Steve Whisnant is happily married and the proud father of three daughters, including twins.  Since 2000 he has been blessed to win or place in over 110 contests and his work has been featured in Quills & Pixels, The Counselor, Amazon.com Shorts, and The Storyteller.  He has also been a guest writer for several Arkansas newspapers, including the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette.  In addition to serving as past President and Vice-President for Fiction Writers of Central Arkansas, Steve is also a member of the Ozarks Writers League, Columbia Chapter of the Missouri Writers' Guild, Kansas Authors Club District 5, Arkansas Inspy Writers (subgroup of the American Christian Fiction Writers), Oklahoma Writers' Federation, and Northeast Texas Writers’ Organization.  His first book, a collection of award-winning short stories entitled Yesterday Again, is now out of print except for a few copies floating around on Amazon.com and at bookstores and giftshops, along with his 2006 released novel, Department of Corrections (D.O.C).  In addition, Steve’s short stories have been included in other anthologies along with Spur Award winners and Pulitzer Prize and Pushcart nominee authors.  In October 2007 he published his first children’s book entitled, Domino, illustrated by Little Rock's Jefferson Elementary 5th Grade Art Club.  He is now promoting his second anthology of award-winning short stories entitled, Yesterday Once More.

Publicity photo (right click and copy).  You are free to use these pictures or others on the website to promote a future event.  If you would like me to send you an attached photo, e-mail me.

Twin girls! Born in 2003, Steve's writing time has changed.

Steve gets "in character" for a future story.

Used with permission from John Deering with the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette.

In Steve's "Day job" he works as the Field Representative for Vital Records within the Arkansas Department of Health.  In addition to the trouble shooting he does to help customers, he trains coroners, funeral directors, hospice nurses, midwives, medical records employees, nurses in Labor & Delivery, and other Health Department employees how to complete either Birth or Death Certificates.  He's always tuned in for a good mystery from a talkative coroner.

On left, Steve pretending to be "serious".  Perhaps the trash can symbolizes the many rejection letters he's received in his writing career.  On a serious note, Steve says you have to maintain a sense of humor when working in Vital Records.  They receive, on average, 100 new death certificates each day, which represent thousands of grieving family members.  If you stopped and considered each death, it could leave you in a chronic state of depression.  On the bright side, Vital Records also receives, on average, 150 new birth certificates each day.  These are normally joyous occasions, as he has experienced with the birth of his three daughters.

No, we won't bother daddy when he's writing.  We'll help critique his work!

For seven years Steve worked at the Target Distribution Center in Maumelle, Arkansas.  Not only does he pull from his experiences in Vital Records for his many stories, but the wonderful times he had at Target, and the many tales from the hundreds of truck drivers he worked with from all over the country, are influential in his writing.

• Born 1964 in Russellville, Arkansas.
• Lived briefly in Little Rock.
• Lived briefly in Mineral Wells, Texas.
• Three years in Topeka, Kansas, where his brother was born in 1967.
• First & second grades in Mountain Home, Arkansas.
• Third grade in College Station, Texas.
• Fourth, fifth, & sixth grades in North Little Rock, Arkansas.  Attended three different schools (St. Mary's, Park Hill Elementary, & Lakewood Elementary).
• Seventh, eighth & ninth grades in Conway, Arkansas.
• Tenth & eleventh grades in Baumholder, Germany.
• Graduated from Conway High School, Conway, Arkansas.
• Graduated from the University of Central Arkansas, Conway, Arkansas.
• Graduated from the University of Arkansas at Little Rock with a graduate degree.  Has lived in Little Rock since 1988.

                                                        Little Rock, Arkansas