Jen Reeder, a pet writer based in Durango, has had four articles named finalists for writing awards for the Dog Writers Association of America. The winners will be announced on February 15 at the DWAA Awards Banquet in New York City. Jen’s nominations are: in the category “Newspaper Article: Rescue”, both from the local weekly newspaper, The Durango Telegraph – “Pit Bulls for People” and “A New Leash on Life“; in the category “Magazine Article: Breed”, Just Labs Magazine, “Canine Crime Solvers“; and in the category for “Humor”, in the Huffington Post, “I’ve Become a Crazy Dog Lady, But I’m Okay With It“.

Nancy M. Peterson will speak about her World War II novel, Not to be Forgiven, on Monday, Feb. 23, from 2 to 3 pm. at the Bemis Public Library. She will also display a collection of World War II artifacts. Bemis is located at 6014 Datura St. in Littleton.

Jalynn Venis, author and screenwriter, has been commissioned by a Canadian entertainment company to write two screenplays in 2015. She’s also written a dramedy web series that will go into production this summer for clients Transtar Entertainment and Date Camp.

Elizabeth Yarnell, ND, CLT, award-winning author of Glorious One-Pot Meals: A Revolutionary New Quick and Healthy Approach to Dutch Oven Cooking and longtime CAL member, gave a TEDx talk recently on “Poisons in Our Everyday Foods.” Click here to find the talk online.

Kirkus Reviews has included in its Best Books of 2014 (Indie) Jeffrey B. Miller’s Behind the Lines: WWI’s little-known story of German occupation, Belgian resistance, and the band of Yanks who helped save millions from starvation. In January, 75 people were in attendance when Miller spoke at the Tattered Cover bookstore. He has also been invited to speak at a WWI symposium in June at the Herbert Hoover Presidential Library in West Branch, Iowa. The book’s website is at www.WWIBehindTheLines.com.

Catherine Dold will be speaking on a panel on “how to collaborate on a book with a non-writing expert” at the American Society of Journalists and Authors conference in New York in April. Dold is co-author of The Recovery Book: Answers to All Your Questions About Addiction and Alcoholism and Finding Health and Happiness in Sobriety (Workman, 2014), written with Al J. Mooney, MD, and Howard Eisenberg.

The Joy of Killing by Harry N. Maclean (due July 14, hardcover, $25, ISBN 978-1-61902-536-3), was reviewed by Publishers Weekly in an article on the spring/summer list. “True-crime author Maclean makes his fiction debut with a philosophical thriller. A college professor, who recently published a novel in which he justified a gruesome murder, returns to his childhood lake house in Minnesota. There he sorts through the multitude of secrets and acts of violence that make up his past.”