communities drawn together by shared interests. Deb finds an equally wonderful writing community in the League.

Deb’s first professional submission, a short piece for Ski magazine in the 70’s, paid $50 which may have been used to buy drinks at a local watering hole in Mammoth Lakes (CA) where she was then teaching skiing. Deb has written free-lance articles for papers from Lamoille County, VT to Vail, CO and for the Champlain Business Journal. She supports her passion for writing with a day job in public service for the State of Vermont. Deb is at work on a non-fiction book proposal, writes poetry and pens the President’s Letter for League Lines.

Pat started out in publishing working in the college book editorial department of Prentice-Hall, Inc., full-time and freelance from 1971 to 1978. She has been writing professionally for newspapers and book publishers since 1981, has written magazine articles and profiles for the All American Crafts group of publications, and has been managing editor of community newspapers in Massachusetts and Vermont. She is the author of The Unofficial Guide to Beating Stress, published by John Wiley & Sons, and she is co-author with Marie Tedford of The Official Price Guide to Collecting Books (currently working on the sixth edition), published by Random House. Pat edited and published The Carnie Kid Tells All, by Ilan Fisher, released through her own imprint, The Tamarac Press.

Pat is now a full-time freelance writer and book consultant.

Dan serves on several non-profit boards and is the author of What The Abenaki Say About Dogs and A Year on the Bus from The Tamarac Press.

Karen is in the public relations department at one of Vermont's finest ski resorts.

Kathy, who writes for children as Katherine M. Quimby, is a freelance writer and editor. Her areas of interest include the arts, the environment, and education. Her work has appeared in Edible Green Mountains, Vermont Magazine, Vermont Life, and Vermont Quarterly, several local newspapers, and in the publications of non-profit organizations.

A poet and novelist, with one video documentary to her credit, Kathy also teaches copyediting and writing about food at Champlain College.

Kathy is past League board secretary and chaired the League's 2010 Conference, "Timeless Craft, Timely Skills."

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The board is always grateful for extra hands. If you can help with one of the four yearly member meetings, the Burlington Book Festival each fall, and occasional publishing projects, we'd love to hear from you!

The board would like to thank the following League members, who have stepped down from the board, but continue to serve the League of Vermont Writers:

• Newsletter Editor: Pat Goudey O'Brien
• Membership: Tommy Walz
• Critique Service: Sharon Putnam
• Burlington Book Festival Liaison: Kathy Johnson

Please contact a board member if you can donate your time and/or expertise. An active membership makes LVW a better organization.