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Tina Field Howe lives in Waverly, 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.
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Visit the
Events Calendar.
Visit Tina
on
View photos from the Nov. 6,
2010 Readers Favorite awards banquet on Facebook!
Tina Field Howe
Acting Resume
Creative & Communications Design Web Site
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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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!
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