Authors & Illustrators represented by Don Congdon Associates

Russell Baker (1925-2019) was the winner of the 1979 George Polk Award for Commentary, the 1979 Pulitzer Prize for Distinguished Commentary, and the 1983 Pulitzer Prize for Biography for his book Growing Up (1982). He served as a long-time columnist for The New York Times, writing the syndicated column “Observer,” and hosted the PBS show Masterpiece Theatre. He also wrote a sequel to Growing Up called The Good Times (1989). Russell Baker began his career in 1947 at The Baltimore Sun, going on to join the Washington Bureau of The New York Times in 1954, covering national politics, in particular Congress and the White House. “Observer” began in 1962 and covered everything from national controversies to personal experiences. Baker retired from column writing in 1998, after more than three decades of well-loved and well-read writing. He lived in Leesburg, Virginia and was a frequent contributor to The New York Review of Books. 

Jasmine Beach-Ferrara is a recipient of a 2010 National Endowment for the Arts Literature Fellowship. Her debut collection of stories Damn Love, was awarded honorable mention PEN/Hemingway Award for Debut Fiction and was a finalist for a 2014 Lambda Literary Award. She is a minister in the United Church of Christ and Executive Director of the Campaign for Southern Equality, which promotes LGBT rights in the South. Jasmine lives with her wife and son in Asheville, NC. 

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Charles Beaumont (1929-1967) was a prolific American author of speculative fiction, including horror and science fiction, and the writer of many classic Twilight Zone episodes (many adapted from his own short stories). His short story collections include The Hunger and Other Stories, A Touch of the Creature, and recently a collection from Penguin Classics, Perchance to Dream: Selected Stories. Beaumont also penned feature film screenplays, among them 7 Faces of Dr. Lao, The Intruder (based on his own novel) and The Masque of the Red Death. As best-selling novelist Dean R. Koontz has said, "[Charles Beaumont was] one of the seminal influences on writers of the fantastic and macabre."  

Amy Belding Brown is the author of three historical novels, the USA Today bestselling FLIGHT OF THE SPARROW, MR. EMERSON’S WIFE, and EMILY'S HOUSE. A New England history enthusiast, Amy was infused at an early age with the region’s outlook and values. A graduate of Bates College in Lewiston, Maine, she received her MFA from Vermont College and now lives in rural Vermont with her husband, a UCC minister and spiritual director. 

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Kevin Belton is an American chef, television presenter, author and educator. Belton specializes in the cuisine of New Orleans. He is the chef-host for Kevin Belton's New Orleans Celebrations and Kevin Belton’s New Orleans Kitchen on PBS and serves as the resident morning chef for WWL-TV. In 2014, he was recognized as one of the top twenty Louisiana chefs by the American Culinary Federation. 

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After completing fifteen internships in four years of college, Lauren Berger went on to build her business by offering internship listings and advice through her website. She’s been named one of the Top 25 Best Young Entrepreneurs by BusinessWeek and she’s been featured in the New York Times, Wall Street Journal, New York Post, Harvard Business Review and Seventeen, among others. She’s appeared on ABC News Now, Fox Business, The Today Show, and CBS Sunday Morning. She regularly blogs for Buzznet, AOL, USA Today, and The Washington Post.  

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 Thomas Berger (1924-2014), whom the London Times Literary Supplement has called "one of the century's most important writers," is probably best known for his novel Little Big Man and the subsequent film starring Dustin Hoffman. Berger is praised for his versatility, writing in many forms and genres throughout his career. Little Big Man won the Western Heritage Award and Berger’s The Feud was nominated for a Pulitzer Prize in 1984. Berger’s prose is praised for its wit and wisdom, as well its accessibility.

Rosanne Bittner and her husband, Larry, live in southwest Michigan and have two grown sons. Ms. Bittner is the author of more than fifty books about the American West of the 1800s and Native Americans. She is a member of Romance Writers of America, Western Writers of America, Western Outlaw-Lawman History Association, Nebraska Historical Society, Oregon-California Trails Association, the Council on America's Military Past, and Women Writing the West.