About the Author
 

Tina Field Howe lives in Corning, New York. Her first book was Snailsworth, a slow little story. She wrote and illustrated this children’s picture book in 2004. Tina’s first novel, Alysa of the Fields, Book One in the Tellings of Xunar-kun (SHOO-nahr-KOON), won the 2006 Dream Realm Awards for Cover Art. The second book in the series – The TrailFolk of Xunar-kun – won First Place in The 2009 Written Art Awards, Science Fiction category.

Tina received a 2009 Artist Crossroads Grant from The ARTs Council of the Southern Finger Lakes and NYSCA to create an audio book of Alysa of the Fields. She auditioned 50 actors to play the character voices and employed 42 in total, lending her own voice to the narrative and recording and editing in her home studio. The audio book will be released in the spring of 2010.

In addition to writing stories, poetry and screenplays, Tina has been a freelance communications designer since 1995. She creates everything from web content and graphics to business communications, and has published illustrations internationally in several books and other media. Tina has been involved in digital graphic design since the ‘90s and for most of her life has been creating artwork in some form. Although creative in various media her whole life, Tina became serious about writing during the 1980s.

Tina holds a Bachelor of Arts Degree in Anthropology and a Minor in Art. Her favorite college studies included physical and cultural anthropology, archaeology, studio art, and art history. Her love of creativity, her interest in diverse peoples, and the experience of her own struggles inspired her to write The Tellings of Xunar-kun Series, in which she creates the cultures, religions, and creatures.

Tina teaches writing workshops and is available for talks, readings, and signings. Visit Tina Field Howe Multi-Creative to view her extensive illustration and communications portfolio.

Where did Tina grow up? Tina grew up in Waverly, New York, a village on the border of northern Pennsylvania. Although she lived in the middle of town, she was not far from nature, as several acres of abandoned farmland behind her home had grown into a small forest that the neighborhood children called “the Woods”. It was fortunate that the Woods bordered her back yard (nature plays a very important role in Alysa).

The many neighborhood children (post-WWII baby boomers) spent hours involved with nature and her many creatures. If nobody happened to be around to play with, Tina had no qualms about spending time by herself in the Woods - alone, but not really, as nature is a good friend and filled the hours with birdsong, musky smells of vegetation turning to soil, and solace found beneath the shelter of pine branches laden with snow.
 

Where does she get her ideas? She gets her ideas from her life; sometimes from the lives of others; sometimes, it seems, from thin air! While drawing on her own experience in archaeology and her anthropological studies, Tina loves to imagine. What if? is one of her favorite imagination stimulators. When the What if? sends her into her imagination, she tries to discover details she hasn’t seen (or read) anywhere else. Truly, the process of writing is the process of self-discovery for Tina. Through writing, the tapestry of her life becomes apparent to her. In writing for others, she learns much along the way. It is her hope that her readers come away feeling changed in some way...a good way. The most influential authors (not all fiction) in Tina’s life are Ursula K. LeGuin, Piers Anthony, Anne McCaffrey, Don Miguel Ruiz, Ray Bradbury, and Robert Heinlein. There is a term that could apply to Tina's writing: anthropological fiction. Of course, this would be the anthropology of a fictitious planet...

Can Tina come and speak to our group?  The author is an experienced speaker and actress, having talked many times to school groups. She is available for school writing workshops, book signings, radio interviews, speaking engagements, school presentations, and professional gatherings.

Tina also wrote and illustrated a children’s picture book titled Snailsworth, a slow little story. 24 pages. Full color cover and interior. ISBN 978-0-9768585-3-9. Available from the author, Amazon.com, B&N.com, and a thousand other online booksellers. Visit Snailsworth’s website!

 

Affiliations

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Tina Field Howe
Acting Resume
Creative & Communications Design Web Site

The screenplay version of Alysa of the Fields is available. Inquiries should be directed to
Travis Shortt at Black River Media
or call 1-276-970-2352
 

The author as “Loralle”, Alysa's mother,
in a public characterization from the book.
This performance was for The Big Read and
was funded with a grant from the NEA.

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