ERC5 June 2011 Annual Meeting Breakfast

         
Suzanne Strempek Shea is the author of five novels: Selling the Lite of Heaven, Hoopi Shoopi Donna, Lily of the Valley, Around Again, and Becoming Finola, published by Washington Square Press. She has also written three memoirs, Songs From a Lead-lined Room: Notes - High and Low - From My Journey Through Breast Cancer and Radiation; Shelf Life; Romance, Mystery, Drama and Other Page-Turning Adventures from a Year in a Bookstore; and Sunday in America: A Yearlong Road Trip in Search of Christian Faith, all published by Beacon Press. Winner of the 2000 New England Book Award, which recognizes a literary body of works' contribution to the region, Suzanne began writing fiction in her spare time while working as reporter for the Springfield (Massachusetts) Newspapers and the Providence Journal (Rhode Island). Her freelance work has appeared in Yankee magazine, The Bark magazine, The Boston Globe, The Philadelphia Inquirer, Organic Style and ESPN the Magazine. Suzanne is on the faculty of the University of Southern Maine's Stonecoast MFA program and is writer in residence at Bay Path College in Longmeadow, Mass. _________________________________________________________________________________________________  Tommy Shea is the oldest of seven children, the son of Irish immigrants. He's a graduate of Cathedral High School and Springfield College. The year 2011 marks his 39th year with the Springfield Newspapers. He started as a sportswriter, covering high schools. He finished his sports career covering the Boston Red Sox - a pretty good job for a Yankee fan. Since leaving sports in 1985, he worked as a general assignment reporter before being given his own column 17 years ago. A column which, according to The Boston Globe, "chronicles little-noticed acts of kindness and grace perpetrated by everyday people." Shea has taught journalism at Springfield, Holyoke Community and Elms Colleges. His work has appeared in Sports Illustrated, USA Today, New England Monthly and Baseball America. He wrote the liner notes to the 2003 Saw Doctors compact disc, "Play It Again Sam." He was a long-time host of Town & Country program on radio station WRNX. In 2003, Shea received the New England Associated Press News Executive Award for best local New England column. In 2004, he was nominated for a Pulitzer Prize for column writing. In 2005, he was awarded an honorary doctorate by Western New England College.