Janice Hopkins Tanne, an ASJA past president, has been elected vice president of the Newswomen's Club of New York, founded in 1922 by women journalists who covered the suffrage movement.

After 27 years of trying fiction, Manhattan writing professor, freelancer and nonfiction book author, Susan Shapiro celebrates her debut novel, Speed Shrinking, published in August by St. Martin's Press.

Helen Studley's The Winter's Journey of My Youth, has just been published by iUniverse. Peter Hellman, author of The Auschwitz Album, called Studley's Holocaust memoir "transfixing." Known primarily as a food, travel and life style writer, her memoir received the iUniverse editor's choice designation.

Deborah Grossman, a Bay Area wine and food journalist and poet, has been appointed Poet Laureate of the City of Pleasanton, Calif. Deborah will provide poetry at civic events and host literary-focused programs. She wrote Goldie and Me, a book of poetry about freedom and friendship.

Lucy Kavaler's biography of the Astor family, The Astors, A Family Chronicle of Pomp and Power is being translated into Vietnamese by a Vietnamese publisher. A German documentary on John Jacob Astor, founder of the dynasty, is also planned, and the director interviewed Lucy.

Carol Jose's You Are Not Forgotten, with a Foreword by Henry Kissinger, (Vandamere Press) was awarded 1st Prize in History from 2009 Indie Book Awards. Jose's poem, "Ballad of Mary Todd's Wedding Ring" was published in the Lincoln Bicentennial commemorative collage: Happy Birthday Mr. Lincoln (Pen Women Press, 2009).

Candy Neely Arrington's When Your Aging Parent Needs Care (Harvest House Publishers) releases September 1. The book provides practical help and emotional support for those caring for aging parents.

ABC Television Network veteran Anne Marie Riccitelli is media co-chair of the 62nd annual United Nations Department of Public Information/Non-Governmental Organizations Conference to be held in Mexico City, Mexico, at the Mexican Ministry of Foreign Affairs this September. Titled For Peace and Development: Disarm Now! More then 1,500 international NGO delegates are expected to attend this annual meeting on the eve of the General Assembly opening.

Best Friend Forever: Surviving a Breakup With Your Best Friend (Overlook Press) by Irene S. Levine, Ph.D., releases this month and coincides with National Women's Friendship Month. Irene surveyed more than 1,500 women from all walks of life culling their experience and advice to help dispel the myths and misunderstandings about female friendships.

Julie Jason's fifth book, the AARP Retirement Survival Guide: How to Make Smart Financial Decisions in Good Times & Bad, published by Sterling Publishers, was released in August.

The National Association of Government Communicators presented Joan Detz with its 2009 President's Award. NAGC represents communicators from local, state and federal government. Detz is the author of four public speaking books, including How to Write and Give a Speech.

Brooke C. Stoddard is finishing World in the Balance: June to October 1940 for Potomac Books due out in 2010. Brooke recently completed work as a freelance project editor on five National Geographic books: Hong Kong, Madrid, Alaska, Mexico, and Egypt.

Thanks For The Memories: Love, Sex, and World War II by Jane Mersky Leder has just been released in paper by Potomac Books. Reviewed as "a terrific book about an overlooked area in history," and "one of those rare books that can either be read quickly or savored slowly."

Mollie Cox Bryan's second cookbook Mrs. Rowe's Little Book of Southern Pies (Ten Speed Press) was listed in The New York Times as a "Summer Cookbook to Watch." Mrs. Rowe, known fondly as "the Pie Lady" by many of her customers, was the quintessential purveyor of comfort food. Now her family carries on her legacy at her 60-year-old, all-American roadside café in Staunton, Va., with a bustling take-out counter that sells 100 pies a day.

Karen Asp was named a contributing editor for Woman's Day, effective with the August issue. She's also the new Fit Travel blogger for AOL.

Janet Groene's feature "People Power, Steeple Power" at PerceptiveTravel.com (March 2008) took first place for "Best Consumer-Oriented Online Travel Story" in a contest sponsored by the Atlantic-Caribbean Chapter of SATW. Judges were from the journalism faculty at the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill.

Monique Fields is one of nine journalists selected to participate in this year's Kaiser Media Fellowships in Health program.

Nordic Walking: The Complete Guide to Health, Fitness, and Fun by Claire Walter is just out from Hatherleigh Press. Nordic walking is fitness walking with specially designed poles. Today more than six million people worldwide regularly engage in the sport.

Beth Rubin recently won 2nd place for "Come Fly With Me" in the Maryland Writers Association 2009 Short Works Contest/Creative Nonfiction category. She's completing a memoir, Breast Cancer Diary: A Mother's Journey Through Her Daughter's Illness, currently under consideration by several publishers, and revising her guidebook, Frommer's Washington, D.C. With Kids, for 2010.

Gerry and Janet Souter have been commissioned by The History Press in Salem, Mass., to write the history of the Chicago Air & Water Show—the largest event of its kind in the U.S. In his youth, Gerry flew with the Blue Angels, the Golden Knights and has a strong aviation background.

Marie Faust Evitt's first book has just been published by Gryphon House. Thinking BIG, Learning BIG: Connecting Science, Math, Literacy and Language in Early Childhood describes activities developed in the preschool where she teaches. Marie will speak at the National Association for the Education of Young Children conference in Washington D.C. in November.

Ed Robertson was honored in June by the San Francisco Peninsula Press Club at its annual Greater Bay Area Journalism Awards dinner. Ed was recognized for his coverage of the 2008 television season for The Wave Magazine. His radio program, TV Confidential, has just been picked up by Shokus Internet Radio.

Mary Shafer was lead guest on Steve Dale's Pet World Radio the week of July 4. As editor and contributing writer to the anthology, Almost Perfect: Disabled Pets and the People Who Love Them, she discussed the realities of adopting/rescuing disabled pets and what it takes to live with them on a long-term basis.

Janice Arenofsky, a regular contributor of health-related stories to VFW Magazine, has had her third book, Beyonce: the Biography, published by Greenwood Press (May 2009).

In April, a committee of librarians from the New York Public Library, Brooklyn Public Library, and Queens Library selected The Encyclopedia of Drug Abuse (Facts On File, Inc., 2008) by member Christine Adamec (coauthored with Esther Gwinnell, M.D.) as Best of Reference, among the top 25 reference books for 2009.

Nancy Thalia Reynolds' Mixed Heritage in Young Adult Literature, published in March 2009 by Scarecrow Press, is the first comprehensive critical study of how multiracial and multiethnic people are presented in fiction and nonfiction books for teen readers. This book was hailed as "thorough, important, and highly usable" by VOYA (June/July 2009).

Idelle Davidson's book, Your Brain After Chemo: A Practical Guide to Lifting the Fog and Getting Back Your Focus (Da Capo Lifelong Books) was published in mid-July. Her co-author is Dan Silverman, M.D., Ph.D., head of neuroimaging at UCLA.

Beth Levine is the sole writer of Impact, the donor newsletter for Yale-New Haven Hospital. The publication, created by Cheney & Co., just won a gold award in the Public Relations Society of America competition for 2009.

Cynthia Greenwood's book, The Complete Idiot's Guide to Shakespeare's Plays (released in April 2008 and reprinted in March 2009 by Penguin/Alpha Books), was nominated by PlayShakespeare.com for a Falstaff Award for Best Book or Publication of 2008.