Jawbone Publishing Corporation Book Publishers

Swanee
Ballman Photo After Swanee Ballman graduated from Moravian College (Bethlehem, Pa.), she taught English in high schools in Pennsylvania and Maryland, where she initiated a high school literary magazine. When her husband was transferred to Florida, in 1984, she became the Central Florida representative for Charlesbridge Publishing (Watertown. MA).

While living in St. Cloud, she was active within the school district; she received the Osceola County Volunteer of the Year award in 1993. As a volunteer, she served as advisor to the St. Cloud (Fla.) High School's student-generated school newspaper and was an active member of the School Advisory Team for a number of years.

In 1996 her first children's title was published by Concordia (St. Louis, Mo.). A second followed in 1997. In 2000 her first adult novel, Tamarind, hit the shelves. To date she has published five children's titles, 5 YA novels, and one adult novel.

Swanee served on the board of the Florida Publishers Association and the Florida Writers Association, where she also served a term as a regional director.

Upcoming Speaking Engagements

Previous Speaking Engagements

Fall, 2000 - reading and dramatization, Vero Beach Book Center,
Fall, 2000 - Crossroads Community Church Women's Group
Fall, 2000 - Women's fall luncheon, Calvary Assembly of God,
Spring, 2001 - workshops, Barnes & Noble, South Orange Blossom Trail,
Spring, 2001 - American Association of University Women, Kissimmee Chapter
May, 2001 - guest speaker, Neptune Middle School Student Book Debut,
June, 2001 - writing workshop presenter, Barnes & Noble,
Aug., 2002 - presentation to Osceola County Secondary Curriculum Resource Teachers, Osceola County School Board,
Sept., 2002 - presenter for the Four-County Senior Resource Alliance,
Jan., 2003 - workshop presenter, Space Coast Writers Guild annual convention,
Jan., 2003- St. Cloud Women's Club,
Feb., 2003 - Kissimmee Women's Club,
Feb., 2003 - presentation to Senior International Baccalaureate classes,
Mar., 2003 - Classroom presentations, Four Corners Elementary School,
Mar., 2003 - assembly and classroom presentations, upper school, Vanguard School,
May, 2003 - young authors recognition day speaker, Janie H. Wilson Elementary School,
May, 2003 - assembly speaker for young authors, St. Cloud Middle School,
June, 2003 - speaker at monthly Florida Writers Association (FWA) meeting
July, 2003 - speaker at FWA branch meetings in Kissimmee, FL and Poinciana, FL
Sept., 2003 - workshop presenter, Florida Council of Elementary Education annual convention,
Oct., 2003 - workshop presenter, Florida Association of Christian Colleges and Schools annual convention,
Oct., 2003 - workshop presenter, Florida Writer's Association annual convention,
Oct., 2003 - workshop presenter, Florida Council of Teachers of English annual convention,
Jan., 2004 - workshop presenter, Space Coast Writers' Guild annual conference,
Aug., 2004 - presentation, Orange County Assocation of Media in Education,
Aug., 2004 - presentation, Florida Writers' Association,
Sept., 2004 - presentation, Women's Aglow,
Sept., 2004 - faculty presentation, Four Corners Charter School,
October 16th, 2004 - presentation, Florida Reading Association annual conference,
Orlando, FL

Endorsements

"Thank you for the interesting and informative presentation that you conducted for our students at Janie H. Wilson's Young Authors' Conference. It was a great climax for their attempts at being young authors.

Each child left your presentation with the desire to become a published author. Even many of our faculty members were interested in having their works published.

Thank you again for helping us to instill the desire to write in our school. Hope to see you again next year!"

Deloris O'Hern Reading Coach

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"I met Mrs. Ballman at the Florida Council of Teachers of English annual convention in Orlando in the fall of 2002 and I invited her to speak to our high school students and to conduct three writing seminars with literature and creative writing students.

She began by giving a general presentation to the high school student body. Her very interesting and informative talk included discussion of the importance of writing in the "real world" and an insight into the career areas of writing, editing, and publishing. She read excerpts from her book Tamarind to give students a view of writing style and techniques. Even at 8 a.m., our students showed great interest in the presentation, asked probing questions, and responded very enthusiastically. In the three informal seminars that followed, Mrs. Ballman showed delightful expertise in engaging the students in a discussion of writing, editing, and publishing. Her friendliness and rapport with our students encouraged their curiosity and analytical thinking.

A number of students stayed after the seminar to discuss their individual writings with Mrs. Ballman. Throughout the day, the students continued to comment on her visit and demonstrated much excitement about the possibilities of writing. Everyone at Vanguard benefited from her visit.

Jawbone Publishing Corporation's project of providing writers to visit schools is an excellent one, and I encourage all schools to take advantage of this opportunity.

" Murray Sellers, Ph.D English Department Chairman The Vanguard School Lake Wales, FL April 5, 2003."

Media Exposure