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About Meadowlark



Nothing feels better than home.

While we at Meadowlark Books love to travel, we also cherish our home time. We are nourished by our open prairies, our enormous skies, community, family, and friends. We are rooted in this land and that is why Meadowlark Books publishes regional authors.

When you open one of our fiction books, you’ll read delicious stories that are set in the Heartland. Settle in with a volume of poetry, and you’ll remember just how much you love this place too - the landscape, its skies, the people.

Meadowlark Books publishes memoir, poetry, short stories, novels. Read stories that began in the Heartland, that were written here. Add to your Meadowlark Book collection now.




Specializing in Books by Authors from the Heartland Since 2014

 Meadowlark Books is an independent publisher, born of a desire to produce high-quality books for print and electronic delivery. Our goal is to create a network and system of support for today’s independent author. Our service is to ensure that the stories we love and believe in are presented to readers in a manner that enhances an author’s work.


 Contact by Email

Mailing address:
Meadowlark Books
PO Box 333
Emporia, KS 66801


Tracy Million Simmons, Owner/Publisher of Meadowlark Books, enjoys reading and writing about the people and places of her home state of Kansas, both real and imagined. She started Meadowlark Books in 2014 with the publication of Green Bike, a group novel, with Kevin Rabas and Michael D. Graves. Since that time, Meadowlark has published books of poetry, fiction, and non-fiction, including the 2016 Kansas Notable Book, To Leave a Shadow by Michael D. Graves and the 2020 Kansas Notable Book, Headwinds, by Edna Bell-Pearson. 



Who is Meadowlark?

 Tracy Million Simmons – Owner/Publisher
A 1992 graduate of the University of Kansas (B.A. Psychology), Tracy began her professional career by putting her writing to work for the international non-profit organization, ORBIS International, where she managed the DC-10 aircraft modification project, wrote letters to help procure aircraft parts and medical supply donations, and maintained a donor newsletter. She then turned to a twenty-year freelance career spanning work with entrepreneurs on newsletters, marketing materials, and website design, and published more than 500 articles and essays in niche to national publications. She has worked as an editor and on layout and design for assorted small press publishers and book packagers. Tracy is the 2003 recipient of a mini-fellowship in fiction writing from the Kansas Arts Commission. In 2006, she received an honorable mention in the Kansas Voices Contest. She is the author of TigerHunting, the 2013 J. Donald Coffin Memorial Book Award winner from the Kansas Authors Club.

Linzi Garcia - Publicist
Linzi Garcia is thrilled to be Meadowlark’s new publicist. As a poet, journalist, and marketer, she appreciates helping share an array of voices across various platforms. She recently graduated with her MA in English from Emporia State University, where she served as the graduate assistant to former Poet Laureate of Kansas Kevin Rabas and worked as an editorial assistant with Bluestem Press. Linzi splits her time between Emporia, where she teaches composition at ESU and bartends at Mulready’s Pub, and Lawrence, where she loves her cozy family life and is always trying something new.




 The Meadowlark Team - Board Members & Cheerleaders

Kevin Rabas 
Kansas Poet Laureate (2017-2019) Kevin Rabas chairs the Department of English, Modern Languages, and Journalism at Emporia State and leads the poetry and playwriting tracks. He has ten books, including Bird’s Horn, Lisa’s Flying Electric Piano, a Kansas Notable Book and Nelson Poetry Book Award winner, Sonny Kenner’s Red Guitar, also a Nelson Poetry Book Award winner, Green Bike, Eliot’s Violin, Spider Face: stories, Songs for MyFather: poems & stories, All That Jazz, Late for Cymbal Line, and Like Buddha-Calm Bird. Rabas writes regularly for Kansas City’s Jazz Ambassador Magazine (JAM). Rabas’s plays have been produced across Kansas and in North Carolina and San Diego. His work has been nominated for the Pushcart Prize five times, and Rabas is the winner of the Langston Hughes Award for Poetry, the Victor Contoski Poetry Award, the Jerome Johanning Playwriting Award, and the Salina New Voice Award.

Michael D. Graves is the author of Green Bike, along with Kevin Rabas and Tracy Million Simmons, and the author of the Pete Stone Private Investigator series. Book 1 of the series, To Leave a Shadow, was a 2016 Kansas Notable Book. Book 2 of the series is Shadow of Death. His writing has appeared in Cheap Detective Stories, Thorny Locust, Flint Hills Review, and elsewhere. When life conjures its riddles, he turns to back roads and baseball for answers. 

Cheryl Unruh is the author of two books of Kansas essays, Flyover People: Life on the Ground in a Rectangular State, and Waiting on the Sky: More Flyover People Essays (Quincy Press). Her newest book is a collection of poetry, Walking on Water (Meadowlark).


Rand Simmons is a life-long reader, superb proofreader, and an attorney in Emporia, Kansas.

Evie Simmons lends a hand in Meadowlark Books through work formatting, proofing, and photography.

Maddie Simmons has served as everything from first-reader to cover model for Meadowlark Books.

Kaman Simmons lends his skills in computer graphics and photo manipulation to many Meadowlark Book covers.


Meadowlark Connections
Each Meadowlark Book comes with its own team of collaborators. The following are a few of the go-to members we reach out to when we have a need.

Hazel Hart, Editor
Hazel provides three levels of editing services. We have found her to be an excellent resource and a pleasure to work with. Learn more about Hazel’s services at Hazelhart.com.

Dave Leiker, Photographer
Dave’s stunning images of Kansas consistently take our breath away. His work is featured on the covers of several Meadowlark Books, usually via personal arrangements made with our authors. To contact Dave about studio photography appointments and/or rates and permissions to use his work, visit him at daveleikerphotography.com or prairiedust.net.

Onalee Nicklin, Illustrator
Onalee is the most talented artist we know in real life! She specializes in beauties like mermaids, dragons, and elves! She is responsible for the meadowlark of Meadowlark Books, as well as interior work on some of our books and much of the inspiration that hangs on the walls of the Meadowlark office! Visit Onalee on Facebook and on Etsy.



Past
We have been honored to work with students from Emporia State University and leave their bios here as recognition of their contributions to Meadowlark's growth and history. We look forward to seeing where their journeys take them!

Sammy Beck is a senior at Emporia State University, aiming to earn a BA in English with minors in Creative Writing, Art, and Music (oh my!). She enjoys writing in the fantasy, speculative, and romance fiction genres, giving new spins to older fairy and folk tales as well as exploring the notion of "belonging." Along with writing, she has found a love of critiquing, editing, and, now, formatting as she's gotten to learn a lot through Meadowlark. She hopes to expand out from there and get to work in any and all fields of the writing process at some point. (Book Publishing Intern – Fall 2017, Spring 2018)

Jessica Jackson is a senior at Emporia State University. She is aiming for a major in English, with minors in Creative Writing and Art. Jessica writes in multiple genres (three very different works-in-progress, all of which need much more work to be done before they are ready to be seen by the public). She aspires to work in the publishing business and is a Marketing Intern at Meadowlark Books. She hopes that in working with Meadowlark that she will be able to gain insight into the publishing business. (Intern – Spring 2018)

Brittany Rees was a senior at Emporia State University majoring in business and minoring in entrepreneurship and creative writing. She served as Meadowlark's first intern. (Marketing Intern -- Summer 2016)

Ralvell Rogers II is a fourth-year English major creative writing minor at Emporia State University (ESU). Currently, he is the President of the Black Writer’s Club, an RSO in which Ralvell founded during the 2017-2018 school year. In addition to attending classes and working as a writing tutor for the Writing Center, Ralvell is a Marketing/Editing Intern for Emporia publishing company, Meadowlark Books. He was a staff writer/columnist/editor for the ESU student newspaper, The Bulletin for three years, a contributor to the 2017 Quest Magazine, and the youth reflection speaker for the SCLC's 2016 Martin Luther King Jr. celebration in Kansas City, Missouri. Ralvell has been published by the ESU student literary journal, Quivira, and local journal, Tittynope Zine. In the near future, Ralvell will be a renowned writer and educator. (Intern – Fall 2017)

Hannah Tharp is a senior at Emporia State University majoring in English with a minor in Creative Writing. She is a current member of Alpha Sigma Alpha, a sorority at Emporia State University. In the past, Hannah has worked for The Flint Hill Review as a student editor. She is interested in having a career in the publishing and editing field as a fiction editor. Through her internship at Meadowlark Books, she hopes to gain experience and learn about the business of publishing from the ground up. (Intern - Spring 2020)

Mackenzie Thornton is currently a junior at Emporia State University, where she is majoring in English. Mackenzie is a student-athlete at ESU, where she plays softball. In her past, Mackenzie has worked with the university newspaper, The Bulletin, as a news and sports journalist. Mackenzie is interested in a career in contractual law and editorial work, and through her internship with Meadowlark, she hopes to gain insight to the business aspects of publishing and editing. (Intern - Spring 2019)
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